Campaigner and activist Amy Kavanagh is partially sighted and on her daily trip to work receives much unwanted touch. Some touch from strangers is well meaning but without her consent, while she is also subject to abusive and violent touch. In Anatomy of Touch Dr Natalie Bowling from Greenwich University and co-creator of the BBC Touch Test looks at what the results tell us about touch between strangers. Where do people find it acceptable for strangers to touch them, what are the differences bet...
Oct 06, 2020•14 min
In Anatomy of Touch Claudia Hammond asks whether people have enough touch in their lives and what has been the impact of Covid-19. Covid-19 and social distancing have changed how most people feel about touch but even before Covid-19 there was a concern about the decrease of touch in society. Michael Bannissy of Goldsmiths University of London discusses the results of the BBC Touch test and leading researchers reveal their findings about the lack of touch. Claudia meets John, who, growing up duri...
Oct 05, 2020•14 min
Blue Health and well-being: During lockdown many people have said how they value getting out in nature more than ever. But is there something extra special about getting out into places where there is water? This doesn’t just have to mean the seaside. Could a river, canal or even a fountain in a park make us feel better? Dr Mathew White, senior lecturer in social and environmental psychology at Exeter University, is part of a large research project across eighteen countries called Blue Health. D...
Jun 30, 2020•36 min
People living with bipolar disorder can experience episodes of depression and mania which last for weeks - and following these episodes many say they have cognitive deficits - difficulties with memory, concentrating and doing even simple tasks. Rosie Phillips who has bipolar and works as a Peer Support Services Manager for the charity Bipolar UK experienced such difficulties after an episode of mania. She describes the impact as like going head-first through a car windscreen, needing a long peri...
Jun 23, 2020•28 min
Emerging from lockdown might not be as easy on our mental health as it sounds. After weeks spent adjusting to lockdown and working out how to cope, how easy is it to re-adjust to old routines? And is it even possible to predict how we’ll feel about things in a few weeks’ time? Daisy Fancourt, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Health at University College London discusses the latest results from the Covid-19 Social study, exploring how people’s feelings have changed during the course...
Jun 16, 2020•28 min
The success of the recent SpaceX launch to the ISS has reignited talk of return manned missions to the moon and onwards to Mars. But beyond well know physiological effects of space travel on our bodies, what do effects of immobility and microgravity have on our brains? A new study offers a detailed insight from 12 fit astronauts subjected to a battery of tests in a microgravity simulator capturing changes in brain images, disrupted sleep rhythms and mood changes and cognition. As Ivana Rosenzwei...
Jun 09, 2020•29 min
Claudia Hammond explores how children think with two psychologists; Dr Victoria Simms from Ulster University who researches how children’s understanding of maths develops and Professor Teresa McCormack from Queens University Belfast who researches how children understand time. The discussion was recorded in front of an audience at the Northern Ireland Science Festival in February 2020. Producer: Caroline Steel
Jun 02, 2020•28 min
The Touch Test. When did someone last touch you? Maybe they kissed you goodbye this morning or someone touched you on the arm on the bus because you’d dropped something. The Touch Test explores touch in its many forms and launches a major piece of research in which we want as many people as possible to take part. Commissioned by Wellcome Collection to conduct The Touch Test in collaboration with BBC Radio 4 is Michael Banissy Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths University of London. Also in th...
Jan 21, 2020•42 min
Are bucket lists always a good thing? Many people choose to write a bucket list to fill their life with exciting and new experiences. Blogger Annette White tells Claudia Hammond about how her bucket list has helped her overcome anxiety. But clinical psychologist Linda Blair is not convinced that they really help people’s well-being. A new paper found that people tend to worry more about the actions of significant others in their lives than their own actions or the actions of people they are not ...
Jan 14, 2020•33 min
There’s a growing number of children with severe allergies to peanuts and other foods. Parents and children themselves have to learn not only to cope with the physical risks but mental health issues that severe food allergies can bring. Rebecca Knibb, Associate Professor of Psychology from Aston University discusses how the psychological impacts are being addressed which until now have been slow to be recognised. Imposter syndrome is the feeling that you shouldn’t really be allowed to do what yo...
Jan 07, 2020•29 min
Psychologists’ advice is that play is beneficial for children developmentally and socially. In this Christmas episode of All in the Mind Claudia visits the Play Well exhibition at Wellcome Collection which looks at the significance of play in childhood and across society as a way of learning, expressing emotions and building empathy. Claudia’s joined at the exhibition by play experts Maia and Rachel. Children in the UK have written letters to Father Christmas since Victorian times and Dr Sian Po...
Dec 24, 2019•28 min
Pain has long been recognised as something of an enigma by scientists and clinicians. It's both a measurable physiological process, as well as deeply personal and subjective. Claudia Hammond meets scientists attending the British Neuroscience Association's Christmas symposium on pain and the brain. She talks to the so-called "queen of pain", Professor Irene Tracey of Oxford University, about how research into acute and chronic pain is being addressed. We hear from Professor Ulrike Bingel about t...
Dec 17, 2019•28 min
A recent poll of junior lawyers suggested that 93% of participants experienced distress in the last month and 19% had felt unable to cope. Those across the legal profession are experiencing higher than average levels of stress, anxiety and alcohol abuse. Can the profession adapt to openly accommodate wellbeing to balance the demands of the job? Claudia Hammond talks to Emma Jones, Senior Lecturer in Law at the Open University who is now conducting research with the charity LawCare on mental heal...
Dec 10, 2019•29 min
The Wounded Healer, also known as Dr Ahmed Hankir, Academic Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry at Kings College London, tours the world talking about his experience of mental ill health and attacking stigma. But how does his lived experience impact his clinical practice? Joining Claudia and Ahmed in the studio to discuss the issues is Dr Sri Kalidindi,, consultant rehabilitation psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. While traditionally magicians have been men, there are ...
Dec 03, 2019•28 min
Acceptance and commitment therapy is an evolving talking therapy that is being used to address anxiety and depression. Rather than challenging negative thoughts, patients are trained to embrace them, Claudia Hammond hears how it's now being trialled for the psychological challenges that come with a number of physical conditions from muscular dystrophy to cancer. We're at the culmination of the Million Minds tour - an attempt to reclaim the world record for the largest mental health lesson, which...
Nov 26, 2019•28 min
The National Gallery is launching a new tour with the help of young people from the McPinn Foundation challenging stereotypes in mental health. The tour focuses on works of art which confront commonly held myths. Claudia meets Lucy who was diagnosed with anorexia at 13 and Helen Fisher from the Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, Kings College, to see their favourite exhibits including “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump” by Joseph Wright 'of Derb...
Nov 19, 2019•28 min
Why do we have a strong desire to own things? Psychologist Professor Bruce Hood, author of a new book Possessed, and artist Hannah Scott, whose installation All this Stuff is Killing Me addresses our desire to acquire, discuss why we want more than we need and the extent to which we are controlled by our possessions. Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the most effective treatments for depression but it only works for 45% of patients, so success is not guaranteed. Claudia hears from Filippo ...
Nov 12, 2019•28 min
Stress at work. Adam Kay, an ex junior doctor turned author and stand up performer, published the diary of his time of working in the NHS. It struck a chord and sold over a million copies in the UK. It's a story of working under duress, long hours and limited resources which many people can identify with and he delivered over 1200 babies in those circumstances. Gail Kinman is Professor of Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Bedfordshire. Gail's worked with doctors, nurses, prison...
Nov 05, 2019•28 min
Claudia finds out about a new approach to childhood anxiety - an intervention for anxious parents to help them manage their own fears and how they impact their parenting. She meets parents on the course run by Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and talks to Professor Sam Cartwright-Hatton from Sussex University who explains what can be done to help prevent mums and dads transmit their own fears to their children. Pamela Qualter from Manchester University discusses new findings on what predicts mental ...
Jun 25, 2019•29 min
Claudia talks to Professor Steven Rogelberg about the science of meetings. Should we get rid of them altogether? Or what can we do to improve them? Also, how can we help those with dementia sleep better? Professor Susan McCurry and Dr Alpar Lazar discuss the latest research on sleep-regulation for people with dementia. And how good are we at estimating the size of our bodies? Claudia visits Birkbeck, University of London where Renata Sadibolova and Professor Matthew Longo conduct an experiment t...
Jun 19, 2019•31 min
Claudia Hammond explores the psychology of motivation and procrastination with an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Is willpower a good source of motivation? And why being a chronic procrastinator is bad for your health but there are ways to stop. Claudia is joined by guests: BBC presenter and Team GB triathlete, Louise Minchin, who talks about her route from journalist to representing team GB in triathlon world championships; Fuschia Sirois from Sheffield University, who discusses pr...
Jun 11, 2019•28 min
Claudia undergoes a novel treatment for her spider phobia. She meets Professor Sarah Garfinkel at her Sussex lab who has trialled a new technique which involves tuning in to the beat of the heart and finding a quicker way to dampen down and reduce arachnophobia. Does it work for Claudia and does the method allow her to get closer to Terry the tarantula? Also why stepping into someone else's shoes doesn't mean you'll see their point of view and can even mean you can become more entrenched in your...
Jun 04, 2019•34 min
New research shows that we are more envious of someone else's covetable experience before it happens than after it has passed. Non-Disclosure Agreements can be used to prevent employees discussing allegations of misbehaviour in the workplace with friends, family and even a therapist. But what is the impact of this silence? Claudia Hammond talks to psychologist Nina Burrowes about the effect of not talking about abusive behaviour and Zelda Perkins shares her experience of signing an NDA and the i...
May 28, 2019•37 min
Universities globally are increasingly being asked by students for trigger warnings on course material that could cause distress and the universities are responding. But what is the evidence they work? All in the Mind talks to Mevagh Sanson, one of the psychologists who has done the first empirical research to find out. The conclusion is – they don’t. She talks to Claudia about the research and its implications. Also, there are many myths about Vincent van Gogh and his mental health. His creativ...
May 21, 2019•28 min
Claudia visits Café Conversations – a weekly meet up in West London for people who are feeling lonely. The café group was organised by Louise Kay who felt lonely after her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and wants to help people in the same position. The dark triad, a term coined by psychology researchers, is a group of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Claudia speaks to Professor Scott Kauffman from Columbia University; he has decided enough focus ha...
May 14, 2019•31 min
Remember that dress? In All in the mind recorded in front of an audience at the Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead, Claudia Hammond delves into the psychology and neuroscience of our visual experience. How do we know we all see the same colours? And why do adults look away from other people’s faces when they’re trying to concentrate? We hear from the visual neuroscientist trying to work out exactly what we all see when we look at colours and from the psychologist training the police and te...
May 07, 2019•35 min
Claudia talks to Catherine Loveday about her new research trying to find out why some people have difficulty navigating and what strategies might help. Madeleine Finlay reports from the 'Extreme Imagination' conference at Exeter University about people with aphantasia who have no mind's eye - who can't visualise friends, family, objects or anything. She meets people with the condition and the researchers trying to understand it. And the musical all about depression, 'A Super happy story about fe...
Apr 30, 2019•29 min
When ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle went missing in 2017 his wife Carrie thought the worst: he had severe depression and had already attempted to take his own life. Found safely in Liverpool, he then spent weeks in a psychiatric hospital and 18 months in therapy. Clarke’s whole sense of identity was tied up with football and the buzz it gave him. So a knee injury at 21 made him feel like a failure and pushed him towards destructive behaviours with alcohol and marathon computer game sessions. Carr...
Apr 23, 2019•29 min
Claudia busts some myths in neuroscience. She meets scientists attending the British Neuroscience Association's Christmas symposium on Neuromyths. She talks to Professor Chris MacManus about myths around left and right and how we use the different sides of our brain. She discusses with Duncan Astle from Cambridge University about the brain myths that have been used in education in primary schools. Cordelia Fine from Melbourne University discusses the myths about the differences between male and ...
Dec 18, 2018•28 min
A year ago a community organisation in Tyne and Wear called Citizens UK brought together people from schools, mosques, churches, politicians and the NHS to address mental health issues in their area. Claudia Hammond revisits the scheme a year on, to examine how a wide variety of local improvements now appear imminent. It follows months of hearing hundreds of personal testimonies and winning commitment from decision makers and those in power, to pledge to take action. What can those of us who wou...
Dec 11, 2018•28 min
