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Background

Professor ffytche is Professor of Visual Psychiatry in the Department of Old Age Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. He is also Clinical Lead and Consultant Psychiatrist to the Visual Perceptual Disorder service. He has worked in the Trust since 2007. 

Prof ffytche has specialist accreditation in old age psychiatry and was consultant to an inpatient ward for older adults at the Maudsley Hospital before focusing on the Visual Perceptual Disorder Service. He plays a leading role in patient and public education for Charles Bonnet Syndrome (visual hallucinations in eye disease) as medical advisor to Esme’s Umbrella, a web resource for people with Charles Bonnet Syndrome and as patron of Charles Bonnet Syndrome Foundation Australia. 

Research 

Prof ffytche researches the brain mechanisms of vision and how they go wrong, particularly in visual hallucinations, visual illusions and related symptoms. He has published over 100 articles in the scientific and lay literature with over 4,000 academic citations. His work is regularly covered in the national and international press and broadcast media. He has been invited to talk at international meetings on visual hallucinations in Europe, Canada and America. 

Education and Training 

Prof ffytche trained at St Thomas’ Hospital in London where he undertook a BSc in psychology during his medical degree (MBBS). He was awarded MBBS with distinction in pathology. He worked in general medicine and neurology before specialising in psychiatry and has Membership of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) as well as the Royal College of Psychiatrists (MRCPsych). He held a Wellcome Trust Vision Research Fellowship at University College London followed by a Wellcome Trust Clinician Scientist Fellowship at the Institute of Psychiatry where he completed his higher research degree on visual hallucinations and the brain (MD 2009, The functional anatomy of visual hallucination content: insights from the Charles Bonnet Syndrome). 

Publications 

Puledda, F., ffytche, DH., Lythgoe, D.J., O’Daly, O., Schankin, C., Williams, S.C.R. and Goadsby, P.J.                                                                                            Insular and occipital changes in visual snow syndrome: a BOLD fMRI and MRS study.                                                                                                                         Ann Clin Transl Neurol 2020 7: 296-306.  https://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.50986

O'Brien J, Taylor JP, Ballard C, Barker RA, Bradley C, Burns A, Collerton D, Dave S, Dudley R, Francis P, Gibbons A, Harris K, Lawrence V, Leroi I, McKeith I, Michaelides M, Naik C, O'Callaghan C, Olsen K, Onofrj M, Pinto R, Russell G, Swann P, Thomas A, Urwyler P, Weil RS, ffytche D.                                               Visual hallucinations in neurological and ophthalmological disease: pathophysiology and management.                                                                                                  J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2020 May;91(5):512-519. doi: 10.1136/jnnp-2019-322702

Cox T, ffytche DH
Negative outcome Charles Bonnet Syndrome
British Journal of Ophthalmology  2014 Br J Ophthalmol   doi:10.1136/bjophthalmol-2014-304920.

Gretton C, ffytche DH.
Art and the brain: a view from dementia.
Int J Geriatr Psychiatry  2013 Aug 8. 

Morrison PD, Nottage J, Stone JM, BhattacharyyaS, TunstallN, BrenneisenR, HoltD, Wilson D, SumichA, McGuire P, Murray RM, KapurS and ffytcheDH. Disruption of frontal theta coherence by Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol is associated with positive psychotic symptoms.
Neuropsychopharmacology  2011 36: 827-836

Ffytche DH and Zeki S
V1 and feedback to it are not necessary for conscious vision
Brain  2011; 134: 247-57.

Ffytche DH, Blom JD, CataniM
Disorders of visual perception
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry  2010; 81: 1280-7.

Brittain P, ffytche DH, McKendrick A, Surguladze S.
Visual processing, social cognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia.
Psychiatry Research  2010; 178: 270-5.

Madill SA, Lascaratos G, Arden GB, ffytche DH
Perceived colour of hallucinations in the Chares Bonnet Syndrome is related to residual colour contrast sensitivity
Journal of Neuro-ophthalmology  2009; 29: 192-196.

Lawrence V, Murray J, ffytche DH, Banerjee S
“Out of sight, out of mind” – a qualitative study of visual impairment and dementia from three perspectives
International Psychogeriatrics 2009; 21: 511-8.

Ffytche DH 
Visual hallucinations in eye disease.
Current Opinion in Neurology  2009; 22: 28-35.

Ffytche DH
The hodology of hallucinations
Cortex  2008; 44: 1067-83.  

Ffytche DH
Visual hallucinatory syndromes: past, present and future
Dialogues in clinical neuroscience  2007; 9: 173-189.

Ffytche DH 
Visual hallucinations and the Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Current Psychiatry Reports 2005; 7:168-179.

Ffytche DH
Hallucination and illusion disorders: a clinical guide.
Advances in Clinical Neuroscience and Rehabilitation  2004; 4: 16-18.

Ffytche DH, Lappin JM, Philpot M.
Visual command hallucinations in a patient with pure alexia.
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry  2004; 75: 80-86.

Santhouse AM, Howard RJ, ffytche DH.
Visual hallucinatory syndromes and the anatomy of the visual brain.
Brain  2000; 123: 101-110.

Ffytche DH, Howard RJ.
The perceptual consequences of visual loss: ‘positive’ pathologies of vision.
Brain  1999; 122: 1247-1260.

Ffytche DH, Howard RJ, Brammer MJ, David A, Woodruff P, Williams S.
The anatomy of conscious vision: an fMRI study of visual hallucinations.
Nature Neuroscience  1998; 1: 738-742.

Zeki S and ffytche DH.
The Riddoch syndrome: insights into the neurobiology of conscious vision.
Brain  1998; 121: 25-45.

Ffytche DH and Zeki S.
Brain activity related to the perception of illusory contours.
Neuroimage  1996; 3: 104-108.