This week, Pennie speaks to child psychiatrist, Dr Helen Minnis. Helen is a Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. Her research focusses on Reactive Attachment Disorder in children. She first observed this behaviour whilst working as a doctor in an orphanage in Guatemala. The children there showed no inhibitions when meeting new people, flocking to the feet of strangers. But when she returned to Scotland, she began to discover that children in Glasgow were also suffering from the condition, which is really the result of emotional neglect. Since then, her work has centred on diagnosing RAD in Scotland - it's thought that around 4 percent of children have it, roughly the same percentage as autism - and establishing a way of treating the condition.

Helen also talks about how her work has influenced - or otherwise - her approach to bringing up her own children. But also the challenges - and advantages - of being a working mother in the scientific community. Show less