Louise Chunn is a prize-winning journalist and former editor of a number of magazines, including Psychologies, Good Housekeeping and InStyle. She is the founder of Welldoing Ltd.

Louise Chunn

March 12 is University Mental Health Day when all over campuses students, staff and support workers gather to talk about mental health and its importance on campus. Run jointly with Student Minds, it is a sign of the increasing concern that many have over the issue of the mental health of students, balancing the resources on offer around the country, with the need for students to build resilience.

I spoke to National Union of Students president Amira Campbell in the days before UNMD and we talked about the level of stress students are facing in the modern world. We covered:

She suspects that the role of technology and social media mean that people are better informed about what is going on in the world, but it also makes people very anxious about international events and the changing political landscape.

It made her sad, she said, that some young people coming up to university age are now thinking it isn’t worth the high cost of loans to take on a degree course. This is particularly true of those from the poorest backgrounds.

She noted too, that, in spite of all the uncertainty around the existence of the graduate premium in employment opportunities, the vast majority of graduates are glad they went to university.

Many Welldoing therapists offer discounts for full-time students. Also Welldoing has a 

 specifically for students. For an upfront fee of £48 (including VAT) we will find you an online therapist who will offer you up to three months’ of sessions for £35 + booking fee.

University Mental Health Day 2026: NUS President Amira Campbell Says the Future is Perilous for Students Today

Dame Uta Frith is the developmental psychologist and neuroscientist who helped shape how doctors and practitioners understand autism today. Nearly 60 years ago she identified autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder that is life-long, rather than damage caused by so-called “refrigerator mothers” not engaging with their babies and toddlers.

Her research led her to pioneering the “theory of mind” approach, which proposed that people with autism struggle to attribute beliefs to others, and that while they could process details it was hard for them to see the whole picture. Her 1989 book 

 became a classic introduction to the cognitive science of autism.

But in recent years there has been an upwards trend in autism. In the last 25 years there has been an almost 10-fold increase in diagnoses of autism, while the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) has tripled in the past decade. Now the government has set up an independent review into rising demand for services for mental health, ADHD and autism, which is set to report later this year.

The rise in autism diagnoses in adults and young girls, has unsettled Dame Uta, who is emeritus professor in cognitive development at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL). Last week she gave an interview to the Times Education Supplement saying she no longer believes that autism is a “spectrum”. Previously identifying people with autism was “quite precisely defined” but as this narrowly left out some it was thought it should be extended and become more inclusive.

“But that still wasn’t enough. Because of various cultural factors, the spectrum has gone on being more and more accommodating. And I think now it has come to its collapse.”

She describes autism split into two subgroups, those whose situation was discovered in early childhood, and those who are seen as autistic later. “This population is different. It is made up of a lot of adolescents, and among them, a lot of young women. These are people without intellectual impairment, who are perfectly able to communicate verbally and non-verbally, but who might feel highly anxious in social situations. They are perhaps characterised mainly by a sort of hypersensitivity.”

She is eager to say that she doesn’t think the high rate of increase among the second group is because they are “making it up”. But she posits the theory that they would benefit from being treated differently from the people in the first autism group, with intellectual disability.

 goes onto discuss her thoughts on a range of subjects around autism, from masking to brain-imaging, and taking in the ways that different groups on the autism spectrum might benefit from teaching.

She is aware that by speaking out she may upset some people, but as a scientist she is driven by data. Speaking to 

 she expressed concerns that rigour could be easily lost. For example, young adults who have self-diagnosed with autism after reading about it online or on social media and coupled it with their extreme social anxiety, but who have excellent communication skills.

Overdiagnosis dilutes research, Frith told the Times because it mixes groups with potentially different biological causes and different cognitive dysfunctions. “This makes the data we obtain from large groups very noisy.”

She even says autism has “become glamorised, and a diagnosis has become somewhat desirable”. As she said in the TES “many people are self-diagnosing before they are assessed. I have heard from clinicians that they feel themselves to be under severe pressure to give the diagnosis, if the person has waited months or even years and feels absolutely sure that they’re autistic.”

Many of Welldoing’s therapists work with people who are on the autism spectrum, or believe they may be. To find a therapist who is right for you, go to 

Why Autism Expert Uta Frith is Challenging the “Autism Spectrum”

natalie alzate for welldoing

Natalie Alzate

In a world where everyone seems permanently logged on, choosing to spend more time offline can feel… rebellious. Or honestly? A little scary. We worry we’ll miss something. Perhaps a group chat meltdown, a meme cycle, a friend’s inside joke that everyone talks about the next day. The fear isn’t irrational. Humans are wired for connection, and today, connection often lives on screens.

But here’s the twist no one tells you. The more time we spend online, the 

 we actually feel. Not because the internet is bad per se but because our brains can’t confuse stimulation for true connection forever. As someone who spent a decade fully online as a YouTuber, I’ve learned that logging off isn’t about 

. It’s about creating a life that feels 

Here are 10 offline hacks that help you feel grounded, connected, and actually 

Your brain needs separation from the endless dopamine drip. Set a digital curfew – mine is 10pm sharp. Plug your phone into another room, put it face down, or tuck it into its “bed” (yes, my phone has a bed). This signals to your nervous system: the world can wait until morning.

Bonus: this alone can reduce evening anxiety.

One reason we over-scroll? We can’t think of what else to do. A dopamine menu solves the “now what?” moment. List activities that give you a gentle dose of joy: journaling, solo karaoke, baking at 10pm, painting, reading with tea. Make it easy to choose life over the feed.

Fear of social isolation often comes from the idea that offline = ALONE. But alone doesn’t have to mean lonely. Take yourself on a weekly offline date perhaps a coffee shop, a park, a bookstore, or a dinner table set just for you. When you can enjoy your own company, you bring a different energy into every relationship.

Scroll through all the recipes, cafes, craft projects, and weekend trips you’ve saved. Pick one. Do it today or this week. Turning digital inspiration into real-world action strengthens agency and reduces that weird “everyone else is living life but me” feeling.

Every season, choose one thing to learn or explore: baking, eloquence, prayer, watercolour painting, weightlifting, storytelling…anything. Brainrot thrives on passive consumption; learning reminds your brain it’s still capable of depth.

If your house is where you sleep and scroll, no wonder it feels draining. A 10-minute reset can help. Wipe your counters, open a window, light a candle. Small rituals can turn your home into what sociologists call a third space: a place that restores you, not overwhelms you. Offline time becomes something to look forward to.

7. Move your body before you move your thumb

Even a 5-minute stretch or a walk outside can regulate your nervous system more effectively than a 30-minute doomscroll. 

 brings you back into your body, which is where real life actually happens. Today, pick a time (even just 10 minutes) set a timer, and give yourself permission to disconnect.

People think journaling has to be deep or emotional. Not true. Write just 

 about your day. This builds self-awareness, reduces mental clutter, and helps you feel connected to your inner world, the part of you no algorithm can touch.

This is the antidote to social isolation. Start small: a tea night, a puzzle hour, a craft session, a walk with one friend. People crave offline connection more than they admit. You’ll be surprised how quickly others lean in when someone initiates.

10. Protect your mornings like your sanity depends on it

Because it does. Don’t give your brain other people’s thoughts before your own. No social media for the first hour. Make coffee. Journal. Stretch. Pray. Read. Sit quietly. Your mornings shape your identity, NOT your notifications.

What happens when you practise these hacks?

Here’s the real magic: offline habits don’t disconnect you from your community, they deepen it. Because when you take care of your inner world, you show up for others with more presence, clarity, and warmth.

You’re less reactive. Less FOMO-driven. Less overwhelmed by the pressure to keep up.

Offline living isn’t about running away from the world. It’s about coming back to yourself so you can rejoin the world with humanity and intention.

two young women laughing together outdoors

10 Analog Hacks for a Life That Isn’t Lived Through a Screen

Oliver Cope

Dr Andy Cope is a best-selling author, keynote speaker, happiness researcher and recovering academic. He teamed up with Prof Paul McGee for his latest book, The Happiness Revolution: A Manifesto for Living Your Best Life  published by Capstone .

Andy Cope

When my kids were younger, I took them on a trip to the zoo. We had a wonderful day watching the penguins guzzling their herring lunch, the elephants being cleaned with giant extendable brushes, and orangutans doing their tyre swinging party piece.

But, as an adult, I noticed something the kids missed. The animals were behaving strangely. The monkeys had scratched themselves ‘till they bled. The proud Silverback had embarrassing bald patches. The elephants were swaying, the lions were chewing the bars of their cage and the bears had worn a path with all their pacing up and down.

Note, this was not a bad zoo, nor this an anti-zoo rant. But Google took me to the word that describes this obsessive, repetitive behaviour: 

Stated simply, captive animals become ‘zoochotic’. They’re suffering from extreme stress which seems strange because, in theory, the zoo environment has everything an animal could ever need: their meals come regularly without having to hunt, they don’t have to worry about being attacked by predators, and they even get a full dental plan!

However, these creatures have won their physical safety at the expense of their psychological safety. These ‘wild’ animals are living lives of extreme sensory deprivation. Here they are, banged up 24/7, pacing, circling, rocking, scratching, swaying, over-grooming, bar-biting, self-harming - these behaviours result from frustration, stress and boredom.

So what does a caring society do when animals develop zoochosis?

The answer – the zoo vets ease the animals’ mental suffering with various forms of medication. Our point? They give them pills to ease their symptoms, when in actual fact it’s a non-medical problem.

So, here’s a series of interesting (and very big) thoughts, what-ifs and questions…

Have humans accidentally ‘caged’ themselves? Have we somehow built an environment that’s not good for our health. Are Homo Sapiens suffering from zoochosis? Are we metaphorically ‘chewing the bars’? Big cities, fast food, sitting down, smartphones, next day delivery, screen time, working from home, box-sets… the modern world has bent over backwards to accommodate our every need. It’s given us what we 

 we needed. But have ease, convenience, comfort and safety come at a price?

Which leads to a real biggy of a thought: with about 20% of the population now diagnosed with some form of neuro-divergency, what if attention disorders are not an individual problem? What if 

Let’s look at one small example of how the world might be messing with our heads.

Since forever, humans haven’t had screens and then, all of a sudden, about 20 years ago, everyone has screens, several in fact.

Hey, I’m not a doom monger. Far from it. I love spending time online but it’s all about balance. Yes, I want the ease of modern life that these amazing gadgets provide, but I also want to achieve some big goals, create strong relationships with those closest to me and, without wishing to sound too cheesy, I do actually want to live my best life.

So watch out for human zoochosis. You’ll see humans glued to screens, earphones in, eyes locked onto a screen, a bit like zombies. It’s not a great environment for humans.

It’s no wonder that we’re metaphorically ‘chewing the bars’.

So, to combat zoochosis, set yourself free. Run, play, wander, have adventures, make mistakes, be silly, get lost in the woods, explore, build dens, travel, swim, laugh, strive, fail, sleep…. but most of all, build strong relationships with your tribe… that’s the perfect human environment.

LADULT: Navigating Safely From Boy to Man

, by Andy Cope and Oliver Cope (published by Capstone).

How the Modern World Keeps Us in Captivity

Sue Cowan-Jenssen

An article by the dog behaviourist Louise Glazebrook, in the Independent Newspaper 16

Dogs will soon outnumber children and that might be a good thing.’ It caught my attention because as an animal lover and psychotherapist it reflected my own beliefs.

For many years serious scientific studies have shown how animal ownership is good for our mental and physical health.

Time spent with pets can increase serotonin and dopamine both neurotransmitters

which increase a sense of well-being. Oxytocin can also be raised, and this helps bonding and attachment which as social creatures we need. Astonishingly, an article published in the American Heart Association journal ‘

suggested that dog owners may live longer after heart attacks or strokes. They also leave hospital quicker to get back to their pets.

 affects our life expectancy and sadly loneliness is on the rise amongst all age groups and this is not good for our health, either mental or physical. Dog owners meet other dog owners when out walking and this provides an important social opportunity. Just chatting and engaging with others improves our mood. Walking a dog also improves our physical fitness and helps blood pressure and cardiovascular health.

’s article argues that for all the above reasons it is a good thing that dog ownership is rising and soon the dog ownership in the UK will reach 13 million. She argues that it indicates people’s desire and, importantly, need to nurture. We are social creatures and our ability to care and love is critical to our sense of wellbeing.

I am fortunate in that where I work is near Hampstead Heath. I see many dogs in our local cafes and shops. If I see a dog that I think is especially ‘cute’ I will stop and talk to the owner without hesitation. I do not do this in any other social situation. Recently I noticed a very large beautiful ‘poodle cross

in my local coffee shop. As the owner was trying to buy a coffee she was stopped by children who wanted to stroke her dog, talk to the dog and talk to her about the dog. I asked her if she ever made a journey without being stopped and she laughingly shook her head.

As a psychotherapist I see the benefits pet ownership brings to my clients. Cats and dogs provide emotional and physical affection. Some of the most watched videos on the internet are of animals playing, greeting their owners will wild affection and getting up to mischief. Some of these videos reach hundreds of millions of viewers. People report that they feel happier and more relaxed after watching them.

 client who had lost her daughter, said that it was only the need to walk her dog that got her out of bed in the morning. It was the thought of leaving her dog behind that helped her 

. She said to me that her pet was another beating heart in the house that needed care and who loved her.

In Norway there is an organisation called ‘Norske Krisehunder’. It trains support dogs and handlers to assist people in crisis situations. They see the dogs as providing emotional support and much needed comfort to people during times of trauma.

The consulting rooms where I work have an animal friendly policy. This works well for clients who benefit from the emotional support a dog can give. Getting out of the house and interacting with the world can feel much less stressful with a supportive animal by your side.

I also notice how we all smile when we see a dog in the waiting area.

The Therapeutic Power of Dogs

Dr. Ryan Martin is Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. In his work on anger, he draws on over 20 years of research, teaching and clinical experience. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Psychology Today, on NPR's Invisibilia podcast and on BBC Radio's The Digital Human. His TED talk Why We Get Mad has been viewed over 3 million times since June 2019. Find out more about Ryan at: www.alltheragescience.com

Dr Martin

Dr Ryan Martin is a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, but he may be better known to 10s of 1000s as @angerprofessor on TikTok and Instagram. There, and in his bestselling books such How to Deal with Angry People, he offers tips and tricks for handling anger and other unwieldy emotions.

Emotion Hacks: 50 Ways to Feel Better Fast

, is in the same field, presenting psychological research to show you might lead a more emotionally calm life, without the peaks and troughs that may sometimes feel uncontrollable.

For example, he explains why some people seem to see many comments from a negative perspective. Research has shown that when two groups are tested for rumination, it is the highly emotional cohort who have the least favourable outcome when they think about a set of critical and praising comments that have been made about them. This is connected to the default mode network (DMN), a set of structure associated with rest (which is when rumination happens). Critical comments were much more likely to activate the DMN in the more emotional group.

If that includes you, says Dr Martin, he suggests disrupting the DMN with a range of steps, from meditation to structured problem solving “to shift your focus away from the negative emotion loop you’ve found yourself in.”

Short and snappy with its title bent into a smiley face on an acid yellow cover, it’s a worthwhile read for anyone who finds themselves (or anyone close to them) a prisoner of their emotions.

The Anger Professor Says Don’t Let Emotions Run Your Life

Frank Tallis

Mortality becomes a pressing issue as we get older. As death gets closer, and we sense that our time is running out, we can become increasingly vulnerable to gloomy ruminations or even, perhaps, a creeping sense of panic. Of course, this is part of the human condition, but ‘death anxiety’ is becoming increasingly recognised as a ‘clinical’ phenomenon. For example, a self-help manual based on 

 techniques for death anxiety, written by Rachel Menzies and David Veale, was published in 2022. Death anxiety can be deeply distressing; however, the problem is often compounded when people are avoidant and fail to fully acknowledge their mortality. They aren’t mentally prepared when their time of dying finally comes.  

Freud famously wrote that none of us really believe we are going to die. Deep down, in the unconscious, we are immortal. Defences vary, and some of them can be very subtle. Intellectualisation, for example, which allows us to think about death in the absence of emotional engagement. We deny death with countless immortality projects – a term which covers everything from intensive exercise programmes and faddish diet regimens to having one’s brain frozen for future reanimation. 

 philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome had the most useful things to say about coming to terms with death. Their approach is based on the cultivation of acceptance - which obviates the need to reduce 

 with defences. They advocated thinking about death every day, not only to encourage acceptance, but also to inspire total engagement with life. If you are constantly aware that your time on earth is limited, you will be motivated to make the most of it. They also addressed anxieties by reframing death as something familiar rather than strange and terrifying. Most people aren’t troubled by the thought of not having existed before they were born. Death is just more of the same. And we shouldn’t view death as something that’s waiting for us in the future. It’s already here – we’re already dealing with it. ‘Whatever time is passed,’ Seneca said, ‘is owned by death’. After you get to a certain age, at least quantitatively, you are more dead than alive. We can apply this type of reframing to our memories. Instead of fearing oblivion, we should recognize that we are already largely oblivious. We have forgotten most of our experience of living long before we die. There are many more reframing devices discussed by Stoic philosophers, who conceptualised their cognitive strategies as a form of ‘hygiene of the soul’. In other words, therapy. 

Although some people find Stoic prescriptions helpful, others don’t. Why should this be? Perhaps, it is because sometimes these prescriptions are experienced as intellectual exercises rather than felt, owned truths. To own Stoic truths, something must happen first. You must be in a state of readiness. As the old proverb says, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’. Which begs the question, how do we achieve this state of readiness?

Many psychologists and great thinkers have suggested that receptivity to wisdom, particularly in the second half of life, is related to integration and wholeness. It is remarkable how frequently this idea recurs (implicitly and explicitly) in the writings of almost all the significant figureheads of all the major schools of psychotherapy. Divisions within the self are associated with poor psychological adjustment, whereas integration (or wholeness) is associated with good psychological adjustment. It is a deceptively simple idea. Anything that helps a person to integrate parts of the self (for example, mind and body, conscious and unconscious, rationality and intuition) will be beneficial. It is a formulation that in recent years has gained considerable support from cutting edge neuroscience.

C.G. Jung believed that personal growth – healing internal divisions and becoming whole - was the key task of the second half of life. Indeed, he supposed that personal growth can eliminate the need for specific treatments. In his most radical statement of this position, he suggested that most symptoms are probably incurable, and trying to treat them won’t work. We should outgrow them instead. We can then dispense with our defences, be more open to experience, and accept ourselves and the harsher realities of the human condition more readily.

A person terrified of death can grow, develop, integrate, and become whole. They will then be more receptive to Stoic truths and Stoic prescriptions will become felt

truths, rather than sterile cognitive tricks.

Why Thinking About Mortality Helps Us Find Purpose Later in Life

Dr Terri Apter author for Welldoing

Terri Apter

Explanations of women's under-representation in science, technology, engineering and maths only 14% of women entering University choose science related subjects, compared to 39% of boys are usually stacked up like layers on a wedding cake.

The bottom layer, the stodgy foundation, is about “hard wiring". Fortunately, claiming that gender career segregation is down to differences in women's and men's brains is now high risk; though this claim has helped launch one Cambridge professor as a star, it has also brought down one Harvard president.

The middle layer consists of a mixture of biases: overt misogyny and control good women are not ambitious, they behave and think only as their male relatives dictate , unconscious bias parents are more likely to expect a son to be successful in science, even when a daughter is better at maths; a c.v. is rated higher when it is thought to be for a man than when it is said to be for a woman ; and implicit bias, which is like a cancerous cultural limpet, dragging our thought processes into stereotype format, even when we think we know better.

The top layer, swirled with pretty icing, addresses girls' and women's psychology: it is they, after all, who make the choices. The prevalent new flavour is confidence: girls opt for different subjects and follow different careers, it is said, because they lack confidence.

I have heard this so often that the pace and intonation of the word – with emphasis on the first syllable and a prolonged plummy vowel sound, closing with a despairing sign – fills my mind like a simplistic balloon that I would love to pop; but when I attack it, it just morphs into a new shape. This is what I felt when listening to the briefing for the OECD report on gender ahead of International Women's Day.

Not that the report is not thoughtful and intelligent and politically correct: it is all these things. The report asserts that there are no natural born differences in ability between girls and boys “aptitude has no gender" is the press-friendly phrase , but boys are nonetheless more confident about their abilities and less anxious about their performance, so they go for gold and the girls play safe.

The real sweet in the OECD report is that the “social and emotional issues" in play can be fairly easily and inexpensively corrected with a concerted effort from parents and teachers.

“Parents can give their sons and daughters equal encouragement", and “teachers can help by becoming more aware of their biases". There is nothing wrong with this diagnosis or these proposals other than their insufficiencies and omission of what growing up is like on the ground.

Girls are not passive recipients of stereotypes and mixed messages. They engage with female norms, trying them on for size, ripping them apart, and reconfiguring them. Whether in glorious friendship talk or in hellish family quarrels, they puzzle over the contradictions of a dirty, gendered culture. Much of their teenage irritability expresses frustration in a world that has not yet learned their real physical or cognitive shape.

Many parents do encourage daughters to succeed in science, and many girls aim high; but this is not in a vacuum. When women are asked to record their sex at the beginning of a quantitative test, or are in a minority when they take the test, or have just watched a commercial in which women were behaving like airheads, or when they have just tried on a swimsuit as opposed to a sweater, then they perform less well than comparable women perform on the same test in more neutral conditions.  Such things do not affect men, because highlighting their gender does not trigger negative associations about mathematical ability .

Confidence is not a stable trait, particularly when you are growing up. Though the ways psychologists measure confidence has improved over the past few decades, relying less on brazen self-illusion “I'm good at maths" to include self-efficacy “I have to put in a lot of effort to be good at maths" , measuring the confidence of a person is tricky when confidence is so dependent on context, and context is so noisy.

Sometimes a brilliant girl will say really awful, heart-sinking things, such as, “You need a male brain to do maths"* but we need to record, too, their frequent acts of creative resistance where we can see the real meaning of confidence.

The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence

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