Can worrying about your health make you ill?
People with health anxiety are more likely to develop heart disease, says a study – news that will only make them more stressed. Psychological therapy is the best treatment …
Can moaning ever make you happy?
Railing against minor irritations is like falling out with your partner, then picking fights, over and over, for the sake of it. And when has that ever helped?
Susie Orbach: the poetry of therapy
Sigmund Freud’s ‘talking cure’ disrupted the doctor-patient relationship, and the back and forth of polite conversation; now the language of therapy has taken on a rhythm of its own
Want to boost confidence? Channel Wonder Woman
Before a public talk, if I remember to stand up straight and broaden my chest, I feel more confident
The pessimist’s cure for procrastination
Why being on a downer can really help to get things done
Self-discipline is overrated, so go easy on yourself
Too little self-control makes you impulsive and prone to taking dangerous risks, but too much isn’t great, either
‘It hits you over the head’: can I survive my midlife crisis?
Faced with the challenges of middle age, many people crash and burn. But is there another way?
Hands: What We Do with Them and Why by Darian Leader – how we keep our hands out of mischief
From flicking fans to swiping phones, humans have always loved to fiddle and fidget
Poster poems: fear
From the personal to the global, there is an uneasy abundance of things to be scared of at the moment. Dare you face up to some in verse?
Maybe you don’t have as much choice as you think
A large proportion of your decisions aren’t independently made by you, says Oliver Burkeman