Christmas is almost upon us and, to quote a lyric from the ubiquitous Slade song, ‘everybody’s having fun’. This might, at first glance, appear to be the case . . . But scratch the surface and look a little deeper – beyond the slick television commercials that are, let’s not forget, designed to persuade us...Read More

There’s a girl. She’s always checking her appearance. Her hair is long, blonde and wavy, her eyes big and blue. There can be little question that the girl is beautiful. That she seems to have it all . . . Yet the girl thinks she is ugly. The girl in question is all too real....Read More

He might not be to everyone’s tastes musically, but it can’t be denied that Phil Collins has an honest streak that is admirable. Speaking in recent days about his mid-life struggle against alcoholism, the sober-again singer has pulled no punches and spared no details. Having resorted to booze for breakfast, he ended up in intensive...Read More

So Brangelina is no more. The revelation that a Hollywood power couple are to split has made for front page news the Earth over, fuelling fervent speculation, gossip and rumour on television and radio shows, websites and, perhaps most rampantly, across social media in all its myriad forms. The response from some quarters has been,...Read More

So it’s almost here and upon us. The long-awaited (and – for some, at least – dreaded) exam results day . . . The limbo that has coloured the summer so far is all but over. The final reckoning, the moment of truth, the time for finding out has arrived. This is a difficult time...Read More

It’s the hinterland. Limbo. No man’s land. That uncertain and uncomfortable period between the final exam and the subsequent results. It can be difficult and distressing. Unsettling and hard to adapt. The hard work is over, but resolution must wait. The here and the now, at the summer’s beginning, ranks amongst the most testing times...Read More

It’s that time again. Summer term. Exam season. Up and down the UK. Stress City . . . It’s a perennial problem and one that can lead to innumerable issues. It might not seem scientific but to search for ‘Exam Stress’ on social media highlights the fact that children and teenagers are starting to feel...Read More

It’s an unfortunate fact, but mental health and stigma go hand in hand. Unkind comments. Uninformed opinions. Prejudice. Judgement. Ignorance. Discrimination. It’s rife. It’s wrong. Those at the sharp end bear the brunt, make no mistake, the anxious, the depressed and the unwell. But the stigma doesn’t start or end there. You see, doctors (and...Read More

Heard the one about the theatre director, the playwright, the poet and the psychiatrist? It sounds a little like the opening line in a convoluted joke. On the contrary, however, the subject matter could not be more serious. It centres on psychosis, a condition that, as all who have experienced it can attest, is nothing...Read More

This is quite a question and one that, at first glance, might appear impossible to answer. Individual. Unique. Everyone is different, after all. One man’s pleasure is another man’s pain, or at least so the saying goes. No two people are the same, that much is true. But that doesn’t mean that the question above...Read More