All in the Mind

First CBT Psychosis Trial in the Absence of Medication

Antipsychotic medication has long been seen as the first line of treatment for psychosis. In fact, prescriptions are increasing in the UK and around the world. But there's criticism that the effectiveness of these drugs has been over-estimated, and the serious side effects, underestimated.

Now, in the first trial of its kind in the world, treating psychosis when people aren't taking antipsychotics using a talking therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, is being measured in a randomised controlled trial.

It is the first time since the 1970s that a psychological treatment, in the absence of medication, has been put to the test, and the results of this experiment have the potential to transform the treatment options for the many people who have diagnoses of schizophrenia and related disorders.

The trial's being run jointly by Manchester University and Greater Manchester West Mental Health Foundation Trust, and Tony Morrison, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Manchester, is leading the research along with colleagues in the North East of England.

He tells Claudia Hammond that patients should be given more choice about the treatments they're offered instead of medication being the default option.

Trial participants, Natalie and Steve, describe their experience of psychosis and the treatments that have helped them and the Editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, Peter Tyrer, puts the trial into context.

US Elections and Mental Health

Sixteen per cent of the American population don't have health care insurance and people with mental health problems are over-represented in this group. Daniel Carlat is Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts School of Medicine and he describes to Claudia how insurance companies are reluctant to fund mental health care.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

In the first of a new series, presenter Claudia Hammond reports on the latest developments in neuroscience, mental health and psychology.

Anna Freud was the daughter of Sigmund Freud who pioneered child psychotherapy. She set up the Hampstead War nurseries during the Second World War, which became the Anna Freud Centre after her death in 1982. The Centre is now celebrating its 60th anniversary and Claudia investigates how it has changed and asks what the founder would think of its many new projects, including neuroscience and teenage brains.

Claudia talks to the new Minister with responsibility for mental health, Norman Lamb.

And Rebecca Shaumberg explains why she thinks guilt is a positive characteristic in a leader.

Richard Mabey

The man described as "Britain's greatest living nature writer", Richard Mabey, talks to Claudia Hammond about "the lost years" of his depressive illness. The author of Food for Free, Flora Britannica and Nature Cure admits that a symptom of his clinical depression was that he lost his connection with the natural world.

Allotment "Young at Heart"

The Young at Heart Project in Barking and Dagenham works to improve the mental and physical health of socially isolated men by bringing them together for regular growing sessions down at the allotment.

Ecotherapy

Mental health professionals join Andy McGeeney in ancient woodland, Thorndon Park, in Essex, to learn about ecotherapy.

Lisa on Horticultural Therapy

After many years of illness, Lisa, a former mental health nurse, tells Claudia about the part making a garden played in her recovery.

"Green Therapy": the evidence

Dr Rachel Bragg from the "Green Care Research Team" at the University of Essex describes the evidence behind nature-based therapies and argues they should be part of a "toolkit" of care for patients.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

The well respected mental health campaigner, Janey Antoniou, died in hospital in 2010 while detained under the Mental Health Act. Her husband, Dr Michael Antoniou, talks to Claudia Hammond about the circumstances of his wife's death and why he believes it's wrong that hospitals, when a patient dies, can investigate themselves.

Also in the programme Claudia talks to psychologist, Sonja Lyubomirsky, about new research which shows that parents are happier than non-parents but surprisingly, the effect is greatest for men.

Claudia visits Europe's largest club drug clinic, part of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, a year after it opened to find out about a growing use of so- called legal highs and the problems associated with legal and illegal club drug use.

Producer: Pam Rutherford.

Stalking

In an exclusive interview for All in the Mind, a woman who was harassed and threatened over four years by a female member of staff, calls for employers to take stalking in the workplace seriously.

How Infants Know Minds

Parents are always amazed by how much their babies seem to understand, but the traditional view of psychologists, studying child development, has been in conflict with this. Psychologists' "Theory of Mind", suggests that until a child is 2 or 3, it's impossible for them to understand certain things, because they don't have an idea of their own mind, and by extension, can't possibly have an idea of somebody else's.

But Vasu Reddy, Professor of Developmental and Cultural Psychology at the University of Portsmouth, has, for twenty years, been challenging these assumptions, with research demonstrating that babies can tease, joke and even play with our expectations, long before they can speak.

Sports Participation after Major Sporting Events

This week the government launched their Games4Life campaign with the aim of inspiring the nation to get active during this year's summer of sport. But does watching big sporting events like the Olympics encourage people take part in more sport or even just to take a bit more exercise?

Claudia talks to Ken Fox, Emeritus Professor of Exercise and Health Science at Bristol University, about the psychology behind what motivates us to exercise and whether one of the common assumptions about the legacy of the 2012 games of a sportier, healthier nation stands up to the evidence.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

Claudia Hammond talks to Jacopo Annese, director of the San Diego brain observatory about his mission to create what he calls 'a Hubble space telescope for the brain'. He is recruiting people who will be willing to donate their brains to his laboratory. By interviewing them regularly to record their detailed life histories and interests and by doing psychological tests he aims to provide a brain archive for neuroscientists in the future. But what sort of links can be established between brain anatomy and personality and what sort of people are willing to donate their brains to his lab?

Producer: Pam Rutherford.

At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics ten members of the Spanish basketball team were stripped of their gold for pretending to have a learning disability. For the first time since that scandal athletes with learning disabilities can compete again in this year's games. British psychologist, Professor Jan Burns is the Head of Eligibility for the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability. She tells Claudia which sports and which athletes will be eligible.

In 2007 the Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam published a paper stating that ethnic diversity in a community is associated with more mistrust. His paper was influential with governments, both in the UK and the US. Claudia is joined by one of Britain's leading social psychologists, Professor Miles Hewstone from Oxford University, about his new research which finds Putnam's bleak conclusions about society are wrong.

Clinical microbiologist, Graham Rook from University College London is hopeful that one day there might be a vaccination against depression. He's basing his ideas on two things: the finding that some people with depression are found to have higher levels of inflammation in the body and the idea that inflammation could be controlled by our exposure to contact with certain worms and bacteria - the so-called hygiene hypothesis. Professor Rook tells Claudia why he thinks with more research there could one day be a vaccine. The link between depression and inflammation in a proportion of people with depression is established, but is a vaccine for all really possible and would it be a useful avenue to explore for preventing the condition? Nick Craddock is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cardiff and explains why he is critical of the idea.

Producer: Pam Rutherford.

Airport Scanners to help with Distorted Body Image

People with eating disorders often have a distorted view of their own bodies. Researchers at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen are now using 3-D body scanners to test whether giving this accurate feedback of body shape could help in the treatment of life-threatening illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.

Chit-Lit, Scandi-Lit...now Neuro-Lit !

Why neuroscience is taking a leading role in the modern novel. Claudia Hammond talks to science writer, Jonah Lehrer, and to academic psychologist and writer, Charles Fernyhough, about the emergence of brain science in literature and considers whether new understanding of the brain can enrich fiction in the same way that Darwinism or Psychoanalysis did.

Teenagers' Brains and Social Rejection

It's long been known that adolescents are particularly vulnerable to being left out. They get hurt and feel the rejection very keenly. Research by Dr Catherine Sebastian at the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at University College London suggests this response could be explained by the developing teenage brain.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

Money and Motivation: how do high pay and bonuses affect performance ?

Barclays chief, Bob Diamond, was the first high profile company head to be caught up in the "shareholder spring", when investors criticised his multi-million pound pay and bonus package. The Aviva boss has resigned after his pay and bonus was criticised, similarly Sly Bailey of Trinity Mirror has also stood down. The opposition is based on the argument that there should be no payment for failure, but what is the evidence that payment for success is a primary motivation for top business leaders ?

Taking mental health care into the community: "Street Therapy"

Clinical Psychologist, Charlie Alcock, took months to get young gang members on a London estate to trust her. But after being spat at and having stones thrown at her head, she finally succeeded in making contact with this hardest of all hard-to-reach groups.

Reforming the Law on Insanity

In 1843 a man called M'Naghten attempted to murder the British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. He got the wrong man, killing his secretary by mistake. Our current laws on insanity are rooted in that case, from nearly 200 years ago.

Producer: Fiona Hill.

Claudia Hammond visits HMP Grendon, the only prison in Europe which operates wholly as a therapeutic community. More than nine out of ten prisoners at Grendon are serving indeterminate sentences for murder or serious violent offences. Inmates have to apply for a place and once approved undergo intensive group therapy three times a week for well over a year. Claudia talks to inmates, therapists and prison staff to find out how the prison operates and how its unique environment aims to reduce reoffending rates.