Ramita Navai is a foreign affairs journalist who investigates human rights abuses and conflict around the world. She has reported from war zones and hostile territories in over forty countries, and although good at compartmentalising the trauma she's witnessed, nothing could prepare her for the grief she felt when her own father died three years ago. In this episode, she speaks to Mary-Frances O’Connor, an associate professor at the University of Arizona, who runs the grief, loss and social stress (Glass) lab, which explores the effects of grief on the brain and the body. Together, they talk about the impact of grief on the mind and body, and how to navigate through it.  Produced by Caitlin Hobbs for BBC Audio

Grief: Ramita Navai and Mary-Frances O’Connor

Series of interviews in which broadcasters follow their personal passions by talking to the people whose stories interest them most

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In recent years there’s been a renaissance of interest in psychedelics in the West, on a scale not seen since the first wave of medical research in the 1950s and 60s. Drugs like DMT, ketamine and psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms), are now being researched as medications to take alongside therapy for the treatment of various mental health problems. Across this series of interviews, Rose Cartwright explores so-called ‘psychedelic assisted psychotherapy’. What is it? And can it help tackle our mental health crisis?  Her guest today is Dr Sara Tai, professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Manchester, who is currently leading research into psychedelic therapy. How might  psychedelic therapy help people to become unstuck? How do the potential rewards weigh up against the risks? And what is the likelihood of these psychedelic treatments becoming legalised for medical use within the UK?  Producer: Becky Ripley

Psychedelics and Mental Health: Rose Cartwright meets Sara Tai

In recent years there’s been a renaissance of interest in psychedelics in the West, on a scale not seen since the first wave of medical research in the 1950s and 60s. Drugs like DMT, ketamine and psilocybin (the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms), are now being researched as medications to take alongside therapy for the treatment of various mental health problems. Across this series of interviews, Rose Cartwright explores so-called ‘psychedelic assisted psychotherapy’. What is it? Can it help tackle our mental health crisis? And what are the risks? Her guest today is Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, one of the world’s leading psychedelics researchers, former founder of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London, and now Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the University of California. How to these drugs work on the brain? What are the current medical trials indicating? And how are the laws around the medical use of these drugs changing? 
Producer: Becky Ripley

Psychedelics and Mental Health: Rose Cartwright meets Robin Carhart-Harris

In recent years there’s been a renaissance of interest in psychedelics in the West, on a scale not seen since the first wave of medical research in the 1950s and 60s. Drugs like DMT, ketamine and psilocybin (that’s the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms), are now being researched as medications to take alongside therapy for the treatment of various mental health problems. Across this series of interviews, Rose Cartwright explores so-called ‘psychedelic assisted psychotherapy’. What is it? Can it help tackle our mental health crisis? And what are the risks? Her first guest is clinical psychologist Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner from the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College, which is working on medical trials with psilocybin and MDMA for the treatment of depression and complex trauma. What is complex trauma and how might psychedelic drugs help to make sense of it? What can we learn from indigenous healers when trialling these drugs within a western clinical framework? And how could psychedelic-assisted therapy play out within the NHS if these drugs become legalised for medical use?  Producer: Becky Ripley

Psychedelics and Mental Health: Rose Cartwright meets Ashleigh Murphy-Beiner

Since becoming a parent to a now-toddler, Samira Shackle has been bombarded with advice on social media - sometimes useful, sometimes not-so. She meets Helen Oliver, mother to two teenagers and school counsellor, to discuss navigating this online world and the affect it has on mothers, in particular. Samira Shackle is a journalist and the author of Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Contested City. Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol.

Parenting advice in the age of social media: Samira Shackle and Helen Oliver

Since becoming a parent to a now-toddler, Samira Shackle has been bombarded with advice on social media - sometimes useful, sometimes not-so. She meets Lucy Jones, mother-of-three, to discuss navigating this online world and the affect it has on mothers, in particular. Samira Shackle is a journalist and the author of Karachi Vice: Life and Death in a Contested City; Lucy Jones is the author of Matrescence: On The Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood. Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio, Bristol.

Grief: Ramita Navai and Mary-Frances O’Connor

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