Emma-Louise Jay

Emma-Louise Jay is an existential psychologist whose research interests intersect across psychological medicine and philosophy. She wrote her mixed-methods PhD on depersonalization at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London after completing her MSc. in the Philosophy of Mental Disorder at the same university writing her thesis on the same syndrome.

From 2013 – 2021 Emma lived and worked in Colombia where she took on the role of as post-doctoral psychologist at a leading creative arts university in Medellín – La Colegiatura Colombiana. There she co-developed a research centre focusing on research projects relating to the science of creativity, how we understand identification, and efforts towards developing social leader-led peace efforts in Colombia in the context of the 2016 Colombian peace accord. She also authored an imaginative blog which focused mainly on issues relating to the Colombian political climate.

At the University of Brighton, Emma has led module SS572 on Key Theoretical Foundations to Counselling and Psychotherapy since 2021. In this role she enjoys teaching about the many different schools that inform the field of psychotherapy and counselling studies. Despite being drawn to the existential and analytic psychotherapy traditions, she would like to broaden awareness of lesser-known therapies such as ‘Morita therapy’, ‘Logotherapy’ and 'Milton H. Ericksonian' hypnotherapy in her UK teaching. Emma was also Course Leader for the (Applied) Psychology program from 2021-2024. 

Emma has been the Research Ethics and Integrity Lead (REIL) for the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Brighton since 2023 where she supports staff and students to gain ethical approval to conduct their research safely and inclusively. 

Emma’s research interests include existential psychology and psychotherapy, phenomenology, spiritual and religious experience, German idealism, dissociation, psychological medicine, critical psychology, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, the history of psychiatry, cross-cultural psychology and psychology in armed conflict contexts, particularly Colombia. She is the author of many peer-reviewed articles, a blog, and narrative non-fiction. She is currently dipping her toe into autoethnography.

Language(s):

Emma is bilingual (English and Spanish).

Affiliations:

The University of Brighton’s Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE).

Prospective Doctoral students:

Emma currently has two PhD students (one researching climate populism in Brasil and one looking at cosmopolitanism through a critical neurodivergent lens). She would like to take on doctoral research students who share her research interests, and especially interdisciplinary researchers working across disciplines.

Emma is particularly interested in supervising B. Sc., M. A. and Ph. D. theses on any aspect of dissociation and the philosophy of psychiatry and mental disorder. In addition, she is interested in the psychological trauma experienced by all victims of Colombia’s armed conflict including journalists, members of the resistance and writers. Bi-culturality and plural cultural identities also interest Emma.

She has also worked as a Research Assistant as part of the Service-User Research Enterprise and has an awareness of the anti-psychiatry and user movement philosophies.

Emma completed a B. A. (Hons.) degree in Philosophy at University College London (2005), an M. Sc. in the Philosophy of Mental Disorder at King’s College London (and the Tavistock Clinic) (2006), a P. G. Dip. In Psychology at Oxford Brookes University (2008) and a Ph. D. in Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London (2013).

She was awarded a distinction in January 2023 for her P. G. Certificate in Academic Practice at the University of Brighton (2021 – 2022) where she was studying diverse pedagogies. Her thesis concerned how we address wellbeing concerns in undergraduates studying mental health related topics such as existential anxiety and beyond, and teaching best practice in this area.

She recently completed her Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies (CCRS).