Lucy Foulkes is a British academic psychologist and writer, specialising in adolescent mental health and social development. She is currently a Prudence Trust Research Fellow at the Department of Experimental Psychology of the University of Oxford.[1]
Lucy Foulkes | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Academic, writer, science communicator |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Birmingham University College London |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Psychology |
| Sub-discipline | Mental health and social development in adolescence, negative consequences of mental health awareness |
| Institutions | University College London University of York University of Oxford |
| Main interests | Adolescent mental health |
| Notable works | What Mental Illness Really Is (…and what it isn’t) Coming Of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us |
| Website | https://www.lucyfoulkes.com/ |
Biography
editFoulkes completed her PhD (2011–2015) and postdoc (2015–2017) at the University College London, before moving to the University of York for a lectureship, and later to the University of Oxford. Besides her research at Oxford, she is also an honorary lecturer at University College London and a senior research fellow for the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. Her main interests are adolescent mental health, the unintended effects of mental health awareness, and self-diagnosis of mental health problems and its relationship to adolescent identity development.[2][3] She also researches the effectiveness of school mental health interventions.[4][5]
She has argued that mental health awareness may in some cases increase mental health problems.[6] In a publication with Jack Andrews, she has laid out the Prevalence Inflation Hypothesis, which reasons that awareness can lead to overinterpretation of mild distress as a major mental health problem.[7][8]
Foulkes contributes to public science communication and public discourse on adolescent mental health, through media appearances, news articles, podcasts, interviews and books.[9][10] Her first book, What Mental Illness Really Is (…and what it isn’t), was released in 2021.[11] Her second book, Coming Of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us, was released in 2024.[12][13][14]
Books
edit- Foulkes, L. (2021). What Mental Illness Really Is (…and what it isn’t). Vintage.
- Foulkes, L. (2024). Coming Of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us. Vintage.
References
edit- ^ Barry, Ellen (2024-05-06). "Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ Demsas, Jerusalem, "Not Everyone Needs to Go to Therapy", The Atlantic, retrieved 2024-12-01
- ^ Rumbelow, Helen (2024-06-18). "The psychologist who says no, our teens aren't all harmed by social media". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ Barker, Irena (2024-06-12). "Pupil mental health: what works in schools and what doesn't". www.tes.com. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ Foulkes, Lucy; Stringaris, Argyris (2023-02-27). "Do no harm: can school mental health interventions cause iatrogenic harm?". BJPsych Bulletin. 47 (5): 267–269. doi:10.1192/bjb.2023.9. ISSN 2056-4694. PMC 10764817. PMID 36843444.
- ^ Foulkes, Lucy (2024-10-14). "The problem with mental health awareness". The British Journal of Psychiatry: The Journal of Mental Science. 225 (2): 337–338. doi:10.1192/bjp.2024.106. ISSN 1472-1465. PMID 39399916.
- ^ Sears, Richard (2023-03-21). "Mental Health Awareness Campaigns May Actually Lead to Increases in Mental Distress". Mad In America. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ Foulkes, Lucy; Andrews, Jack L. (2023-04-01). "Are mental health awareness efforts contributing to the rise in reported mental health problems? A call to test the prevalence inflation hypothesis". New Ideas in Psychology. 69: 101010. doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2023.101010. ISSN 0732-118X.
- ^ de Lange, Catherine (2023-09-19). "Why being more open about mental health could be making us feel worse". New Scientist. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ Chivers, Tom (2023-04-22). "Your teens should be on the phone". Semafor. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ Sutton, Jon (2022-03-18). "'That's not about money, that's about basic respect and compassion'". The British Psychological Society. The Psychologist. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ Womersley, Kate (2024-06-30). "Coming of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us by Lucy Foulkes review – deep dive into the teenage mind". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-12-01.
- ^ The Week, UK (2024-08-01). "Coming of Age by Lucy Foulkes: 'wise and revelatory' guide to the teenage mind". The Week. Retrieved 2024-12-02.
- ^ McBain, Sophie (2024-07-10). "Inside the teenage mind". New Statesman. Retrieved 2024-12-02.