Stress & Mood
Grief, and what nobody tells you
The stages model was never meant to describe bereavement, and the reality is less orderly and more physical.
Stress & Mood
Anxiety, low mood, burnout and evidence-based responses.
Stress & Mood
The mental health of men, specifically
Presentation differs, help-seeking is lower, and the suicide statistics are the clearest evidence that something is not working.
Stress & Mood
What exercise does for the mind
The mental health evidence is stronger than the popular version and more specific about what and how much.
Stress & Mood
Rumination, and how to get out of the loop
Going over the past repeatedly feels like understanding and functions as a depressive maintenance mechanism.
Stress & Mood
Therapy, and how to find one that works
The type of therapy matters less than most people expect and the relationship matters more, which changes how to choose.
Stress & Mood
Alcohol and mood
It works for a couple of hours and works against you for the next twenty, and the arithmetic is worth understanding.
Stress & Mood
Loneliness as a health issue
The epidemiology is striking, the mechanism is plausible, and the interventions that work are not the obvious ones.
Stress & Mood
Worry, and what to do with it
Worry feels like problem-solving and functions as avoidance, which is why more of it never resolves anything.
Stress & Mood
Stress, and what it does to the body
The acute response is useful and the chronic version is not, and the physical symptoms it produces are genuinely physical.
Stress & Mood
What actually helps low mood
Behaviour changes before feeling does, which is the opposite of how people expect recovery to work.
Stress & Mood
Burnout is not the same as being tired
Burnout has a definition, a set of causes located in the workplace, and a set of responses that a holiday does not include.
Stress & Mood
Anxiety, and what actually reduces it
Avoidance is what maintains anxiety, which is why the effective treatments all involve approaching rather than escaping.