Clipmarks | abailart's 'health' clips

Shame on Britain's Psychiatric Service

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:27:45 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: It is disgraceful.

Britain's most eminent psychiatrist has launched a powerful attack on the state of Britain's acute psychiatric care system, saying many inpatient units are unsafe, overcrowded and uninhabitable, adding: 'I would not use them, and neither would I let any of my relatives do so.'

'Some acute psychiatric inpatient ward conditions are absolutely unacceptable,' he told The Observer. 'They are uninhabitable. The system often leaves patients feeling lost and abandoned. I predict the situation will become worse in coming years.'

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

'Something must be done about this. It is scandalous that we are forcing vulnerable people on to mental health wards that are frightening and dangerous places,' the report concluded.

Psychiatric illnesses are on the rise in Britain. GPs say there is a mental health component to at least half of all the cases they see, while one in four of us is using specialist mental health services at any one time.

Tags: psychiatry

Health Fetishism Bad for Health

Fri, 02 May 2008 14:19:44 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Health means wholeness.

Clip Source: www.spiked-online.com

In a society of lowered horizons and diminished expectations, security and safety have become the highest values and the goal of preserving health has become the zenith of human aspirations.

Postponing death, through austere regimes of diet and exercise, moderation and restraint, and through regular submission to the medical surveillance of check-ups and screening tests, now takes precedence over enjoying life

fetishism of the body in contemporary culture, expressed in cults of body enhancement as well as the narcissism of the complete check-up, is linked to a pervasive fear of disease and an ultimate terror of death. These preoccupations reflect a fantasy of mastering the unmasterable, and a disavowal of death.

Though subjecting the body to a relentless regime of prevention and surveillance is unlikely to make much difference to the duration of our animal existence, it is certain to reduce the scope of our humanity – as well as imposing an unsustainable burden on our health services.

Tags: neurosis, narcissism, existential dread

Alternative Medicine Guides by Prince of Wales

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:34:49 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Since the stuff HRH promotes has been round for hundreds of years, surely if it works it is no longer 'alternative'? Isn't it rather the case that these wonderful traditonal (usually organic, natural and holistic) therapies are challenged by the alternatives of modern mumbo jumbo stuff based on mere science, and other near supernatural belief systems?

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

The Prince of Wales is being challenged today to withdraw two guides promoting alternative medicine, by scientists who say that they make misleading and inaccurate claims about its benefits.

The documents, published by the Prince and his Foundation for Integrated Health, misrepresent scientific evidence about therapies such as homoeopathy, acupuncture and reflexology, say the authors of a new evaluation of alternative treatments.

In a letter to The Times, Edzard Ernst, Professor of Complementary Medicine at the University of Exeter, and Simon Singh, a science writer and broadcaster, call on the Prince to recall the publications, one of which was produced with a £900,000 grant from the Department of Health.

Did you know? about Mental health

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:38:50 GMT

clipped by: tidbit2
clipper's remarks: very good site
better than most
balanced attitude

Clip Source: www.yourmentalhealth.ie

Did you know?

Over 90% of Irish people agree that talking to a friend or family member can help when you experience mental health problems
85% of Irish people agree that “anyone can experience a mental health problem”

UK Female Prisons are MENTAL: Self-Harm, Suicide

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:22:45 GMT

clipped by: righthand

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Women's wing at a prison

Sick and suicidal: plight of women in UK jails

Most women prisoners have mental health problems, and nine of out 10 were convicted of non-violent offences. Now a new study shows an alarming rise in suicides and self-harm - and behind the statistics lie ruined lives and shattered relatives. With four inquests about to open, Amelia Hill reports on the growing scandal in Britain's penal system

Kent set herself on fire in her cell

two months ago, she had already tried to hang herself twice

five weeks after her suicide attempt

lay in a medically induced coma in the intensive-care unit

third-degree burns from her thighs to her earlobes, the loss of use in her fingers and a face

she was virtually unrecognisable.

48 per cent rise in the number of self-harm incidents in women's prisons in the past five years

530 per cent increase since 2003

harm themselves an average of 6.3 times a year

increased by two thirds in just five years

female prison population

doubled between 1997 and 2006

Tags: uk, prisoners, female, suicide, health

One in Four Struggle with Anger

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:35:29 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Anger is related to anxiety is related to fear. Anger is hostile, aggressive, destructive in word and deed. It is a sign of our cultural values, our moral values and our spiritual values. People are frightened.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A YouGov survey of 2,000 people found 12% of people say they have trouble controlling their anger.

One in four says they worry about how angry they sometimes feel and 64% think people in general are getting angrier.

Almost a third of 2,000 people polled said they had a friend or family member who struggled to contain their anger.

Chronic and intense anger has been linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke, colds and flu as well as depression, self-harm and substance misuse, the charity's Boiling Point report said.

It is the elephant in the room in mental health

Dr Andrew McCulloch, Mental Health Foundation

'I thought I was going mad'

And anger is more likely to have a negative effect on relationships than any other emotion.

Tags: anger

Women Drinkers Risk Breast Cancer

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:49:41 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Cheers

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Women who drink above the government's recommended limit are 50% more likely to develop breast cancer, the Department of Health has said.

A £10m advertising campaign has been launched targeting middle-aged women who might underestimate their drinking.

A health department report, which has yet to be published, says women who drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week are at increased risk.

Cancer Research says alcohol causes about 2,000 breast cancer cases a year.

It's fair to say that most women don't know how much they're drinking

Dawn Primarolo
Public Health Minister

Tags: alcohol, alcohol health risks

Everyone is Becoming Sick

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:25:46 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: And what angers me is that the genuinely ill and vulnerable lose vital resources, and become drowned in the culture of the pseudo-sick.

Clip Source: www.spiked-online.com

A UK government report has caused shockwaves by claiming that ill-health now costs the UK economy more than £100billion a year. But given how often we are all told that we must be ill, stressed-out and unhappy these days, perhaps the real shock is that so many of us still manage to get up and go to work.

The fact is that most people in the UK now lead longer and healthier lives than ever before. Yet 2.7million still claim incapacity benefit - and long-term claimants have quadrupled since 1981. Why?

The bigger underlying question is, why are so many prepared to see themselves and others as ill

Perhaps because we live in a culture where authorities and experts, from health ministers downwards, appear obsessed with personal health and lifestyle as the be-all and end-all of life.

Last year a government ‘happiness’ guru announced that no fewer than eight million Brits suffer from a neurotic disorder, and called for 10,000 therapists on the National Health Service to help us all cope.

Tags: medicalisation of life, mental health

Writers Who Suffered From the Sylvia Plath Effect

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:43:32 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: So, that was morbid. The other side of the coin is that there are a number of suicides with any occupation and these are just more public given the public nature of the work.

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

It’s a relatively new theory in the world of psychology – in 2001, James Kaufman conducted a study that showed creative writers, especially female poets, are more susceptible to mental illness than other types of professions.

Sylvia Plath

Despite marriage, children, a successful career as a poet and a promising one as a novelist

she killed herself by putting her head in the oven with the gas on.

Virginia Woolf

Virginia decided she had had enough, loaded up her pockets with heavy rocks and walked into the River Ouse

Sara Teasdale

took an overdose of sleeping pills in her apartment in New York City

Anne Sexton

Anne was never shy about admitting to her mental health problems

killed herself by sitting in her garage with the door down and the gas running.

Sarah Kane

a playwright and screenwriter who suffered from severe depression

She channeled her depression into plays which were performed by the Royal Court

she ended up hanging herself in a hospital bathroom.

Tags: writers, suicide, mental health, depression

Oestrogen may help treat shizophrenia

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:21:22 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: I wonder sometimes if there are more than a few conditions with similar symptoms all tagged bipolar or schizophrenia. There are symptoms observed by the treating doctor, which can be qualified by an interview with the patient who is generally not in a state to give an objective description. Often the questions can be suggestive, and the answers can depend on whether the patient is prepared to co-operate, or be contrary. This study does point to an imbalance that can occur as a matter of course, and may show that many cases of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, are not necessarily unusual, hereditary or chronic but can strike due to something as simple as an unbalanced diet, sleep deprivation, or a hormone deficiency. An unbalanced lifestyle can throw our minds off balance. It's all part of the same unit. Mind Body and soul

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Dani Cooper

Oestrogen patches have been used in an Australian trial to reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in women.

Lead researcher Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, of the Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre at Monash University, says women with schizophrenia who were given the oestrogen patches showed a dramatic reduction in auditory hallucinations.

Kulkarni says the results, if replicated, could lead to new treatments for severe mental illness.

Her research, which is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Washington, is presented today at the International Congress on Women's Mental Health in Melbourne.

Kulkarni says the connection between hormones and mental health has been recognised for more than a century.

But it is only in the past 20 years that scientific evidence has emerged to show oestrogen has a protective role in the onset of severe mental illness.

The Green Gym: a natural cure

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:43:02 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: As part of an holistic approach, with or without medication, actvities such as this asre shown to improve mental wellbeing

Clip Source: www2.btcv.org.uk

The BTCV Green Gym ® is a scheme that inspires you to improve your health and the environment at the same time. It offers you the opportunity to 'work out' in the open air through local, practical environmental or gardening work.

Increasing physical activity and being outside in green space also has proven benefits for mental health, helping to reduce stress and overcome depression

Clip Source: www2.btcv.org.uk

Research shows that:

100% of participants interviewed during the current National Evaluation agree that taking part in the Green Gym has benefited their mental health, boosting self-esteem and confidence through learning new skills and completing new tasks

Working out in green spaces is a great way to relieve stress and can help to combat depression

Participants report feeling fitter and having more energy than before

Tags: mental health, green gym

Materiaiism Hurting Children

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:15:45 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Most adults in the UK believe that children's well-being is being damaged because childhood has become too commercial, a lifestyle poll has found.

Some 89% of adults in the GfK NOP survey of 1,255 people believed today's children were more materialistic than previous generations.

The poll is one of the contributions to a continuing inquiry into childhood.

The Children's Society said adults had to "take responsibility for the current level of marketing to children".

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the society, said: "A crucial question raised by the inquiry is whether childhood should be a space where developing minds are free from concentrated sales techniques.

Professor Philip Graham, Emeritus Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Institute of Child Health in London, said: "One factor that may be leading to rising mental health problems is the increasing degree to which children and young people are preoccupied with possessions

Tags: materialism, childhood, human values

The Loss of Sadness

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:39:31 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Interesting review on the complexity of mental health diagnoses and treatments.

Clip Source: www.powells.com

The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder
by Allan V Horwitz

Science and Sorrow
A Review by Sally Satel

Tags: psychiatry, dsm, mental health

Psychological States and Physical Health

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:53:07 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: intl.psychosomaticmedicine.org

Recent evidence suggests that positive psychologic factors maybe protective against coronary artery disease (CAD). We considerthis possibility through a paradigm that explores three interrelatedfactors that may promote healthy psychologic functioning: vitality,emotional flexibility, and coping flexibility. Vitality is apositive and restorative emotional state that is associatedwith a sense of enthusiasm and energy. Flexibility is relatedboth to the ability to regulate emotions effectively and copeeffectively with challenging daily experiences. A variety offactors may diminish vitality, including chronic stress andnegative emotions.

psychologic factors, including positive emotions, optimism,and social support, may diminish physiological hyperresponsivenessand/or reduce adverse clinical event rates

other positivefactors such as gratitude and altruistic behavior have beenlinked to a heightened sense of well-being

Tags: psychogenic disorders, health, psychosomatic

Obesity as Mental Health Issue

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:07:48 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: <<altering chemical messages to the brain which control feelings>> Another chemical to alter feelings.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

More than 1m prescriptions are made for obesity drugs a year - eight times the number dispensed seven years ago.

The majority of these were for two treatments - sibutramine and orlistat.

Sibutramine works by altering chemical messages to the brain which control feelings about food, while orlistat prevents some fat absorption.

Just 127,000 obesity pills were prescribed in England in 1999, but that rose to 1.06m in 2006, according to the NHS Information Centre.

Tags: obesity, mental health