Psychology underpins everything we do, determining the decisions we make, the relationships we build, the roles we play and the places we live, and our behaviour is further influenced by the changing seasons, encouraging many of us to fall into unhelpful patterns again and again each year.

In A YEAR TO CHANGE YOUR MIND, accredited practising psychologist Dr Lucy Maddox explains how psychological processes thread through our lives, pinpointing those issues most frequently encountered in each month, and shows us how by reflecting upon past experiences, both joyful and painful, we can learn to live a more thoughtful, positive life that better prepares us for the future.

From the tendency to lack motivation in January and to experience red-hot anger in the heat of August, to the weight of expectation associated with that back-to-school feeling in September and the pressure to enjoy the December holiday season, we’re shown recognisable features of behaviour over the course of the year. In sharing with us the most useful psychology ideas the author has learned in her 15 years as a clinical psychologist – ones she uses in her own life, and returns to time and time again with people who have come to see her for therapy – she provides plenty to think about that we too can put into practice to improve our own lives.