Living With Feeling

Thomas Dixon introduces our new podcast series about emotions in the 21st century, with some help from Giles Fraser and Philippa Perry.

In this first episode of our new series about emotions in the 21st century, priest and writer Giles Fraser and psychotherapist Philippa Perry join Thomas Dixon for a lively conversation about the place of emotions in modern culture.Philippa, Giles, and Thomas discuss whether people are too ready to interpret painful or difficult emotions as signs of mental illness, and whether it is always true that "Your emotions are valid". Can emotions ever be wrong?Giles confesses to an emotional outburst in the middle of the night, and suggests we should all try to be a bit more like the Queen, while Philippa explains how important it is to be able to live with and contain our own feelings, and those of our children, without necessarily always expressing them.We explore what Christianity and psychotherapy have to say about the idea that we are all emotionally broken or disordered in some way, and Giles and Philippa share their views about smartphones and emotions, and whether they would like to be cared for by a robot nurse, and if not why not.Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist and artist. She is the author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) - and the “Ask Philippa” advice column in the Observer. She says that responding to your children’s feelings appropriately is foundational to their future emotional health. @philippa_perryReverend Giles Fraser is the Vicar of St Anne’s in Kew, as well as being a journalist and author. His most recent book is Chosen: Lost and Found Between Christianity and Judaism, and in 2017 he made a series for Radio 4 - “This Old Heart of Mine” - about the experience of surviving a heart attack and bypass surgery. It gave him the chance to reflect on matters of the heart - physical, emotional, and spiritual. @giles_fraserProfessor Thomas Dixon is Director of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, the author of Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015), and previously presented "The Sound of Anger" podcast series. @ProfThomasDixon"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and is supported by the Wellcome Trust.To find out more about the work of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, please visit The Emotions Lab website at emotionslab.org

Should mindfulness and happiness take their place on the school curriculum alongside maths and literacy? Thomas Dixon asks whether 200-year-old ideas about love, emotions, and primary education are still relevant today. He visits three schools with different approaches to emotions, and meets experts on mental health and wellbeing - asking whether there is a crisis in young people's mental health today, whether schools should be part of the solution, and if so what that solution might look like. Katharine Birbalsingh talks to Thomas about the "tough love" approach at Michaela Community School, and discusses whether it is harsh, or loving, to try to instil an ethos of Stoicism and individual resilience: "You say it's mean, I say it's love." Adrian Bethune is a primary school teacher, the author of "Wellbeing in the Primary Classroom" and founder of “Teachappy”, an organisation committed to putting wellbeing and happiness at the heart of education. @AdrianBethuneDr Lucy Foulkes is a Senior Research Fellow at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL. She is the author of "What Mental Illness Really Is… (and what it isn’t)". @lfoulkesyDr Alex Turner is Applied Research Lead at The Children's Society @DrAlexLTurnerLouis Weinstock  is a psychotherapist and the author of "How the World is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About It"Michael Eggleton is Headteacher of the Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery, a research school in Southwark, where he leads their wellbeing curriculum @Michael_cdpsKatharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress of Michaela Community School, Wembley, and Chair of the government's Social Mobility Commisssion. @Miss_Snuffy"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.

When it comes to childhood trauma, do our bodies keep the score, and with what emotional impacts?Historian of child psychology Emma Sutton finds out about the recent explosion of interest in "trauma-informed" approaches and their impact on family relationships. She tries out some trauma-informed therapy herself, and discusses with therapists and experts what this approach can mean for dealing with the aftermath of adverse childhood experiences - including the additional harm done to families when someone decides to "go no contact" with a parent.Emma discusses with Reverend Giles Fraser the dangers of overly medicalising painful experiences - and Giles speaks about his own experience of being beaten frequently when at school. The episode ends with a visit to the Kazzum Arts project and its director Alex Evans - who speaks about the powerful influence that adults can have in protecting children from the worst effects of trauma, by being playful, curious, accepting and empathetic in their interactions with them. Steve Haines is a bodyworker and author who is deeply interested in pain, trauma and anxiety.   @stevehaines66Dr Charley Baker is an associate professor of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham. @CharleyBaker1Dr Angela Davis is a historian of motherhood and parenting in twentieth-century Britain. She is the author of Modern Motherhood: Women and Family in England, 1945–2000.Dr Joshua Coleman is psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families, a non-partisan organization of leading sociologists, historians, psychologists and demographers dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best practice findings about American families. @drjcolemanReverend Giles Fraser is the Vicar of St Anne’s in Kew, as well as being a journalist and author. His most recent book is Chosen: Lost and Found Between Christianity and Judaism, and in 2017 he made a series for Radio 4 - “This Old Heart of Mine” - about the experience of surviving a heart attack and bypass surgery. It gave him the chance to reflect on matters of the heart - physical, emotional, and spiritual. @giles_fraserAlex Evans is a visual artist, director and creative facilitator living and working in London. He is proud to be the Artistic Director of Kazzum Arts, after taking on the role in June 2017. @KazzumArts "Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.

Do wellbeing apps and emotional mood trackers make you feel nervous, furious, or happy?In this episode, historian of emotions and author Richard Firth-Godbehere goes in search of the science, technology, ethics, and feelings behind emotional AI. Fellow historian Thomas Dixon acts a guinea pig for Richard, trying out some emotion-tracking apps. with emotionally mixed results, while Richard speaks to historians, ethicists, and others about the theory of “basic emotions” that hampers a lot of emotional AI, and also the ethical dilemmas posed by the ability of big tech companies to harvest and store increasingly intimate information about our feelings and our bodies.Along the way, Richard reflects on the long history of emotional objects - and how bits of technology, old and new, can conjure up strong feelings, as well as encountering a award-winning app designed for children who have lost a loved one, and thinking about how he might have responded to it when he lost his own father.Dr Charley Baker is an associate professor of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham. @CharleyBaker1Professor Thomas Dixon is Director of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, the author of Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015), and previously presented "The Sound of Anger" podcast series. @ProfThomasDixonLouis Weinstock is a psychotherapist and the author of How the World is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About ItDr Sally Holloway is Vice Chancellor’s Research Fellow in History & History of Art, School of History, Philosophy and Culture, Oxford Brookes University where she researches the histories of emotional culture, love, and heartbreak. @sally_hollowayChloe Duckworth is Co-founder & CEO of Valence VibrationsProfessor Andrew McStay is Professor of Digital Life at Bangor University, and the author of Emotional AI: The Rise of Empathic Media. @digi_ad"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.

It's the final episode of the series, but what have we learned about emotions past, present, and future? Thomas Dixon, Sarah Chaney and Richard Firth-Godbehere reflect back on what they have learned from the series, discuss what emotions might look like in the future, whether we should stop telling people “Your emotions are valid”, and what historians of emotion looking back on our era might think in a few hundred years’ time. What will future people think about the roles of - for instance - psychiatry and social media - in shaping the ways we interpret and express our feelings in the 21st century?Is there any reason to think that things will be any less emotional in the future, or that machines and AI will fundamentally change the way human beings feel?Join Thomas, Sarah, and Richard to find out.Thomas Dixon is Director of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, the author of Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015), and previously presented "The Sound of Anger" podcast series. @ProfThomasDixonSarah Chaney is a historian of nursing and emotions. Her most recent book is called Am I Normal? The 200-Year Search for Normal People (and Why They Don’t Exist)  @KentishScribbleRichard Firth Godbehere is a historian of disgust - among many other emotions - and the author of a sweeping and scintillating book entitled A Human History of Emotion: How the Way We Feel Built the World We Know. @DrRichFG"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.