Books

I’ve written two books. The most recent, Coming Of Age, focuses on adolescent development and the stories we tell ourselves about our adolescent years. My first, What Mental Illness Really Is, explores mental health awareness and how this might have contributed to the rise in mental health problems in society.

Coming Of Age: How Adolescence Shapes Us (2024)

Adolescence is the most misunderstood period of our lives. Coming of Age draws on decades of expert research to get beneath the stereotypes, expose the myths and reveal the real reasons why teens behave the way they do.

Covering all the characteristic behaviours of adolescents - from peer pressure and risk-taking, to sex, love, bullying, friendship and more - adolescent psychologist Lucy Foulkes shows that time and again we mistake, dismiss and even try to prevent what is actually normal and healthy. Among many surprising insights, she explains why self-consciousness, anxiety and sensation-seeking are crucial features of this developmental phase. She shows that teenagers are socially conservative as much as rebellious, and that apparent recklessness is usually calculated. She reveals why being popular can be just as hard as being lonely, and why friendships at this age shape us for life.

Adolescence is often difficult, sometimes extremely so, and most of us have yet to come to terms with our own. And yet Foulkes shows that adolescents have an extraordinary capacity for resilience, empathy and mutual support, and that even the most challenging experiences are part of an essential process of self-discovery. This is why understanding adolescence is the key to understanding ourselves.

Praise for ‘Coming Of Age’

  • "Wise and compassionate, well-researched and straight-talking - Lucy Foulkes shows with stories and with science why the teen years are so intense, and how today's adolescents can be helped to flourish in life."

    Dr Gavin Francis, author of Recovery

  • "Compelling, useful and fascinating . . . revealing its unwritten rules and some really vital insights"

    Jo Brand

  • "A wise and compassionate book, and moving too ... I imagine I might want to reread this book when my own children become teens. But for now, I found it helped me better understand my own awkward adolescence ... Once we better understand the psychology of these awkward, in-between years we can start to be a bit kinder towards our awkward, in-between selves. And who wouldn't want that?"

    New Statesman

  • "A refreshingly clear-eyed description of the forces shaping adolescent behaviour and emotions . . . teens are often viewed through a lens of judgement or morality . . . but you will find none of that here. Each short chapter is cleverly punctuated by often-moving interviews . . . Foulkes delivers a positive message . . . an eye-opening read for anyone who knows a teenager, or who has been one."

    New Scientist

  • "Expertly distilling academic research into readable insight peppered with fascinating, moving case studies, Foulkes offers a clear-eyed, unerringly sensible and sympathetic survey of adolescence . . . there is insight and kindness throughout this book."

    Patricia Nicol ― Daily Mail

  • "Thank goodness . . . for this timely . . . and eminently sensible book . . . You will read this book and sigh in recognition . . . just knowing that everything they – and we – struggle with is normal, and necessary, is helpful."

    Lucy Denyer ― Telegraph

  • "Excellent and insightful . . . As an academic psychologist at Oxford University who has been studying adolescent cognition for more than a decade, Foulkes is steeped in knowledge about, as well as respect for, teenage life. She expertly marshals clinical research, both classic texts and recent findings, interlaced with moving accounts from people . . . who open up about their formative years . . . It’s worth getting adolescence right because it doesn’t ever go away."

    Kate Womersley ― Observer

  • "A myth-busting . . . eye-opening guide to the psychology of adolescence . . . delivers many counterintuitive insights."

    David Shariatmadari ― Guardian

  • "Lucy Foulkes’s wonderful and deeply moving book shows us the potentially positive aspects of adolescent experiences so often seen as negative. You will almost certainly find yourself reassessing your own teenage years."

    Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

  • "This is a must read for everyone interested in what is going on with adolescents. Scientific findings are discussed incisively and illuminated with real life accounts of adolescent joys and sorrows. This book is full of insight and compassion."

    Essi Viding, Professor of Developmental Pyschopathy, UCL

What Mental Illness Really Is … And What It Isn’t (2021)

We need to rethink the conversation around mental health - psychologist Lucy Foulkes explores how and why.

How do mental health problems arise?

How do we distinguish between the 'normal' challenges of modern life and actual illness?

Is society really experiencing a new mental health crisis?

In this urgently needed book, psychologist Lucy Foulkes investigates what we know about mental illness - and shines a light on what we don't. It offers a profound new approach to how we think, talk and help when it comes to mental health.

(Previously published in 2021 in hardback under the title Losing Our Minds)

Praise for ‘What Mental Illness Really Is (...and what it isn’t)’

  • "A totally counter culture take ... kind and clear-thinking."

    Helen Rumbelow

  • "This beautifully written and compassionate account, backed by state-of-the-art scientific evidence, delivers an important message: there is far more variation in the state of our mental health and far more complexity in the diagnosis of mental illness than we tend to believe. This book is needed urgently so that we can examine fears of a tsunami of mental health problems, especially in the light of the current pandemic. Anyone touched by such problems will find much helpful practical advice."

    Uta Frith, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Development

  • "A broad and refreshingly non-political survey ... [that] highlight[s] several difficult truths about the reality of mental illness... Foulkes carefully lays out what we know ... Some of her findings are surprising ... Foulkes is not interested in grand generational diagnoses. She argues that while everyone may suffer from the symptoms of mental distress, only a minority experience mental illness ... Foulkes's message is a cry for nuance and complexity. As she writes, 'all forms of psychological distress are the price we pay for being alive.' While those who are seriously unwell have a right to professional attention, for the rest of us, an awareness of this truth may be just the treatment we need."

    Nicholas Harris ― Prospect

  • "This wonderful book offers an amazingly readable and cutting-edge scientific account of mental illness and its relation to the stresses many young adults experience as well as the language we use to talk about ourselves."

    Matthew Broome, Professor of Psychiatry and Youth Mental Health

  • "Losing Our Minds communicates complex research findings on mental illness with unusual clarity and compassion, and without oversimplifying or shying away from the difficult questions. Everyone who either lives with or knows someone with mental illness should read it. In other words, everyone should read it."

    Essi Viding, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology