Am I Normal?

Clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron asks if we are a society addicted to the idea of addiction. Hearing controversial views from those who believe we are in danger of absolving weak and selfish people from taking responsibility for their own choices, she asks how far we should we go with the concept of addiction. Should we believe someone who says they are a sex addict? Or the teenager who claims to be addicted to video games? Tanya examines some unconventional treatments.

Clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron asks why some of us are willing to starve ourselves, cut our flesh, and even break our bones to meet social pressures about what is normal when it comes to body image. How far are you willing to go to change the way you look? Tanya explores how some young and vulnerable people develop genuine psychiatric disorders based on a misconception about their body image that bring them near death.

Dr Tanya Byron explores what some consider the fine line between religious devotion and psychiatric disorder. She sees what happens when rational scientists try to analyse religious phenomena like speaking in tongues and hearing voices. And she considers the beliefs of faith healers who claim miracles happen, and those who believe they can cast out the malevolent spirits of the dead from within the living. Reports suggest fewer people in Britain today follow a religion than ever before. Yet most of us still cling to the idea of life after death, spirits and the supernatural. Why do we judge some as true believers and others as religious nuts? And what happens when the worlds of hard scientific fact and pure faith collide?

Dr Tanya Byron asks why we judge some expressions of sexual desire as eccentric but within normal bounds, and condemn others as repugnant and dangerous? Tanya spends time with a self-described sex addict who has had more than 5,000 partners. He insists he is normal and argues that most men would do the same if given half the chance. Tanya also meets with a woman who insists that a low libido is the norm, and that most women want far less sex than their male counterparts. Tanya also confronts the case of a man who believes there should be no age of consent.