Monzo bank to offer employees paid leave after pregnancy loss

Either partner can take up to 10 days’ leave after miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion in UK digital bank’s policy

We’ve learnt so much this year – and not just how to languish

While we wait to flourish again, there are still some positives to be taken from the fine art of languishing

The chemical question: does focusing on hormones undermine mental healthcare?

According to some, not factoring hormones into mental healthcare can be dangerous. For others, it feeds into outdated stereotypes

How I learned that by trying to avoid sadness, I was only making it worse

Bedridden, and unable to move, I realised that I had spent my life running from misery. It was time to confront it, says author and journalist Helen Russell

‘Melon seedlings make good pets’: how lockdown made us love houseplants

From orchids to apple trees, readers share their stories of the plants that kept them busy, lifted their spirits and distracted them from the endless Zoom meetings

Like ‘Italy’s Robinson Crusoe’, many of us crave the idea of aloneness – even after lockdown

Mauro Morandi had to leave his solitary island life. Having been cooped up with others for months, it could be appealing, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Can magic mushrooms really help you understand bitcoin?

That’s what one German billionaire says. But it’s not why the Aztecs and the hippies were such fans

Talking to yourself: a good antidote to loneliness – or the sign of a real problem?

During the pandemic, I have gone from uttering a few words of encouragement to myself to full-blown arguments. I’m not the only one. I asked psychologists what purpose this serves

Middle-aged people who sleep six hours or less at greater risk of dementia, study finds

UCL data of 10,000 volunteers shows cases 30% higher among those who slept poorly in their 50s, 60s and 70s

Laura Dockrill on parenting, paranoia and postpartum psychosis: ‘I thought I’d been hijacked by a devil’

A month after the birth of her son, the writer and illustrator was on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward, experiencing severe delusions. Now her podcast is raising awareness of a condition that affects one in a thousand new mothers

A year of emotional eating? Don’t feel guilty. We need comfort, not ketosis

Many of us will leave lockdown a few pounds heavier than we started it, but there is no shame in finding pleasure in food, writes Emma Beddington

Empathy, compassion, personality, attitudes: can people change?

There is plenty of evidence that empathy can be taught in childhood, but it gets more complicated when it comes to adults, especially when it is forced

‘We need to adapt in order to grow’: how to emerge from lockdown stronger, happier, healthier

Covid-19 has brought many changes: we must learn to embrace the good and learn from the bad

In brief: Unsettled Ground; Genesis; Inferno – reviews

Twins unravel their family history when their mother dies; myths, science and the origins of the universe; and a harrowing account of postpartum psychosis

Screen Covid patients and NHS staff for post-traumatic stress, expert urges

Head of Royal College of Psychiatrists warns that the emotional toll from the pandemic could last for years