Debt ‘link’ to mental illness rise

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hm8cXE4hTt0Pe1SjS1ufVAuu_K1A Debt ‘link’ to mental illness rise (UKPA) – 11 hours ago Depression and mental illness will increase as millions struggle to cope with debts and money problems during the economic downturn, according to a study. People who owe money are more likely to suffer from psychological problems, the study from the Nottingham School of [...]

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The annual SMK Campaigner Awards 2010

http://www.smk.org.uk/smk-awards-2010/    The annual SMK Campaigner Awards provide a support programme for emerging and grassroots campaigners. The awards are for individuals who are new to campaigning or operating with few resources and who show passion, tenacity and the potential to create change – locally, nationally or globally. You might not see yourself as a “campaigner” [...]

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RETHINK: **Hot Topic** Survey, Personality Disorder. Can you help?

http://www.rethink.org/how_we_can_help/advice_service_and_information/hot_topics_survey_p.html Every month, the National Advice Service hears from people with all sorts of problems. We would like to know more about the number of people affected and where they are located. The information will support Rethink’s research and campaigning and also help us to decide what new fact sheets we should produce. Rethink hears [...]

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Creative minds ‘mimic schizophrenia’, but why label sufferers ‘troubled’?

thanx to Colin Hambrook for spotting this one. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10154775.stm Creative minds ‘mimic schizophrenia’ Page last updated at 1:32 GMT, Saturday, 29 May 2010 2:32 UK By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News Artist Salvador Dali is known for his surreal paintings and eccentric personalityCreativity is akin to insanity, say scientists who have been studying how [...]

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Back-door eugenics. Here cometh Barbara Harris….

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/30/barbara-harris-sterilise-addicts-uk Anti-drugs campaigner Barbara Harris brings crusade to sterilise addicts to UK In California, Barbara Harris’s Project Prevention has been accused of back-door eugenics. Now she’s touring British cities The Observer, Sunday 30 May 2010 To many people, Barbara Harris is a dangerous woman. A maverick “do-gooder” from California, she has been accused of effectively [...]

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Could TV ridicule lead to first talent show suicide?

Britain’s Got Talent will end with suicide if ridicule continues, warn mental health experts Mental health charities have called on Simon Cowell and ITV to urgently reevaluate how they pick contestants, after a man with a history of severe mental health problems was jeered on a TV talent show. Experts warned a tragedy was inevitable [...]

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ADHD: How to survive with a wild child

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/29/adhd-aspergers-children-advice ADHD: How to survive with a wild child Anna Selleck’s son Ben was very hard work. He ran around like a firecracker, swore at school and earned a clutch of diagnoses from experts, including ADHD and Asperger’s. This is her personal survival guide for challenging children Anna Selleck The Guardian, Saturday 29 May 2010 [...]

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Australia’s Mentally ill turn to e-therapy.

Mentally ill turn to e-therapy JILL STARK May 30, 2010 MENTALLY ill Australians are increasingly being diagnosed and treated online in virtual psychiatric clinics, without ever seeing a doctor. Patients suffering from depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are being assessed by computer and given ”e-prescriptions” for online counselling courses instead of medication or treatment [...]

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Paul Farmer, Mind’s chief executive, said work can be beneficial for mental health but only when it is “suited to the individual”.

http://www.craegmoor.co.uk/industry-news/article/19808020/govt-shouldnt-force-people-to-risk-mental-health/ The government shouldn’t force people with mental health problems back into the world of world, a national charity has said. Mind was commenting after the new coalition government outlined plans to get five million people off benefits and back into employment, including people who are currently claiming Employment and Support Allowance or the old [...]

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Colm Whitty, football coach, wins award for programme to help young people with substance misuse and mental health problems.

http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/rbnews/8190905.REDBRIDGE__Football_coach_wins_award_for_services_to_community/ Redbridge News   REDBRIDGE: Football coach wins award for services to community 10:53am Friday 28th May 2010 AN inspirational football coach has been recognised for his work to improve the lives of people with drug and alcohol problems. Colm Whitty has won the Tony Adams Award for his ‘outstanding’ efforts in setting up and [...]

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Landmark MRC Review Of Mental Health Research Calls For Change, UK

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/190264.php Landmark MRC Review Of Mental Health Research Calls For Change, UK The Medical Research Council (MRC) is calling for a rethink in strategic funding of mental health research following a major six-month review, published online today and reported in the journal The Lancet. The review undertaken by the MRC to advise the Government’s Office [...]

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young people have made a short film to be sent to schools and colleges about depression in order to raise mental health awareness

http://itvfixers.com/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=107&video_id=312 Fiona Malpass Hi Dawn, I’ve noticed that you do a lot of promoting various mental health related events and organisations within a very large network! I was hoping you would be able to share the link below with people you know to promote a project whereby young people have made a short film to [...]

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Scrutiny of child welfare and prison healthcare

http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/8186867.NHS_shake_up_a_step_nearer/ Scrutiny of child welfare and prison healthcare 8:40pm Wednesday 26th May 2010 By James Connell »   PRISON healthcare and child welfare in Worcestershire will come under the microscope before a radical shake-up of the NHS. Regional bosses at the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) want information from all primary care trusts in the West [...]

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Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, says: “Prison has become a capacious net into which those let down by other public services fall.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10171358.stm Prison health ‘not good enough’ despite overhaul. Prison healthcare is still not good enough – four years after it was revamped to bring it up to NHS standards, a report claims. The joint Care Quality Commission and the Inspectorate of Prisons study said while there were signs of improvement, a number of areas of [...]

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Hafal is the principal organisation in Wales working with individuals recovering from serious mental illness and their families

http://www.hafal.org/hafal/cardiff.php About Hafal Hafal (meaning ‘equal’) is the principal organisation in Wales working with individuals recovering from serious mental illness and their families. Launched in April 2003, we are a new organisation managed by the people we support – individuals with serious mental illness and their families. Every day our 161 staff members and 150 volunteers provide help [...]

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Tory Ivory Tower Politics. Social Care or Social Scare?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2010/may/25/coalition-contradictory-social-care-plans Mixed messages in the coalition’s plans for social care The new government’s hardliner welfare team strikes fear in mental health service users and disabled people Peter Beresford guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 May 2010 16.30 BST The appointment of Iain Duncan Smith as work and pensions secretary has worried many social care service users. Photograph: Lewis [...]

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Paul Jenkins, chief exec of mental health charity Rethink, condems “warehousing” of people with personality disorders.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/26/dangerous-killers-200m-plan-waste £1m each spent on most dangerous killers ‘about locking people up’ Prof Peter Tyrer says personality disorder diagnosis is suspect and government is ‘warehousing’ people who should be freed Randeep Ramesh, social affairs editor guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 19.56 BST The study says prisoners spend only a tenth of their time in anything [...]

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Professor Michael Crawford likens people with mental illness to morons!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/05/27/brain-doctor-warns-we-could-become-a-nation-of-morons-115875-22288744/ Brain doctor warns we could become ‘a nation of morons’   By Danny Buckland 27/05/2010  A rising level of mental illness poses a massive threat to mankind, a brain expert warned yesterday.  Professor Michael Crawford, director of the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, said increasing cases of brain disorders and depression needed [...]

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Mind’s Chief Executive Paul Farmer comments on government plans for welfare reform.

http://www.hc2d.co.uk/content.php?contentId=15007 Mind comments on government plans for welfare reform 27th May 2010 Today the new government has outlined plans to get five million people off benefits and into work, including millions of people who are currently claiming Employment and Support Allowance or the old Incapacity Benefit for health problems and disabilities. In response, Mind’s Chief [...]

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Mental health is an often ignored area of research that needs more investment

Mental health ‘ignored’ in research (UKPA) – 8 hours ago Mental health is an often ignored area of research that needs more investment, experts have said.  A report from the Medical Research Council (MRC) called for a new approach to unravelling the complexities of mental illness.  It highlighted the “huge mismatch” between the social and [...]

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Bone marrow transplants cure mental illness – in mice

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/27/bone-marrow-transplants-mental-illness Bone marrow transplants cure mental illness – in mice Preliminary research involving bone marrow transplants in mice suggests there may be an immune component to mental illness such as depression, OCD, autism and schizophrenia. Ian Sample, science correspondent guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 May 2010 17.22 BST The idea that mental illnesses such as obsessively pulling [...]

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What’s the difference between being lonely and a loner?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8703173.stm What’s the difference between being lonely and a loner? WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers… Nearly half of us have felt depressed because we have felt alone, says a report. But not everyone who is alone is sad about it, so what is the difference between being lonely and being a loner? Loneliness – [...]

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The ESA fiasco, BBC Scotland’s investigation – Benefits: Who’s Cheating Who

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/10159717.stm New benefit system labelled unfit Page last updated at 23:46 GMT, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 0:46 UK  Citizens Advice Scotland says the most vulnerable are losing outA new benefits system promising to end the UK’s sicknote culture has been condemned as unfit for purpose. Employment Support Allowance (ESA) was introduced 18 months ago to replace [...]

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Time To Change May 2010 update. Time to ‘get moving’.

May 2010 Time to Get Moving Organising a Time to Get Moving event is a great way of tackling stigma. By bringing people together to do something active, events open up opportunities for talking about mental health and encouraging people who haven’t experienced mental health problems to hear more about it from those who have.Events [...]

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Mark Davies, Jack Straw’s special advisor, is the new director of communications of Mental Health charity RETHINK.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/8182192.Jack_Straw_s_advisor_tells_of__wonderful_experiences_/ Jack Straw’s advisor tells of ‘wonderful experiences’ 4:00pm Monday 24th May 2010 By David Watkinson » Chief reporter   JACK Straw’s special advisor Mark Davies is getting used to life outside Westminster — after Labour lost the election and he lost his job. Mr Davies was the man who ‘served in the trenches’ with [...]

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