All in the Mind

With moves to fast-track research into psychedelics to treat serious mental health conditions in the US and a flurry of new scientific studies, we look at the issue here.
How convincing is the evidence that drugs like psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can help with treatment-resistant depression - and after decades of research, are we on the cusp of seeing these treatments in the UK?
Claudia discusses the science with Dr James Rucker, consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and she chats with Raya, who took part in one of Dr Rucker's studies to hear about what she experienced.
And why do we often miss what’s right in front of us?
We hear about inattentional blindness and what we miss from the world around us with mathematician Kit Yates.
And Dr Peter Olusoga, senior lecturer in psychology from Sheffield Hallam University, joins us in the studio with a surprise test of attention for our listeners - and brings with him an intriguing new study about why you think your phone is vibrating…
...when it isn’t.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Gerry Holt
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Sound engineer: Andrew Garratt
Details of organisations offering support with mental health, or feelings of despair are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

In this week’s programme, guest Catherine Loveday, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Westminster, talks to Claudia Hammond about whether people feel emotions about politics differently in the body to everyday emotions.
Visiting the Institute for the Science of Early years & Youth lab, a child developmental psychology lab studying shared play between parents and children, Claudia observes a mum and daughter participating in their latest study and speaks to director and child psychologist Professor Sam Wass from the University of East London. He explains how these parent-child interactions may be fundamental to how families connect with one another and why paying attention to the same things as your children is the best way to help them sustain their attention on their own as they get older.
Dr Madeleine Pownall, a feminist psychologist and associate professor in psychology at the University of Leeds, talks to All in the Mind about her new book Absent Minds: The Untold Story of the Women who Changed Psychology Forever.
Presenter:  Claudia Hammond
Producer:  Helena Selby
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

Claudia Hammond explores intriguing early evidence that a ketogenic diet - high fat, low carbs - might help treat bipolar depression.
We already know this diet can help with some kinds of epilepsy. But now, after a promising pilot study, the Wellcome trust is funding a £7.9 million trial to look at whether it could also help reduce depression in people living with bipolar disorder. Professor Daniel Smith and research fellow Dr Iain Campbell from the University of Edinburgh, take us into the emerging field of ‘metabolic psychiatry’.
Also in the programme, Professor Nilli Lavie of UCL reveals what happens to our brain’s grey matter as we try to stay focused in an age of constant distraction. As information and entertainment are always within reach, her research asks how these shifting habits may be reshaping our attention - and our brains.
And Professor Daryl O’Connor discusses emerging research into the hormone oxytocin and its surprising role in wound healing, as well as new insights into how cultural experiences might help slow the ageing process.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Pamela Rutherford
Studio Manager: Tim Heffer
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Content Editor: Ilan Goodman

How does reading shape our mind and spirit? Why do novels make us feel more human?
In front of a live audience at the Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, Claudia Hammond looks at the science of what reading does to the mind and explores the profound impact it can have on our lives and well-being.

She is joined on stage by award-winning novelist and travel writer Joanna Kavenna; Dr Paula Byrne, Jane Austen biographer, writer and co-founder of ReLit: The Bibliotherapy Foundation and Ben Alderson-Day, Professor in Psychology at Durham University and lead researcher on ReaderBank, an ongoing research project studying reading, imagination and wellbeing.

With these leading experts in psychology and the literary world, she examines the range of imaginative experiences that fiction readers have, whether novels can deepen our capacity for empathy and the therapeutic effect of reading on our minds.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Helena Selby
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth

What would you say is the difference between the mind and the brain?
Claudia delves into this complex question after listener Paul got in touch to ask about Near Death Experiences. What can they tell us about the mind, the brain and who we are? Anil Seth, Professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex and author of Being You tackles this profound topic.
Studio guest Catherine Loveday discusses brand new research on how exactly the brain brings old memories from our pasts into our minds.
And Anita got in touch after hearing our discussion of knowledge theft, asking what motivates idea-stealing and whether it’s always intentional. Lillian Ellis, Assistant Professor at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia shares the evidence on 'cryptomnesia' - the common act of plagiarising ideas unconsciously.
Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Erika Wright
Editor: Ilan Goodman
Production coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Studio engineers: Mary Stone and Sue Maillot