Most of us remember what it was like to start school. Intimidating new places, being unsure of the schedule, lots of new potential friends — and maybe a few foes. It’s a huge moment for kids, and their families, that brings with it a lot of big, complex challenges.

In this episode, Jon Sutton chats with Professor Claire Hughes, Deputy Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, about the hurdles families face when children start school, what it means to be ‘school ready’, and more.

This is Episode 41 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society's Research Digest, sponsored by Zanda.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Jon Sutton. Audio wizardry by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt. 

Hungry for more?

Why not check out this piece on fixing the home-school relationship by Clinical Psychologist Dr Tara Porter. 

Or get to grips with current research on school avoidance with this recent article from Educational Psychologist Meg Fairclough.

Find these and much, much more over at The Psychologist.

PsychCrunch is brought to you by Zanda, the all-in-one practice management software designed for psychologists. With telehealth, easy mobile access, and automated tools, including online scheduling and reminders, Zanda helps you run your practice, your way. Find out more at ZandaHealth.com 

The massive variety of human sexual interests is a little mind-boggling. As what we consider to be sexually typical continues to be expanded and shaped by the internet and popular culture, psychologists are making efforts to research kinks and members of the kink community like never before.

Join Ella Rhodes in conversation with Liam Wignall (Senior Lecturer at Brighton University and committee member of the BPS’s Sexualities Section) about his work exploring community in these underground spaces, links with neurodivergence, and the ways modern technology is transforming the scene — as well as research into it.

We also chat with Dr Kate Marks, a Clinical Psychologist who works with those involved in kink communities, about her impressions of the emotions, social consequences, and even therapeutic echoes that run through these subversive engagements. 

This episode discusses sex, sexuality, and the stigma and struggles that can come alongside it. As such, it may not be suitable for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

This is Episode 40 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Zanda.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Ella Rhodes. Audio wizardry by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Want to learn more?

Read more about how sexual scripts are shifting thanks to the changing landscape of gender-based stereotypes online, and the fallout for women, in our interview with Dr Jane Meyrick over at The Psychologist. 

Or learn about how feeling powerful can lead romantic partners to widen their nets with this Research Digest piece by Emily Reynolds. 

PsychCrunch is brought to you by Zanda, the all-in-one practice management software designed for psychologists. With telehealth, easy mobile access, and automated tools, including online scheduling and reminders, Zanda helps you run your practice, your way. Find out more at ZandaHealth.com

There’s no question that we find ourselves in uncertain times. Looking at current events and wondering about what the future may hold can leave us feeling overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed, to say the least. 

But uncertain times aren’t always the ominous force we make them out to be. In fact, research suggests that they can create unique opportunities for growth and transformation that we wouldn’t otherwise encounter.

This episode, Ella Rhodes chats with Maggie Jackson — author of Uncertain and expert on uncertainty — unpacking how uncertainty shapes our lives. Together, they explore how embracing the unknown can open doors to unexpected possibilities, and can lead us to greener pastures.

This is Episode 39 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Ella Rhodes. Audio wizardry by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Want to learn more?

Read more about how we can embrace uncertainty in therapeutic settings with The wisdom of therapist uncertainty, over at The Psychologist. 

Or check out Resilience to uncertainty by Eleanore Batteux for a practical exploration of what we can do to become resilient to future uncertainties, explored through the lens of the pandemic. 

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series. Browse over 5 million articles, and related books. BPS members are entitled to a 25% discount on all books published by Routledge – find your discount code here and visit the dedicated BPS Member page at Routledge here.

In years gone by, the norm for psychological research was to design studies from the outside looking in. Acting as observers of particular populations, there was generally an expected separation between the researcher and the researched.

More recently, however, there’s been a shift.

For decades, the rallying cry “nothing about us without us” has been used by the disability rights movement to communicate the idea that no policy should come to pass without their full and direct participation. This important approach has made its way to psychological research, and as it gathers momentum, we’re seeing more and more lived experiences and expert insights from studied populations enrich our scientific landscape.

This episode, Emma Palmer-Cooper meets James Cusak (Chief Executive, Autistica) and Dr Amy Pearson to look at the benefit of involving studied populations in research design — specifically, in autism research.

This is Episode 38 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Emma Palmer-Cooper. Audio wizardry by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Want to learn more?

See the value of consulting with studied communities in this article investigating differences between academic and community research priorities in Scotland.

Or take a look at The Psychologist’s recent issue on Neurodiversity.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series. Browse over 5 million articles, and related books. BPS members are entitled to a 25% discount on all books published by Routledge – find your discount code here and visit the dedicated BPS Member page at Routledge here.

This is Episode 37 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

[Content warning: This episode centres around cancer. As such, it makes references to medical events and themes that some listeners may find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised.]

In the face of significant medical challenges, we would all hope for compassionate, informative communication from medical professionals and those close to us. Sometimes, though, the reality falls short of that expectation.

This episode, Editor of The Psychologist, Dr Jon Sutton, meets Professor Dame Lesley Fallowfield, Director of the Sussex Health Outcomes Research and Education in Cancer (SHORE-C) group at the University of Sussex.

Through their conversation, our guest shares personal reflections on her career at the cutting edge of psycho-oncology, improving the experiences of those with cancer by creating new ways to measure difficult things, and forging new paths to help people talk about the disease.

Episode Credits:

Hosted by Dr Jon Sutton. Mixed and edited by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Want to learn more about psycho-oncology?

Check out The Psychologist’s article on the SHORE-C group's recent film 'They just don't know what to say or do'.

Or browse our collection of articles on psychology and cancer, with comment from Dr Mike Rennoldson, Chair of the DCP Faculty for Oncology and Palliative Care.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series. Browse over 5 million articles, and related books. BPS members are entitled to a 25% discount on all books published by Routledge – find your discount code here and visit the dedicated BPS Member page at Routledge here.

This is Episode 36 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Why do we dream? And what business does a good dream have turning into a nightmare?

In this episode, Ella Rhodes embarks on an exploration of our non-waking life.

In it, she speaks with Director of the Swansea University Sleep Laboratory, Professor Mark Blagrove, about his research and latest theories about the origins of dreams.

Research Clinical Psychologist Dr Bryony Sheaves of Oxford University also shares her expert insights into why we have nightmares, and the innovative research revealing how treating them can improve our mental health.

Episode Credits:

Written and hosted by Ella Rhodes. Mixed and edited by Jeff Knowler. Edited by Emma Barratt.

Missed previous episodes? Get up to date via our PsychCrunch collection page.

Not done dreaming? 

Check out The Psychologist’s most recent interview with Mark Blagrove for much more on the function of dreams.

Or explore some of Bryony’s latest research on nightmares in this Research Digest piece by Emily Reynolds.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series. Browse over 5 million articles, and related books. BPS members are entitled to a 25% discount on all books published by Routledge – find your discount code here and visit the dedicated BPS Member page at Routledge here.

This is Episode 35 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

From haunted houses to scary movies, many of us find a thrill in a good scare. But… isn’t that a bit counter-intuitive?

In this episode, we ask why so many of us are drawn to things that should make us run a mile, and whether we can use fear to help us better cope with day-to-day anxiety. Host Ella Rhodes speaks with Director of The Recreational Fear Lab, Dr Mathias Clasen, and Cambridge University PhD student Lucie Daniel-Watanabe to discover why fear isn’t always to be feared.

Episode credits:

Written and hosted by Ella Rhodes.

Audio mixing and editing by Jeff Knowler.

Edited by Emma Barratt.

Not done learning about fear? 

Get into Dr Ciaran O’Keeffe’s look at the psychology of fear, fright-nights and exploring the unknown.  Or if coping with fear piques your interest, why not explore what children know about managing fear with this piece by Christian Jarrett. Still curious? Dive deeper into our guest Dr Matthias Clasen’s work right here.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Routledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series.  Browse over 5 million articles at www.tandfonline.com, and related books at www.routledge.com.

This is Episode 34 of PsychCrunch, the podcast of the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, sponsored by Routledge Psychology.

Despite it being easier than ever to communicate, so many of us find it challenging to make new friends – especially as we get older. Opening up conversations with strangers can leave us feeling like a bother, and fizzle into nothing more than a one-off interaction. The loneliness this can create isn’t just a passing sting, it can have ongoing impacts to both our mental and physical health. So, in this episode, Ginny Smith asks: just how do we make friends as adults?

To get to the bottom of this problem, Ginny speaks with our expert guests Dr. Marissa G. Franco (Professor, speaker, and the New York Times bestselling author of Platonic) and Dr Gillian Sandstrom (Senior Lecturer in the psychology of kindness at the University of Sussex). Together, they give their insights on why so many of us run into problems expanding our social circle, and share some practical advice on how to make more connections.

Episode Credits:Written and hosted by Ginny Smith.Mixing and audio editing by Jeff Knowler.Edited by Emma Barratt.

Want to know more about the psychology of friendship?Discover plenty more on the topic over on our website.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge PsychologyRoutledge Psychology is part of the Taylor & Francis Group, and publishing partner for the BPS Core Textbooks Series. Browse over 5 million articles at www.tandfonline.com, and related books at www.routledge.com.

Have you ever had the feeling that there was someone – or something – nearby? Perhaps you were in bed falling asleep when you suddenly became convinced that a person was standing next to you, even though you couldn’t actually ‘see’ or ‘hear’ anyone at all. Or maybe you were out in the wilderness, with no-one for miles around, and couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following you.

In this episode, Dr Jon Sutton, editor of The Psychologist magazine, talks to Dr Ben Alderson-Day, Associate Professor at Durham University, about the phenomenon of the 'felt presence' – that often eerie sensation that someone is near us. Jon and Ben’s wide-ranging discussion touches on everything from Shackleton’s unusual experiences in Antarctica, to the frightening yet common phenomenon of sleep paralysis and the modern practice of ‘tulpamancy’.

Read a transcript of the interview at The Psychologist

Ben’s book will be released in March and is available to pre-order here

Presented and produced by Jon Sutton, with additional content from Matthew Warren.

Mixing and editing by Jeff Knowler.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology

Grief is a universal experience, but one which affects every individual differently. A grieving person might feel guilty, listless, frightened, or angry. And at a time when they most need support, the bereaved may find other people turning away from them, not really knowing how to talk to them about their feelings and the person they’ve lost. So how can we learn to better cope with grief in ourselves and in others?

In this episode, Ella Rhodes, journalist for The Psychologist, speaks to two experts who are working to help us understand how people process grief and what can be done to support those who are grieving. Our guests are Dr Mary-Frances O'Connor, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona and author of The Grieving Brain, and Jane Harris, psychotherapist and co-founder of The Good Grief Project.

Episode credits:

Presented and produced by Ella Rhodes. Script edits by Matthew Warren. Mixing and editing by Jeff Knowler. PsychCrunch theme music by Catherine Loveday and Jeff Knowler. Artwork by Tim Grimshaw.

Further resources

• More information about The Good Grief Project can be found at the project's website
• Check out Dr Mary-Frances O'Connor's website for more on her book The Grieving Brain, as well as a list of publications including those discussed in this episode.
• Last year, Jon Sutton interviewed Dr Mary-Frances O'Connor for The Psychologist
• Also in The Psychologist: Elaine Kasket talks to Bjørn Johnson about his film Memory Box: Echoes of 9/11, and discusses the themes of the film with Jane Harris.

PsychCrunch is sponsored by Routledge Psychology.