Stories

We tell stories about health and human experience. Our words and pictures make connections, provoke new thinking and share lived experiences. You can pitch a story to us.

  • Article

Rethinking the placebo effect

The placebo effect has long been harnessed for both legitimate and fraudulent use, but we’re only just discovering how and why our bodies respond positively to dummy drugs, as Anjuli Sharma reveals.

  • Comic

Blowing bubbles

Is happiness as fragile as a bubble?

Part of Licence to happiness

  • Serial
Part4

The side effects of lithium mining

Laura Grace Simpkins attempts to untangle some uncomfortable truths about the social and environmental costs of making her medication.

Part of Lithium Mania

  • Photo story

Temporary chroma key memorials

In this imaginary podcast, artist A R Hopwood creates a scene where he interviews his friend and former collaborator ‘Paul’, who died by suicide in 2019.

  • Book extract

Dangers inside and out

Eimear McBride reflects on the deadly consequences of misogyny in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard and argues why advising women to simply “stay indoors” is wrong.

Books

Get stuck into one of our books, and explore the complexities of the human condition.

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  • Comic

Affirmations of joy

What positive reminders do you need to find your happy place?

Part of Licence to happiness

  • Serial
Part3

Finding out where my lithium comes from

The origins of the lithium Laura Grace Simpkins swallows daily are unclear. If we don’t know the provenance of our pills, how can we make informed decisions about them?

Part of Lithium Mania

  • Book extract

Solving the mystery of how to be happy

Crime writer Sophie Hannah thinks she might be too happy. Worried she’s using her happiness as an excuse to avoid a big work problem, she turns to a life coach for help.

  • Comic

Pet therapy

Pets can help us stay healthy and happy...if we're allowed to have them.

Part of Licence to happiness

  • Serial
Part2

Investigating what lithium is and how it works

The more questions Laura Grace Simpkins asked about lithium, the more she realised how little is known about this powerful drug and how it affects our mental health.

Part of Lithium Mania

  • Photo story

How wigs help children handle hair loss

For young people who lose their hair during cancer treatment, a wig can make them feel normal again. Carmel King photographs some of the processes and people involved with a charity providing beautiful human-hair wigs for kids.

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