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Meet Hattie Gladwell
I’m a freelance journalist specialising in mental health issues. I worked for Metro.co.uk for five years before going fully freelance in June 2020, following the birth of my first child.
I’m passionate about raising awareness of mental health issues, as someone who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 20, and later borderline personality disorder and OCD. It’s especially important to me to discuss the issues those of us who cannot afford frequent private therapy face, to highlight how inaccessible the mental health services can be, and why those of us suffering need more.
Ultimately, I want to make a difference in how mental illness is talked about today.
I Passed the Interview. I Failed the Break Room
My first job out of university was as a proofreader. People hear that and picture something calm, maybe a little dull. Nobody imagines it as a job that could push someone into a fear of leaving their own house, or into needing antidepressants just to function. The masking required in an office setting, however, drained everything I had. The work itself suited me. Long stretches of quiet, focused attention on a page, checking for consistency, catching errors other people had m
Anonymous
2 hours ago5 min read
When Helping Too Much Stops Helping
Sometimes, the wish to help can become part of the problem. And this does not happen only in psychotherapy. In families, friendships and romantic relationships, we can sometimes find ourselves repeatedly occupying familiar positions: the person who needs to be rescued, the person who must rescue everyone else, or the person who is blamed for what has gone wrong. These patterns can become so familiar that we barely notice them.
Benedetta Vai
1 day ago5 min read
Psychedelic Panic
Before I tried psychedelics I wasn't much interested in drugs. Perhaps a part of my neurotic tendencies was that I was terrified of losing control of myself and mostly stayed away from caffeine, alcohol, and cannabis. Psychedelics, though, weren't just a drug, but an opportunity for a breakthrough. I am Clare Ashcraft, a twenty-three-year-old writer living in Ohio, and in this blog I share my experience with psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
Clare Ashcraft
2 days ago6 min read
Cornwall Is Full of Talent, But Not Enough Jobs
At 24, I have two degrees, I am a published author of over 15 titles, and I had worked my way into a senior editorial position at a children's publishing house. I was building the kind of career I had imagined for myself, and in Cornwall, the place I’m lucky enough to have made my home. Then I was made redundant. Since losing my job, I have applied for roles in my industry, as well as hospitality and retail jobs that I assumed would be easier to find.
Millie Burdett
3 days ago6 min read
Digger and The Burning Forests of Indonesia
I was born and raised in the UK, where it is easy to look away. But, as an Indonesian part of the diaspora, I can’t help but ache as the land my ancestors lived on is burned and torn apart. By the end of September 2026, an estimated 1.92 million hectares of Indonesia have burned. The dry conditions behind the fires were caused by a natural climate pattern in which the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean becomes unusually warm.
Nuriza Tukiran
4 days ago5 min read
The Waiting Room After My Brother Died
My brother was my best friend before he was anything else. Not just family, not just the person I happened to grow up next to, but the person I called first, the person who knew which version of a story I was telling and which version was true. My name is Israel Temmie. I am a freelance writer, and much of what I do now involves trying to make sense of experiences by putting them into words.
Israel Temmie
Nov 65 min read
Last Night a DJ Saved My Life
I met Mark Moore while desperately looking for a flat in London. We immediately connected over our passion for electronic music and the club scene. As S’Express’s lead DJ, Mark is a living piece of that culture. Our friendship has motivated me, as a psychiatry trainee, to investigate the mental health impact of clubbing – one of my favourite off-work activities. In the late 1980s, the Second Summer of Love saw British youth flocking to parties, dancing to the rhythm of acid h
Costanza Pavone
Nov 56 min read
Unpaid Caregiving Economy: Building Feminist Solidarity for Women
When I was fourteen, I was often pitted against my six-year-old sister. “Look at her, how much she cares about her father”, they would remark as my sister would watch my father take off his shoes, pick them up and keep them in their designated place. She was applauded for her work and hailed as the ‘domestic princess’, and her actions were construed as an act of love towards our father, leading to approval and validation.
Varisha Tariq
Nov 44 min read
Hiking, Gen Z, and Mental Health: Is There a Connection?
There is a growing interest in hiking amongst young people being driven by a desire for stronger real-life connection and a dissatisfaction with online socialising. Could this trend be an encouraging symptom of increasing mental-health awareness, in a generation deeply affected by pandemic-era loneliness and chronic screen use? The media often sees young people as the generation most addicted to the digital world.
Oliver Bell
Nov 35 min read
ACOTAR 6 Is Here: Let’s Talk About the Women of the 'Maasverse'
Sarah J. Maas, you’ve done it again. At this point, is there anything I don’t love about her? Like me, she loves sharks. What’s not to love about a woman who can create entire fictional worlds filled with magic, mayhem and characters who stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page?
Following the anticipated release of A Court of Splintered Harmony, the newest instalment in the A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series, on 27 October 2026, I’ve found myself reflect
Riddhi Laijawala
Nov 26 min read
Roses in the Night — A Short Story
She was startled out of her sleep. Something had woken her this time. There was a noise. Was it from the outside? She pulls off the sweaty covers and pats the night table for her flash-light and hammer. The twin-bell alarm clock ticks away just after 2 in the morning.
Niki Hatzidis
Oct 307 min read
Once Upon a Time - More Than Just Stories
Short stories may be brief, but they hold a powerful way of teaching us lessons through fiction. Folktales, alike, have been passed down through generations, often orally, to communicate values, preserve traditions, and make sense of the world around us. One lesson that I have learned is the power of honesty, which is reflected in one of my favourite short stories that I read when I was younger, “La Parure” or “The Necklace” in English by Guy Maupassant (This is where the exc
Layecha Fidahoussen
Oct 295 min read
Getting Men Talking About Their Feelings
It’s a common myth that men don’t talk about their feelings, but they absolutely do – under the right conditions. Talking about our feelings is important because it provides a window into our mental health and wellbeing. Spotting any issues early can prevent them from escalating, and sharing concerns helps us to see them from a different perspective. As the saying goes: a problem shared is a problem halved.
Jessica Hobbs
Oct 285 min read
They Are Special, I Am Not: Self-Esteem in a Ruthless Job Market
My name is Meera. I recently graduated from King’s College London with a bachelor’s degree in English. Since graduating, the search for employment has been a demoralising process wherein most of my applications are met with no response and each vague rejection seems to pose more questions than answers.
Meera Mohanraj
Oct 274 min read
Impossibly Far, Incredibly Close: Lee Chang-dong's Possible Love
Is the moon there when nobody looks? — N. David Mermin, physicist (1985) On 12 September, South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's first feature in eight years won the Grand Jury Prize at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival. No Korean film had won it before. Eleven days later, it arrived in a handful of Korean cinemas for a limited run before its Netflix release. For an award of that weight, the release was modest, and the title just as understated. Possible Love. Even
Jinho Kim
Oct 266 min read
Steps Towards Eating Disorder Recovery: Real-Life Snakes and Ladders
Two steps forward and one step back can be a good way to describe the process of recovering from an eating disorder. The journey is not linear. Some weeks you make massive amounts of progress, while some days you feel as though you are going backwards. A key part of recovery is to process setbacks: noticing what didn’t go to plan and learning from it. So, the next time you are faced with a similar situation, you can make pro-recovery decisions.
Lydia Eriksson
Oct 235 min read
Angel of My Dreams: My Love-Hate Take on the Victoria’s Secret Show
I will unashamedly admit that I have watched the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show every year since I was 14. I remember visiting the flagship store in New York City, proudly standing in front of their display of Kendall Jenner’s debut outfit, as an eager 16-year-old waiting to post this onto my Instagram feed. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to realise how conflicted this show makes me feel. The nuances beneath the wings, the glitz, the glimmer, and the seemingly perfect, ye
Riddhi Laijawala
Oct 225 min read
Beyond Postnatal Depression
Maternal mental health is often framed through a single question: does postnatal depression affect the baby? And intuitively, this makes sense. It seems obvious that experiencing poor mental health while caring for a newborn could have negative impacts on the baby. But emerging evidence suggests this framing is too narrow. It may not simply be the presence of symptoms after birth that matters, but when they occur - and what they reflect about longer-term vulnerability.
Sorcha Alford
Oct 216 min read
A Young Man Dies. Trump Makes It a Joke.
Last Saturday (11 October 2026), a young man with mental illness, William Chapman, died in horrific circumstances at Yorkshire Wildlife Park here in the UK. His family were left to face an unimaginable loss. The President of the United States shared footage of the attack and then circulated an AI-generated version in which he, Trump, became the star. We find it difficult to imagine a more grotesque response from someone entrusted with public office.
Inspire the Mind
Oct 205 min read
Verity: The Trouble with Being Certain
In Verity, Dakota Johnson plays Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer hired to continue the successful novel series of Verity Crawford, played by Anne Hathaway, after a serious accident leaves her apparently unable to work. Moving into the Crawford family home, Lowen discovers a manuscript that appears to reveal disturbing truths about Verity’s life. Her growing attraction to Verity’s husband, Jeremy, makes the task of deciding whom to believe even more complicated. Directed by
Tony Woods
Oct 195 min read
The Victors Write History: How Title IX Gives Perpetrators the Last Word
Writing is a privilege, not a punishment. Prose, essays, and stories are vehicles for truth and influence–reflecting a means to bridge individuals and contribute our voice to the vast human experience. Despite the responsibility of academic institutions to uphold the legacy of the written word, Title IX allows American Universities to dole out disciplinary actions in the form of a three-page essay in exchange for a clean slate, demonstrating just how much American universitie
Anonymous
Oct 166 min read
Living In-Between: What Recurrent Loss Taught Me About Carrying Grief
When I first wrote about losing our baby in October 2024, I thought the hardest part would be the miscarriage itself. In many ways, it was. At the time, grief felt enormous. Overwhelming. It filled every room, every conversation, every quiet moment. But it wasn’t always going to stay that way. It might not disappear, but it changes shape, and settles into the everyday. That kind of grief becomes something I carry in my bones alongside everything else — work, relationships, bi
Tassia O'Callaghan
Oct 155 min read
The Cornell 7: Shocking, Disturbing, Yet All Too Familiar
As a mental health research assistant, writer and editor for Inspire the Mind, this is not the first time I have written about sexual violence, and I fear it will not be the last. Sexual violence is not new, nor is the outrage that follows it. For decades, women have shared their stories, challenged harmful attitudes and demanded greater accountability. Yet, despite these efforts, allegations of sexual violence continue to emerge, each a painful reminder of how much remains u
Camila Ribeiro
Oct 145 min read
Can Hypnosis Help Actors Become Their Characters?
At first glance, acting and hypnosis may seem like very different worlds. But both raise a surprisingly similar question: how can the mind make an imagined reality feel real enough to change what we experience? This question has followed me for years. My name is Tiago Garcia, and my background in Film Studies first made me interested in how actors build characters.
Tiago Garcia
Oct 135 min read
Idling High: Anxiety, Obsession, and Persistence
This is how I think about myself today: I’m a retired 63-year-old man, happily married, in excellent health, very comfortable. And yet, I idle high. I just accept that this is part of my makeup. I have brown eyes; I’m 5’- 9”; I weigh 170 pounds. I idle high. Idling high is not a clinical term and it won’t be found in any psychology context of which I am aware. It is just the way I have come to identify with certain characteristics of my life.
John Sergio
Oct 125 min read
When My Son Ran Away, My Boyfriend’s Daughter Mended My Broken Heart
It happened out of nowhere, on a Tuesday night. My firstborn, "my sunshine," as I always called him, was making me proud...or so I thought. My son had difficulty with impulse control in the past, but he was in counselling and seemed to be on the right track. At 17, he had secured a well-paying job and planned diligently for his future. He had always been a bright child, excelling in school, so I had high hopes that he would go to college and secure a successful career.
Samantha Ortega
Oct 95 min read
Reimagining Our Understanding of Self-Harm in Young People
I am currently a visiting researcher at Imperial College London as part of the Mood Instability Research group. I am particularly interested in applying computational approaches, such as machine learning to complex data, to better understand mental health. Machine learning is a computational approach that can examine multiple factors simultaneously and identify patterns in data sets, that may not be apparent when using traditional statistical approaches.
Elixandra Dawa
Oct 85 min read
The Village We Lost: Parenting, Isolation in a Mobile World
Close your eyes. Imagine you could live anywhere in the world. Money isn’t a consideration, logistics? No problem. Whatever you fancy is available…
Got it?
Let me guess what you got… a golden sandy beach? Sun rays warming your face? A sangria in one hand with a cabana boy fanning you from the side?
Bingo.
This is what I envisioned when I decided to move to the South of France with my, at the time, 9-month-old bundle of joy (baby, not a puppy, just to clarify).
Robyn Doolan
Oct 74 min read
14 Months on a Sub-Antarctic Island: A Laboratory for Earth and Mind
Imagine sailing through the most chaotic latitudes of Earth: the so-called Roaring 40s and furious 50’s, uncharted southern seas where your ship, the Marion Dufresne II, is the sole vessel carving a path through these distant waves. After 20 days, you reach a remote island where you’ll spend a whole year with 28 strangers, surrounded by albatrosses, subantarctic fur seals, southern elephant seals, orcas, and penguins. 29 humans. No one else.
Virgile Legendre
Oct 65 min read
What Resident Evil Reveals About Fear, Avoidance, and Courage
When we first meet Bryan, the main character of the new movie Resident Evil, his biggest problems have nothing to do with zombies. He’s a regular guy, working as a medical courier, rushing to finish his final delivery of the night so he can finally go home.
Melisa Kose
Oct 56 min read
Shadowed — A Short Story
My street is dirty and chaotic, and it does not end. It just goes on and on and on, feeding into other roads and other streets that all look the same. They wrap themselves around this island, squeezing it, constricting it – sucking the life out of it.
Robert Monk
Oct 27 min read
Can Treating Psychosis Reduce Motivation and Pleasure?
I am Martin Osugo, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist working to improve the lives of people with schizophrenia through both clinical practice and research. I first became deeply interested in schizophrenia in my first year of medical school. That interest eventually led me to a PhD at King’s College London’s Department of Psychosis Studies, two years after I qualified as a doctor. I have cared for people with psychosis in my community and inpatient settings.
Martin Osugo
Oct 15 min read
When 'No' Is a Good Outcome: Redefining Success in Cancer Research
At the core of any healthcare or science degree, students learn the importance of numbers. Specifically, “bigger” is often synonymous with “success”. It has been viscerally etched into my brain since my undergraduate Psychology research methods and statistics courses: a larger sample size, meaning more individuals enrolled in a study, increases statistical power and overall confidence in the findings.
Valentina Muñoz
Sep 304 min read
From Barriers to Better Research
What does it take to conduct biological mental health research with young people, and what can get in the way? My name is Camila, and I’m a Research Assistant at the Stress Psychiatry and Immunology Lab at King’s College London. Around three years ago, I first joined the team during my undergraduate placement year, working primarily on the CELEBRATE project.
Camila Ribeiro
Sep 296 min read
The Whitening of the Nation: Erasing Identity in South America
Passionate about history and the lasting impacts of colonisation, I never imagined I’d one day be able to connect it to football, or the World Cup. Yet the 2026 World Cup final made it impossible to ignore the link. The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina was a legendary match for many fans. One that I managed to tune in to watch live. Many saw this as the Lamine Yamal vs Lionel Messi match. One to solidify the legacy of future football.
Suvi Pushpakanthan
Sep 285 min read
Why Has Male Fertility Been Ignored for Over 2,000 Years?
I study sperm for a living, so I am used to the giggles and raised eyebrows. But here is the fact that surprises almost everyone: we understood the female reproductive system in reasonable scientific detail well before we understood the male one — and in some ways, we are still catching up. This is not an abstract interest for me. As a young and inquisitive scientist, I quickly realised how little knowledge existed around male reproductive health, which pushed me to pursue a
Daniel Marcu
Sep 255 min read
The iDoctor Revolution: Could Your Smartphone Replace Your Therapist?
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just spread loneliness and hopelessness - it pushed the already-stretched mental health services past breaking point. Mental health disorders rose by 25% in the pandemic’s first year alone. Traditional, in-person care couldn’t keep up. So, healthcare systems turned to digital interventions delivered through a patient’s phone. 85% of NHS trusts in England now offer digital mental health interventions to adult patients.
Maddalena Cipriani
Sep 246 min read
The Boys Who Lost Fatherhood Before They Understood It
A boy diagnosed with cancer at seven years old is not thinking about fatherhood. His parents are not thinking about it either, not really, not while they are absorbing a diagnosis and bracing for treatment. And yet, tucked into that first wave of decisions, is one about a future so distant it barely feels real: whether to try to preserve his fertility before treatment takes it away. I recently completed a DPhil in reproductive science, alongside a master's in clinical embryol
Rajwa Mecca
Sep 234 min read
What Nobody Tells You About the Gut-brain Axis
I have read countless articles on the gut-brain relationship, but very few go into depth about one particular concept. As a Nutrition & Lifestyle Practitioner completing an MSc in Psychology & Neuroscience of the Mind-Body Interface, a few classmates asked me to share my knowledge in this area, so I decided to write about the most important thing I’ve learned in the past several years on the gut-brain axis.
Nicole Burska
Sep 225 min read
Finding Her Voice: The Science of Singing in Motherhood
Before a baby can understand a single word, before they can even clearly focus on a face, they already know one sound better than any other: their mother’s voice, with research suggesting that infants learn to recognise this specific sound even before they are born. The maternal voice has a profound impact on the baby, playing a crucial role in their cognitive and emotional development, fostering secure attachment, and providing a sense of safety and comfort.
Brunella Govetto
Sep 215 min read
Finding Calm in the Ocean's Most Misunderstood Predator
A fun fact about me (and often my go-to ice breaker): Great White Sharks are my favourite animals. Not cats, not dogs, nothing fuzzy or cuddly or cute. And this has been the case since I was 6 or 7 years old.
Weird, isn’t it?
I’ve made it a habit of weaving my personal interests and hobbies into my Inspire the Mind articles, beyond the work I do as a Trial Manager in Perinatal Psychiatric Research. I’ve previously written about baking sourdough bread, the importance of
Riddhi Laijawala
Sep 185 min read
The Shape of a Single Moment
When we imagine our lives through the years, it might be easier to imagine a linear, gradual transformation. We were children, now we're adults, and the story continues across a medium of existence, too flux and too holistic for singularities. But when we tell our stories, we often refer to these singularities: moments that became dividing lines between older and newer versions of ourselves. In fact, research shows that people often define their lives around turning points an
Tezor Dedam
Sep 175 min read
What Do Schizophrenia and ALS Have In Common?
In an era of increasing need for understanding mental health and neurodegenerative conditions, identifying links between the two could revolutionise our approach towards clinical care.
My name is Lili, and I am a stem cell biologist working at King’s College London in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. I am part of a research group that uses cellular and molecular biology, as well as bioinformatics.
Lili Bako
Sep 164 min read
From Daughter to Researcher: Transforming Parkinson’s Through AI
Like many researchers, my journey into Parkinson’s disease began with a personal connection. Growing up with a father with Parkinson’s, I learned early that a diagnosis is only the beginning of the story.
Linda Bryant
Sep 155 min read
The Joy of an Unlikeable Woman: Why FURIOUS Made Me Feel Exhilarated
Disney+ has just released FURIOUS, a gripping new crime drama following FBI agent Alice Black as she becomes consumed by the hunt for Catherine Grace, a female serial killer. But FURIOUS is far from a simple game of cat and mouse. Alice and Catherine are both driven by their own ideas of justice, operating on opposite sides of the law while pursuing a similar purpose. As their lives become increasingly intertwined, the boundaries between justice and revenge begin to blur.
Camila Ribeiro
Sep 146 min read
The Fear of Clowns and a Smile We Cannot Trust
Like many who heard the news on the evening of Wednesday 26th August about the passing of actor Tim Curry, grief presented itself in me as reminiscing about his iconic roles throughout my childhood. Although Curry’s Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the 1990s adaptation of Stephen King’s IT may have helped cement the sinister killer-clown trope in the mainstream since, the fear of clowns long precedes his performance.
Melisa Kose
Sep 115 min read
What Does Inflammatory Depression Look Like, and How Can We Assess It?
When we think about depression, we often think first about sadness, hopelessness, or losing interest in things we once enjoyed. But depression is much more diverse than that. Two people can receive the same diagnosis and experience very different combinations of depressive symptoms. For example, even the same symptomatologic areas can be affected in opposite ways: some people may sleep much more than usual, while others struggle with insomnia and have difficulty sleeping.
Benedetta Vai
Sep 105 min read
Postpartum Psychosis Is More Complex Than the Lindsay Clancy Trial
I have been watching the Lindsay Clancy trial unfold over the past few weeks, with growing unease. Now, after weeks of testimony and intense public scrutiny, the proceedings have ended in a mistrial. Before I started my PhD, I knew very little about postpartum psychosis (PPP). I had briefly studied it during my Neuroscience and Psychiatric research bachelor’s and master’s degrees. But it wasn’t until I co-led the PRAM-P cohort study.
Sorcha Alford
Sep 96 min read
Young People Want to Talk About Social Media. Are We Listening?
As a Senior Research Fellow in Digital Health at King's College London, I've spent the past few years speaking with young adults about social media and mental health. As the UK moves towards restrictions on social media use for under-16s, alongside other countries taking a similar approach, public discussion often comes down to a simple question: is social media good or bad for young people's mental health? To explore this topic, my colleagues and I interviewed 28 young adult
Ruth Plackett
Sep 85 min read
Sexual Health is Mental Health: Developing ACCESS-MH
We need to talk about sex in mental health settings. In recent years, it has become widely recognised that people living with psychiatric disorders experience a disproportionate burden of preventable physical illness. Research suggests that people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) die 15-20 years earlier than the general population, with physical health conditions contributing substantially to this mortality gap. Growing recognition of this inequality has driven efforts to imp
Sorcha Alford
Sep 76 min read
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