Strong, Feared and Admired

Weightlifting and gym use is expolding in the UK.

Accompanying this cultural health-kick is an upward trend in the use of IPEDs (Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs) and steroids, as men particularly seek to boost their performance and strength.

Dr. Gavin Francis explores our timeless fascination with incredible strength and considers how the stories we tell ourselves are central to our ability to heal ourselves – or to inflict self-harm.

Written and read by Gavin Francis.
Produced by Lu Kemp.
This is a BBC Scotland Audio production for Radio 4.

The NHS website on anabolic steroid misuse can be found at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anabolic-steroid-misuse/

Gavin Francis is a GP and the author eleven books about medicine, culture and travel, including Sunday Times bestsellers Adventures in Human Being and Recovery, the Lost Art of Convalescence. His latest book, The Unfragile Mind explores the modern landscape of psychiatry, and calls for greater humility, curiosity and kindness in the way society approaches mental illness - it has been shortlisted for the Saltire Book Award. He’s a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, and his books have been translated into twenty languages.