The Mental Wellbeing College

By Indi Dissanayake

Each episode is a deep-dive into the evidence of different mental wellbeing practices. We discuss this with researchers and practitioners themselves. We tease apart the research for you in an applicab... more

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about The Mental Wellbeing College:

How many episodes does The Mental Wellbeing College have?

The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.

The Mental Wellbeing College episodes:

January 31, 2024 Exercise for Severe Mental Illness | Dr. Oscar Lederman | 43
Discover the unsettling truth behind the reduced life expectancy for those with severe mental illness. We delve into how exercise can help manage the health inequities and lifestyle risk factors individuals with severe mental illness face in relation to physical well-being. We discuss how and when health practitioners should consider exercise as part of their treatment for mental health.
Dr. Oscar Lederman is a Lecturer at UTS in the Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology program, a Senior Accredited Exercise Physiologist with over 10 years clinical experience, a Mental Health First Aid instructor and is the Lead Author on the Consensus Statement on the role of Accredited Exercise Physiologists within the treatment of mental health disorders.
Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
2:55 The Severe MI Scandal
13:45 Medication Side-Effects
22:15 Benefits of Exercise
36:30 Using Exercise as a Treatment
45:00 Making Exercise Sustainable
54:55 Practitioners’ Reluctance to Use Exercise
Show Notes
The Mental Health Scandal (originally coined by Prof Graham Thornicroft) article - "Physical health disparities and mental illness: the scandal of premature mortality" by Prof. Graham Thornicroft (2011)
"The Lancet Psychiatry Commission: a blueprint for protecting physical health in people with mental illness" by Firth et. al. (2019)
"Consensus statement on the role of Accredited Exercise Physiologists within the treatment of mental disorders: a guide for mental health professionals" by Lederman et. al. (2016)
"The Role of Exercise in Preventing and Treating Depression" by Schuch and Stubbs (2019)
"2-year follow-up: Still keeping the body in mind" by Curtis et. al. (2018)
"A systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise interventions in schizophrenia patients" by Firth et. al. (2015)
"Cardiometabolic Algortihm" by Curtis et. al. (2011)
"Keeping the Body In Mind" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBYapkof0NU
"MindFresh: Working Out Refugee Mental Health in Bangladesh" (Dr. Simon Rosenbaum's work in Cox's Bazar) https://alumni.unsw.edu.au/giving/MindFresh
"Waves of Wellness" program https://www.foundationwow.org/
"Adopting and maintaining physical activity behaviours in people with severe mental illness: The importance of autonomous motivation" by Vancampfort et. al. (2015)
...more
1h 2min
January 24, 2024 Enhancing Workplace Wellbeing | Dr. Tomas Jungert | 42
Welcome to The Mental Wellbeing College! In this episode, we dive into the concept of workplace wellbeing and share valuable strategies to enhance work satisfaction and fulfilment. Discover effective ways to boost employee satisfaction and create a positive work environment for your employees and colleagues. 🌟
Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
2:11 The 3 Psychological Needs
11:21 Work Motivation 101
25:16 How to be Autonomy-supportive
38:01 Workplace Cultures
44:16 Work Motivation in the Real World
Dr. Tomas Jungert is a Senior Lecturer, Researcher and Associate Professor at Lund University. Tomas has conducted research for the past 20 years now on human motivation, educational psychology and school bullying but today we discuss his prolific research on workplace motivation.
In this episode, expect to learn 1️⃣ The 3 basic psychological needs you need to satisfy to make work fulfilling 2️⃣ Strategies to enhance the intrinsic motivation of your employees and colleagues 3️⃣ Why rewarding your employees can actually decrease motivation and much much more...
If you like this episode, be sure to check out "Workplace Motivation & Wellbeing" with Prof. Anja Olafsen
📢 Follow our Podcast for more evidence-based tips, expert insights and strategies to increase your wellbeing.
...more
55min
December 20, 2023 Need Crafting in Adolescence | Dr. Nele Laporte | 41
🌟 Welcome to The Mental Wellbeing College! 🌈 In this episode, join Dr. Nele Laporte & I as we discuss balancing autonomy and structure as the parent of a teenager, how adolescents can proactively satisfy their own needs, the importance of self-awareness in developing your identity and much more...

Dr Nele Laporte is a Researcher and Motivational Wellbeing Trainer. She completed her PhD in Need Crafting at Ghent University.
Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
2:20 Autonomy in Adolescence
5:42 The 3 Basic Psychological Needs
11:15 Need Crafting
21:37 Need Crafting and Wellbeing
28:00 Need Crafting and Mental Illness
33:15 Parenting Adolescents
44:30 Lifecraft Intervention
51:05 Importance of Self-Awareness
Further Resources
"Adolescents as active managers of their own psychological needs: The role of need crafting in adolescence" by Laporte et. al. (2021)
"Say hi to need crafting: the pro-active side of need based functioning in adolescence: the introduction of need crafting in a cross-sectional and longitudinal study" by Laporte et. al. (2019)
"The role of daily need crafting in daily fluctuations in adolescents’ need-based and affective experience" by Laporte et. al. (2021)
"Testing an Online Program to Foster Need Crafting During the COVID-19 Pandemic" by Laporte et. al. (2022)
Lifecraft Intervention https://motivationbarometer.com/en/lifecraft/
"Purpose & Health" The Mental Wellbeing College episode with Dr. Pfund

...more
58min
December 14, 2023 Athlete Mental Health | Prof. Kristoffer Henriksen | 40
🌟 Welcome to The Mental Wellbeing College! 🌈
In this episode, join Prof Kristoffer Henriksen & I as we discuss why & how different athletes respond differently to pressure, the benefits of ACT and Mindfulness in elite sport, why influential and affluent athletes are not immune to mental health challenges, how comparing your emotions to bus passengers can help you manage your mental health and more...
0:00 Show Intro
3:05 Dealing with Pressure
12:50 Changing vs. accepting thoughts
21:20 Athletes’ Mental Health Challenges
31:10 Athletic Environments
37:40 Changing Team Culture
3:05 Dealing with Pressure
12:50 Changing vs. accepting thoughts
21:20 Athletes’ Mental Health Challenges
31:10 Athletic Environments
37:40 Changing Team Culture
46:00 Creating Global Change in Sport Mental Health
Further Resources
“The relationship of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit formation” (1908) by Yerkes and Dobson
“View of Team Denmark’s sport psychology professional philosophy 2.0” (2020) by Diment et. al.
...more
52min
December 06, 2023 Dementia & The Carer Experience | Dr. Nuriye Kupeli | 39
🌟 Welcome to The Mental Wellbeing College! 🌈
In this meaningful episode, join Dr. Nuriye Kupeli & I as we discuss the role of Palliative care for people living with Dementia, the Sandwich Carer’s experience, The Long Goodbye, hospital care for people living with Dementia and much more…
0:00 Show Intro
2:32 Nuriye’s journey
5:51 What is Dementia?
10:42 Issues in receiving a Dementia diagnosis
14.25 The Long Goodbye
22:03 Palliative Care in Dementia
24:57 The Family Carer Experience
32:22 Care Homes
44:02 Hospital Care
50:37 Improving Care
Follow TMWBC on Youtube, Apple Pods, Spotify, Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter.
Further Resources
YouGov Survey https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/marie-curie-palliative-care-research-department/research/centre-dementia-palliative-care-26
“What are the barriers to care integration for those at the advanced stages of dementia living in care homes in the UK? Health care professional perspective” by Kupeli et. al. (2018)
“Barriers to providing end-of-life care for people with dementia: A whole system qualitative study” by Dening et. al. (2012) (Note: This is the study I incorrectly referred to as the ‘Dening et. al. 2015’ study)
TMWBC episode on Family Carer Experience with Professor Jacqueline Sin https://youtu.be/p9w9MHXPkuo?si=cFc5N2AOFtwXSAJJ
NICE Impact Review on Hospital care for people living with Dementia https://www.nice.org.uk/about/what-we-do/into-practice/measuring-the-use-of-nice-guidance/impact-of-our-guidance/niceimpact-dementia/ch3-hospital-care
Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Department, London https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/research/strategy/research-centres/marie-curie-palliative-care-research-unit-london Alzheimer’s Society UK https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

...more
59min
November 29, 2023 Childhood Adversity & Student Mental Health | Dr. Margaret McLafferty | 38
Dr. Margaret McLafferty on toxic stress, the most important buffer of childhood adversity, why college students aren’t reaching out for support, solutions to the college mental health crisis and much more…
Dr. Margaret McLafferty is a Research Fellow at Ulster University and Atlantic Technological University. She has research widely across both childhood adversity and college student mental health topic areas. Her current research focuses on transitions of students to college to improve student mental health.
Chapters
0:28 Show Intro
2:18 Toxic Stress
6:08 Childhood Adversity
14:48 Social support
19:18 Coping strategies
23:24 Solutions to childhood adversity
36:36 Childhood adversity and college mental health41:58 At-risk college students
44:33 Why college students have poor MH
52:03 Solutions to college student MH
57:58 Why college students don’t want help

To view TMWBC on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/@thementalwellbeingcollege
To view TMWBC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tmwbcollege/
To view TMWBC on Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@tmwbcpodcast
Further Reading
“The moderating impact of childhood adversity profiles and conflict on psychological health and suicidal behavior in the Northern Ireland population” by McLafferty et. al. (2018)
“Childhood adversities and adult psychopathology in the WHO World Mental Health Surveys” by Kessler & McLaughlin (2018)
“The impact of childhood adversities on the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the Northern Ireland population” by McLafferty et. al. (2019)
“Childhood adversities and mental disorders in first-year college students: results from the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative” by Husky et. al. (2023)
“Variations in psychological disorders, suicidality, and help-seeking behaviour among college students from different academic disciplines” by McLafferty et. al. (2022)
“Mental health, behavioural problems and treatment seeking among students commencing university in Northern Ireland” by McLafferty et. al. (2017)

TMWBC episode on “Mental Health at College” with Dr. Chris Blackmore https://youtu.be/V0Pfxwg15X4?si=8adLPtGbfGZ2SWuP
...more
1h 8min
November 22, 2023 Mindfulness Masterclass | 37
A masterclass from 5 leading Professors and Assistant Professors in Psychology on all things mindfulness. This episode is based on 4 key questions on mindfulness from 5 past episodes. What is mindfulness? What are the mental health benefits of mindfulness? How can I practise mindfulness beyond meditation? How can I make mindfulness a habit?

Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
4:22 What is Mindfulness?
5:52 Benefits of Mindfulness for MIs
15:30 Strategies to Increase Mindfulness
27:45 Making Mindfulness a Habit

...more
33min
November 15, 2023 The 3 Psychological Needs | Solocast | 36
In this Solocast, we discuss what the 3 basic psychological needs are, the importance of 'The Weekend Effect', how you can improve your sense of autonomy, how to implement Unconditional Positive Regard in your relationships and much more...
Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
1:19 The 3 Basic Psychological Needs
6:19 The Weekend Effect
11:14 Need 1: Autonomy
20:19 How to Increase Your Autonomy
32:09 Need 2: Competence
38:04 How to Increase Your Competence
51:14 Need 3: Relatedness
52:04 How to Increase Your Relatedness
1:07:19 Next Steps
To view TMWBC on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/@thementalwellbeingshow
To view TMWBC on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/tmwbcollege/reels/
To view TMWBC on Tik Tok
https://www.tiktok.com/@tmwbcpodcast

Further Resources
“Weekends, work, and well-being: Psychological need satisfactions and day of the week effects on mood, vitality, and physical symptoms” by Ryan et. al. (2010)
“A Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of intervention programs designed to support autonomy” by Su and Reeve (2011)
“Cortisol reactivity to a teacher’s motivating style: the biology of being controlled versus supporting autonomy” by Reeve & Tseng (2011)
“Autonomous motivation for therapy: A new common factor in brief treatments for depression” by Zuroff et. al. (2007)
“Workplace Motivation & Wellbeing” with Prof. Anja Olafsen - https://youtu.be/eWNL8zJMtvU?si=jwKEXWLBzKPiFlIg
“Attachment-Based Parenting” with Dr. Dave Pasalich https://youtu.be/xJOYulYL-HU?si=UqEE9q8-1l9YWdrs
“Parent influences on children’s school-related self-system process” by Grollnick & Wellborn (1988)
“The emotional and academic consequences of parental conditional regard: comparing conditional positive regard, conditional negative regard, and autonomy support as parenting practices” by Roth et. al. (2009)
“A Test of Self-Determination Theory in the Exercise Domain” by Edmunds et. al. (2006)
“The Ordinal Effects of Ostracism: A Meta-Analysis of 120 Cyberball Studies” by Williams et. al. (2015)
...more
1h 9min
November 08, 2023 Purpose & Health | Dr. Gabrielle Pfund | 35
Dr. Gabrielle Pfund on strategies for cultivating purpose in your life, the stress-buffer effect of purpose, the relationship between purpose and physical health, the 3 paths to finding purpose and much more…
Dr. Gabrielle Pfund is a Postdoctoral Researcher in all things purpose in life. Gabrielle’s research covers many domains including personality science, developmental psychology and how purpose relates to all measures of health.

Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
1:28 Gabrielle’s journey into Purpose
3:11 What is Purpose?
4:35 Are there better purposes?
7:11 Paths to Finding a Purpose
23:41 Daily tools to Help Finding Purpose
29:16 Purpose and Mental Health
41:25 Purpose and Physical Health
45:15 Gabrielle’s Purpose in Life

To follow TMWBC on Youtube ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@thementalwellbeingshow⁠
To follow TMWBC on Spotify ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4yAzyeoDycncMCt2ESsAIq?si=88e08d99c967417b⁠
To follow TMWBC on Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-mental-wellbeing-college/id1660515655
To follow TMWBC on Tik Tok ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@tmwbcpodcast⁠
To follow TMWBC on Instagram ⁠https://www.instagram.com/tmwbcollege/reels/⁠
Further Resources
Dr. Gabrielle Pfund Google Scholar page
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F0rrtS8AAAAJ&hl=en
"The PATHS to Purpose: A New Framework Toward Understanding Purpose Development" (2023) by Hill, Pfund and Allemand
"Origins of Purpose in Life: Refining our Understanding of a Life Well Lived" (2009) by Kashdan & McKnight
"Sense of Purpose Moderates the Associations Between Daily Stressors and Daily Well-being" by Hill et. al. (2018)
"Derailed by Diversity? Purpose Buffers the Relationship Between Ethnic Composition on Trains and Passenger Negative Mood" (2013) by Burrow & Hill
The Future Project https://www.thefutureproject.org/
...more
48min
November 01, 2023 AI in Therapy | Dr. Tim Althoff | 34
Dr. Tim Althoff on how AI could change therapy, the global need for AI interventions, the risks we need to consider, interventions that are already helping in mental health, whether AI will replace therapists, Human-AI collaboration and much, much more…

Chapters
0:00 Show Intro
1:52 Tim’s journey into AI in Mental Health
3:52 The need for AI in Mental Health
7:45 Human-AI Collaboration
16:30 AI in Traditional Therapy
20:40 AI and Cognitive Reframing
26:15 Risks of AI in Mental Health
34:00 Will AI replace therapists?

Dr. Tim Althoff is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Washingston. He directs the Behavioural Data Science Group, has published in top tier journals such as Nature Machine Intelligence and Nature Communications and has collaborated in the creation of many Human-AI tools designed to improve the mental health of individuals in need.
To view other episodes of TMWBC
https://www.youtube.com/@thementalwellbeingcollege/videos
To view TMWBC on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/4yAzyeoDycncMCt2ESsAIq?si=e935f9e2cc094e09
To view TMWBC on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/tmwbcollege/
To view TMWBC on Tik Tok
https://www.tiktok.com/@tmwbcpodcast

Further resources:
“Facilitating Self-Guided Mental Health Interventions Through Human-Language Model Interaction: A Case Study of Cognitive Restructuring” by Sharma et. al. (2023)
“Human-AI collaboration enables more empathic conversations in text-based peer-to-peer mental health support” by Sharma et. al. (2023)AI Assisted Cognitive Restructuring Tool- https://screening.mhanational.org/changing-thoughts-with-an-ai-assistant/
Follow Tim’s Lab https://behavioral-data.github.io/
Follow Tim’s research https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~althoff/

...more
39min

FAQs about The Mental Wellbeing College:

How many episodes does The Mental Wellbeing College have?

The podcast currently has 83 episodes available.