Dr Rafik Refaat

Dr Rafik is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, a medical doctor (not a psychologist), with more than 25 years of experience in the psychiatry of the young. His long experience has exposed him to diverse cultures and communities.

He qualified in medicine in 1984 and subsequently pursued training in general psychiatry in Charing Cross and the Imperial College. He was then appointed as a Lecturer in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at UCL, Royal Free, and Great Ormond Street Hospitals. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in London (FRCPsych). He is also Training Programme Director of The Child and Adolescent Higher Training Scheme at Great Ormond Street and Royal London Hospitals. He runs an inpatient service, which has been, accredited ‘Excellent’ by Royal College of Psychiatrists, and awarded ‘Outstanding ‘ rating by CQC. He has a postgraduate degree in Family & Couple Therapy from Institute of Family Therapy in London. Furthermore, he is qualified to offer therapeutic individual therapy in CBT, MBT, and Systemic therapy.

Issues/Problems of Specialisation
Dr Rafik sees patients under the age of 18 with emotional, behavioural, communication or relationship difficulties.

The types of problem he sees most frequently are

Family discord and relationship problems
Depression and anxiety with self- harm behaviour and poor school attendance
Problems with attention and/or overactivity, particularly when attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is suspected
Eating Disorders in Adolescents
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Tic disorders and Tourette’s syndrome
Children and young people who exhibit psychotic symptoms
Difficulties with social interaction, including autistic spectrum disorders
Problems with self-organisation, especially when associated with dyspraxia and/or memory difficulties
Children who have received various previous assessments and diagnoses yet whose problems need clarifying
Rafik also runs a young people’s service for teenagers with psychotic and bipolar disorder or who have rare neuropsychiatric conditions and he often advises on recent advances in medication for psychological problems

Dr Rafik sees his first aim and main responsibility is to offer a senior, expert medical opinion as to what the diagnosis is and what should be done to treat it. In order to assess a clinical problem he has to ask a large number of questions in a straightforward conversational way. Some of these can only be answered by a parent, others only by the child or teenager. He will then write a report about his assessment to the family and to the referring doctor. If there needs to be a psychological treatment, he will nearly always refer on to a clinical child psychologist, or psychotherapist. If medication is to be involved, then he will manage these himself, often jointly with the GP, or paediatrician.