All in the Mind

In the US scientists are working out the details of President Obama's $100 million BRAIN initiative,

Novelist Alex Peston talks about his essay on creativity and antidepressants, and Claudia Hammond asks Nooreen Akhtar of Aberdeen University about her analysis of how antidepressants are portrayed in the press.

Noelle Blackman of Respond discusses the benefits of bereavement counselling for adults with learning disabilities.

Revision Techniques That Work

Students up and down the UK are busy revising for exams. Claudia Hammond discovers which methods are effective from Professor John Dunlosky, and the results will send a shiver down the spine of those who've left their revision to the last minute.

His review concludes that using a highlighter pen, underlining, reading and re-reading, and using mnemonics are the least effective techniques. Instead, students should do lots of practice tests and plan their revision sessions over time.

Right or Wrong ? - Therapists Who Cry

Last week's research paper from the USA on therapists who cry when their clients disclose something sad prompted scores of All in the Mind listeners to share their experiences. Claudia reviews the responses and airs a range of views.

Out Of Area Hospital Care for Detained Patients

An investigation by Community Care journal has disclosed an increase in the numbers of patients, detained under the Mental Health Act, who are being sent, many miles away from their homes, to be treated in private hospitals. Community Editor, Andy McNicoll tells Claudia Hammond about suspicions that out-of-area care is linked to acute bed closures and describes the concerns this practice raises for the care of vulnerable patients.

Psychological Treatments for Skin Disorders

More than half of the UK population experience a skin condition in any given 12 month period and the psychological impact on the individual can be enormous. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin has just published an updated report, a decade since they last investigated, criticising the lack of access to psychological help for sufferers and the trivialisation of skin disease in general. Dr Andrew Thompson, clinical psychologist and researcher at the University of Sheffield, talks to Claudia Hammond about the scale of unmet psychological need and Emma Rush, chairwoman of The Vitiligo Society, describes her personal experience of living with such a visible difference.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

The new edition of the American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will be launched later this month, Professor Simon Wessely discusses its potential impact in the UK.

Doomsday Prophets and the Nature of Belief

How do you cope with believing you are very right, but finding out you that were very wrong ? Neuroscientist Dr Kris de Meyer from King's College, London, spent six weeks interviewing followers of evangelical Christian broadcaster, Harold Camping, as they waited for May 21st, 2011, the date the earth was supposed to end. The resulting film explores the psychology of belief and tracks the mental gymnastics that individuals resort to when their fundamental beliefs are so publicly shattered.

News Consumption and Mental Wellbeing

Is bad news bad for your mental health ? Rolf Dobelli, author of The Art of Thinking, believes so, and he's given up on the habit. Rolf and Dr Pam Ramsden, from the University of Bolton, discuss with Claudia Hammond what we know about news consumption and mental wellbeing.

Psychology Research With Dr Christian Jarrett

Why women give better speeches if there's a picture of Hilary Clinton, or even Angela Merkel, behind them. Dr Christian Jarrett, Editor of the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, reviews the latest intriguing and important studies from psychology and neuroscience, including evidence that fighters should resist the urge to smile in their pre-match press conferences...apparently those who grin, do not win !

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

New research shows that reading a baby's mind aids its development. Claudia Hammond reports on a new technique which helps mothers connect with their infants. Known as mind mindedness this method cuts across social groups and is being used successfully to help women with serious mental illness bond with their babies.

And should people with mental illness be told the long term effects of their drugs? One listener thinks this is a message that should be handled with care. Plus, how a poem written twenty years ago by a twelve year old dyslexic boy has inspired a new art science collaboration.

"Bob", the Armed Forces, the Police and PTSD

A former member of the armed forces and a policeman, "Bob", suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD following the shocking death of a young woman that he was spending the evening with. He tells Claudia Hammond that he's only recently received the help he needed to get his life back on track and admits that he believes many people in the emergency services have, like him, untreated PTSD.

The statistics confirm "Bob's" suspicions, which is why research at Kings College, London, and Oxford University is of such interest. Dr Jennifer Wild and her doctoral student, Rachel White, have discovered that by training people to concentrate on HOW the event is unfolding rather than WHY, significantly fewer PTSD-type symptoms are reported.

Researchers exposed volunteers to traumatic films with visuals of accidents and deaths, but whereas those in the WHY group were encouraged to focus on the abstract, on why such terrible things happen and what it would mean for the people involved and their families, the HOW group was prompted to focus on the specific and objective details of the event without straying into its greater meaning.

The results showed that the WHY group suffered from more intrusive memories, flashbacks and hyper-arousal than the HOW group, suggesting that if emergency workers could be trained to change their thinking, then psychological trauma could be reduced.

Past In Mind

A chance meeting on a train between archaeologist Ian Bapty and Herefordshire MIND worker, Jenny McMillan, led to an unusual collaboration: an archaeological dig to excavate a lost village. The Past In Mind project brought together archaeologists, historians and people recovering from mental health problems on the Lower Brockhampton Estate in Herefordshire to search for the lost medieval settlement of Studmarsh. Volunteers made an audio diary for All in the Mind from the dig.

Organophosphates

Government advisers on the Committee on Toxicity have been sent a new review on organophosphates which suggests that low level exposure causes damage to the brain and nervous system. Dr Sarah Mackenzie Ross, a neuropsychologist from University College London is one of the authors of the meta-analysis - a systematic review of the best available evidence - and she tells Claudia Hammond that the evidence suggests that people who have been exposed to low levels of organophosphates have impaired cognitive function.

Organophospate pesticides are the most widely used insecticides in the world in agriculture and horticulture. They're also used in industry as lubricants, plasticizers and flame-retardants and pest-control teams use them too.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

Mild cognitive impairment is a condition which is often a precursor to Alzheimer's Disease, but not everyone will go on to develop the condition. If researchers could discover who does develop the disease and who doesn't it would have implications for therapy. Claudia talks to researchers about some of the latest research in this area and discovers how the loss of brain cells in a region of the brain known as the hippocampus leads to the characteristic symptoms of the disease.

At the scene of a disaster it is now common for counselling to be provided for the victims, but will everyone develop post traumatic stress disorder PTSD? John Marzillier, a researcher in this area with 40 years experience, says everyone responds differently and only 10% of people are likely to develop PTSD.

Why do we continue to believe information even when we are told it's wrong? Claudia Hammond discovers how the brain stores facts and why we don't erase erroneous explanations.

Polygraph Testing for Sex Offenders

Mandatory polygraph tests for sex offenders could be introduced by the end of 2013, following a pilot trial in the Midlands was judged to be a success.

The controversial test is often called a "lie detector". It measures physiological arousal such as increased heart rate, respiration and sweating and the assumption is that these responses can be used to assess whether somebody's telling the truth or not.

In the pilot study, convicted sex offenders who'd served their sentence and were out on licence in the ecommunity, were judged to be more than twice as likely to admit to risky behaviour if they'd been given a polygraph test. The Ministry of Justice, subject to parliamentary time and approval, wants to roll out compulsory testing within 12 months in England and Wales.

Dr Jane Wood, a forensic psychologist from the University of Kent and one of the authors of the Midlands polygraph pilot evaluation, describes the results which so impressed the Ministry of Justice and then Claudia Hammond hears from both sides of the polygraph debate: Dr Sharon LeaI, from the International Centre for Forensic Research in Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, who criticises the lack of evidence around polygraph use and Don Grubin, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry at Newcastle University who says the polygraph can play an important role in the management of dangerous sex offenders.

Birdsong

Will the song of a blackbird make us happier than the caw of a crow ? These and other questions will be answered by Eleanor Ratcliffe from the University of Surrey who's studying the benefits of birdsong on our wellbeing and our behaviour.

The Psychology of Disfigurement

Our looks are our "social currency" so what happens when our appearance is radically altered by disfigurement ?

How people cope, psychologically, with dramatic changes to the way they look is the subject of a major new research project, and the results challenge many myths about who copes best.

"Time is a great healer", "women care about their looks more than men", "the more serious the disfigurement, the harder it is to cope", are all beliefs challenged in this new study.

Claudia Hammond hears one woman's story, academic researcher, Amanda Bates, about how she coped with her visible difference and she talks to Nichola Rumsey and Diana Harcourt from the Centre for Appearance Research in Bristol.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

New research by Professor Mary Cummings of MIT looks at the boredom threshold of drone operators.

Author Sarah Wise talks to Claudia Hammond about the wealth of evidence she has uncovered about the rise, in 19th Century Britain, of the "mad doctor".

This new generation of medical men were powerful and corruptible, and there are many stories of difficult family members being locked up in lunatic asylums - or "living tombs" as they were called - in return for bribes.

And it seems that far from the classic view of women being the main victim of such skulduggery, moneyed men were more likely targets as relatives and business partners sought to get hold of their cash and property.

Suspicion and anger towards the asylum committal procedure crossed classes, and there were protests in the streets against "lunacy inquisitions".

It is often thought that the long term effects of neglect and abuse early in life mean that children are unable to form bonds with carers such as foster parents, but a new study from Professor Stephen Scott at the Institute of Psychiatry in London dispels this myth.

Producer: Geraldine Fitzgerald.

Sexuality and Faces - How does our "Gaydar" work ?

Most of us think we're pretty good at guessing when somebody's gay or straight, but what signals are we using to make our decision, and how often are we right ?

The Me Generation

Professor Jean Twenge from San Diego State University in California has already coined the phrase, "Generation Me", describing the growing number of people who take it for granted that the self comes first. And she's less than flattering abut the downsides of this fundamental cultural shift.

IQ Tests and Learning Disabilities

Psychologists are considering whether guidelines on how learning disabilities are assessed should be revised, following concerns that IQ test scores could be depriving people of a formal diagnosis, and therefore access to services.

Producer: Fiona Hill.