All in the Mind

Claudia Hammond talks to Jacopo Annese, director of the San Diego brain observatory about his mission to create what he calls 'a Hubble space telescope for the brain'. He is recruiting people who will be willing to donate their brains to his laboratory. By interviewing them regularly to record their detailed life histories and interests and by doing psychological tests he aims to provide a brain archive for neuroscientists in the future. But what sort of links can be established between brain anatomy and personality and what sort of people are willing to donate their brains to his lab? Producer: Pam Rutherford.

At the 2000 Sydney Paralympics ten members of the Spanish basketball team were stripped of their gold for pretending to have a learning disability. For the first time since that scandal athletes with learning disabilities can compete again in this year's games. British psychologist, Professor Jan Burns is the Head of Eligibility for the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability. She tells Claudia which sports and which athletes will be eligible. In 2007 the Harvard political scientist, Robert Putnam published a paper stating that ethnic diversity in a community is associated with more mistrust. His paper was influential with governments, both in the UK and the US. Claudia is joined by one of Britain's leading social psychologists, Professor Miles Hewstone from Oxford University, about his new research which finds Putnam's bleak conclusions about society are wrong. Clinical microbiologist, Graham Rook from University College London is hopeful that one day there might be a vaccination against depression. He's basing his ideas on two things: the finding that some people with depression are found to have higher levels of inflammation in the body and the idea that inflammation could be controlled by our exposure to contact with certain worms and bacteria - the so-called hygiene hypothesis. Professor Rook tells Claudia why he thinks with more research there could one day be a vaccine. The link between depression and inflammation in a proportion of people with depression is established, but is a vaccine for all really possible and would it be a useful avenue to explore for preventing the condition? Nick Craddock is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cardiff and explains why he is critical of the idea. Producer: Pam Rutherford.

Airport Scanners to help with Distorted Body ImagePeople with eating disorders often have a distorted view of their own bodies. Researchers at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen are now using 3-D body scanners to test whether giving this accurate feedback of body shape could help in the treatment of life-threatening illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.Chit-Lit, Scandi-Lit...now Neuro-Lit !Why neuroscience is taking a leading role in the modern novel. Claudia Hammond talks to science writer, Jonah Lehrer, and to academic psychologist and writer, Charles Fernyhough, about the emergence of brain science in literature and considers whether new understanding of the brain can enrich fiction in the same way that Darwinism or Psychoanalysis did. Teenagers' Brains and Social RejectionIt's long been known that adolescents are particularly vulnerable to being left out. They get hurt and feel the rejection very keenly. Research by Dr Catherine Sebastian at the Developmental Risk and Resilience Unit at University College London suggests this response could be explained by the developing teenage brain. Producer: Fiona Hill.

Money and Motivation: how do high pay and bonuses affect performance ?Barclays chief, Bob Diamond, was the first high profile company head to be caught up in the "shareholder spring", when investors criticised his multi-million pound pay and bonus package. The Aviva boss has resigned after his pay and bonus was criticised, similarly Sly Bailey of Trinity Mirror has also stood down. The opposition is based on the argument that there should be no payment for failure, but what is the evidence that payment for success is a primary motivation for top business leaders ? Dr Stian Reimers, a psychologist at the City University in London, discusses money and motivation and uncovers a complex picture of how bonuses and incentives affect performance.Taking mental health care into the community: "Street Therapy"Clinical Psychologist, Charlie Alcock, took months to get young gang members on a London estate to trust her. But after being spat at and having stones thrown at her head, she finally succeeded in making contact with this hardest of all hard-to-reach groups. Determined to make mental health services available to these young people - most of whom were involved in extreme anti-social behaviour - she and her team developed "street therapy", a new model of treatment moulded around the often chaotic lives of their clients. Claudia Hammond sees for herself "street therapy" in action, and talks to the former gang members who are now key members of MAC-UK, the charity delivering this new kind of "care in the community".Reforming the Law on InsanityIn 1843 a man called M'Naghten attempted to murder the British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel. He got the wrong man, killing his secretary by mistake. Our current laws on insanity are rooted in that case, from nearly 200 years ago. Not surprisingly, pressure to reform "Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity" is growing and the Law Commission is due to consider updating and modernising the rules. Professor Ronnie Mackay from De Montfort University in Leicester discusses his research on how the plea of insanity has been used, in practice. While Dr Tony Maden, Professor of Forensic Psychiatry and Imperial College, London and Dr Lisa Claydon, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of the West of England debate why and how the law should be changed.Producer: Fiona Hill.

Claudia Hammond visits HMP Grendon, the only prison in Europe which operates wholly as a therapeutic community. More than nine out of ten prisoners at Grendon are serving indeterminate sentences for murder or serious violent offences. Inmates have to apply for a place and once approved undergo intensive group therapy three times a week for well over a year. Claudia talks to inmates, therapists and prison staff to find out how the prison operates and how its unique environment aims to reduce reoffending rates.

In April next year changes to the way the NHS in England will make GP groups responsible for 65 billion pounds of health budgets. These groups will decide what services patients need for all clinical services including mental health. But are all GPs confident of their expertise in mental health to do this? And what safeguards are in place to ensure enough good quality mental health is delivered to everyone across the country? Claudia is joined by Paul Burstow, the government minister for Care Services, Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North west London NHS Foundation Trust and Sophie Corlett, Director of external relations at the mental health charity, Mind to discuss the reforms and their impact on mental health. As many as one in five people go online to look for love but what is the psychological of online dating? Is there a right way to write a profile to maximise your chances of romance and do sites that offer to match you with suitable partners actually work? Claudia talks to Eli Finkel, associate professor of psychology at Northwestern university who has recently published one of the largest reviews of what relationship science reveals about the means of finding love online.

The BBC Stress test was launched in June with BBC Lab UK, with the aim of answering one of the big questions in mental health - what is the cause of mental illness ? More than 32,000 Radio 4 listeners took part, making this one of the largest studies of its kind in the world. The early results are in and Peter Kinderman, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Liverpool, tells Claudia Hammond what the findings reveal about the origins of mental health problems and the most effective coping strategies.Mental Health - Time for a Laugh? We all like a good laugh and there's plenty of evidence that it makes us feel better. But if somebody asked you to a night of comedy and sketches around mental health - if you were honest would your heart sink? Can mental illness ever be funny? Can we poke fun at the absurdities of serious conditions such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or even - suicide? Or does a serious message automatically consign it to the unfunny bin? Claudia goes to see Cracking Up, a show that tackles the stigma around mental illness head on. She talks to the show's compere and writer, John Ryan, and the creator, health psychologist, Maya Twardzicki, about whether mental health can ever be funny.Disclosing your mental health history when you apply for a job: There's a lot of confusion about whether you should, or shouldn't reveal to a potential employer your history of mental illness. Employers too, aren't clear about what questions they can ask and when. Claudia asks the experts what the legal situation actually is. Ben Willmott, head of Public Policy for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and Emma Mamo who oversees employment work for the mental health charity, MIND, answer listeners' questions on the subject.Producer: Fiona Hill.

London Taxi drivers have to learn 25 000 streets and 20 000 landmarks to qualify and get the Knowledge. New research by Professor Eleanor Maguire from University College London has followed trainee taxi drivers over the years they learn the knowledge and found an area of their brains important for memory and navigation grows in response to learning. Does this mean all our brains have this plastic capacity? Should you disclose if you have any mental health problems to your employer? Listeners give their opinion and Seaneen Molloy, author of the Secret Life of a Manic depressive talks about her experiences of going back to work. The Royal Society publishes its latest Brain Waves report on Neuroscience and the Law. Claudia explores what the latest developments in neuroscience could mean for the legal process and asks what kind of new brain based information might be submissible as evidence in court? What are the ethical and legal issues raised by the possibility of predicting criminal behaviour? Could sentencing and probation decisions be influenced by a better knowledge of the brain basis for certain kinds of behaviours? Professor of psychology, Nick Mackintosh and Joanna Glynn, QC discuss what this means for our understanding of decision-making, notions of free will and responsibility and the law. Producer: Pam Rutherford.

Zoe from South Wales spent twelve years with undiagnosed Bipolar Disorder. The personal cost to this mother of three was devastating, as, over the years, she was told she had Post Natal Depression and treated with anti-depressants. It's long been recognised that Bipolar Disorder could be both misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed and Dr Nick Stafford describes a new pilot project in Leicester to screen for the condition. Complaints Choirs have sprung up all around the world with members putting their moans and whinges to song. But Guy Winch, a clinical psychologist from New York and author of The Squeaky Wheel, believes that to complain successfully, we need to harness the latest psychological research on the subject. A government study showed just four in ten employers would hire somebody with a mental health problem. And that's despite the fact that the vast majority of unemployed people who experience mental illness want to work. Evidence shows too that working is an important part of recovery. A new scheme, called Individual Placement and Support, is unique in that employment advice and support is embedded within the Community Mental Health Team. Nicola Oliver, IPS Coordinator at the Centre for Mental Health says this approach is now used by almost half of NHS mental health trusts and Rachel describes how this support helped to find her dream job in fashion. Presented by Claudia Hammond.Producer: Fiona Hill.

In May this year All in the Mind featured an intriguing Dutch study which reported that when there's a lot of rubbish in the street we're more likely to stereotype other people. Earlier this year it was found that the co author, Diederik Stapel had made up the data. As well as fooling us, he fooled the journal Science. Now the three Dutch universities involved have published their interim report on the extent of his fraud. Claudia talks to Martin Keulemanns, Science Editor at the Dutch broadsheet, the Volkskrant to ask why Stapel was able to get away with it for so long and what questions does his case raise about the way psychological research is conducted. Also in the programme, Claudia reports on an innovative mentoring project in Manchester where people with social phobia, agoraphobia or other anxiety disorders are matched up with volunteer mentors who've been through, and are mostly recovered from their own experiences of anxiety. Claudia meets the mentors and mentees who meet once a week for six months and finds out how successful the scheme has been so far. That catchy tune in your head - or earworm - might help to uncover some of the workings of memory. Dr Vicky Williamson who lectures on Music, Mind & Brain at Goldsmiths University of London is studying hundreds of earworms to try to come up with strategies for banishing them. She also explains why her research could help get rid of more intrusive and troubling memories like those resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder.