Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Articles published by guardian.co.uk Society about: Mental health

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Exam season has begun: feeling stressed?

17th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Ruth Margrove lists her top five tips for staying sane during examsFor most, May means blossoming trees and the first snatches of summer. For students it means long hours, piles of pressure and an impending sense of doom.I'm no stranger to pre-exam butterflies – or the occasional late-night panic. Having dodged the ammunition rounds of six exam seasons, I feel like a veteran. So for those of you who are feeling a bit worn down and weary, here are my top five tips for staying sane.1 Worrying about your workload only increases stress hormones, such as cortisol, impairing your concentration ...

Is Rikers Island jail with 'the Program'? | Sadhbh Walshe

16th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Allegations that corrections officers are using youth offenders to control others may not be the most daunting of Rikers' problemsLast week, the Village Voice newspaper ran a cover story about an upsurge in violence at New York City's jail complex known as Rikers Island, complete with graphic photos of mostly young inmates with vicious-looking knife wounds on their faces and necks. The story was replete with horrific details of alleged beatings at the jail's adolescent facility (the RNDC), and concluded that violence at the adolescent complex was out of control. The Voice also claimed that internal documents provided to them ...

Care home criticised after mentally ill resident is jailed for killing schoolboy

16th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Judge questions systems at Ashness House home after jailing resident Serif Aslan for murder of 15-year-old Kasey GordonA private care home has been criticised by a judge as he sentenced a mentally ill resident to life for killing an innocent schoolboy.Serif Aslan had not been taking his anti-psychotic medication and said he had kept a knife in his room for about a week.As he walked past a school to go to his favourite cafe, Aslan made a remark about a girl and got into a fight with a schoolboy.Kasey Gordon, 15, went to help the boy and was stabbed through ...

Nurses fear spending cuts will put people with learning disabilities at risk

16th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Three in four nurses have seen cuts to services in their area in the past year, survey revealsNurses who work with people with learning disabilities have "real concerns" about the safety of their clients because of cuts in services, according to a study published on Wednesday.A survey of 500 nurses revealed that three out of four saw spending cuts to services in their area in the past year. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said its survey also uncovered cuts in the range of services offered, such as health education and personal care packages.Almost 1.5 million people in the UK ...

Gene variant enhances memory and increases risk of PTSD | Mo Costandi | Neurophilosophy blog

15th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

The downside to having a good memoryA genetic variant associated with an enhanced capacity for emotional memories is also linked to increased susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to new research published yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The study, led by Dominique de Quervain of the University of Basel, used a combination of behavioural genetics and functional neuroimaging, and was carried out in three phases, two involving healthy European volunteers and the third involving Rwandan refugees who fled the 1994 civil war. I describe the work in more detail in this news story for Nature.It's widely ...

Joey Barton should take tips from Wayne Rooney

14th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

After his sending off against Manchester City, the famously hot-headed footballer must finally learn to control his anger. Here are a few tips …'Learn from Wayne Rooney." This is what Joey Barton – the famously hot-headed footballer sent off against Manchester City for hitting out at a rival player, then two more on his way to an early bath – should now be doing, according to Mike Fisher, director of the British Association of Anger Management and author of Mindfulness and the Art of Managing Anger.Rooney, says Fisher, "was a natural hot head exposed to the adrenalised, competitive environment of ...

Police need training to section vulnerable people | Mark Brown

14th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Restraining people with mental health problems is a delicate task – tactics used against criminals are not appropriateThe case of Peter Russell, a 58-year-old man with Alzheimer's, being repeatedly tasered by police officers as he resisted being taken into hospital under section, was horrifying. It's hard to imagine how it would feel looking on as a loved one was acted against in that way, but beyond the shock, it is always worth asking: what could be done instead? Why, in 2012, is our treatment of people with severe mental health or cognitive difficulties still so entwined with the apparatus of ...

What is having ECT like?

13th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Homeland and other shows portray electroconvulsive therapy as barbaric – but that's simply not true, says one person who feels the treatment changed her lifeWhat happened to Carrie Mathison in the final episode of Homeland wasn't real. I'm not referring to yet another plot twist. Or even to the broadly admirable portrayal of an intelligent woman with bipolar disorder. I'm talking about the traumatic electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) scene. It's actually not a big deal. And I should know – I've had it several times.I'm 34, and I've had severe bouts of depression almost every year since university. I'm unipolar – I get ...

Parents of autistic children forced to wait years for diagnosis

13th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Survey for the National Autistic Society reveals that 55% of families find the assessment process 'long and stressful', with one in 10 resorting to private medicineParents who suspect that their children have autism face years of uncertainty and anguish because of a continuing unwillingness to diagnose the condition. Long waiting times leave more than a third of families waiting at least three years for a diagnosis, with two thirds waiting more than a year, according to new figures.A wide-ranging survey of the experiences of adults and children living on the autistic spectrum, commissioned by the National Autistic Society (NAS) to mark ...

Autism causes profound problems for children and their families. So why are doctors still reluctant to diagnose it?

13th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Fifty years after the National Autistic Society was set up, the problems of getting a diagnosis are leaving parents frustrated and youngsters isolatedFirst they blamed the child, then the parents, then even the doctors. A few later pointed to modern life: computer games or too much television. But after decades of work begun by two remarkable British women, we are now closer than ever to understanding that genetics are responsible for the prevalence of autistic spectrum disorders in children.Described back in 1979 by Dr Lorna Wing and Dr Judy Gould as a "triad of impairments", autism is a lifelong developmental ...

Music brings back memories for people with dementia at monthly Berlin dance

11th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

For a small group of elderly people, an afternoon tea dance provides a few hours of respite and a window into the pastA piece of Black Forest gateau is halfway towards his mouth when Herbert Wollschläger's eyes light up. He puts the fork down and motions for someone to ease him out of his chair and on to the dancefloor."That's a foxtrot," he says, raising his index finger in recognition of the big band music that has just started up. "That's my sort of dance."The 78-year-old retired electrical engineer who has a form of dementia, probably Alzheimer's, takes his cue ...

TV's hoarders show us the dark side of consumerism | Suzanne Moore

9th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

The stories in TV programmes such as Britain's Biggest Hoarders fascinate us because we glimpse ourselves in themHello, my name is Suzanne and I have a broken blender at the back of my cupboard. In fact, more than one. And an old kettle that could be useful for someone, surely? My friend – who, like me, is totally normal – has stopped herself buying a fifth sewing machine; a neighbour has racks of clothes she has not worn for 20 years. Vintage, right? We are just waste not, want not. Not like those people on programmes such as The Hoarder Next ...

Procrastination: a student's worse enemy?

9th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Students are hardwired to waste time – and temptations aboundWe all know the feeling. Staring at the cursor blinking away on a blank Word document, desperately wishing you were somewhere else. But no, until the word count hits 3,000 you're staying put… Just need to make a cup of tea first. Before you know it, "a cup of tea'" has turned into a Lord of the Rings marathon, and the word count remains at zero.Procrastination is the disease eating away at student productivity – and with exam season upon us, we're facing an epidemic. An American study estimates that over ...

Men's group fills gap in depression help

8th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Inner-city project gives men feeling divorced from their community a chance to get together to boost their confidenceIn Barton Hill, a bleak enclave of inner-city east Bristol defined by poverty and overbearing blocks of council flats, many white males, especially the middle-aged, believe they no longer have a voice. A £50m regeneration scheme has unfolded around them – the flats spruced up, a makeover for public spaces – yet often they say they feel like outsiders in their own neighbourhood.Enter Dave Martin, a support worker with the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre, a charity in the heart of Barton Hill, who ...

Homeland's depiction of mental illness has been a step forward for TV | Rachel Whitehead

7th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

It flirts with the 'mad genius' stereotype but overall the portrayal of Claire Danes' bipolar CIA agent can be called positiveWhile there is a lively debate about precisely how well Homeland handled the subject of bipolar disorder, for me, the simple fact that the leading character had a mental illness at all represents a real step forward. Overall the portrayal of the illness is a vast improvement on much of what's gone before, although, let's face it, up until now the bar has been set pretty low.While the representation of other marginalised and misunderstood groups in popular culture has improved ...

What I'm really thinking: the wife of a brain injury victim

4th May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

'To the outside world we still come across as a couple, but for much of the time I live with someone I don't really recognise'I know people must look at my husband and think, "What on Earth has she got to complain about? He seems OK to me." Well, he isn't OK to me. Six years ago a near-fatal car accident altered him beyond belief. A big personality change, resulting from brain damage, means I never know how he will be from one day to the next. When he stirs in the morning, I hold my breath – he's unpredictable ...

Vogue promises to ban underage or ill models

3rd May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Editors of all 19 editions of the magazine worldwide jointly pledge not to use models younger than 16 or those they believe have an eating disorderThe editors of the 19 editions of Vogue magazine worldwide have added their voices to efforts to tackle eating disorders and the use of underage girls in the modelling industry.In a "health pact" published in their June issues, the editors jointly say they will not use models under the age of 16, or those they believe have an eating disorder, in an attempt to encourage a healthier attitude to body image within the fashion industry ...

UK fined over mentally ill man's 'inhuman treatment' in police custody

3rd May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

European court of human rights rules Birmingham man detained for over three days did not receive appropriate carePolice officers who detained a distressed and mentally ill man in a cell for more than three days subjected him to "inhuman or degrading treatment", the European court of human rights has ruled (pdf).Judges in Strasbourg ordered the United Kingdom to pay more than £9,000 in compensation and costs to the man, named only as "MS", for the excessive period of detention he endured in Birmingham in 2004.Although he was assessed by a psychiatrist while in a police cell "appropriate" medical care was ...

How can it be right to profit from disability?

1st May 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Disability living allowance is being replaced with personal independence payment assessments, and private companies are queueing up to cash inThe Department for Work and Pensions has just announced the 10 private companies on the shortlist to deliver the personal independence payment (PIP) assessments, which everyone receiving disability living allowance will have to undergo from next year when DLA is replaced by PIPs. With 3.2 million captive customers, not to mention a monopoly on all new claimants, it's not hard to see the appeal of the contract for profit-hungry companies untroubled by the ethics of slashing 20% from the money provided ...

As sickness benefit cuts take effect, thousands face hard times

29th April 2012

Society: Mental health | guardian.co.uk

Fears those too ill to work will be unable to meet basic living costs as government limits contributory allowance to 365 daysIt all began with a telephone call. Earlier this month, Malcolm Parker, who has not worked since his spine collapsed three years ago, was rung out of the blue by an official from the Department of Work and Pensions. There was only one question: did his wife work more than 24 hours a week? Yes, said Parker, reasoning honesty was the best policy.A fortnight later a letter dropped on the Parkers' doormat. The department wrote bluntly to say his ...