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As a Research Assistant on the newly launched Cycle Study at KCL, I am hugely motivated to improve outcomes for people living with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). PMDD is a severe mood disorder in which symptoms, like anxiety and depression, happen in the weeks leading up to the start of a period. For more about PMDD see earlier Inspire the Mind article by Dr Ellen Lambert.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refers to the emotional and physical changes many people experience in the days before a menstrual period, including anxiety, low mood, irritability, fatigue, and bloating. At its most severe, when symptoms are debilitating and interfere with daily life, it is known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Despite affecting an estimated 250 million people worldwide, we still do not fully understand why these symptoms occur.

I’m Kate Smith, CEO and co-founder of Hey Girls, a menstrual educator with lived experience of the issues surrounding period poverty and menstrual health inequality. Those experiences are what continue to drive my mission: leading a social enterprise built to create social good, champion women’s health, and ensure everyone can manage their period with dignity. Hey Girls CIC (Community Interest Company) is a not-for-profit social enterprise working to eradicate period poverty

There’s something that has never quite sat right with me about how we discuss women’s health. We often state that the healthcare system is failing women. But when we look more closely, we can start to question whether it was ever actually designed with women in mind. Before anything else, I was a cancer clinician. I’ve sat with women at some of the hardest points in their lives, going through treatment and trying to process diagnoses that often came too late.

We have an extraordinary ability to imagine. Our imagination lets us revisit the past, rehearse the future, create entirely new experiences and worlds... all within our minds. But are we always in control of what we see in our minds?My name is Eman, I’m a PhD candidate at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at the Imagine Better Lab. My research explores why young people with low mood and depression might experience upsetting images playing in their minds

Language is at the heart of mental health. It is how clinicians describe what they observe, and how people express what they feel. But what happens when we ask AI to read it? I am a clinical informatician at the CAMHS Digital Lab, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. My work sits at the intersection of artificial intelligence and child and adolescent mental health.

There are stories one hears at the gym that are impossible to forget. I am Giovanna, a passionate pharmacist with a deep commitment to pharmaceutical care, mental health, and healthcare communication. As a former athlete and dedicated “gym rat”, I translate the discipline and resilience gained from competitive sports (I was in the Italian kayak Olympic team in 2010-2012) into my professional practice, and I have learnt that the deepest wounds are frequently the invisible one

One in two of us in the UK will be directly affected by dementia in our lifetime, either by caring for someone with dementia, developing it ourselves, or both. But compared to other major health conditions, like cancer, effective treatments aren’t readily available, and there is very little support following a diagnosis. I’m Natalie, a Research Assistant at the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, King’s College London, working on the DETERMIND study.

In my career as a researcher, I have heard the phrases “BPD patients are a hassle” and “don’t touch borderline with a bargepole”. They’re throwaway remarks, but they often are said from the mouths of people who I would otherwise describe as intelligent and deeply empathetic. As a researcher at King’s with roots in community mental health projects, documentary filmmaking and getting almost to the end of a sudoku then realising I’ve made a mistake a long time ago, I’m used to

In 2019, my father was given a mixed diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia. I didn’t know much about the illness, despite three of my four grandparents also having had it. Stepping in to be the main caregiver has taken me on a seven-year journey of discovery. Whilst sad, it’s been a transformational experience. Each day, I’ve been exposed to how the mind we take for granted interacts with a body we also often take for granted.

“My name is Robyn, and I am a nurse.”The first time I said those words as I walked through the door of my first job, after qualifying in December 2023, they felt strange. I remember thinking, I’m not a real nurse. I’m just a student Apparently that part was over. I had the qualification, the responsibility, and the title. But that isn’t what I’m here to talk about today. I want to talk about the journey of being a student nurse.

Two Kashmirs live on the same valley’s soil: one in its streets, the other in the memory of those who fled. Indian-administered Kashmir valley, once remembered for its breathtaking location, physical beauty and distinct culture, is now more often defined by politics, borders and history, while far less focus is given to the mental state of Kashmiris. The land of mystical poets, now entangled in geopolitical debates, highlights how geography shapes mental states differently ac

Our minds are built to react quickly and loudly to signs of danger, even when the real solution lies in addressing the underlying cause rather than the noise it creates. We panic at the symptoms and overlook the structure that produced them. And this is exactly where we find ourselves in the UK today. Crime and personal safety feel like growing concerns, yet the policies shaping our justice system are moving in the opposite direction of what communities may actually need.

With misinformation spreading through the rise of fake news and pseudoscience, the public is often left confused about science and research. This makes it even more important for scientists to share their work with the public in an accessible way, so we can learn directly from the source. Now, when I refer to scientists, this should also include future scientists or those studying the sciences. And it starts early. As students, we are constantly writing reports and essays.

Research increasingly shows that our mental and physical health are intertwined, influencing each other in complex and often surprising ways. One such example is the relationship between chronic illnesses and mental health disorders, where conditions like metabolic disease and depression can shape and reinforce one another over time. This connection becomes particularly evident when examining specific conditions in which mental and physical health interact in measurable and i

Back in 2023, we published a scientific article, along with a blog version, showing that the body’s immune response is linked to adolescent depression, and that these biological signals look different in boys and girls. We ended by asking whether bringing together what we know about adolescents’ backgrounds and their biology could help us identify who is at risk of developing depression. And here we are today, trying to answer that very question.

For some people, the days before a period bring mild irritability or low mood. For others, the emotional shift is so intense it can feel like becoming a different person entirely. Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is far more than the occasional premenstrual mood swing. It is a severe, cyclical mood disorder that can disrupt relationships, work, social life, and a person’s sense of self.

Years of navigating a body that was misunderstood by the medical system, and inevitably missed by me, sparked a deep curiosity about the relationship between the physical and psychological experience. I now have the privilege to study that relationship formally, because I believe that science and lived experience should inform one another. I was in my early teens when my body began raising alarms – over and over again – alarms no one else could hear.

On April 15, we celebrate the birthday and legacy of Leonardo da Vinci, a true Renaissance master whose boundless curiosity bridged art, science, and invention. With an extraordinary talent for observation, he redefined creativity, leaving a timeless imprint as both an artist and a scientist, inspiring generations to come. In his research projects he showed us that creativity is born from infinite curiosity, from observing the world closely, and from being a good friend of ti

‘She’s a right little madam.’ You might think that was quite a mean thing for a parent to say about their child, wouldn’t you? Now imagine there is a little more context, that the parent said: ‘Oh Zoë’s a lovely little girl. She’s funny, sweet… except when she doesn’t get a lolly before bed, then she’s a right little madam!’ We can go a little further. Imagine the parent laughed after they said that. Suddenly not quite so bad, huh?

It was November 2004 when I received my comorbid diagnosis: Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia and Major Depressive Disorder. At age 14, this had been a huge relief and also the first time I encountered what the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) were. For the first time, I had a valid explanation for my feelings of impending doom, my breathlessness and dizziness, and my rapid heart rate.

Pregnancy is a remarkable time of profound transformation for both the mother and the fetus. During these nine months, the pregnant person undergoes significant physical changes, including complex shifts in hormones and metabolism, which are essential to support the developing fetus. Alongside these physical demands, emotional challenges can increase levels of perceived stress and, in some cases, lead to mental health issues.

The impact of eating disorders on oral health is well documented, yet it remains an overlooked consequence of these complex mental health conditions. Research consistently shows that individuals with eating disorders often experience significantly poorer oral health than the general population, with an increased risk of dental erosion, tooth decay, gum problems, and dry mouth. Dentists are frequently among the first healthcare professionals to notice physical signs of underly

Food and nutrition are rarely thought of as an approach to improve symptoms of neurological disorders, yet for some people with epilepsy, changing what they eat can significantly reduce seizures. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that causes recurrent and unprovoked seizures due to abnormal electrical activity in the brain and affects approximately 70 million people worldwide. The most common treatment for epilepsy is anti-seizure medication and for many people this treatme