The Richard Nicholls Mental Health Podcast
Episodes
The Social Brain
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us Fan MailThis week I’m exploring something quietly powerful about the social brain. From old school photos to bonobos recognising family deca...
Health Anxiety
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textIf you’ve ever wondered “What if…?” about your health, this one’s for you.I'm digging into the often misunderstood world of ...
Are You Pacing the Cage?
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textIn this episode, I’m talking about something called zoochosis. A term used to describe distress in captive animals, and how something ver...
Failure
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textBecause we're not born knowing how to do anything that comes naturally to us as adults, we're literally born to fail along the wa...
Conformity
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textToday I'm looking at conformity and how it affects everything from our smallest decisions to our deepest sense of self. We’ll explor...
Accidental Victim Blaming
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textThis week, I’m looking at the quieter side of victim blaming, the unintentional kind. The sort that sneaks into everyday conversations wh...
Rekindling Motivation
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send a textBeing in control of our goal setting also means being responsible for achieving them, or not.Sometimes we need to shift our perspectives, f...
Comfort Zones and Anxiety
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's no secret that stretching our comfort zone to include more situations is a good idea. But it's called a comfort zone for ...
Limerence: Addicted To Love?
01 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCall it a crush, call it new relationship energy, call it infatuation. But if it becomes an addiction, then you can easily become your o...
The Weird Psychology of “Would You Rather”
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday I'm exploring the playful psychology of “Would You Rather” questions.They might seem like silly dilemmas but they can lea...
Acceptance
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPeople sometimes make the mistake of thinking that accepting reality and moving on from the past makes them weak or naive in some way. S...
Self‑Compassion
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week I'm peeking into the quiet power of self-compassion. What it really means, why it feels so difficult, and how we can gent...
Conversion Disorder
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday I'm looking at Conversion Disorder, or as it’s more often called these days, Functional Neurological Symptom Disorder.It’...
Core Emotional Needs
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday I’m talking about the five emotional needs we all have in childhood, and how things can get a bit messy in adulthood if those ne...
Willpower
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNot only is my house full left over Christmas chocolate but the supermarkets are already pushing Easter eggs onto me and there's on...
Judgement Fear
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMixing negative beliefs about self with the idea that we can mind read is not a good idea. It can easily lead us down the path of feelin...
Freud's Tri Part Model
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFreud had some weird ideas back in the day. But this one really has stood the test of time.Support the showJoin our Evolve to Thrive 6 m...
The Problem With Nostalgia
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNostalgia can feel lovely, can’t it? But if we’re not careful, we start thinking the past was better than it really was. This episod...
Sleep
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSome specialists say we need 8 hours every night, some say we need more. In truth, there's only one person who knows how much sleep...
Parenting - Helicopters vs Bulldozers
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textUnderstanding a little bit about the effects of different parenting styles can really help us understand ourselves better. As well as he...
You Are Not Anxiety
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYou don’t need to be anxiety-free to live fully. You just need the right process, and a bit of patience with yourself.Support the show...
Loneliness
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI once heard someone say that if you're on your own and lonely then you obviously don't like the company you're in. And w...
Reframing
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSometimes all it takes is a tiny tweak in how we talk to ourselves. You can actually have the same event but create a completely differe...
The Fear of Change
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textChange unsettles us, even when it’s positive. So today I explore why our brains resist it and share simple, compassionate strategies t...
Phenomenology
01 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPhenomenology is a posh word that psychologists use to mean the idea of someone's subjective and individual experience.We could all...
The Drama Triangle
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIf you ever find yourself stuck in the same old arguments, playing out like a bad soap opera then that might be the Drama Triangle at wo...
The Roles We Play
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhy do families, schools and workplaces so often create “roles” like the star, the scapegoat, the peacekeeper or the joker? In this ...
Dependence and Codependence
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIf your sense of self is based around helping others and it's the only place where you get your self worth from. It might be worth ...
Accepting Criticism
01 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAccording to multiple studies, fear of judgement is the number one biggest fear, above dying.The author Elbert Hubbard once wrote, "...
Guided Relaxation
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday is International Relaxation Day. So I thought I'd do something different this week for my bonus episode and guide you through...
Boundaries
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMost people think of boundaries as being like a physical thing as if there's a chalk outline on the ground everywhere you go and if...
Motivation
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat's the difference between someone who has all the motivation and enthusiasm you could wish for and someone who, even though the...
Superstition
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's Friday 13th, so today I've got a bonus episode for you about the psychology of superstition.Support the showJoin our Evol...
Brain Training & Anxiety
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYour brain has a remarkable ability to filter and remember important experiences while discarding the less significant ones. It does so ...
Obsessive Compulsive Personality
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday is all about Obsessive Compulsive Personality.OCD is talked about a lot because it's such a life destroying disorder, and so ...
The 100mph Life
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBeing behind on your goals doesn't mean rushing to get everything finished, it doesn't mean disrespecting yourself and not loo...
Highly Sensitive People
01 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEver heard of Sensory Processing Sensitivity?It's a neurological trait that means that one in 6 people have super duper processing ...
Love Yourself
01 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt may be Valentine's Day this month, a day to remind someone that you love them, but I think we very often need to bring it closer...
Cognitive Distortions
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCognitive Distortions are the thinking traps where our mind convinces us of something that isn't actually true.Once habitual and al...
Rejection Sensitivity
01 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFor many, anxiety is all about being vulnerable to the possibility of rejection. It's normal for our brain to seek out what we fea...
Kindness
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKindness is often linked with better mental health. It helps us to feel connected to others, creates a sense of belonging and reduces is...
The Power Of Awe
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text"Awe" tends to be defined as the emotion we experience when encountering something with such perceived vastness that our brain...
Disappointment
01 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn his letter from Birmingham Jail in 1963, after being arrested on the rather trumped up charge of marching without a permit, Martin ...
Getting To Know Yourself
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOften people will talk about the need to disappear away for a bit to "find themselves" when actually they already knew where t...
Hope
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textResearch has shown that hope can significantly improve mental health outcomes. It boosts resilience, helps you to cope better with stres...
Values vs Goals
01 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAre you living your life based on your values or your goals?What's the difference anyway?Let's find out.Link to values list ht...
Gaslighting
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGaslighting is a phrase we use to mean being manipulated and to have your reality questioned.Cults have been doing it for decades, maybe...
Taking Things Personally
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textOne thing we can all guarantee is that we'll all receive some sort of criticism at some point.The trick is to not let it get under ...
Self Discipline
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhen "future you" doesn't even exist, it can be really hard to stick to your plan in the "now" to ensure that f...
It's Good To Talk
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBack in 1995 when britpop ruled the charts and the UN designated it The United Nations Year for Tolerance, British Telecom started a fri...
Self Sabotage
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIf you've ever set a goal for yourself and then found yourself deliberately sticking a spanner in the works knowing full well it&ap...
Ageing
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI might not the young man I once was, but there is a certain childishness to me that I'm hoping can keep me young.Looking at the st...
Difficult Decisions
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHaving free will is generally thought of as a good thing but it also comes with responsibility.That's why decisions cause anxiety, ...
People Pleasing
01 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMost people live their life based around making other people happy to some degree. It's just how far we take it that determines whe...
PTSD
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPost Traumatic Stress Disorder, and its counterpart Complex PTSD, are life-altering conditions.And although the symptoms may often resem...
Insecure Attachment
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPrompted by a few emails over the years. Today is all about dealing with having an insecure attachment style and how to best cope in a r...
You Can't Always Trust Your Gut
01 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday is all about biases.In particular the in-group and out-group bias that drives our emotions way more than it should in the modern w...
Perfectionism
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's often said that there are 3 types of perfectionism. Self-Oriented Perfectionism, Other-Oriented Perfectionism and Socially Pre...
Empathy
01 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI have a couple of catchphrases, or if you ask my wife I repeat myself a lot and can be boring and predictable, either way you'll o...
What COULD You Be Grateful For?
01 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGratitude, even about the simpler things in life, helps to dilute down the frustrations about the annoying things. But it's not alw...
Hoarding
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSeeing as it's Spring, not that you'd know it *shakes fist at the clouds* a time for having a good old clear out.I thought I&a...
Mindful Moments
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSomeone asked me recently what the difference is between meditation, mindfulness and hypnosis. So I thought I'd go into it a little...
Dealing With Entitled People
01 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAre we ALL entitled to an opinion?Am I really worth L'Oreal's products?All these questions and more on this weeks exciting ins...
Anniversary Reactions
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAn increase in distress around the anniversary of a traumatic event is often called an anniversary reaction. It can range from feeling ...
Happiness In A Depressing World
01 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhen the oceans are filling with plastic, the cost of living is high and everyone seems to hate each other it's not easy to be the ...
Comparison
01 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text"Comparison is the thief of joy" said Theodore Roosevelt over a hundred years ago.He knew it then and we all still know it now...
Forgive & Forget
01 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe dictionary defines "to forgive" as this: Verb. To stop feeling angry or resentful towards someone for an offence, flaw, or...
Bonus Episode. Interview With Andrea McLean
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHello listeners I have a special bonus episode for you today!I was recently contacted by TV legend Andrea Mclean. Andrea has been workin...
Can We Not Care What Others Think?
01 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWorrying about what people think is a common issue.Almost everyone comes into therapy with some aspect of this. It's worth drilling...
Sensitivity
01 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBecause of what's called neurodiversity everyone's brain responds differently to stimulation.Whether that's environmental...
Mental Focus
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday is all about losing concentration, procrastinating and the reason why to be at your best you need to rest makes so much sense.Subm...
Situational Anxiety
01 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSituational anxiety is different to a generalised anxiety and needs working with in a slightly more "cognitive" way.Today I ta...
The Negativity Bias
01 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDid you know that after experiencing a negative stimulus in order to get your emotional state back to where it was before hand you need ...
Control
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhen it feels as if the world is falling apart, our instincts can kick in to try and protect us by creating an urge to control as much a...
Overwhelming Emotions
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEmotions can overwhelm is to such a degree sometimes that we feel completely out of control. Complete rage or total panic.How we handle ...
Life Changes
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPlato, the ancient Greek philosopher is quoted as once saying "Everything changes and nothing remains still. You cannot step twice ...
Dealing With Toxic People
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLove it or hate it, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas isn't it?Unfortunately for a lot of folk, the people we might ...
Jealousy
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAlthough we often use it to also mean envious, jealousy is the feeling of losing something to someone else. Particularly when it comes t...
Belonging.
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat does a hypno-psychotherapy conference, The Rocky Horror Show and football shirts all have in common?These are all areas where we ca...
Do You Need To Make A Change?
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIf you're not at your best or you think you have room for improvement, then this episode is about helping you to figure out what&ap...
Affirmations And The Law Of Attraction
15 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textA lot of people think of affirmations as the key to their success. Either because they're tapping in to some collective unconscious...
Emotional Intelligence
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDo emotions actually exist? Or are they just a psychological construct based on past experiences?Subscribe to the newsletter for free ex...
Loneliness
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's been a lonely 18 months for a lot of us. But even before Covid there were plenty of people saying that they were lonely and di...
Resolutions
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's July!We're exactly half way through the year and how are your New Years resolutions going?I ask because enough time has g...
To Diet or Not To Diet
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhen living in a society that's full of body shaming the pressure to lose weight can encourage some very bad habits and ideas.Let&a...
Burnout
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn 1974 Herbert Freudenberger came up with a term that he defined as “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one&...
Nature
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textImagine a therapy that had no known side effects, was readily available, and could improve your cognitive functioning at zero cost. Such...
Worrying & Acceptance
01 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI've talked a lot in the past about the need to control thoughts using distractions and deliberate, forced thinking in order to cre...
Daydreaming
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPeople often frown upon daydreaming as being unproductive yet at the same time many others suggest that it improves creativity. Why the ...
It's OK To Be Selfish
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI'm sure you've heard the phrase "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" but I wonder if there needs to ...
Bonus Episode: Michelle Thomas
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMichelle Thomas is an author and podcaster. She's written for The Guardian, The Independent, Stylist, Standard Issue the list goes ...
Taking Action Today
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhatever your goals are it's fair to say that reaching them won't happen by accident or through luck.Luck might have a small p...
Bonus Episode: Matt Elswood
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMatt Elswood is a Chief Pharmacist specialising in mental health pharmaceuticals at Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust.As well as being an...
Gratitude
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMany self help and personal development books (my own included) will talk about the importance of gratitude as a way of boosting happine...
The Lost Letter - A Christmas Story By Richard Nicholls
25 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSeeing as it's Christmas Day I thought I'd share this with you.This is a story I wrote in 2015 but you maybe missed it the fir...
Grandad's Gift - A Christmas Story By Richard Nicholls
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI wrote this story back in 2014 but as my listeners have doubled since then it's likely that you missed this the first time round. ...
Bonus Episode: Robin Ince
20 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt's another bonus guest episode and this time it's the turn of stand up comedian and author Robin Ince.We talk about intrusiv...
Bonus Episode: Dr Dean Burnett
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday's bonus episode is with neuroscientist, stand up comedian and author Dean Burnett.We chat about toxic positivity, emotional p...
Supporting Others With Depression
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEveryone needs something different when they're going through mental health difficulties. But there are definitely a few Do's ...
Bonus Episode: Matt Rudd
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMatt Rudd is a senior writer at the Sunday Times, he's a published author of both fiction and non fiction. His latest book Man Dow...