Am I Normal?

Although attitudes towards sexual behaviour have become much more liberal, it seems that many of us are still anxious. The nation's obsession with sex is putting extra pressure on us to perform well in the bedroom and to question whether we measure up.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Although attitudes towards sexual behaviour have become much more liberal, it seems that many of us are still anxious. The nation's obsession with sex is putting extra pressure on us to perform well in the bedroom and to question whether we measure up.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

2/4. As more and more children in the UK are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Vivienne explores how the condition is defined. Is the decision made on medical grounds or is it based on how society and schools in particular expect children to behave?

Vivienne explores how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is defined and diagnosed.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

2/4. As more and more children in the UK are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Vivienne explores how the condition is defined. Is the decision made on medical grounds or is it based on how society and schools in particular expect children to behave?

Vivienne explores how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is defined and diagnosed.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

She investigates how health professionals define the average age for beginning puberty and under what circumstances medical intervention may be appropriate. She finds that normal puberty in Blackpool is quite different to that in Bangladesh.

Vivienne investigates how health professionals define the normal age for entering puberty.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

She investigates how health professionals define the average age for beginning puberty and under what circumstances medical intervention may be appropriate. She finds that normal puberty in Blackpool is quite different to that in Bangladesh.

Vivienne investigates how health professionals define the normal age for entering puberty.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

She investigates a recent claim that anger should be viewed and treated as a mental health problem.

New research shows that getting angry frequently is bad for the heart and affects immune function. Intermittent Explosive Disorder is now a recognised psychiatric condition in the United States. Could the same happen in the UK, and, if so, are we in danger of medicalising our every emotion?

Vivienne Parry investigates the claim that anger should be seen as a mental health problem

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

She investigates post-natal depression. More women than ever are being diagnosed with the condition, so does motherhood make women miserable or are we turning a normal, if difficult, psychological transition into an illness?

If you ask a woman who has just had a baby if she has felt sad or miserable in the last seven days, there is a fair chance that she will say yes. You might get a similar answer if you ask if she has felt scared or panicky for no good reason. These are questions on the Edinburgh Post Natal Depression Scale, a self reporting tool developed in 1987 to help identify women with post-natal depression.

The scale is now widely used by health professionals as part of efforts to help women who are struggling psychologically to access the help and support they need. However, critics claim that the scale picks up too many women who are indeed having a hard time but who are not depressed and still fails to spot women at the more severe end of the depression spectrum. So are we now better at identifying and helping women who are depressed post natally?

Vivienne Parry talks to psychiatrists Roch Cantwell and Paul Ramchandani, novelist Rachel Cusk, sociologist Ellie Lee and several mothers about what they think is normal in the post-natal period.

Vivienne Parry investigates post-natal depression.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Vivienne finds out how 'gifted' children are measured and by whom. If a child is in the top five to 10 per cent of their school in an academic subject, they may have been identified as 'gifted' and put on the government's new national register of gifted and talented children.

Vivienne discovers that it depends on the discretion of each school to decide this status and talks to pupils and teachers about whether being marked out as different - even in a positive way - just makes children want to be normal.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

It happens to us all; nothing can hold back the tide of time. The natural process of ageing not only affects our appearance and how our bodies respond to general wear and tear, but also how we succumb to and are affected by illness. Yet it seems, no one ages in the same way. Middle age for some of us doesn't end until we're well into our 70s, whereas some people feel old before their time.

The programme asks what will happen to us when we age normally? And indeed is there such a thing as a normal ageing process? Genes, lifestyle choices, environment and even social class all play a part.

So what was normal 20 or 30 years ago is not normal now. The average age of the world's population is increasing at an unprecedented rate. It's been estimated that the number of people worldwide who are 65 and older now will double by 2040 (from seven to fourteen per cent).

How we are ageing is changing too. We are living longer and dying quicker. Professor of geriatric medicine Raymond Tallis says that, 'Despite the fact that we're living longer, the period of chronic illness or disability before death is shrinking.' Advances in modern medicine have postponed many diseases of old age to such an extent that we live longer, healthier lives before succumbing when we are really old and frail and therefore die relatively quickly.

But not everyone is still running marathons at 75 or constantly feels 15 years younger than their actual age. And the phrase 'you're only as old as you feel' can be pretty depressing to some people. So what is normal for a certain age? How can we measure it? And does it really matter?

Vivienne Parry explores what is 'normal' ageing.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Health anxiety in its most severe form, the diagnosis hypochondriasis, has been recognised for centuries. It's a fear or belief that real or imagined symptoms are signs of a serious illness, despite medical reassurance and other evidence to the contrary. The anxiety can take over your life, drive your family - and your GP - to distraction and can cause a great deal of distress.

But is it an illness in itself? Many psychiatrists and psychologists now prefer to describe hypochondriasis as a health anxiety. It is similar to both obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorders. It's starting to be recognised as a serious psychological problem that can be helped with cognitive behaviour therapy.

Almost everyone has health worries from time to time, triggered by variations in their body, inexplicable physical symptoms and health information from doctors, health screening programmes and the mass media, and many people experience a moment of worry that their odd rashes, bumps or pains are signs of real trouble. But an official diagnosis of hypochondria, according to the psychiatric authorities, is reserved for patients whose fears that they have a serious disease persist for at least six months and continue even after doctors have reassured them that they are healthy.

In patients with hypochondria, ordinary discomforts are paid much more attention and appear to register more intensely than they do for other people. But where do you draw the line? When does healthy concern become a psychological problem, and what are the implications for the health industry?

With more and more people looking up symptoms and health advice on the internet, the result can be that you feel empowered and informed about your health. But for others, will they develop what is being hyped as 'cyberchondria', where every twinge and symptom is searched online, leaving them convinced that they definitely have the rarest and deadliest of diseases?

Many experts think that terms like 'cyberchondria' and the book-related 'bibliochondria' are just catchy terms concocted by the media which only exacerbate the negative stigma and cruel humour associated with hypochondria. It's a tricky issue to deal with; the patient sees physical illness, the doctor sees a psychological problem, and frustration rules on both sides of the examining room.

This programme asks how doctors assess levels of heath anxiety, how they decipher the sinister from the benign real through the imagined symptoms, and if they think increased access to health information is making the problem worse.

Vivienne Parry asks when a normal concern about our wellbeing turns into health anxiety.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Vivienne Parry sets forth on a mission to pin down what normal or healthy eating actually means.

She meets the evangelists from the raw food, pure food community, the health food junkies who say their diet is the natural, 'normal' way of eating, and hears from those who fear that an obessession with eating only the 'purest' of foods is giving rise to a new 'righteous eating' condition called orthorexia.

Vivienne speaks to those who believe extreme diets and restricting and controlling what we eat are worrying steps on a path towards a diagnosable eating disorder. But others say that eccentric diets represent a rejection of the current food environment, a problem only when they seriously affect on someone's life, or offer inadequate nutrition.

With a staggering 60 per cent of us overweight or obese, one woman tells Vivienne how desperate she is to achieve a 'normal' weight, as she prepares for gastric surgery to reduce her 19 stone weight.

Obesity is the subject of a powerful struggle among medical professionals, who are currently deciding what should and shouldn't be considered to be a mental disorder. A prominent neuroscientist tells Vivienne that obesity is a brain disorder, while others argue that handing out psychiatric labels to obese people risks labelling swathes of the population as 'abnormal'.

What does 'normal eating' mean when most of us are overweight or on a perpetual diet?

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Sex drive is influenced by many things, such as stress, relationship problems, work and being overweight, not to mention having young children. So it's not surprising that about 40% of the population report having a low libido at some time in their lives, while ten per cent of women and about five per cent of men report low sexual desire lasting over six months. Whether this is a problem depends on the individual and their partner, if they have one. Vivienne Parry discovers that 'normal' is highly subjective, with some people who claim to be completely asexual and others who, like poet John Betjeman, regret not having had more sex in their lives. So should we worry about a diminished love life or are we too influenced by a sexualised society?

How much do our libidos vary and what's normal? Vivienne Parry investigates.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Is there such a thing as a normal immune system? Vivienne Parry investigates.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not

What level of tiredness is normal and when should we seek help? Vivienne Parry finds out.

Series exploring how doctors decide what is normal and what is not