MQ Mental Health Research
73 episodes listed below
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MQ Open Mind looks at the science behind mental health and its potential to transform lives. The show digs deep into the cutting-edge research taking on mental illness and speaks to the people it could help. Hear conversations on a range of different conditions, from depression and anxiety to schizophrenia and bipolar. Brought to you by MQ: Transforming Mental Health, the new major mental health research charity.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
MQ Open Mind makes mental health research legible by connecting evidence, professional judgment, policy, and the researchers' own paths into the field.
MQ Open Mind treats mental health research as a human practice, with Rory O'Connor and Craig pairing scientific questions with the career paths and lived experience behind the work.
A school mindfulness trial fails to support its hypothesis; you get a scientist resisting the easy verdict.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady look at long COVID that keeps the focus on evidence, restraint, and the study's limits.
This episode takes a measured look at what the FOSP COVID Study can, and cannot, say about long COVID after hospitalisation. Rory O'Connor and Craig bring Paul Harrison and Maxim Teke into a discussion that moves through brain health, mood, fatigue, and the study's follow-up…
An accessible, research-aware look at parenting, child mental health, and the support systems around them.
This episode frames parenting as a practical, research-led conversation, with Dr. Marta Deiros-Callado drawing on clinical experience in child and young people's mental health.
A grounded discussion of how structural inequality shapes mental health care and what more equitable access would require.
The episode follows Rory O'Connor and Cam Bury through a practical discussion of mental health care that stays grounded in structural inequality rather than easy answers.
A grounded conversation about early adversity, lived experience, and the limits of willpower.
Vincent Deary keeps the conversation grounded in early adversity, lived experience, and the stubborn limits of willpower. He also widens the frame with philosophy, literature, and pop culture, which keeps the discussion from slipping into something too clinical or tidy.
A careful look at mental health genetics that keeps environment, trauma, and inequality in view.
Professor Andrew McIntosh, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Edinburgh who focuses on the genetics of mental health, comes across as measured and well anchored.
A steady look at how mental health policy meets frontline care.
Professor Nav Kapoor comes across as a serious voice on suicide prevention and self-harm, and the episode works best when it stays with the practical machinery around that work.
A calm, research-literate look at why adolescence matters to the brain.
This episode keeps its attention where it should be: on Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's case for taking adolescence seriously as a brain-development story.
A reflective set of research origin stories that favors context over polish.
Timed to Research Appreciation Day, the episode uses careers in research as its frame and starts with Rory O'Connor and Craig presenting Open Mind as a place where lived experience meets scientific research.
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Rory O'Connor and Craig introduce MQ Open Mind as a collaboration between MQ Mental Health Research, the University of Glasgow, and the Oxford Internet Institute, with Mariana Bolivar and Thomas Hackman discussing a review on internet use and youth mental health.
This episode features an interview with Andy Bell, CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, discussing the Mentally Healthier Nation report, mental health inequalities, and policy challenges.
Rory O'Connor and Craig speak with Professor Willem Kuyken about how he came into mindfulness research.
Clinical psychologist Dr.
Rory O'Connor and Craig speak with Paul Harrison and Maxim Teke about the FOSP COVID Study.
Rory O'Connor opens the conversation.
Professor Helen Minnis joins Rory O'Connor and Craig for a research-led conversation about child mental health.
Rory O'Connor and Craig welcome Professor Sir Simon for a conversation about psychiatry, epidemiology, and the NHS.
Rory O'Connor and Craig welcome Professor Vincent Deary to discuss How We Break and the ideas around it.
Rory O'Connor speaks with Andrew McIntosh about genetics and mental health.
Rory O'Connor and Craig speak with Alistair Campbell about depression, political life, and what it is like to live with mental health problems in a highly stressful industry.
MQ Open Mind opens with a Research Appreciation Day message.
Rory O'Connor and Craig welcome Sarah-Jane Blakemore to MQ Open Mind.
MQ Open Mind speaks with Dr.
Gemma Kelly, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at CEASE, says the UK charity was founded in 2018 by Naomi Miles to dismantle the cultural and commercial drivers of sexual exploitation.
Professor Alan Young of the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's College London traces his route from Glen Devon and Clackmannanshire into psychiatry, then explains why he now leads work on mood disorders.
MQ Open Mind looks back on Season 4 with clips from Dr.
On MQ Open Mind, Rory O'Connor and Craig speak with clinical psychologist and University of Bath researcher Dr Maria Loades about rising depression and anxiety among young people.
MQ Open Mind asks what mental health research should answer, and the guests keep returning to specific gaps rather than broad themes.
MQ Open Mind speaks with Dr Chloe Paidoussis-Mitchell, a counselling psychologist, author of The Lost Prescription, and grief specialist whose work connects lived experience with research.
Dr Sian Williams traces the path from broadcasting into counselling psychology.
Rory O'Connor speaks with Professor Cam Bury about structural inequalities in mental health care.
MQ Open Mind brings together Rory O'Connor, Craig, Georgie Mack of Peopleful, and Dr Kate Duckworth to discuss the Building Mentally Healthy Workplace Report.
Professor Mick Cooper joins Rory O’Connor and Craig for a clear conversation about psychotherapy, person-centred practice, and the place of mental health work in a changing society.
Professor Nav Kapoor joins MQ Open Mind to talk about suicide prevention and self-harm research.
Professor Ellen Townsend describes how she moved from music and biology at the University of Leeds into psychology, then into self-harm research after joining Keith Hawton’s team at Oxford.
This episode explores how trauma affects individuals and communities, featuring an interview with Professor Ola Muldoon on identity, conflict, and trauma research.
Dr.
Jordan Lees describes symptoms of depression starting around 14, a first GP visit at 16, and years of trying Sertraline, CBT, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, LSD, ketamine, probiotics, and supplements without lasting benefit.
MQ Open Mind features Rory O'Connor, Craig, and psychiatrist Dr.
This episode explores women's mental health and global scaling of treatments through a conversation with Dr.
The host introduces the podcast and asks listeners for feedback via a survey and focus group to improve the show.
This episode explores the use of psychedelic drugs for treatment-resistant depression, featuring an interview with Professor David Nutt.
This episode explores child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) through the lens of a parent's lived experience and a researcher's work to improve access and outcomes.
This episode discusses the impact of childhood bullying on later life, featuring an interview with Professor Louise Arsenault.
This episode discusses bipolar disorder research, genetic underpinnings, and the need for narrowly defined phenotypes in psychiatry.
This episode discusses the crisis in young people's mental health and the role of schools and technology, featuring a panel of experts and a student.
An exploration of social anxiety disorder, featuring a researcher developing a digital therapy app and a blogger sharing personal experience.
This episode explores the hypothesis that depression may be caused by the immune system, interviewing a professor of biological psychiatry about the science behind this potential breakthrough.