- Article
- Article
The enduring myth of the mad genius
There’s a fine line to tread between creativity and psychosis.
- In pictures
- In pictures
The trouble with absinthe
Famed for inducing “green fairy” hallucinations, absinthe has been simultaneously lauded for its medicinal properties and condemned as the source of debasement and debauchery.
- Comic
- Comic
My backstory
A more vulnerable exposé on my dermatillomania.
- Comic
- Comic
Mom's solution
Mother may well know best in this case.
- Comic
- Comic
Walk it off
When skin picking really is a disorder and interferes with life.
- Comic
- Comic
Voyage
The root of picking really is just skin deep.
- Comic
- Comic
Rod with a prod
You’ve got a friend in Rod.
- Comic
- Comic
The upsides of dermatillomania
Everything needs a silver lining.
- Comic
- Comic
Save the world
It’s harder than you’d think.
- Comic
- Comic
No solution
We all need to relieve stress.
- Comic
- Comic
Guillotine
Sometimes the solution isn’t worth the trouble.
- Comic
- Comic
Can you tell I’m stressed?
When your friends need to read the signs.
- Comic
- Comic
I’m not ashamed
Don’t let picking your scars stop you from enjoying nature’s bounty.
- Article
- Article
Conflicted and confused about lithium
Covid-19 left Laura Grace Simpkins out of work and living back with her parents. She now had time to restart her research into her medication, but was she mad to continue?
- Article
- Article
Reclaiming my story
Sharing her story of mental illness and treatment with trainee social workers has helped Caroline Butterwick make sense of her past, and continues to be a positive part of her life today.
- Article
- Article
Diagnosing the past
Historical texts rarely supply enough detail for a definitive diagnosis, so medical historians need to proceed with caution.
- Article
- Article
Building resilience in a racist world
With the resurgence of racism in today’s UK, Louisa Adjoa Parker reflects on the trauma of growing up in a racist society and explores how victims could begin to heal.
- Article
- Article
Inhaling happiness and gasping for a high
The rapid, short-lived high we get from whippets, reefers and vapes can be accompanied by long-term health consequences. The search is on for safer ways to get stoned.
- Article
- Article
Nymphomania and hypersexuality in women and men
The history of nymphomania is closely bound with society's views on women and their sexuality.
- Article
- Article
The soul in the stomach
A 17th-century physician’s controversial theory about the link between the emotions and the stomach reminds us that we shouldn’t ignore our ‘gut feelings’.
- Article
- Article
Stigma, schizophrenia and being transgender
When he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Ashley McFord-Allister discovered that the medical world will not continue gender confirmation treatment while treating a mental health condition. Here he exposes the prejudice behind this attitude.
- Book extract
- Book extract
Tracing the roots of our fears and fixations
Kate Summerscale explores the history of our anxieties and compulsions, and the new phobias and manias that are always emerging.
- Article
- Article
Doris Day blows against
Dodie Bellamy remembers a heady summer watching Doris Day grimace and gust in vintage movies, her expressive exhalations changing her onscreen world with a puff.
- Article
- Article
Robinson Crusoe and the morality of solitude
Robinson Crusoe, fiction’s most famous castaway, was certainly isolated, but did he suffer the intrinsically modern affliction of loneliness?
- Article
- Article
Uncovering experiences of dementia
Focusing on three 19th-century women’s case notes, Millie van der Byl Williams explores how our definition of dementia has changed.