Men can also be victims of sexual abuse and rape. Maybe they silence themselves and their experiences even more. What can be done with the trauma and shame which so many people carry around in secret?

A new initiative in the UK involves women who have been raped supporting others recovering from the same experiences of violation, anger, grief, shame and being effectively shut up by society as a whole. Why do these relationships work so well, and what can therapists learn from them?

Blatant, overt racism is easy to spot — but what about subtle racism? And are there measurable cognitive effects that come as a result of witnessing not-so-obvious racism?

There are always people worse off and better off than ourselves and as I see it, we are all interconnected and we can only start with ourselves, both for our own good and the good of the world. Of course I genuinely believe this. But once every few months I get a bulletin from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, and it shakes me from head to toe.

While packing and in life, the question “what do I really need?” is such a fruitful one.

Readers continue to tell us that Dr Carver’s article about relationship losers, abusers, manipulators and controllers — and how you can protect yourself from them — rings true. How about you? Have you dealt with someone like this?

“Everything happens for a reason”, they say, and “their” opinion has become pretty mainstream. This supposedly positive thinking is an undeniable part of how we human beings are; we’ve been making myths and stories and religions out of reality for as long as we have been human. I nonetheless want to scream “oh no it doesn’t!”