Dr Manfred Penzhorn completed his medical training at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1999. Since 2004, he has worked exclusively in psychiatry in South Africa, the UK and Australia. This included work in the fields of Forensic Psychiatry, Rehabilitation Psychiatry, Acute and Emergency Psychiatry and in the Psychiatric care of Older People. He completed his specialist training with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists in 2015.

Dr Penzhornʼs philosophy is that the most helpful guide to treatment is his patients’ preferences, the personal meaning of their symptoms, and the social context in which they find themselves. Compared with these values, diagnostic categories are less relevant. He is a general psychiatrist with wide ranging interests, including the treatment of depression and anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, neurological psychiatry, dementia, and other mental health problems arising in the course of ageing.

To help meet the surging demand for psychiatric care, Dr Penzhorn regretfully relinquished teaching of medical students at Griffith and Bond Universities and trainee specialist at the College of Psychiatrists. Instead he works hard to remain available to his patients. When time allows he is developing the potential of emerging therapies powered by the innate capacity for healing within all of us.

When not working he enjoys family time, loud music, experimental cooking, and stomping around in the bush.