Our Latest Articles

In mental health services, clinicians write thousands of notes every day. These records capture the details of people’s lives: how they feel, what they struggle with and how they respond to treatment. Hidden within these words is an enormous amount of knowledge about mental health but most of it has never been analysed in a systematic way.

I’m a Paris-based Russian reporter, and for more than three years I have been covering anti-war resistance in my country. At this point, I should be used to the war in Ukraine.   But when I recently met a Ukrainian artist at a party, something strange happened.   I introduced myself to him in English. But since many people from post-Soviet countries in the room were speaking Russian (which is our common language), he asked: “Do you speak Russian?”.   “Yes,” I responded.

Why Functioning Labels Are Harmful The discourse around autism tends to be typified by extremes. On one end is a child with severe social difficulties, sensory processing issues, and intellectual disability. On the other end of the spectrum is the popular conception of the eccentric savant. The person who —while odd, off-putting, and often seen as less than worthy— makes up for these perceived negative traits by being so good at one particular thing that their genius is seen

Depression is a complex condition. We know its symptoms well, but we still do not fully understand what happens in the body when someone is depressed. Also, not all individuals with depression are the same, and this diversity may arise from differences in biology – the many bodily processes that constantly shape the way we are and behave.

I am 17. My alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m., and I dread the next hour of my life. While most of my classmates are still asleep, I sit cross-legged in front of my full-length bedroom mirror and begin the painstaking process of covering the skin I had picked, squeezed, and cut into with cheap drugstore makeup. It’s a tedious process — camouflaging my skin so that I can hide in the hallways of my high school. I want to be invisible.

Dads, what would you say in a letter to your sons? The Adolescence   star Stephen Graham recently called on fathers  to share messages to their sons for a new book call ‘Letters to Our Sons’. Photo from Bloomsbury Publishing An ongoing national conversation promoted by this psychological crime drama about a 13-year-old who is arrested for the murder of his female classmate continues. Much of that conversation has been about bullying, toxic masculinity - a term for stereotypi

Image Source: cottonbro studio on Pexels I’ve never found Mondays particularly stressful. Over time, I’ve learned to manage my energy more intentionally, and as a freelance journalist, I’ve picked up strategies that work for me. For instance, if I work over the weekend, I try to keep my Mondays lighter, a way to ease back into the week and protect my mental balance. But if I worked in a company or had an office role with fixed hours, that kind of adjustment would be much hard

I am a current PhD student at UCL and Research Fellow with the UK Trauma Council. I was previously a Research Assistant working on the Adolescence Mental Health and the Developing Mind (AMHDM) ReThink Programme. My work explores how experiences of early adversity (especially care experience) shape mental health, and how research can meaningfully involve those it aims to serve. I wrote this blog to reflect on the "Adolescence, mental health and the developing mind" (AMHD) “Spe

Work karaoke was his idea of hell, to be honest, though Matt strung along for the free bar. He sipped his pint too swiftly as he propped up against a faux marble pillar, watching his colleagues mingle while an analytics guy in Digital massacred I’d Do Anything for Love by Meatloaf. Third beer, already. Gonna be p****d at this rate. Nice view, though. The company had gone large for the anniversary and hired out a Kensington hotel, rooftop venue, windows framing Harrods in the

Grief, Guilt, and the Aftermath of Suicide Trigger Warning: The following article discusses suicide, which readers may find distressing. For over a decade I lived and worked across Europe in the travel industry, from summer campsites to snowy ski resorts. I took on many different roles from tour guide to resort manager, met people from all over the world and absorbed the richness of different cultures. Those years shaped who I am and gave me a love of people’s stories, which

Why is the use of antidepressants so controversial, and how could we prescribe them more effectively? This question is a priority in my research at King’s College London, where I work as professor of statistical genetics. My academic background is in statistics, and I am passionate about using genetics to improve the diagnosis and treatment of mental health conditions.  Together with people with lived experience of depression, my research team integrates clinical and biologic

Writer’s note: This article has been co-written by Courtney Worrell and Tony Woods It has long been said that art is good for our health, but we didn’t know much about how or why. So, this summer, we set up shop in front of the likes of Van Gogh and Manet at the Courtauld Gallery in London to look at the science behind this relationship and explore how the body really responds to viewing art. Spoiler alert – what we found was very, very interesting.   Vincent Van Gogh’s Sel

A year ago, my world stopped. At my 12-week scan, I was told there was no heartbeat. What should’ve been the first time seeing my baby move was instead the day I learned I’d lost them weeks earlier. I remember the quiet in the ultrasound room, the cold gel on my stomach, the way the sonographer’s expression shifted before the words came. Even now, I can still feel the shock in my chest — that hollow, slow-motion moment when time folds in on itself.

My name is Pierrette, and I am a Master's student studying Neuroscience at King's College London. A few months ago, I was introduced to the concept of the brain's "dark energy" during a lecture on neuroimaging. Deeply interested in this topic, I began to wonder about the origin and nature of consciousness and questioned whether the awareness of oneself resides in the body, or if our mind and body are two separate entities that converge to make us human. Photo by Shawn Day on

First Episode Psychosis (FEP) refers to the first experience of psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. I am a final-year psychiatry trainee with a long-standing interest in both FEP and gender-specific medicine, now working in a specialized early intervention service in Northern Italy.

Why are some young people still missing from mental health research and what can we do to change that? Hi, I’m Rachel Perowne, a PhD researcher and I’m passionate about making youth mental health research more inclusive. I believe that the best way to achieve this is to involve young people in a meaningful way in the research process. Together with my supervisors and colleagues, including three young co-researchers, I recently published a systematic review exploring the barr

Every human being begins life as a single cell.  That cell divides, multiplies, and transforms into many different types of cells — muscle, nerve, skin, blood, bone, and so on — until, somehow, a complete body emerges. But this transformation raises one of biology’s oldest and most fascinating questions: how do cells know what to become?

When I was fifteen, my room’s walls were swirls of green and yellow, which my mother had done because she knew I loved green and yellow. I had these Skull Candy headphones around my head, connected to a pretty pink phone, all gifts from my mother, and it was one of those summer afternoons when I was fast asleep. I was tired from school, fed a very generous and delicious lunch by my mother, and I was too sluggish to care.    My mother walked into the room, and she found me asl

I am Dr Rebecca Bind, a Postdoctoral Research Associate working in the Perinatal section of the Stress, Psychiatry and Immunology Lab at The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience. Most recently I managed a clinical trial for mothers with postnatal depression called SHAPER-PND, the results from which have just been published and I will discuss below.

My research in mental health and neuroscience is fuelled by a deep curiosity about how the world around us, everything from our...

A researcher’s perspective In recent years, cannabis has become a hot topic, from recreational legalisation debates to discussions about medical applications. But beyond its social and legislative implications, there's a growing body of evidence suggesting that cannabis use might be linked to severe mental health disorders, including psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Understanding these associations is crucial as cannabis consumption rises worldwi

From an early age I was obsessed with making people laugh. Inspired by Lucille Ball, I took every performance opportunity I could find. My elementary and middle school yearbooks are peppered with commentary by teachers and friends encouraging me to follow my dreams of acting and not to forget them when I am a famous comedian. Then, when I was in 10th grade, in the midst of rehearsals for our school musical Pippin , I was hit by a car crossing a street in Westport, Connecticut

I’m a 39-year-old neuroscience and psychology graduate, freshly finished with my MSc at King’s College London. My story begins in 2020,...

Author’s Note:  My name is Dave Brennan, and I am a writer and mental health professional based in the United States. I live with my own...