All in the Mind

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 smartphones also have uses that can be beneficial to children and adults alike. Claudia Hammond talks to Dr Amy Orben, who leads the digital mental health group at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. As well as her own research, she’s reviewed huge numbers of studies on the topic and says that the panic around smartphones mirrors previous panics about other technologies such as the radio. So how do we allow children to become part of the digital world while also keeping them safe?

Claudia is joined in the studio by clinical psychologist Linda Blair, who brings along a new research paper on what it means to get a diagnosis for a mild mental health problem. Diagnostic labels can legitimise help-seeking and boost empathy, but they can also encourage the view that mental health problems are persistent and discourage the idea that you can overcome them.

Climate anxiety is a fairly new label, and we hear from a group of people in Fife about how climate change is affecting them emotionally. Claudia then speaks to Caroline Hickman, a psychotherapist who works with climate activists and researches the psychological effects of climate change on young people. Human beings have an amazing capacity for resilience, but most of the problems we have faced in history have had a solution. How do we cope with a crisis that does not have a solution and contains multiple uncertainties?

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 has been interested in the rise in the use of the term ‘toxic positivity’ and has noticed how it is having an impact on our wellbeing. She reveals why it is important for us not to suppress ‘negative’ feelings and emotions.

Anisha was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was 39. She authored the book Everything You Hoped You’d Never Need To Know About Bowel Cancer, where she speaks about her diagnosis and treatment journey. She experienced first-hand the harm that toxic positivity can do.

Benjy works with many different companies to help improve their inclusion and wellbeing practices. He is the author of the book Hope This Helps and posts frequent videos about lots of tricky issues on TikTok and Instagram.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 experienced. Prof Holmes and her colleague, consultant clinical psychologist Dr Julie Highfield, ran a trial offering Tetris therapy to ICU workers and showed they could reduce intrusive memories significantly.

Next, you may have seen headlines this week suggesting that teenage brains could be worryingly and irrevocably changed by excessive internet use. It is the latest in a recent surge of concern about teenagers' relationship to technology. Claudia and studio guest, Sarah king from Sussex University, dig into the research and discover that the evidence isn’t as worrying as the headlines make it sound.

And do you have a secret? Apparently most of us do and we can't resist thinking about them even though that rumination can impact our wellbeing. Claudia discusses the psychology of secrets with Dr Michael Slepian from Columbia University in New York.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

ICU workers testimony clips taken from https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j22z

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 about the search for meaning in the modern world.

We hope that the many children currently going through exams across the country are flourishing, but exam success is far from the only influence on their futures. A new study shows that children who perceive greater household chaos at the age of 16 are more likely to have poor mental health by the age of 23. The most fascinating aspect of the research is that it involved twins living in the same household, and their perceptions of chaos were often wildly different. So what can parents do improve their children’s perception of chaos? Professor Daryl O’Connor from the School of Psychology at the University of Leeds joins Claudia in the studio to look at the evidence.

We also have the story of a survivor of child sexual abuse, who fell apart when a weekend away triggered memories of what had happened to him. He went to the police, and eventually his abuser was sent to prison. But the process of doing that destroyed his coping mechanism – to lock it away and ignore it. He tells us how the Salford-based charity We Are Survivors helped him put his life back together. He now encourages abuse survivors to seek help. Details of other organisations that can provide support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

And do you have an old friend you’ve lost touch with? Why don’t you get back in touch? New research shows that we’re often reluctant to do so. Claudia and Daryl dig into the detail and wonder whether it could even help us stop languishing.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 loved ones who have died. Professor Catherine Loveday, a psychologist and neuroscientist from the University of Westminster, joins Claudia in the studio to discuss how objects can help us form links in our brains and remember our loved ones.

Many of us breathe a sigh of relief when the weather warms up and the sun pops out, but one listener actually finds their mood worsens during the summer. Catherine and Claudia discuss the little-known condition of summer seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

Finally, we hear from Professor Andrew Steptoe, a psychologist and epidemiologist from University College London. He heads up the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, which has been running for 20 years. He has found that older people's anxiety levels have remained high following the pandemic. Claudia and Catherine unpick a few of the issues and stereotypes that some people may face.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 of 'Run Talk Run', Jess Robson, and talks to other members of the group about why they find exercise to be helpful.

Back in the studio, Claudia speaks to Jonathan Roiser, Professor of Neuroscience and Mental Health at University College London. He’s about to embark on a major piece of research that should help us understand a lot more about what exercise does for people with depression. As well as explaining what they’re hoping to discover, he tells her about the latest research into exercise and mental health. Why does it work for some people and not others, and what’s the best exercise for your brain?

Then there’s the commonly held belief that exercise is good for your mood because it ‘gets the endorphins going’, but we know that endorphins are not able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Claudia talks to Dr Hilary Marusak from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit about one of the possible alternatives – the endocannabinoid system.

Throughout the programme Claudia is joined by Dr Peter Olusoga, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University. Together they discuss the many barriers people face to improving their physical activity, including the fact that poor mental health itself can stop you wanting to exercise in the first place.

And if getting more exercise really does sound like the worst idea you can think of, it turns out that watching sport on TV might also be good for you.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 dishonesty researcher accused of the doing the very thing she studies. Cathleen O’Grady reports on a tale of data sleuths and multi-million dollar law suits.

Of course there’s no reason why a dishonesty researcher should be any more honest than anyone else. But somehow we feel as though you should have extra high standards if this is the topic you study, otherwise you could be accused of hypocrisy. Which got us wondering what it is about hypocrisy that interests, and sometimes infuriates, us so much? Professor Catherine Loveday, from the University of Westminster, is in the studio with Claudia to take a look at the evidence.

And we hear from Professor Rory O’Connor, at the University of Glasgow, about a generation of men whose suicide risk appears to have followed them through life. We talk about what that generation can tell us, as well as about the latest suicide statistics for England, and about what you can do to help someone in your life who you think might be having suicidal thoughts. And if you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

And finally, were you lucky ones enough to see the Northern Lights this weekend? Claudia and Catherine Loveday unpack the psychology of awe.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 genetics and neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin; and author Sinéad Moriarty.

We take a look at the role of hope in medical scenarios, if we can learn to be hopeful, and how we can hold onto hope in the modern world. And we take questions from our audience – including whether or not we should all just lower our expectations.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 Sophie Scott, joins Claudia in the studio to ask what it means for the science of psychology if the seasons have such a profound effect.

And we hear from a project in Northern Ireland that teaches people to have hope. Marie Dunne was inspired to set up the project, called Resilio, after witnessing the success of a programme designed to teach hope in schools. Based on that programme Resilio developed their own hope courses for adults. We hear from people who have benefitted from those courses, and from people who run them, about how to find hope.

Finally, Sophie Scott discusses a new study which found that male psychology scholars were less likely to think of female scholars when asked to name eminent researchers in that field. Could it explain the gender cap in citation rates?

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

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 help answer listener Lesley's query.

Meanwhile a new study by researchers at the USA's Columbia University is looking into the benefits of treating post-cardiac arrest PTSD with mindfulness. Claudia speaks to research scientist Dr Maja Bergman about how she was motivated to start the project by her own experience of a sudden cardiac arrest, in her thirties. We also hear from survivors via the support group Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK, about their experiences and recoveries.

Joining Claudia in the studio to discuss these stories and more is Dr Peter Olusoga, a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Sheffield Hallam University - who also has thoughts to share on new research into athletes shouting at umpires, and what affects our levels of impatience.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond