Mental health
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Dr Dog will see you now
12 August 2024 After the last two posts which discussed serious concerns with the framing of depr
Stop talking about your 'mental health'
It's making you - and everyone else - crazy 5 August 2024 I published last week's post, The de
The depression misconception
29 July 2024 One of the best things about publishing my articles on Substack is the Comments sect
The 'write' way to learn and remember
8 July 2024 My dear reader, I know this blog isn't the place for me to process my trauma, but I h
Ending the 'trans' insanity... with AI?
6 May 2024 Many people hold grave concerns about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) is
5 reasons to think twice before taking an antidepressant
Updated 5 February 2024 A letter published in the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) in D
Is 'mental illness' in the mind, or the body... or both?
8 January 2024 In last week's post, Worried sick, I briefly mentioned a study which examined mark
Worried sick
New research shows that hypochondriacs die younger. 1 January 2024 The late, great Irish comed
Beat the holiday season blues - with broccoli and berries!
18 December 2023 'Tis the season to be jolly, so the Christmas carol tells us, but not everyone i
Antidepressant discontinuation syndrome: An underrecognised
4 December 2023 As I’ve discussed in previous articles, antidepressants are now the most common
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Beat the holiday season blues - with broccoli and berries!
18 December 2023 'Tis the season to be jolly, so the Christmas carol tells us, but not everyone i
Busting the Grain Brain myth
5 July 2021 Ever since Dr David Perlmutter, a neurologist and - according to his Wikipedia profil
The biochemical imbalance theory is dead. Someone should tel
7 June 2021 For many years, I've been writing articles about the frauds perpetrated on the public
Cholesterol and depression: What's bad for the heart is bad
One of the criticisms of a plant-based diet that I've been read on pro-meat blogs is that excluding
The crucial personality characteristic that can save you fro
After reading Gretchen Rubin's book The Four Tendencies last year, which lays out a conceptual frame
Crossword puzzles or pumping iron - what's best for maintain
and Dementia. We all make jokes about it: grey nomads put 'Adventure Before Demen
Are you health-minded or orthorexic?
As so often happens in my practice, in the last week or so the same topic of concern h
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Don't call them 'negative emotions'!
26 November 2018 I have quite a few pet peeves. (OK, I admit it, more than a few.) The one I want t
Depressing drugs
A recent US study has revealed a worrying trend: in the midst of growing concerns about rising rates
Dying to feel better
25 September 2017 Would you take a drug that increases your risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture,
Depression: bringing your black dog to heel
Antidepressant drugs are only marginally effective for most people, and come with a laundry list of
'Depressed' or just going through a rough patch - have you b
2 June 2014 In the last couple of weeks, I've had several interesting conversations with clients
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The evidence is in: Eating better relieves depression
I've written extensively about the link, documented in research published in peer-reviewed medical j
Eat your way to better mental health?
October 10 has been designated by the World Health Organization (WHO) as World Mental Health Day 201
Food cravings and your gut microbiome - the surprising conne
The emerging field of microbiome research offers fascinating, at times disturbing, but ultimately em
Fear of feeling - and how it drives cravings
A while back, I wrote about FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out, and how it drives food cravings. There's ano
Good mood food
Depression, anxiety, feelings of overwhelm and general stress are modern-day epidemics. Yet when peo
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Healthy mum, healthy baby: Part 1
Updated 22 February 2021 Over the last few months, I've been collecting numerous medical journal
Healing food addiction - an intimate conversation with Andre
I’m delighted to share an intimate and wide-ranging conversation with Andrew ‘Spud Fit’ Taylor
The healing gift of anger
I bet that title got your attention! After all, what could possibly be healing about anger? Isn't it
Healing the wounded child within
Do you ever notice that your reactions to daily life events are... ahem... somewhat less mature than
Healing the past... changing the future
Does your life ever feel like the movie Groundhog Day? The same conflict playing out over and over a
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Healthy mum, healthy baby: Part 2
Updated 15 February 2021 In Part 1 of this special series, in which I'm covering recently-publish
Keep your brain young with greens
Today, March 12, marks the beginning of Brain Awareness Week, a global campaign to increase public a
Hormonal contraception and women's mental health
A massive Danish study has sounded alarm bells about the effect of hormonal contraceptives (incl
Inflammation: why you're fat, sick, tired, depressed and in
You may never have stopped to think about it, but every time you become unwell in any way, inflammat
How childhood trauma changes the brain... and how EFT and Ma
It's a truism that childhood experiences continue to influence our emotional reactions and behaviour
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Obesity: Bad to the Brain
28 June 2021 Research on the effects of obesity on the human brain has made significant progress
Real answers to the mental health crisis
21 June 2021 Do you want the bad news on mental health first, or the good news? OK, let's go with
Massive study finds that DNA contributes little to most heal
Have you been tempted to avail yourself of the services of a mail order DNA testing company? Or perh
More elderly people are taking antidepressants, but they're
4 November 2019 A study published on 7 October 2019 in the British Journal of Psychiatry has call
Looking on the bright side of heart health
If you've ever seen the Monty Python's Life of Brian, you'll no doubt vividly recall the final scene
More evidence that taking the Pill in your teens is linked t
In a previous post, Hormonal contraception and women’s mental health, I discussed the findings of
Of bugs and brains - how your gut microbiome affects mental
As I discussed in last week's blog post, Drugs and gut bugs, research on the human gut microbiome is
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The perils of proton pump inhibitors - Part 2
Updated 22 January 2024 In Part 1 of this series on proton pump inhibitors, I covered the basics
Real answers to the mental health crisis
21 June 2021 Do you want the bad news on mental health first, or the good news? OK, let's go with
Recovery from anxiety is not just possible, it's likely
21 January 2020 In previous articles (see ‘Depressed’ or just going through a rough patch –
Preventing dementia
I'm devoting this, my fifth update on the 5th International Plant-Based Nutrition Healthcare Confe
The pleasure trap - or how your brain gets tricked into thin
The human brain and body are both adapted to live in a very different world than the one we inhabit
Omega 3 fats
Are you confused about dietary fat? I wouldn't blame you if you are! There's so much misinformation
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Shocking new study links body fatness to brain health
Blood is often described as the river of life. If blood flow to any part of our bodies is reduced, t
Rumination inflammation
“Don’t dwell on what has passed away, or what is yet to be”, rasps Leonard Cohen in what I con
Rewiring the 'obese brain'
As discussed in my article How to make an ‘obese brain'; just add saturated fat, researchers belie
Returning to healing
Recently I conducted a Matrix Reimprinting session with a client whom I'll call Devorah. She was str
Resolving trauma
Did you suffer, or fear that you would suffer, abandonment (either physical or emotional) by your pa
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The surprising - and disturbing - effects of paracetamol on
Originally published 28 September 2020; updated 14 August 2023 Paracetamol, also known as acetami
This is your brain on the Pill
Receiving a prescription for the oral contraceptive pill is practically a rite of passage for Austra
Should you choose a nice stroll or a killer workout? It depe
Scientists in Germany have identified distinct changes in brain function that occur after people per
Sugar: Not so sweet for your mood
Updated 26 December 2022 It's that time of year again. Christmas carols blaring from the stores t
Veganism and eating disorders
Among eating disorder treatment specialists, 'vegan' is a dirty word. I've seen many clients sufferi
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Who says you're depressed or anxious? Pfizer does
2 April 2018 I've been becoming increasingly worried over the years about the creeping medicalisa
When to say 'sometimes' and when to say 'never'
Conventional wisdom has it that 'a little of what you fancy does you good', and that '
Why do we do things we know are bad for us?
Why do we humans do things that we know are bad for us, like smoking, eating junk food
Which 'you' are you changing for?
It's a truism that you should never try to change yourself to please somebody else. Pe
Want to feel happier? Change what's on your plate!
Google the search terms ‘happiness’ + ‘research’ and you’ll retrieve about 56,300,000 resu
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You were born to be happy... What happened?
It may be stating the obvious, but you weren't born depressed, anxious or with low self-esteem. Y
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