IMH Lunchtime Webinar with Dr Lucy Foulkes

The public mental health conversation: What's going wrong?

"Conversations about mental health are now commonplace – online, in the media and in private. Overall this is a good thing, and for many people it has been essential, but there have been some negative side effects. In this talk I discuss whether the way we currently talk about mental health – particularly the lack of depth, and the tendency towards medicalising and sensationalising – might be causing some collateral damage. I consider how we're talking about mental health in schools, universities and homes, and the impact of this on individuals across the spectrum, from those experiencing milder or more transient difficulties to the people who are most seriously unwell. Lastly, I think about what needs to happen next: we certainly shouldn't stop talking about mental health, but we need to recalibrate the conversation to ensure it serves everyone in the most helpful way."

About the speaker

Dr Lucy Foulkes is an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL and a former lecturer in psychology and education at University of York. Her research focuses on mental health and social cognition, particularly in adolescence. She is the author of the new book Losing Our Minds: What Mental Illness Really Is And What It Isn't (Penguin Random House, 2021).