Gabby is joined by Consultant Psychiatrist Professor Steve Peters, who - for the last thirty years - has helped people from all walks of life to better understand the way their brains work and optimise their psychological health. These people include elite athletes and Olympians, household names such as Sir Chris Hoy, who previously said on this podcast that Steve was a “once in a lifetime person”. 

We hear how Steve came to recognise psychological dysfunction when he was a junior doctor, and how he realised that psychiatry was crucial to people’s lives whilst training to become a GP. We learn how this set him on a course to developing the Chimp Paradox mind management model, and then - as he describes it - going undercover at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Fast forward to today, and he has provided consultancy to over twenty Olympic and national sporting teams. 

As well as expanding on how the chimp paradox works, Steve also shares his thoughts on screening ADHD and later life diagnoses; ways we can teach children to understand their brains better, so that they are more mentally resilient later on in life; and how the teenage brain is different and influenced by feeling not fact, so we must adapt our language accordingly. We also learn more about Steve’s own sporting success, after he rediscovered sprinting in midlife, and his thoughts and advice for keeping our brains fit and healthy into old age. 

This is an uplifting episode, full of tips and tools to help keep your psychological health in check, which will leave you with the sense that we are all more resilient than we might think. 

If you want to learn more about Professor Peters’ mind management programmes, his books The Chimp Paradox and A Path Through The Jungle are available now.

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