Main content

Grieving when estranged, musical hallucinations and the benefits of snoozing your alarm

When a child becomes estranged from a parent, they may grieve prematurely, creating a complex emotional landscape if they pass.

Losing a parent is extremely difficult, but for adult children who are estranged, this loss can create a mixture of grief, sadness, guilt or relief. Claudia Hammond talks to broadcaster and author, Professor Alice Roberts, about her experience of losing her mother after being estranged for 5 years. A group of estranged adult children were interviewed to learn more about these feelings and how they鈥檝e dealt with them. Claudia discusses the findings with Professor Karl Pillemer, sociologist at Cornell University and author of 鈥楩ault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them鈥�.

Hearing music when nothing is playing is more common than you might think. For people with hearing loss, many 鈥榟ear鈥� music as if it real. From choral versions of 鈥楩erry across the Mersey鈥� to random notes on an organ, listeners Peter and Elizabeth share what it is like living with a constant juke box in their heads. Claudia chats about this phenomenon with Professor of cognitive neurology at Newcastle University, Tim Griffiths, and learns what might be happening in the brain to cause it.

Peter Olusoga, senior lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University, joins Claudia in the studio to discuss how zoom backgrounds influence first impressions, the benefits of micro-breaks and when snoozing your alarm might be good for you...

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Julia Ravey
Studio Manager: Tim Heffer
Production Coordinator: Siobhan Maguire
Editor: Holly Squire

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 7 Nov 2023 21:00
  • Wed 8 Nov 2023 15:30

How to Manage Your Worries

How to Manage Your Worries

A quick and easy guide on how to cope with the things you worry about.

Podcast