Why small moments of joy could be the secret to happiness in life
Are you grumpy because somebody was rude to you on the train? Or are you upbeat because a friend complimented your new dress? Economists have usually written…
I’ll never regret getting my beloved French bulldog
This Christmas will be spent just like the last – me, my boyfriend and my French bulldog, cooped up together in our London flat. Ever since buying…
Jesy Nelson’s critics pretend to want ‘social justice’ – but they’re Twitter bullies
This year, in particular, Nelson has been held to account by the public for “blackfishing” – a portmanteau coined on Twitter in 2018, which riffs on the…
Brits Rising Star Holly Humberstone: ‘My songs don’t leave much to the imagination’
Holly Humberstone is the recipient of the Brits Rising Star award 2022, picked out as the new artist whom the British music industry believes will have the…
What working from home does to your brain
Over the past few months, we’ve been creeping back to the office, navigating packed commutes to our desks and in-person meetings. The rise of the omicron variant…
How to survive the pressures of being a carer
The crisis in social care has placed even more pressure on unpaid carers, whose numbers were rising even before the pandemic. A survey by the charity Carers…
Why women are being given boxing gloves and ballet shoes instead of antidepressants
The “social” element of social prescribing is also key. Hermione Ireland, 51, is MD of a wine publishing company, who has just started taking group boxing classes….
Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism, review: there’s a lot to learn from this brave film
It is a strange fact that people often say more in the presence of a television camera than they do in private. I suppose it’s a bit…
Do Mick Jagger’s SAD therapy glasses actually work?
Light therapy is still considered the gold standard for SAD sufferers, although it doesn’t work for everyone. Patients in the UK are prescribed a SAD lamp, or…
Meet the Insta therapist who deleted her social media accounts
“In those angst-ridden teenage years, teenagers are programmed to want to belong and they naturally compare themselves with others,” she says. “When they see an image on…
What happens to a woman’s heart when she takes on too much stress at work and home?
It doesn’t take a scientist to tell us that working hard while caring for a family can be highly stressful, but a 2020 study reveals the true…
The inconvenient truth about antidepressants
After the loss of her 16-year-old daughter Jenny to suicide, 60-year-old Jenetta Bary went onto antidepressants for a couple of months. “It left me feeling deadened and…
How to tell if you’ve been hit by HOGO – the Hassle of Going Out
Working from home has killed the after-work drink, while our uniform of elasticated sweatpants and slippers means that we’re no longer sure how to dress. Anna is…
Drugs, diets and coercive control: the sad story of Brian Wilson’s conservatorship
Brian Wilson’s mental health problems began back in the mid-Sixties. He recalled first hearing voices after taking psychedelic drugs. The voices plagued him forever after (“All day every…
How the pandemic changed our children’s lives – for better or for worse
‘Before she was ill, Mum cycled 13 miles a day on her commute. Now she uses a wheelchair’ One morning, in mid-March 2020, we’d put our school…
I’m still mortified by my emergency ambulance callout
The breathlessness and exhaustion crept up on me over a period of a few days last month. Pains in my jaw. A stabbing in my ear. An…
Drugs, diets and coercive control: the sad story of Brian Wilson’s conservativeship
Brian Wilson’s mental health problems began back in the mid-Sixties. He recalled first hearing voices after taking psychedelic drugs. The voices plagued him forever after (“All day every…