All in the Mind – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In the last two years, online searches for ‘toxic positivity’ have spiked. In this discussion from the Cheltenham Science Festival, we find out what toxic positivity is, and how it can hurt you and people around you.

In front of a live audience, Claudia Hammond is joined by psychologist Dr Linda Blair, GP and educator Dr Anisha Patel, and wellbeing consultant and content creator Benjy Kusi.

Linda has been interested in the rise in the use of the term ‘toxic positivity’ and has noticed how it is having an impact on our wellbeing. She reveals why it is important for us not to suppress ‘negative’ feelings and emotions.

Anisha was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was 39. She authored the book Everything You Hoped You’d Never Need To Know About Bowel Cancer, where she speaks about her diagnosis and treatment journey. She experienced first-hand the harm that toxic positivity can do.

Benjy works with many different companies to help improve their inclusion and wellbeing practices. He is the author of the book Hope This Helps and posts frequent videos about lots of tricky issues on TikTok and Instagram.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth Editor: Holly Squire

You probably know the video game Tetris, perhaps you’ve even played it, but have you ever thought about it as therapy? Claudia Hammond talks to Professor Emily Holmes from Uppsala University, about her work using Tetris as a psychological intervention for unwanted memories. During the pandemic many ICU workers found they were experiencing intrusive memories about the traumatic events they had experienced. Prof Holmes and her colleague, consultant clinical psychologist Dr Julie Highfield, ran a trial offering Tetris therapy to ICU workers and showed they could reduce intrusive memories significantly.

Next, you may have seen headlines this week suggesting that teenage brains could be worryingly and irrevocably changed by excessive internet use. It is the latest in a recent surge of concern about teenagers' relationship to technology. Claudia and studio guest, Sarah king from Sussex University, dig into the research and discover that the evidence isn’t as worrying as the headlines make it sound.

And do you have a secret? Apparently most of us do and we can't resist thinking about them even though that rumination can impact our wellbeing. Claudia discusses the psychology of secrets with Dr Michael Slepian from Columbia University in New York.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Lorna Stewart Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire Studio Manager: Emma Harth Content Editor: Holly Squire

ICU workers testimony clips taken from https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000j22z

When it comes to mental health, what's going on with young people - particularly, teenage girls?

There's been a lot of coverage in the media recently regarding mental health difficulties facing boys, not least around the struggle to get to grips with 'modern masculinity'; undoubtedly, it's a tough time to be a young man.

But looking at figures for mental health problems in children and teens, there's clearly something going on with girls too. For some years now, research has shown that more girls are experiencing problems than boys, with a troubling spike in difficulties showing up in the late teens. In some years, twice as many girls as boys have what the research calls “probable mental health disorders” - with rates of eating disorders charting four times higher and rates of self-harm up to seven times higher in girls than in boys.

All sorts of factors can affect those figures, from whether people are prepared to discuss how they feel, to how those feelings are labelled. But these don’t explain why statistics over recent years continue to show a disparity between boys and girls.

On today's programme, Claudia explores the issue with help from a variety of guests, visiting King's College London's (KCL) Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience to speak to Gemma Knowles, a lecturer in epidemiology and youth mental health; Craig Morgan, professor of social epidemiology and co-director of ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health; and Valeria Mondelli, a clinical professor of psychoneuroimmunology - about their work with young people in the UK and beyond, trying to uncover the deeper causes and to find new solutions.

She also hears from some of the young people involved in a major study into mental health, conducted by the team at KCL and spanning nearly a decade.

Claudia is joined by Dr Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist, who brings her own professional experience to bear discussing the trends and challenges of youth mental health.

Organisations offering information and support relating to mental health can be found at BBC Action Line: bbc.co.uk/actionline

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Lucy Taylor Studio Manager: Emma Harth Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire Editor: Holly Squire

Claudia finds out about a new approach to childhood anxiety - an intervention for anxious parents to help them manage their own fears and how they impact their parenting. She meets parents on the course run by Sussex Partnership NHS Trust and talks to Professor Sam Cartwright-Hatton from Sussex University who explains what can be done to help prevent mums and dads transmit their own fears to their children. Pamela Qualter from Manchester University discusses new findings on what predicts mental well-being in children. After several suicides in St Ives in Cambridgeshire, residents decided to prioritise mental health and make it a place where people are encouraged to open up about their feelings in the pub, barbers and even at Pilates. Olivia Crellin reports. Also in the programme, research has found that people who live in areas of high air pollution experience more psychosis. But why and what might be the mechanism? Pamela Qualter discusses.

Claudia talks to Professor Steven Rogelberg about the science of meetings. Should we get rid of them altogether? Or what can we do to improve them? Also, how can we help those with dementia sleep better? Professor Susan McCurry and Dr Alpar Lazar discuss the latest research on sleep-regulation for people with dementia. And how good are we at estimating the size of our bodies? Claudia visits Birkbeck, University of London where Renata Sadibolova and Professor Matthew Longo conduct an experiment to see how good Claudia is at estimating her body size.

Claudia Hammond explores the psychology of motivation and procrastination with an audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival. Is willpower a good source of motivation? And why being a chronic procrastinator is bad for your health but there are ways to stop. Claudia is joined by guests: BBC presenter and Team GB triathlete, Louise Minchin, who talks about her route from journalist to representing team GB in triathlon world championships; Fuschia Sirois from Sheffield University, who discusses procrastination, why we do it and how we can stop; and Ian Taylor from Loughborough University, who discusses some of the best ways to motivate ourselves to achieve our goals.

Claudia undergoes a novel treatment for her spider phobia. She meets Professor Sarah Garfinkel at her Sussex lab who has trialled a new technique which involves tuning in to the beat of the heart and finding a quicker way to dampen down and reduce arachnophobia. Does it work for Claudia and does the method allow her to get closer to Terry the tarantula? Also why stepping into someone else's shoes doesn't mean you'll see their point of view and can even mean you can become more entrenched in your own, original views. And are empathic cars the vehicles of the future?

New research shows that we are more envious of someone else's covetable experience before it happens than after it has passed.

Non-Disclosure Agreements can be used to prevent employees discussing allegations of misbehaviour in the workplace with friends, family and even a therapist. But what is the impact of this silence? Claudia Hammond talks to psychologist Nina Burrowes about the effect of not talking about abusive behaviour and Zelda Perkins shares her experience of signing an NDA and the impact it had on her mental health.

Leonardo da Vinci produced some masterpieces but historical accounts show he struggled to complete his works - did da Vinci have ADHD?

Claudia visits The Listening Place – a small charity that provides support for anyone who, for whatever reason feels that life is no longer worth living. Visitors are able to speak to the same trained volunteer for an hour every fortnight. Claudia talks to Jon who first visited the charity 18 months ago when he was in desperate need of support. She meets volunteer Lucy who supported Jon during his time at The Listening Place.

Also, new research that suggests that even those whose lives don't revolve around logic and numbers can have an appreciation for mathematical "beauty".

The studio guest is Professor Catherine Loveday from the University of Westminster.

Producer: Caroline Steel

Universities globally are increasingly being asked by students for trigger warnings on course material that could cause distress and the universities are responding. But what is the evidence they work? All in the Mind talks to Mevagh Sanson, one of the psychologists who has done the first empirical research to find out. The conclusion is – they don’t. She talks to Claudia about the research and its implications. Also, there are many myths about Vincent van Gogh and his mental health. His creative genius has been linked to his struggles with his mental health but as curator at Tate Britain, Carol Jacobi explains he only experienced episodes of mental illness in the last 18 months of his life and far from being a symptom of his illness, he painted in order to stay well. Claudia and Carol discuss why some of the myths about Vincent Van Gogh, his incredible genius and his mental health still persist today. Mathijs Lucassen from the Open University joins Claudia to discuss the government's select committee enquiry into reality TV.

Claudia visits Café Conversations – a weekly meet up in West London for people who are feeling lonely. The café group was organised by Louise Kay who felt lonely after her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and wants to help people in the same position. The dark triad, a term coined by psychology researchers, is a group of three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Claudia speaks to Professor Scott Kauffman from Columbia University; he has decided enough focus has been given to dark personality traits so he created a light triad: faith in humanity, treating people as ends unto themselves and humanism. He explains how we all have light and dark traits within us and also how to find out how light or dark your own personality might be. Artist Chuck Mullin explains how and why she conveys her anxiety and depression through drawing cartoon pigeons. Also, listeners who have shared their experiences of aphantasia and spatial navigation.

Producer: Caroline Steel