All in the Mind

This week is all about twins. On today's programme we'll hear from a very special pair who are through to the final of the All in the Mind Awards, which celebrates those who have made a real difference to people’s mental health. We'll hear how the special bond between Lisa and Rose Betts really mattered when Lisa was going through a very tough time with her mental health. And the insight Lisa and...

Do you feel like you’re flourishing? If you’ve not heard that term before, it’s not just about wellbeing, it’s about your whole life being good. Guest psychologist Dr Peter Olusoga joins Claudia in the studio to discuss the results of the Global Flourishing Study, a huge new study of more than 200,000 people in 22 countries. What are the key takeaways on how we might help ourselves to flourish? Pe...

What's going on in your brain when you experience an 'aha!' moment? Imagine you've been stuck on a problem for ages, but then the answer suddenly comes to you out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning. Claudia Hammond is joined in the studio by professor of cognitive neuroscience Sophie Scott to understand how these 'aha' moments happen. Sophie also brings us her own research into contagious laught...

This week, we're taking a look at the state of mental health services in the UK. Claudia Hammond is joined in the studio by the BBC's social affairs correspondent Michael Buchanan to dissect how long people are having to wait for care and what is being done to tackle the issues. We also hear from two more finalists in the All in the Mind Awards. First up is Duncan who nominated psychiatrist Dr Ile...

This week we’re talking about interoception. That's the way the brain interprets the many signals that come from the body. How useful is this skill, can you perfect it – and when might it have a more negative effect? In the studio with Claudia is health psychologist Professor Kavita Vedhara who explains why watching 15 minutes of the Two Ronnies, some Fawlty Towers and a bit of Elvis Presley, coul...

Are you ok? It’s a question that might be at the front of your mind during a traumatic event. But how helpful is it and can it even make matters worse? We answer a very intriguing listener question. And in the studio with Claudia is Catherine Loveday, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, who’s excited about a study that has uncovered a fascinating way of measuring just how precise our memory is. C...

You’ve probably heard the term ADHD – or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – more and more in recent years. Almost 200,000 of you are waiting for a diagnosis and services are struggling to keep up with the demand. Last year twenty four different services told BBC Verify that it would take them eight years to get to everyone on their waiting lists. Now the NHS in England is setting up a task...

A new series of All in the Mind kicks off with the first of the finalists in the All in the Mind Awards. Seven hundred of you entered the awards and our judging panel had the tricky task of choosing just nine finalists. The first of those is Rachel who was nominated by her husband Sam for all the support she offered him through his depression and psychosis. They tell Claudia Hammond their story. A...

In the second of two special holiday episodes Claudia Hammond and an expert panel of psychologists look to the future. A new year is upon us, a time when we often find ourselves reflecting on the year gone by and thinking about what comes next. Thinking about the future comes so naturally to most people that we don't realise what a complicated - and essential - skill it is. Catherine Loveday, Prof...

In the first of two special holiday episodes, Claudia Hammond and an expert panel of psychologists look back, nostalgically. At this festive time of year, you might be thinking wistfully about Christmas past – perhaps you’ll be rewatching old films, arguing over a game of Monopoly, or listening to Christmas music that drives you mad. Maybe you are looking back with rose-tinted spectacles on the Ch...

Could we be misunderstanding eating disorders for some patients? Research suggests that more than 30 percent of inpatients being treated for an eating disorder are also autistic. Claudia Hamond talks to Professor Kate Tchanturia from Kings College London, and Fiona Hollings, expert by experience, who helped develop a new approach to treating eating disorders in people with autism. What are your st...

Members of the UK military piloting unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, operate from Lincolnshire - a long way from frontline battlefields in the Middle East. Via their drones' cameras, they can watch their enemy targets for days or even weeks at a time. But while they might be physically safe, their close-up views of traumatic events can cause mental harm. In this episode, Claudia...

Functional Neurological Disorder, or FND, is the most common disorder you’ve probably never heard of. Some say it might be as common as MS or Parkinson’s and yet it’s not well known even by many medical professionals. It can cause seizures, paralysis, convulsions and changes in sensation, as well as pain, fatigue and memory difficulties. It’s caused by a problem with the system in the brain that c...

Claudia Hammond has her surfboard and wetsuit at the ready to investigate whether surfing could improve her mental health. And she speaks to Ariane Gerami from the University of Bristol to find out whether the enthusiam for surfing to help your mental health is coming ahead of the evidence. Claudia is joined in the studio by psychologist Dr Peter Olusoga at Sheffield Hallam University. They talk a...

Did someone amazing support you through mental health problems and would you like to recognise that support? Claudia Hammond launches the All in the Mind Awards where you can nominate individuals, professionals and groups who have helped you in your hardest times. Full details in the programme or by going to bbc.co.uk/radio4/allinthemind where you’ll also find full terms. Entries close 8th January...

Smartphones are bad for the mental health of children and adolescents. At least, that’s the popular perception that has led to calls for smartphones to be banned for children under a certain age, with numerous media reports drumming home the narrative that smartphones are damaging a generation. But the evidence for a link between smartphones and poor mental health is surprisingly weak, and smartph...

In the last two years, online searches for ‘toxic positivity’ have spiked. In this discussion from the Cheltenham Science Festival, we find out what toxic positivity is, and how it can hurt you and people around you. In front of a live audience, Claudia Hammond is joined by psychologist Dr Linda Blair, GP and educator Dr Anisha Patel, and wellbeing consultant and content creator Benjy Kusi. Linda...

You probably know the video game Tetris, perhaps you’ve even played it, but have you ever thought about it as therapy? Claudia Hammond talks to Professor Emily Holmes from Uppsala University, about her work using Tetris as a psychological intervention for unwanted memories. During the pandemic many ICU workers found they were experiencing intrusive memories about the traumatic events they had expe...

If you’re feeling demotivated and aimless, but you’re not depressed, you might be languishing. But what exactly is languishing, and what can you do about it? Claudia Hammond talks to the sociologist Dr Corey Keyes, who coined the term. He has some solutions that could help you move from languishing to flourishing, as well as poetic descriptions of how nature inspires his work and hopeful tales abo...

In this episode, Claudia Hammond goes to the Chelsea Flower Show to speak to garden designer Katherine Holland. She credits gardening with helping to ease her grief following the death of her mother. Her Grief Kind garden features a meeting space with three chairs set around a coffee table, to encourage conversations about grief and will include a rotating display of personal objects symbolising l...

As part of the BBC’s mental well-being season, All in the Mind takes a deep dive into the evidence on the relationship between exercise and mental health. Not just whether getting moving can make a difference, but why. Claudia Hammond laces up her running shoes and goes for a jog on the seafront in Eastbourne with a group of people who are running for their mental health. Claudia meets the founder...

First today, a story of alleged academic fraud. The allegations against Professor Francesca Gino might seem unremarkable at first sight. After all, we’ve covered allegations of fraud in psychology on All in the Mind before and the field has been doing all sorts to try to fix the problems. But what is unusual about this eminent Harvard researcher is that her research topic is dishonesty. Yes, a dis...

In this episode of All in the Mind, we’re at the 2024 Northern Ireland Science Festival where we’re discussing the psychology of hope. With a live audience in Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre, Claudia Hammond is joined by a panel of experts well-versed in the topic of hope: Dr Karen Kirby, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Ulster; Dr Kevin Mitchell, associate professor of geneti...

Are you looking forward to the lighter evenings of summer? Perhaps you're already feeling different as the seasons change and the green shoots of spring arrive? This week on All in the Mind we're taking a look at how the seasons affect our moods, thoughts and behaviours. Claudia Hammond speaks to Michael Varnum from Arizona State University about what the research says. Cognitive neuroscientist So...

If you've been cured of a phobia, say of spiders, and finally made your peace with the hairy-legged beasties in real life - why might you then start having vivid nightmares about them? Following an email plea for an explanation of this mystery Claudia Hammond enlists Dr Lampros Perogamvros, a psychiatrist from the University of Geneva who’s done extensive research around dreams and nightmares, to...