Professor Brendan Kelly is a leading psychiatrist, author, and researcher. He is a Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Psychiatrist at Tallaght University Hospital.  He has authored over 20 books, including, The Science of Happiness, The Modern Psychiatrist's Guide to Contemporary Practice and Resilience: Lessons from Sir William Wilde on Life After Covid. 

Among other things, in this episode we explore the complex relationship between happiness, society, and mental health. We discuss the different kinds of happiness and the common pitfalls people encounter when chasing it and the balance between individual responsibility and societal influence in shaping mental health. Brendan also shares insights from his background in Buddhism, including the belief that there is no fixed ‘self’ and how this perspective can lead to a more mentally balanced life.

You can access Brendan's book The Modern Psychiatrist’s Guide to Contemporary Practice for free here:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003378495/modern-psychiatrist-guide-contemporary-practice-brendan-kelly

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
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Professor David Taylor is Director of Pharmacy and Pathology at the Maudsley Hospital and Professor of Psychopharmacology at KCL. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. Professor Taylor has been the lead author of the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines since their inception in 1993. David has also authored over 375 clinical papers in journals such as the Lancet, BMJ, JAMA Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry and Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 

Today we discuss:

 - What the science says about the effectiveness of anti-depressants.

- Evidence based principles for prescribing anti-depressants safely. 

- Common side effects and withdrawal symptoms. 

- Do anti-depressants work via so called "emotional numbing" effects?

- The use of anti-depressants for other conditions such as OCD and PTSD. 

- Emerging treatments for depression such as ketamine and psilocybin. 

- New treatments for psychosis such as KarXT (Cobenfy). 

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast Tiktok - @thinking.mind.podcast 

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Mentalisation-Based Therapy (MBT) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy designed to enhance a person’s ability to mentalise, especially in emotionally intense situations. It was developed by today's guests Prof. Peter Fonagy and Prof. Anthony Bateman for treating borderline personality difficulties (BPD) but has since been adapted for other mental health conditions, including anti-social and narcissistic personality difficulties, eating disorders and more. 

Today we discuss:

 - What does it mean to mentalise? 

- Do we have a problem with mentalising in our society?

- Useful definitions of Personality & Personality Disorder.

- How early attachment relationships influence our psychological health.

- What an MBT session looks like.

- Some of the research that has been done and that is planned on the effectiveness of MBT. 

- The potential utility of combining MBT with psychedelics. 

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Today Alex discusses the concept of self-esteem; including core components of self-esteem, how poor self-esteem can affect your life and how people's self-esteem becomes disrupted through the lens of different psychological theories. We also discuss different interventions one could consider to improve their self-esteem, any why good self-esteem is essential for a successful life. 

Further reading:

The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem by Nathaniel Branden
Neurosis and Human Growth by Karen Horney
On Becoming a Person by Carl Rogers
Gestalt therapy – excitement and growth of the human personality  by Perls
Hefferline, Goodman
Games people Play by Eric Berne
I’m OK - you’re OK by Thomas Harris

Self-compassion meditation: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_80y_CT32c&t=5s

Audio-essay by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast Tiktok @thinking.mind.podcast

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Adam Lane Smith is a renowned Attachment Specialist with over 15 years of experience in psychology and relationships. Formerly a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, he has dedicated his career to helping individuals and couples overcome attachment issues and build secure, meaningful connections. Adam has worked with a diverse clientele, including death row inmates and Fortune 500 executives. Adam has his own podcast and youtube channel with over 100k subscribers, though which he aims to educate as many people as possible about the art and science of attachment. 

Today we discuss:

Some of his more recent Tweets about the limits of self-love, the importance of health aggression and the danger of repeating unconcious childhood patterns in adulthood. 

Common attachment patterns and their fascinating underlying biology. 

The right and wrong reasons to pursue content creation, and how to ethically pursue content creation to augment your business. 

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers in London, specializing in mental capacity, mental health, and healthcare law. 

In recognition of his significant contributions beyond the courtroom, Alex was appointed Honorary King's Counsel in March 2022. Beyond his legal practice, Alex is involved in academia and policy development. He serves as a Professor of Practice at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London, and as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London. 

Alex has been instrumental in shaping mental health and capacity law policy. He was a consultant to the Law Commission's Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Project and served as the legal adviser to the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983 in 2018. 

Today we discuss:

What is the purpose of the mental health act? 

What does it mean to be sectioned? 

What are the safeguards and appeals available to sectioned patients? 

How to think about complex questions legally like suicide and assisted dying 

The pressures mental health professionals face when making legal decisions 

What is  the legal concept of “Capacity”? 

Warning: This conversation includes frank discussion about serious matters such as suicide and assisted dying. 

You can find out more about Alex's work here: https://www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk/about-the-author/

Further accessible resources regarding the mental health act: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/mental-health-act-1983/mental-health-act-faqs/

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

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Joanna Moncrieff is a British psychiatrist, researcher, and professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London (UCL). She is widely recognised for her critical perspectives on psychiatric medication and the biomedical model of mental health. Her work challenges conventional ideas about the role of drugs like antidepressants and antipsychotics, advocating instead for a nuanced understanding of their effects. She has authored several books, including The Myth of the Chemical Cure , A Straight Talking Introduction to Psychiatric Drugs, and Chemically Imbalanced: the Making and Unmaking of the Serotinin Myth and has published numerous academic papers, such as her notable 2022 paper on the serotonin hypothesis of depression.

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

Prof. Moncrieff's new book Chemically Imbalanced can be found here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chemically-Imbalanced-Making-Unmaking-Serotonin/dp/180399679X

Studies discussed during the podcast:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0 - the serotonin paper
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-024-02462-3 - critiquing "biological depression"
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37778356/ - the RADAR study of anti-psychotics
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23824214/ - the Dutch study of anti-psychotic reduction

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Disclaimer: None of the information discussed in this podcast is intended as individual medical advice, changes to medication plans should always be made via discussion with the prescriber. Abrupt withdrawal of medication can cause serious adverse effects. 

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Richard Benthall is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sheffield in the UK. His research has focusued on the psychological mechanisms of severe mental illness (such as hallucinations and delusions) and social factors that affect these conditions. His work along with the work of other researchers is responsible for psychological interventions (such as cognitive behaviour therapy) being included in national guidelines for the treatment of psychotic type conditions.

Bentall along with some collaborators also published a meta analysis in 2012 suggesting strongly that trauma is an important risk factor for developing psychotic conditions:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3406538/

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Dr. Adam Hunt (PhD) is a post-doc researcher at the University of Cambridge and the host of the Evolving Psychiatry podcast which provides interviews, insights and an introduction to evolutionary psychiatry, with guest appearances from leading academics and psychiatrists.

His upcoming book Specialised Minds which seeks to explains the existence of long term, common mental disorders, and common personality traits as products of the same evolutionary process, specifically of cognitive specialisation.

You can learn more about Adam's work here:
https://www.adamhunt.info/

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] - 
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Today Alex chats with Dr. Alex Meaburn, a speciality doctor in psychiatry who has been working on the podcast behind the scenes. They discuss some of the limitations of psychiatry including problems with the biomedical model of depression, social-cultural reasons for mental health problems, crticisms of anti-depressants, dysfunctional attitudes towards suffering, the pros and cons of psychotherapy, the value of medication for ADHD and much more.

Dr. Alex Curmi is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - [email protected] with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Give feedback here - [email protected] -  
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - [email protected] Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast