The Richard Nicholls Mental Health Podcast
To inspire, educate and motivate you to be the best you can be. Learn about tackling mental health problems like Anxiety and Depression as well as simple tips to understand the world better, in a down to earth and genuine way with the Best Selling Author and Psychotherapist Richard Nicholls.
Episodes
138 episodes
Short Stuff: Effective Listening
You don't need to be a therapist to find that being a good listener can be helpful. Listening is one half of ALL good communication.
Short Stuff: Parentification
Being called mature for your age is meant as a compliment. But quite often it's a description of a child who didn't get to be one.This week I'm looking at parentification, which is what we call it when the roles flip and a child ends up doi...
Impatience
Once we expect something, our brain acts as if it's about to happen any second, and then gets cross when it doesn't. This week we look at why some waits feel endless and others fly by, what the marshmallow test was really measuring, and why som...
Short Stuff: The Myth Of Closure
Somebody dies, or something awful happens, and sooner or later somebody will ask if you've got closure yet. Like it's a certificate. So this week I look at where that word actually came from, which is not psychology, and why it contradicts itse...
Short Stuff: Radical Acceptance
This week I'm looking at Radical Acceptance, where it comes from, what the word radical actually means, and why letting go of the fight with reality isn't the same as giving up.
Short Stuff: You've Changed
Today I'm talking about a phrase that gets said to people all the time, usually by someone who loves them, and it's meant as a criticism even though it's usually evidence that something's gone RIGHT.
Short Stuff: Compulsive Lying
This week I'm talking about compulsive lying, and why the picture most of us have of it, someone cold and calculating who's worked out exactly what story gets them what they want, is usually wrong. Most compulsive lying isn't strategic at all. ...
Why You Shouldn't Complain So Much
Does venting your frustrations make you feel better?Turns out, not so much. No.So what we can we do instead?
Short Stuff: Laughter & Perspectives
Is laughter the best medicine?Maybe not, but it's better than nothing!
Short Stuff: Empty Nest Syndrome
Empty nest syndrome is one of those things people feel a bit embarrassed to admit to. Your child leaving home is meant to be a success story, so why does the house suddenly feel so wrong? In this episode I look at what's really going on when th...
Short Stuff: Infidelity
Infidelity is one of those topics that gets talked about constantly but almost never honestly. The public conversation tends to collapse into judgment or defence, and neither actually helps anyone understand what's going on.
Short Stuff: Trauma and Personality
Following on from last week I'm going into why some neurodiversity isn't genetic. How childhood trauma can shape a brain in ways that look a lot like neurodivergence and why so many people get handed the wrong diagnosis.
Clutter & Overwhelm
Why is it so much easier to sort out a friend's messy cupboard than my own?This month I'm getting into overwhelm and executive dysfunction, specifically the pile that's been sat on the chair for 3 weeks, the drawer that only opens halfwa...
Short Stuff: Neurodiversity
Different brains aren't broken brains. They're just running on an operating system the world wasn't built to support. So this week I'm talking about why neurodivergence and mental health are more tangled together than most people realise, and w...
Short Stuff: Bullying
This week we're talking about bullying, and not just the playground kind. We dig into how being bullied as a child can leave a lasting mark on the nervous system, even when home life was safe and loving.
Short Stuff: Anger
Anger gets such a rough deal, doesn't it. People either think they've got too much of it and feel ashamed, or they reckon they never get angry and think that's something to be proud of. And honestly, both of those things are worth looking at.
Short Stuff: Acceptance and Commitment
This week I’m talking about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. A therapy model that sounds a bit like “just accept things” on the surface, but actually has a lot more depth to it than that.
Panic Attacks
People often use the word panic to mean the same as anxiety. But in my world, the 2 are separated so as to ensure people get the right sort of therapy.
Resilience Isn't What You Think
Who's responsible if we fall flat on our face and nothing goes right?More importantly, who's responsible if we don't pick ourselves up again?
Attitude
A bad attitude is like a flat car tyre.You're not going anywhere unless you change it.
Toxic Masculinity
The rules of toxic masculinity suggest that to be a real man you should never lose, have no needs, suffer in silence, show no emotions except bravado and anger, be independent, show no weakness.It’s an impossible code to live by and it hurt...
Failure
Because we're not born knowing how to do anything that comes naturally to us as adults, we're literally born to fail along the way.Whether that's learning to walk, talk or how to be calm in difficult situations. We have to learn. We have to...
Limerence: Addicted To Love?
Call it a crush, call it new relationship energy, call it infatuation. But if it becomes an addiction, then you can easily become your own drug dealer by retreating into fantasy.That's when it starts to become a very serious problem.