‘I'm tired of feeling a prisoner to my thoughts’ – Moksha’s story

In this episode, we meet Moksha, a doctor so debilitated by obsessive-compulsive disorder that he drives at least 50 miles home every day to avoid using the college toilets. He won’t eat or drink anything during weekend-long shifts, so he doesn’t have to use the hospital bathroom. He scrubs his skin with toxic cleaning products to try to rid himself of germs, sustaining chemical burns. Medication provides no relief, but cutting-edge technology - electrodes implanted deep within his brain to change electrical activity - successfully treats his condition, easing his symptoms.

We also hear from Matthew, whose many years of depression have been associated with feelings of inflammation or infection in his body; and we talk to neuroscientists leading research into how the immune system may influence brain functioning.

These cases cast light on the artificial distinctions between mental and physical health, and how psychological conditions have a basis in chemical or electrical changes in the brain.

Presenter: Professor Guy Leschziner
Producer: Sally Abrahams
Sound: Neil Churchill

Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele and Helena Warwick-Cross
Editor: Clare Fordham

Image: Amy Hiley amyhileyart.com