Audiobooks by Lucy Foulkes

Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us

Brought to you by Penguin. Adolescence is the most dramatic and formative period of our lives: both thrilling and traumatic, it is when we become who we are, when the smallest things can have life-long effects. But it is also full of contradictions, making it bewildering to live through and usually misunderstood in retrospect. We often struggle to connect with the adolescents in our lives, but most of us have yet to come to terms with our own adolescence and how it has shaped who we are. In this moving, empowering book, which is full of counter-intuitive insights, Lucy Foulkes, an expert in adolescent psychology, draws on the latest studies and in-depth interviews to demystify adolescent behaviours - friendship, bullying, risk-taking, sex, mental illness, love and much more. She unpicks the social hierarchies that colour all of adolescent life and reveals some surprising underlying truths: that as adolescents we are deeply conservative more than we are rebellious; that what seems like recklessness is often calculated and risk-averse; that the same peer influence that can lead to bullying can also be used to prevent it; that popularity is a mixed blessing even while friendship at this time can be a life-changing good. She explains why appearance counts for everything at this age and why we can be so fickle and cruel, but also how adolescents can astound the adults in their lives with their empathy and capacity to support and nurture one another. If our identities are a story, then the first crucial draft is written in adolescence. This book helps us to read that story - in ourselves and as it is being written in others - helping us to appreciate and accept it and where there is pain to begin to rewrite it. ©2024 Lucy Foulkes (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Lucy Foulkes (Author), Katherine Press, TBD (Narrator)

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What Mental Illness Really Is… (and what it isn’t)

Brought to you by Penguin. 'A must-read... Fascinating' JO BRAND We need to rethink the conversation around mental health - psychologist Lucy Foulkes explores how and why. How do mental health problems arise? How do we distinguish between the 'normal' challenges of modern life and actual illness? Is society really experiencing a new mental health crisis? In this urgently needed book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes investigates what we know about mental illness - and shines a light on what we don't. It offers a profound new approach to how we think, talk and help when it comes to mental health. (Previously published in 2021 under the title Losing Our Minds.) 'Captivating...engaging and lucid' Sarah-Jayne Blakemore 'Clear-headed, compassionate and, ultimately, optimistic' Mark Haddon 'Thorough, wise...much needed' Mark Rice-Oxley © Lucy Foulkes 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Lucy Foulkes (Author), Lucy Foulkes (Narrator)

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Losing Our Minds: What Mental Illness Really Is – and What It Isn’t

Brought to you by Penguin. We need to rethink the conversation around mental health. Public awareness of mental illness has been transformed in recent years, but our understanding of what it actually is has yet to catch up. Too often, psychiatric disorders are confused with the inherent stresses and challenges of human experience. A narrative has taken hold that a mental health crisis has been building among young people in recent years - one that, with the arrival of Covid-19, is set to get far worse. In this profoundly sensitive and constructive book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes argues that the crisis is one of ignorance as much as illness. Have we raised a 'snowflake' generation? Or are today's young people subjected to greater stress, exacerbated by social media, than ever before? Foulkes shows that both perspectives are useful but limited. As the effects of the pandemic take hold, the real question in need of answering is: how should we distinguish between 'normal' suffering and actual illness? Drawing on her extensive knowledge of the scientific and clinical literature, Foulkes explains what is known about mental health problems - how they arise, why they so often appear during adolescence, the various tools we have to cope with them - but also what remains unclear: distinguishing between normality and disorder is essential if we are to provide the appropriate help, but no clear line between the two exists in nature. She presents the argument that the widespread misunderstanding of this aspect of mental illness might actually be contributing to its apparent prevalence. Losing Our Minds provides both the clarity and the nuance that are so urgently needed. © Lucy Foulkes 2021 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

Lucy Foulkes (Author), Lucy Foulkes (Narrator)

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