The Thinking Mind Podcast: Psychiatry & Psychotherapy
Learn something new about the mind every week - With in-depth conversations at the intersection of psychiatry, psychotherapy, self-development, spirituality and the philosophy of mental health.
Featuring experts from around the world, leading clinicians and academics, published authors, and people with lived experience, we aim to make complex ideas in the mental health space accessible and engaging.
This podcast is designed for a broad audience including professionals, those who suffer with mental health difficulties, more common psychological problems, or those who just want to learn more about themselves and others.
Hosted by psychiatrists Dr. Alex Curmi, Dr. Anya Borissova & Dr. Rebecca Wilkinson.
Listeners have said:
"If you are interested in your mind, emotions, sense of self, and understanding of others, this show is brilliant."
"Every episode is enlightening, the approach, conversations and depth of information is deeply enriching. So refreshing to hear practitioners with this level of insight into human behaviour. Thank you for the work and for sharing."
Podcast related enquiries: thinkingmindpodcast@gmail.com.
If you would like to work with Dr. Curmi: alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com
Disclaimer: None of the information in the podcast is intended as medical advice for any one invididual.
Episodes
181 episodes
E114 - Do Psychiatric Drugs Work? (with Professor David Taylor)
Professor David Taylor is Director of Pharmacy and Pathology at the Maudsley Hospital and Professor of Psychopharmacology at KCL. David is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology. Professor Taylor has been ...
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1:04:18
E113 - What were they Thinking? Mentalisation Based Therapy (w/ Peter Fonagy & Anthony Batemen)
Mentalisation-Based Therapy (MBT) is a structured, evidence-based psychotherapy designed to enhance a person’s ability to mentalise, especially in emotionally intense situations. It was developed by today's guests Prof. ...
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58:23
E112 - The Hidden Cost of Low Self-Esteem
Today Alex discusses the concept of self-esteem; including core components of self-esteem, how poor self-esteem can affect your life and how people's self-esteem becomes disrupted through the lens of different psychological theories. We also di...
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41:18
E111 - Why can Relationships be so Difficult? (Attachment, Aggression, Self-Love and more w/Adam Lane Smith)
Adam Lane Smith is a renowned Attachment Specialist with over 15 years of experience in psychology and relationships. Formerly a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, he has dedicated his career to helping individuals and couples overcome att...
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1:01:41
E110 - Is Sectioning People Ethical? Mental Health Law, Capacity, Assisted Dying, the Insanity Defence (w/ Alex Ruck Keene)
Alex Ruck Keene KC (Hon) is a barrister at 39 Essex Chambers in London, specializing in mental capacity, mental health, and healthcare law. In recognition of his significant contributions beyond the courtroom, Alex was appoin...
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1:41:19
E109 - Is Depression a Medical Illness? (w/ Prof. Joanna Moncrieff)
Joanna Moncrieff is a British psychiatrist, researcher, and professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London (UCL). She is widely recognised for her critical perspectives on psychiatric medication and the biomedic...
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1:03:17
E108 - What is Psychosis? (with Prof. Richard Bentall)
Richard Benthall is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sheffield in the UK. His research has focusued on the psychological mechanisms of severe mental illness (such as hallucinations and delusions) and social factors that a...
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58:22
E107 - The Evolution of Psychiatry (w/ Dr. Adam Hunt)
Dr. Adam Hunt (PhD) is a post-doc researcher at the University of Cambridge and the host of the Evolving Psychiatry podcast which provides interviews, insights and an introduction to evolutionary psychiatry, with guest appearances from leading ...
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1:24:49
E106 - Overcoming Cynicism in Mental Health (Anti-Psychiatry, Anti-depressants, Big Pharma, ADHD, Psychotherapy)
Today Alex chats with Dr. Alex Meaburn, a speciality doctor in psychiatry who has been working on the podcast behind the scenes. They discuss some of the limitations of psychiatry including problems with the biomedical model of depression, soci...
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1:05:59
Why New Years Resolutions Fail (and What to Do Instead)
This podcast is a guide to making any kind of resolution towards long term behaviour change. It includes a step by step guide to implementing a new behaviour including choosing an area to work on, framing your resolution appropriately, setting ...
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35:04
Why Are Men Suffering with their Mental Health? (Live at Trinity Rugby Club)
This week's episode is a live Q & A recorded at Trinity Rugby Club in South London. Dr. Alex is interviewed by Andrew Edwards the Director of Rugby at the club and they discuss various topics such as:- Modern problems men face- ...
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1:08:48
E105 - What do Video Games do to our Minds? (w/Dr. Hamilton Morrin)
Dr Hamilton Morrin is a psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and an NIHR academic clinical fellow at King's College London researching neuropsychiatric disorders using neurotechnology. He is a Trustee for Gaming the Mi...
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1:03:33
E104 - Deprescribing Anti-Depressants and Challenging "Biological Depression" (w/ Dr. Mark Horowitz)
Mark Horowitz is a training psychiatrist, now working as a Clinical Research Fellow at UCL. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology and has edited a collection of papers in the journal on Discontinuin...
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1:01:25
E103 - Evidence-Based Parenting (w/ Matilda Gosling)
Matilda Gosling is an author, social scientist and researcher, with two books that cover parenting, development and mental health. Evidence-Based Parenting came out in January 2024, ...
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1:07:10
We're on Break this week! Announcements & Housekeeping
This week we're taking a well deserved break, so if you're looking for something to listen to you can check out one of our recent episodes - including our episode last week breaking down the factors that make for successful psychotherapy, our r...
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3:08
Sixteen Ways Psychotherapy Can Help You
Today Alex discusses 16 factors common to most kinds of therapy which help people to improve the quality of their lives including skills development, gaining new insights about old patterns, forming a reparative relationship with the therapist,...
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23:28
E102 - Fundamentals of Self-Development (Fear of failure, Procrastination, Breaking Patterns, Self-Acceptance)
Today Alex chats with Dr. Alex Meaburn, a speciality doctor in psychiatry who has been working on the podcast behind the scenes. They discuss some of the fundamentals of self-development including how to audit your time, break out of unhelpful ...
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1:16:54
E101- How Does Nature Help us Heal? (with Prof. Chris Dayson & Dr. Annette Haywood)
What is the effect of nature on our mental health? Today Alex speaks with Prof. Chris Dayson & Dr. Annette Haywood, who have conducted research involving 8000 people, who were given nature-based interventions (such as nature walks, communit...
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54:18
E100 - 8 Lessons from 100 Episodes
In this episode Alex discusses 8 lessons he learned from making the first 100 episodes of the podcast, including how to deal with success and failure, internal and external obstacles, creativity, peristence and much more. Audio-Essay by...
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24:42
Five Maddening Things About the Modern World
In this week's podcast we discuss five different problems facing the modern world, including the decline in critical thinking, political polarisation, the overreliance on technology and more, and how they are contributing to a rise in mental he...
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31:27
E99 - Should we Prescribe Pets for Mental Health Problems? (with Prof. Nancy Gee)
Nancy Gee, Ph.D is a Professor of Psychiatry in Human Animal Interaction, and the Director of the Centre for Human Animal Interaction at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in Richmond, VA. The Centre is the only one of its kind to be housed...
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1:01:29
Ask Me Anything #2: Men's Mental Health, Addiction, Burnout, Grief, Dating apps and Critical Thinking
This is a recording of a Q & A session at Riddlesdown collegiate, a secondary school in South London. For this session, specifically aimed at male staff, Alex was interviewed by Deputy Head of College Andrew Edwards. Today we cover ...
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1:13:52
E98 - What can Neuroscience tell us about Mental Health? (with Dr. Camilla Nord)
Dr. Camilla Nord leads the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge, where she holds dual positions as Programme Leader at the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and Assistant Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the...
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54:43
E97 - Novel Treatments for Eating Disorders (with Prof. Ulrike Schmidt)
Prof. Ulrike Schmidt is a Professor of Eating Disorders and Director of the Centre for Research on Eating and Weight Disorders at King’s College London. She is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust...
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1:05:45
E96 - Seeing Personality Disorder in the Clinic (with Dr. Tennyson Lee)
Dr Tennyson Lee is a Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy and General Adult Psychiatry. He is a psychoanalyst and a member of the Institute of Psychoanalysis. He is a supervisor in Transference Focused Psychotherapy. He is presently clinica...
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56:43