For men

As a fairly diligent stretcher who tries to get at least five minutes of stretching in a day, I’d like to say that I’m fairly in tune with my body, and all its aches and pains. But recently I’ve been experiencing a bit of numbness and stiffness in my glutes that none of my usual…

I was a happy kid, president of the school at 11, then went on to St Paul’s Girls’ School. I was supposed to be a barrister, because I was good at chat and liked debating. Mum was the foodie. We were always making things in the kitchen while my sister was in the garden. I…

I am in my early 30s and happily married with two young children. I have never been an amazing dancer. It has always been painfully awkward. I feel mortified whenever there’s a requirement to dance, even if it’s as silly as when the grownups join in during a kid’s party! I’ve had strangers offer well-intentioned…

It began with an anonymous email. “I’m genuinely so, so sorry to reach out to you,” it read. Beneath the words were three links to an internet forum. “Huge trigger warning … They contain lewd photoshopped images of you.” Jodie (not her real name) froze. In the past, the 27-year-old from Cambridgeshire had had problems…

From my many years as a therapist and advice columnist, I’ve started to see clear patterns in the problems that bother my readers the most. And I can confirm that Sartre was right: hell is other people. It’s difficult relationships with those around us that cause the most anguish. It’s such a common theme that…