How to be alone: ‘I feel most alive when I’m with my own thoughts’

Does the idea of being alone fill you with dread, or seem a luxury? Erica Buist speaks to five people whose lifestyles leave them in splendid isolation

Loneliness can’t be ‘cured’. We must learn to find value in solitude

Instead of medicalising loneliness and calling it an epidemic, we need to find better ways of engaging with ourselves, writes sociologist and author Frank Furedi

‘Drama saved my life’: how performing can help mental health problems

May Contain Nuts is an award-winning theatre company of people with experience of mental ill health

I am a burnt-out doctor. This is why it matters

The shocking number of physician suicides indicates a culture and system that fails to value the profession

Doctors knew my son was suicidal. I should have been told before he died

I was denied the chance to be there for my son when he needed me the most

Men who fail to equal parents’ achievements ‘suffer mental distress’

Failing to match educational accomplishments causes distress similar to a divorce, says study

‘I was a caricature of my worst traits’ – how brain cancer can affect the mind

When neuroscientist Barbara Lipska was diagnosed with brain cancer, she thought she knew about the physical toll. But she was unprepared for its effect on her behaviour

Brainstorm: Detective Stories from the World of Neurology; Unthinkable: The World’s Strangest Brains – review

Books by Suzanne O’Sullivan and Helen Thomson offer fascinating insights into the ‘maverick brain’ and rare mental conditions

The joy initiative: people who inspire others to live happier lives

From simple daily greetings and happy cafes to helping refugees, four people have devoted themselves to restoring joy in the world

‘People with ADHD can be incredibly valuable at work’

Lack of awareness of the behavioural disorder has meant many people found it difficult to hold down jobs. But proper diagnosis and support are allowing more employees to make the most of their talents