Sandra Evans is a medical doctor, consultant psychiatrist and group analyst. She has contributed over 25 years to NHS Psychiatry as a younger and older adult specialist. Her great interest in teaching and the welfare of students and young doctors was fostered by work as a senior lecturer at Barts and the London school of medicine & dentistry, where she served as Deputy Dean for Students. She became the Director of Undergraduate Education at East London NHS Trust until 2016.
Sandra Evans clinical practice is focused on a bio-psycho-social approach, bringing together her understanding of the human body, the human mind and how circumstance and environment affect our experience of the world, illness and loss. She currently works in varied areas of health and governance, including a private practice.
She has co-edited 2 books and has published over 40 papers and book chapters and has delivered a great many platform talks.
Publications
2015: Evans, S. What the National Dementia Strategy Forgot: Providing dementia care from a psychodynamic perspective. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Vol 28. No 3. pp321-329
2013: Holloway, L .& Evans, S. Seasonality of Depression in Older People in East London. Community Mental Health Journal. (COMH 1009R1)
2011: C. W. Ritchie , M. B. King, F. Nolan, S. O’Connor, M. Evans, N. Toms, G. Kitchen, S.Evans, C, Bielawski, D. Lee and M. Blanchard. The association between personality disorder and an act of deliberate self-harm in the older person. International Psychogeriatrics.(2011), 23: 299-307.
2008: Evans, S. Beyond Forgetfulness: how psychoanalytic ideas can help us to understand
the experience of patients with Dementia. Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.Vol.3 September 155-176
2005: Evans,S. Psychotherapy for older people: Users and providers of psychotherapeutic services
for older people. Abstract. Symposium. 12th Congress of the IPA. International Psychogeriatrics.
Vol 17. Supplement 2. pp114
2004: Evans, S. Sex and Death; the ramifications of illness and aging on late life partnerships. Journal of relationship and marital therapy: Special Issue. Vol.19, No. 3. August. pp 319-335
2004: Evans, S. What works for whom? A Survey of the provision of psychological therapies for older people in the NHS. Psychiatric Bulletin. Vol. 28, No 11. pp411-414
2003: Baldwin, R. Anderson, D. Black, S. Evans, S. Jones, R. Wilson, K. Iliffe, S. Guidelines for the Management of Late-life Depression in Primary Care. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 18: 829-838
2002: Garner, J & Evans, S. An ethical perspective on the Institutional Abuse of older people. Psychiatric Bulletin. Vol. 26, 5. 164-166.
2001: Evans, S. Group analytic psychotherapy: A realistic treatment for older adults.
CPD Bulletin Old Age Psychiatry. Vol 3 (1) 16-19
2001: Garner J, Anderson D, Baldwin R, Evans S. The Faculty Response to the NSF. Old Age Psychiatrist, 23, 9 – 11.
2001: Evans, S. Chisholm, P, Walshe, J. A psychotherapy group for the elderly. Group Analysis. 34 (2) 287-298.
1998: Evans, S. Beyond the Mirror: A Group Analytic Exploration of Late Life Depression. Aging and Mental Health. 2(2): 94-99.
1996: Garner, J. and Evans, S. APP Spring Conference. Psychodynamic Perspectives in Old Age Psychiatry. Psychiatric Bulletin. Vol. 20.2
1994: D’ath, P. Katona, P. Mullan, E. Evans, S. Katona, C. Screening, Detection and Management of Depression in Elderly Primary Care Attendees 1; The acceptability and performance of the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. (GDS-15) development of short versions. Family Practice:11; 260-266.
1993: Evans, S. and Katona, C.L.E. Epidemiology of Depressive Symptoms – Elderly Primary Care Attendees. “Dementia”. 4(6) 327-333.
Expert Reports
2000: Garner, J. and Evans, S. The Institutional abuse of elderly people. College Document. Royal College of Psychiatrists. CR 84
2002: Mezey, G. Hicks, M. Gopfert, M. Evans, S. Hall, A. Hicks, M. Rumball, D.
Domestic Violence. CR 102. Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Contributions
2009: Improving Access to Psychological therapies: Older people. DH
2011: End of Life Care for Dementia sufferers. DH
2018: NICE Guidelines: Dementia National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence
Letters and Articles
2000: Evans, S. More disappointing treatment outcomes in late life depression. British Journal of Psychiatry.177 (3):281-282 Letter to the Editor
2006: 4th Dec. Letter to the Editor. Times.
2012: Bartlett. A & Evans, S. Up to date service evaluation and needs assessment would be useful in caring for elderly prisoners. BMJ 345. e7578
2014: Evans, S. Five Books. Commissioned article. Dialogue GASI London
Edited Books
2004: Evans, S. and Garner, J. (Eds). Talking over the Years: A handbook of dynamic psychotherapy for older adults. Brunner-Routledge. London
2019: Evans, S. Garner, J. & Darnley-Smith, R. (Eds) Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Routledge
Chapters in Books
1991: Evans, S. and Katona, C.L.E. Treatment of Anxiety Disorders in the Elderly. In The Anxiolytic Jungle; Where Next?. Ed D. Wheatley. John Wiley. London.
1995: Evans, S. Physical Treatments. In “Neurotic Disorders in the Elderly” Ed. J. Lindesay. OUP.
1998: Evans, S. Lucey, J. Psychotherapeutic Work in Groups: In Understanding Psychiatric Treatments. Editors Lucey, J. O’Mahony. J. Wiley and Sons. London.
Evans, S. (2004) Attachment Theory and its application in late adult life. In Talking Over the Years: A Handbook of Psychodynamic Theory and Practice with Older People.(Eds) Sandra Evans & Jane Garner. Routledge. London.
Evans. S. (2004) Group Psychotherapy: Foulkes, Bion Yalom and Others______________”
Evans, S . (2004) The Self throughout Ageing. Kohut and Others_____________________”
Evans, S. (2004) Elderly Couples and the role of Family dynamics in older people______”
2009: Evans, S. Where is the Unconscious in Dementia? Psychoanalytic ideas.
R Doctor & R Lucas (Eds) Karnac
Garner J & Evans S. (2010) Psychodynamic Approaches to the Challenges of Ageing: Chapter 4. In International Perspectives on Geronto-psychology. Eds Pachana, Knight & Laidlaw. OUP.
Evans, S. (2014) Delirium. Chapter on identification, pathophysiology and management of delirium. BMJ Masterclass. Updates for General Practice. BMJ Publishing. London
Cushing, A & Evans, S (2014) : Training Physicians at undergraduate and postgraduate level about Co-morbidity. In Medical Education. International textbook. Sartorius, N. (Ed) Karger. Switzerland
Evans, S. (2016) Psychotherapy in Late Life: In Medical Psychotherapy (Oxford Specialist Handbooks in Psychiatry) Jessica Yakeley, Gwen Adshead & Laura Allison (Eds) OUP
Evans, S. (2018) Sadism in Late Life. In Sadism: Psychoanalytic Developmental Perspectives. Amita Seghal (Ed). Karnac. London
Garner, J. Evans, S. (2018) Women, Old Age and Psychotherapy. In An Anthology of women’s writing about Psychiatry. G Rands (Ed). OUP
Evans, S. (2019) Chapter 5. The experience of loss in dementia; melancholia without the mourning? In, Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Evans, S. Garner, J. & Darnley-Smith, R.(Eds) Routledge Hove
Evans, S. (2019) Chapter 9. Attachment in confusional states and in dementia. Theory into practice
In, Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Evans, S. Garner, J. & Darnley-Smith, R.(Eds) Routledge Hove
Evans, S. (2019) Chapter 13. Groups for Dementia and Cognitive Impairment: What should we be doing? In, Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Evans, S. Garner, J. & Darnley-Smith, R.(Eds) Routledge Hove
Evans, S. (2019) Chapter 15. A psychoanalytic and philosophical exploration of boredom and disengagement in dementia. In, Psychodynamic Approaches to the Experience of Dementia: Perspectives from observation, theory and practice. Evans, S. Garner, J. & Darnley-Smith, R.(Eds) Routledge Hove
Evans, S. (2022) Experiential group dynamics in a postgraduate course: maximizing learning while minimizing anxiety. In Group Analytic Therapists at work. Eds. Amelie Noack & David Vincent Routledge.
