Jonathan Haverkampf

With anxiety, loneliness and the cost of living crisis driving an urge to accumulate, when does clutter become a cause for concern?Hoarding behaviours are on the rise, with some councils even setting up specialist teams to deal with the issue. But why? And what should you do if you’re worried? I asked Jo Cooke, director of Hoarding Disorders UK and a professional declutterer.What’s the difference between hoarding, collecting, or having a cluttered space?It’s about the emotion. Someone who hoards feels genuine distress at the thought of discarding their items. We say they find meaning in the mess; it’s a security blanket. That’s different from a collector who’d proudly swap one vintage car for another, or chronic disorganisation. Generally, if you offer to tidy up someone’s cluttered house they’ll say: “Yes, please!” Whereas someone with hoarding behaviours will say no, because they don’t like the thought of their things being touched. They are emotionally attached. Continue reading…

Days after my baby was born, I was overwhelmed by raw terror. Soon, my son and I were living in a specialist unit. This is what I learned“If you tried to leave now, we would section you.” It was my second day in the mother and baby unit, a psychiatric ward that treats women with perinatal mental health issues, while helping them care for their babies. I was sitting on the edge of my single bed, with its squeaky vinyl cover, my son asleep next to me in a cot that was impossibly huge for a four-week-old baby. I bit my lip and tried to stop my leg twitching up and down.“You’d section me?” Continue reading…

Listening to birdsong reduces anxiety and paranoia, a new study reports.

To address the mental health crisis facing American youth, experts also said adolescents should be screened for depression.

High rates of depression and anxiety reported by adolescent athletes whose sports were cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic improved significantly a year later when they were able to resume playing sports, according to new research.

Consuming alcohol can mess with your emotions the next day by causing stress hormones to spike and sleep to be disrupted overnight.