...looks back

Chris Timms considers historical diagnosis and the case of Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery.

Does a look back at the personal qualities and behaviour of one of Britain’s foremost military leaders tell us anything other than that he was human?

East meets West at the edge of the ocean

Lucas Richert on the Esalen Institute, pioneer of the human potential movement.

‘…constantly at work in the laboratory of my own mind’

Jan Noyes on Conwy Lloyd Morgan, the first psychologist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society.

When Conwy Lloyd Morgan was born in London on 6 February 1852, Great Ormond Street Hospital was about to admit its first patient and the Earl of Derby was about to form a minority Conservative...

Harnessing the fierce energy of counterculture

Lucas Richert on transactional analysis in the 1960s.

Mental health knowledge and practice was highly contested in the 1960s and 70s. Struggles over homosexuality and radicalism, drug use and replicable drug trials, were part of a unique...

The Freudian motivation behind 1967's Sexual Offences Act

Adam Jowett on Jewish Labour MP Leo Abse.

A revolution in thinking

Ali Teymoori and Rose Trappes consider Immanuel Kant’s influence on psychology.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) has played an undeniably crucial role in the development of psychology as a discipline, much of which has escaped the attention of modern...

Spacelab revisited

Helen E. Ross (Honorary Professor, University of Stirling) recalls an ‘out of this world’ research experience.

Britain’s first full-time Professor of Psychology

Natalie Bigbie and Nils Muhlert on the life and work of Tom Hatherley Pear.

Five depictions of the brain

Andrew P. Wickens (a winner of the British Psychological Society’s Book Award) considers their historical significance.

The history of neuroscience is rarely taught in universities, and few books trace developments from the ancient past to the present. Here, I present five of my favourite illustrations from my...

A brief history of thinking ourselves insane

Huw Green with a historical take on agency in madness.

Pain, fear and joy – beyond hysteria

Elena Carrera draws lessons from the life of 16th-century mystic Teresa of Avila.

Migration and mental illness

Marjory Harper delves into archives for tales of alien environments and unfulfilled expectations.

The medieval mind

Scholars are finding that medieval science – in various fields – is more sophisticated than previously thought. Corinne Saunders and Charles Fernyhough show that psychology is no exception.

Learning from Heisenberg

David Pilgrim considers vitalism and other explanations of what it is to be human.

Phantom suffering?

Joanna Bourke looks into physical and emotional wounding after the First World War.

A door to minds and emotions

Derek Collett looks at the life and psychological novels of Nigel Balchin.

Quality and longevity

Dorothy Bishop celebrates the career of one of her academic heroes, Reuben Conrad, as he reaches 100.

Air raids and the crowd – citizens at war

Edgar Jones explores how British people responded to air raids during the Second World War, and what this tells us about coping under extreme stress.

Happiness then and now

Sandie McHugh and Jerome Carson describe two happiness surveys from Bolton, 76 years apart.

Schreber the plaything

Novelist Alex Pheby on why Daniel Paul Schreber's Memoirs are important and useful.

Opium and the people

Joanna Moncrieff examines the socio-economic history of psychoactive drug use.

The centenary of a maverick

Philip J. Corr on the life and work of Hans J. Eysenck.

Historical sex object – or undiscovered genius?

John Launer challenges the image of Sabina Spielrein principally as Carl Jung’s mistress: was she one of the most innovative thinkers in 20th-century psychology?