Heartbreak: necessary process or by-product of love?

Heartbreak is a near-universal experience, but what is it? Why does it happen, and what can we do to get through it? This Valentine’s Day, neuroscientist Prof Barbara Sahakian joins comedian and author of The Breakup Monologues Rosie Wilby to discuss these questions and more.

Plus book signing.

Tuesday 14 February
7pm–8pm
Norwich Arts Centre
£10 + booking fee
Age: 16+

Rosie Wilby

Rosie Wilby is an award-winning comedian, author, speaker and broadcaster who has appeared many times on BBC Radio 4 programmes including Woman’s Hour, Saturday Live and Four Thought. Her first book is Monogamy Dead? was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize and followed a trilogy of solo shows investigating the psychology of love and relationships. Her new book The Breakup Monologues is based on her acclaimed podcast of the same name.

Barbara Sahakian

Professor Barbara Sahakian is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. She is a past president of the International Neuroethics Society and of the British Association for Psychopharmacology. According to Research.com she is one of the very top researchers worldwide in the fields of neuroscience and psychology.

She has over 550 publications in scientific journals, including Science, Nature and The Lancet. According to Google Scholar she has an h-index of 159. She has also been a leader in Government Policy on neuroscience and mental health, including on the UK Government Foresight Project on "Mental Capital and Wellbeing" and has spoken in Davos at the World Economic Forum in 2014.

She has co-authored two popular science books published by Oxford University Press "Bad Moves: How Decision Making Goes Wrong and the Ethics of Smart Drugs" and "Sex, Lies & Brain Scans". "Sex, Lies & Brain Scans" won the British Psychological Society Popular Book Award. She regularly writes for The Conversation.

She is co-Inventor of the Cambridge Cognition CANTAB computerized cognitive tests which are used around the world and the PEAK Wizard Memory Game and Decoder Attention and Concentration Game. She is also co-inventor of the EMOTICOM computerized tests of social and emotional cognition.

Professor Sahakian holds PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Cambridge. She is also a Clinical Psychologist. She is a Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.