Dr Lim is the Senior Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Center for Effective Living in Singapore. His far-ranging contributions over three decades are recognized by the British Psychological Society, which endorses him as a Fellow, Senior Practitioner on the Register of Psychologists Specializing in Psychotherapy, member of the Faculty for Oncology and Palliative Care, Editorial Board member of the Psychology Teaching Review, Chartered Psychologist, and recipient of the Distinguished Contribution to Practice Award. He is also a Fellow/Psychosomatic Specialist of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine (Europe) and Fellow of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (US). Further, his work as an Editorial Board Member extends to the peer-reviewed journals of Advances in Integrative Medicine and International Journal of Psychology and Behavior Analysis.
The Singapore Psychological Society (SPS) conferred on him the Fellow status and Award for Outstanding Contribution to Psychology in Singapore. As the SPS President for three consecutively elected terms (1999-2005), he provided leadership for major contributions that included the following:
- The creation of the Singapore Register of Psychologists (SRP), i.e., the first and sole registration system recognized by the Singapore government for the regulation of professional psychologists
- The creation and dissemination of five multimedia publications for persons with chronic diseases to manage their symptoms with evidence-based, psychotherapeutic methods. These pioneering publications were produced in collaboration with the Singapore Society of Clinical Hypnosis, of which he had also served as the President for four consecutively elected terms (2004-2008). The publications were especially impactful, because they supported not only the English-speaking community, but also the underserved Mandarin-speaking population for psychotherapeutic services.
In particular, the SRP was created from extensive collaborations with faculty members from universities as well as representatives from government ministries, legal advisors, medical authorities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the private sector. It produced a far-reaching and nationwide impact on educational pathways, employee selection, and career progression for the psychological profession.
The foundation of his essentially experiential approach to psychotherapy was training in brief psychodynamic psychotherapy and clinical hypnosis from the clinical psychology program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and his doctoral internship at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In the same vein, he had undergone compact but direct training from the late originator of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP), Habib Davanloo, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at McGill University, Canada.
In 2006, 127 recognized experts in psychotherapy in Singapore selected him as one of the only nine “master therapists” (the “best of the best” psychotherapists), for a pioneering and landmark qualitative study on psychotherapy expertise in Singapore. This peer-reviewed and published research was conducted by the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (ranked by the Times Higher Education Young University Rankings as the world’s best young university in 2023 and 2024). Moreover, as one of the leading practitioners in Singapore, Dr Lim was formerly selected to provide psychotherapy and clinical hypnosis to the President and first family of the Asian country of the Republic of Maldives at that time.
Previous Recipients
2024– J. Christopher Muran
2023– Danny Wedding
2022 – Dennis Martin Kivlighan, Jr., PhD
2021 – Mark J. Hilsenroth
2020 – Jean Carter
2019 – Armand Cerbone
2018 – Jacques Barber
2017 – William B. Stiles
2016 – Jeffrey J. Magnavita
2015 – Douglas Snyder
2014 – Lorna Smith Benjamin
2013 – Les Greenberg
2012 – Paul L. Wachtel
2011 – Jack C. Anchin
2010 – Jeffrey E. Barnett & Judith Jordan
2009 – Norine Johnson & Jon Carlson
2008 – Bruce E. Wampold
2007 – Gary VandenBos & Carol Goodheart
2006 – Louis Castonguay
2005 – Gerald Koocher
2004 – John C. Norcross & Wade H. Silverman
2003 – Clara Hill & Charles J. Gelso
2002 – Ronald F. Levant & Frank Dattillio
2001 – Lenore E. Walker & Michael J. Lambert
2000 – Marvin R. Goldfried & Linda F. Campbell
1999 – Ellen McGrath
1998 – David Orlinsky
1997 – Alvin R. Mahrer
1996 – Norman Abeles & Alice K. Rubenstein
1995 – Stanley Moldawsky & Harry Sands
1994 – Rachel Hare-Mustin
1993 – Patrick H. DeLeon
1992 – Arnold A. Lazarus
1991 – Donald K. Freedheim
1990 – Tommy T. Stigall
1989 – Jack G. Wiggins
1988 – Ernst G. Beier
1987 – Mathilda B. Canter
