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Thirty years ago years ago, in March 1995, a fresh-faced Claudia Hammond arrived at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for a job interview as a trainee science producer. She put together a comprehensive list of science and health stories, ready to pitch at the interview. In this quirky, personal journey, Claudia revisits five ideas from her Ideas List to find out what happened next. She tracks each headline-grabbing story forward through the false-starts and dead ends, the surprises and successes. And she asks what each tale teaches us about the tortuous path of scientific progress.

In this episode Claudia goes back to an idea which she had heard about from a friend. Philippa Hyman had been a fellow psychology student and housemate at university. And now she was working as a research assistant on a project run by Chris Brewin at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Chris’s research has been key to our understanding of PTSD. One of the symptoms of PTSD is unpleasant or difficult memories which come to mind involuntarily and repeatedly, These intrusive memories can also occur in people with depression and, in the study Philippa was working on, they explored the association between intrusive memories and depression in a group of people who were facing challenging life circumstances – in this case a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Thirty years on, Claudia meets Prof. Chris Brewin to reflect on a study which highlighted the vital importance of considering cancer patients’ psychological needs alongside their treatment.

Today, Dr. Philippa Hyman works in exactly this area, providing psychological support for patients in London. She and Claudia - still good friends - look back to her role interviewing patients for Chris’s original study and consider how far we’ve moved on in embedding that parallel approach – body and mind together – in medical practice.

And Sharon-Ann Phillips, who in 2015 was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, shares her experience of intrusive memories and how psychological support has helped her to overcome negative thoughts and images and change her perspective on life.

Producers: Florian Bohr and Jeremy Grange