The Proper Mental Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Welcome to episode 201 with Dr Martin Brunet, who has been an NHS GP for more than 20 years and is also well known for his social media channels and videos about different aspects of mental health.

In this episode I chat to Martin about his time in general practice and some of the changes he has seen in mental health over the years.

We also talk about his new book ‘Your Worry Makes Sense’ and how anxiety and burnout are logical and some ideas about what we can do to overcome these challenges.

We chat about worry and over thinking, about facing your fears and seeing your triggers as shortcuts to your emotions and we also talk about how to define and understand burnout and why there is a certain type of person that tends to go through it.

I’ve followed Martin on social media for a while and always get a lot from his video’s.  I was also lucky enough to get an early look at his upcoming book and I can highly recommend that too!

His book is due out in March and there is more info here: Your Worry Makes Sense | Jessica Kingsley Publishers - UK

Follow Martin on social media @doc_martin_gp

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

You can support the show and help me to keep it independent and ad free by buying a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 200 with Professor Joanna Moncrieff who is a psychiatrist, author and researcher who is one of the founding members of the Critical Psychiatry Network.

In 2022, Joanna was the lead author of a study that explored the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of depression and found that no clear evidence that serotonin levels or serotonin activity are responsible for depression.

The study became one of the 400 most shared of the 21 million papers that have ever been tracked and caused great debate throughout the mental health space.

In this episode I chat to Joanna about this research, what it involved and what the findings showed.

We chat about some of the response and criticism to this piece of work and how the chemical imbalance theory came to prominence in the first place.

We talk about some of the other’s factors that could be causing depression if it isn’t in fact serotonin as the research shows.

We also chat about depression, serotonin, anti-depressants, diagnosis and labels and what the future of mental health treatment and support could look like.

Medication is a very personal choice and the aim of this episode isn’t to debate or influence anyone on their views on anti-depressants, just simply to explore this aspect of the mental health conversation because I think that’s important.

Don’t make decisions about your own medication without discussing it with a medical professional.

You can find the original study here: The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence | Molecular Psychiatry

A summary of some of the responses and criticism here:  expert reaction to a review paper on the ‘serotonin theory of depression’ | Science Media Centre

And a response from Joanna to that specific criticism here:  Response to Criticism of Our Serotonin Paper - Mad In America

Joanna’s new book is called Chemically Imbalanced: the making and unmaking of the serotonin myth and it’s out now.

There is loads more information about Joanna’s work at her website https://joannamoncrieff.com

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 191 with Dave Lock, who is more commonly known as the running telephone.

For the last 25 consecutive years, Dave has ran the London Marathon to raise funds and awareness for the Samaritans charity and along the way he has become an iconic part of both the marathon and the mental health space.  This year he ran as team captain for the charity’s fundraisers.

In this episode I chat to Dave about the mental health challenges that he has faced and how they inspired him to start running in fancy dress.

We also chat about his relationship with The Samaritans who he credits with saving his life when he was at his lowest and we chat about how he has also worked for them as a volunteer on the phones.

We chat about running, the pressures of the corporate world, connecting with others and the emotional impact of this year’s marathon, his 25th in a row, but the first one without the support of his brother who took his own life last year.

Dave is a truly lovely man and it was a joy to chat to him about his special relationship with The Samaritans charity and some of the changes he has seen in the mental health space over the years.

You can call The Samaritans any time, day or night, on 116 123.

Learn more at www.samaritans.org

If you would like to watch this episode or any of the others, you can do so by joining the Patreon community at www.patreon.com/propermentalpodcast.  For £3 a month you’ll get early access to any and all episodes that aren’t available to watch anywhere else and you can submit questions for upcoming guests!  You’ll also be helping to support the show and keep it fully independent and ad free.

You can connect with me on social media @propermentalpodcast or via www.propermentalpodcast.com.

Another great way to support the show and spread the word is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from.

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to episode 104 with Katy Georgiou who is a counsellor and psychotherapist.

Katy’s latest book is called How to Understand, and Deal with Stress and she joins me in this episode to chat all about it.

We talk specifically about stress and Katy guides me through some of the common causes, what happens to us when we start to feel the pressures of life building up and the impact that stress can have on mental health. 

We also chat about music and mental health and her podcast, Sound Affects, which has been featured in NME, and how her love of music and journalism inspired her to start the show.

Katy also tells me about her time as a Samaritan and supporting people on the helplines and she tells me a really lovely story about the time her Mum met Liam Gallagher.

You can connect with Katy via Twitter @SoundAffectsPod or Instagram @sound_affects_podcast

Her website is Counselling and Psychotherapy in Highgate | Counsellor near Hampstead Heath and Camden (kgcounsellor.com)

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

You can buy tickets for The Hope Conference at this link:

Hope Conference 2022 Tickets, Fri 11 Nov 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

You can get any more information you need here: 

Hope Conference 2022 | Speakers Collective

And the code for a 10% discount on your ticket is propermental

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 103 with The Scary Guy, an educator and public speaker who has dedicated his life to teaching others his powerful, solution-based theories and concepts on human behaviour and communication.

Scary changed his name more than 24 years when a chance encounter forced him to look at his life and the way that he was choosing to live it.

Since then, he has travelled the world working with schools, police forces, the military and a host of

communities and corporate organisations to spread his message of kindness and working towards the elimination of hate.

Scary and I caught up to chat about his journey from a hard living, Harley driving, tattoo studio owner to becoming The Scary Guy and an advocate for kindness.

We chat about being kind and how the flow of negative energy impacts how we interact with the world around us.

And we chat about managing emotions, impacting the local community and achieving world peace in our lifetime.

You can learn more about Scary and his work at thescaryguy.com or connect with on social media

Instagram @realscaryguy and @thescaryguypodcast

Facebook @scaryguyofficial

Twitter @scaryguy

You can listen to The Scary Guy Podcast on all podcast platforms!

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

You can get tickets for The Hope Conference 2022 here:

Hope Conference 2022 Tickets, Fri 11 Nov 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

Any more info you might need is right here:

Hope Conference 2022 | Speakers Collective

And for 10% off your ticket use the code propermental

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with Hannah Hickinbotham who is an eating disorder advocate and the host of the Full of Beans podcast.  She also has an MSc in Eating Disorders and Clinical Nutrition.

Han in on a mission to reduce the stigma around eating disorders and increase ED awareness and she does this with her podcast and the wonderful community that’s she has built around it.

In this episode I chat to Han about her own experiences with Atypical Anorexia and Body Dysmorphia and how she was able to hide her illnesses in plain sight by throwing herself in to the world of fitness.

We chat about diet culture and how societies obsession with weight and food can impact mental health and we chat about recovery and what that looks like for Hannah.

I always feel inspired by Han and how she shows up for herself and her community on social media, so I knew this was going to be a powerful conversation.

We ended up going in really deep on this one and at times it gets quite emotional but in a really beautiful way.  I cannot thank Han enough for her openness and honesty about her own experiences!

I was lucky enough to be a guest on Full of Beans and you can listen to my episode and all the others here:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5n4ajipSOEUBCi6glX3Wg7?si=th9aGy3hQ6GwEoT9_yCe4g

You can connect with Han and learn more about the Full of Beans Workshops and Community Blogs here: Eating Disorders | Full Of Beans (fullofbeansed.co.uk)

You can follow Hannah on all social media platforms @thefobpodcast

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

You can buy tickets for The Hope Conference at this link:

Hope Conference 2022 Tickets, Fri 11 Nov 2022 at 09:30 | Eventbrite

You can get any more information you need here: 

Hope Conference 2022 | Speakers Collective

And the code for a 10% discount on your ticket is propermental

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 101 with TJ Power, a neuroscientist, international speaker and educator.

TJ has spent many years deeply researching mental health, lecturing in psychology and speaking all over the world about the human brain.

In this episode TJ and I chat about the four key chemicals required to maintain biological harmony.

We chat about why we need these chemicals and how they help us and also how they are affected by things like social media, alcohol and junk food.

TJ also offers some solutions and ideas about simple ways that we can produce these chemical when we need them which really contribute towards improved mental health.

We chat about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins and we chat exercise, nature, connection and diet.

These chemicals are the foundations of physical and mental wellbeing, and it is so important to have the basics in place when it comes to health.

I’ve personally taken a huge amount from this episode and TJ’s social media channels and actively use several of his methods daily and they have made a huge difference to my mental state in recent months.

You can connect with TJ on Instagram @tjpower or @neurify.io and learn more about his work via his YouTube channel Tj Power - YouTube

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 100 and this week I chat to Rosie Tressler OBE who is the CEO of Student Minds.

Student Minds is a student mental health charity that is working to empower members of the university community to look after their own mental health, support others and create change.

Rosie has worked in several different aspects of the charity sector and in 2019 she was awarded an OBE for services to Mental Health in Higher Education.

In this episode I chat to Rosie about Student Minds, the work that they do and the support that they offer.

We chat about Rosie’s route in to campaigning and all the different things that she has done in the mental health space and we chat about the sort of mental health problems that can typically affect students, people at universities and anyone who is involved in higher education in some way.

We also get in to the importance of collaboration and the need to speak to as many different people as possible and working together to spread awareness and work towards long term, meaningful policy change.

You can learn more about Student Minds via their website www.studentminds.org.uk or on all social media platforms @studentmindsorg

You can follow Rosie on Twitter @rosietressler

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 99 with Ian Winwood, an author and journalist who has spent over 30 years writing for Kerrang!, NME, the Daily Telegraph and countless other publications.

His time spent in and around the music has given him an incredible insight into the lives of musicians, bands and rock stars both on and off stage.

His recent book ‘Bodies’ explores the music industry and the rock n roll lifestyle and how this way of life impacts mental health.

In this episode, Ian and I chat about the world of music, the type of people it usually attracts and why it seems to be such a breeding ground for mental illness and addiction.

Ian tells me all about the bands he has met and written about over the years (Frank Turner, Biffy Clyro, Metallica, Yard Act, Green Day) how the different ways that working in music affects mental health and how bizarre behaviour and serious addiction issues are completely normalised and, more often than not, celebrated.

We chat about the process of setting out to write the book and what he discovered along the way and we also chat about Ian’s own experiences with mental ill health and how he was able to blend in perfectly within the dysfunctional world of rock and roll excess.

Bodies is one of the best books about music and mental health that I have ever read and I can’t recommend it highly enough!

It was such a pleasure to hear all about it from Ian who was incredibly engaging and generous with his time.  You can connect with him on social media @ianwinwood1.

You can read an extract from Bodies here : Read an exclusive extract from Ian Winwood's 'Bodies: Life And Death in Music' (rollingstone.co.uk)

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to Proper Mental episode 98 with Sarah Callaghan, who is an award-winning comedian, spoken word artist and writer.

Sarah has been performing stand up for over a decade and has gigged all over the world.  She is also a respected spoken word artist, performing solo and with a band.

Sarah’s poetry is informed by personal experience and her work discusses childhood trauma, heart break and other aspects of everyday life.

Sarah and I caught up to chat about her own experiences with mental health and how it inspires her creative process.

We chat about living authentically and choosing your own path, the differences between writing comedy and poetry, and we chat about spirituality, self-belief and the challenges of living a creative life.

I knew going in to this conversation that it was going to be good and it did not disappoint!  It was awesome to hear first-hand about Sarah’s way of looking at her life and her work and I really got a lot out of speaking with her.

You can watch her performance on the BAFTA winning Sky TV Show ‘Arts & Rhymes’ here:

Life and Rhymes | Sarah Callaghan - Who Are You? on Vimeo

Her website is Home (sarahcallaghan.com) and you can connect with her on Instagram @sarahcallagh1

The track included on this episode is called ‘It’s Not That Deep’

You can catch up with me at www.propermentalpodcast.com or connect with me via social media @propermentalpodcast.

If you would like to support Proper Mental by buying me a virtual coffee, please go to www.buymeacoffee.com/propermental

Another way to support is to rate, review and subscribe on whatever platform you get your podcasts from!

If you or anyone you know needs to find support in your local area, please go to www.hubofhope.co.uk

Thanks for listening!