Gordon Barraclough Parker AO is an Australian psychiatrist who is scientia professor of psychiatry at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
Parker’s particular focus is on the phenomenology and epidemiology of mood disorders, social psychiatry, and the treatment (both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy) and management of mood disorders. His research has assisted in modelling psychiatric conditions – depression, bipolar and personality disorders – and examining causes, mechanisms and treatments for mood disorders, together with innovative clinical work. Parker is a critic of the current unitary classification of major depressive disorder (as represented in the DSM-5), and has proposed the revival of the diagnosis of melancholia. In 2010 he was made an officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his distinguished service to psychiatry as a clinician and researcher, particularly as a major contributor to the understanding and innovative treatment of mood disorders and as founder and Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute.[1]