How early is too early to be discharged from hospital after giving birth?

A longer post-birth stay in the wards could help many mothers, even if research remains inconclusive

‘I’m a chef and I forgot how to bake a cake’: why trauma often leads to brain fog and amnesia

Shock, stress and grief can have a devastating effect on memory – but there are ways to bring it back

Is sleep the canary in the coalmine – a clue to the health of our minds?

Sleep disturbance is a recognised risk factor for developing a host of psychiatric disorders. Going to bed is the best thing you can do for your brain right now

Don’t fret, neurotics – there are advantages to worrying

Negative mental chatter and anxious fantasies may not be all bad – they could bring benefits such as greater creativity and better health

I couldn’t do chores or hold the baby – even the doctors were fed up with me: my life with chronic pain

What started as an ache in my arms got so bad I had to stop driving and could barely work. Three years on, I am one of 3 million people in the UK living with pain that never goes away

A moment that changed me: the missile alert promised sudden death. That awful hour taught me how to live

I had stopped being an active participant in my own life. Now I knew I had to shorten my list of regrets – and I began meeting the world with a resounding ‘yes’

The rise of perfectionism – and the harm it’s doing us all

Many of us believe striving for perfection leads to success. But perfectionism is counter-productive and can result in soaring levels of stress. The answer, believes Professor Thomas Curran, is to go a little easier on yourself

‘I feel constantly watched’: the employees working under surveillance

Monitoring software has become more common since the pandemic – but are activity scores the best way to measure productivity?

A moment that changed me: I was in my 20s and depressed – then my mother moved into my bed

Her attempt to comfort me seemed ridiculous at the time. But years later it showed me how I could be there for my own daughter

‘I didn’t even know men could get it’: the hidden impact of male postnatal depression

Postnatal depression affects up to 15% of new mothers, but studies suggest almost as many fathers also show symptoms – and little is being done to help them

Exhausting search for solutions to UK’s sharp rise in tiredness

Cost of living crisis, mental health issues and long Covid all thought to be factors, but we still know too little about fatigue

Every anxiety dream I’ve ever had – ranked!

From self-cannibalism to spilling tomato sauce down my wedding dress, my nightmares are trying to keep me real

In the year since I quit social media, my screen time has fallen, my mood is up – even my resting heart rate is lower

A snap decision to step away has become a lifestyle shift for Philippa Moore. Though keeping up with friends can be tricky, she has no regrets

‘For a second, I don’t know who I am’: Ruby Wax on her stay in a mental health clinic

In this extract from her new book, the comedian and writer gives a Zoom talk about depression from her hospital room

I thought therapy would bring me happiness – why does it feel more elusive than ever?

In the past few years I’ve been forced to confront my competing desires: the thrill of chaos or the comfort of security, says Megan Nolan