Anxiety disorders are identified by NICE clinical guidelines as a common mental health issue. The term refers to a range of disorders including generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and social anxiety disorder. The typical treatment plan consists of medication and/or psychotherapy, however NICE acknowledges that access to psychological [read the full story…]
Stigma can be described as a sign of disgrace setting a person apart from others. Erving Goffman, defined stigma as “the process by which the actions of others spoils normal identity.” For those with mental illness the stigma experienced can result in a lack of funding for services, difficulty gaining employment, a mortgage or holiday [read the full story…]
The WISQARS Leading Causes of Death website is a mine of information for researchers and bloggers alike. I searched it to find out what the leading causes of death are for people (all races, both sexes) in the US aged 10-24 years. The top three in 2010 were: Unintentional injury (e.g. road traffic accidents, poisoning, [read the full story…]
Schizophrenia according to the NICE guidelines, is a relatively common illness and in the majority of cases takes a chronic course, requiring continued management and careful attention. In the treatment and management of schizophrenia, antipsychotic medications – like olanzapine, quetiapine or clozapine – are the first line intervention. Antipsychotics can be loosely divided into “first-generation” (“typical”) and [read the full story…]
About three-quarters of people with dementia are affected by neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). This is a broad group of symptoms including depression, sleep problems, apathy, psychosis and aggression. Of course, many people with dementia still live at home and are cared for by their spouse or other primary carer. These neuropsychiatric symptoms can have a major impact [read the full story…]
As the British Heart Foundation National Heart Month draws to a close Lifestyle Elf and I were discussing their blog on heart attacks not being reduced in people taking vitamins and antioxidants which led to us to thinking about the relationship between stress and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Our colleagues in the Pittsburgh Health Heart Project [read the full story…]
The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers harmful drinking as the third largest contributor to the Global Burden of Disease, an index of disability, poor health and mortality. The majority of people who suffer from alcohol use disorders do not receive any treatment, due in part to lack of access. One way of increasing the availability [read the full story…]
Yesterday was University Mental Health and Wellbeing Day and there were various activities going on to help promote mental health and wellbeing. Students in higher education present some interesting challenges to mental health professionals, other NHS and higher education staff who provide services for this population. Student health services remain a bit of a mixed bag [read the full story…]
The Arts Council-funded project to promote self-help books for mental health conditions was widely reported in the media last week. In true Daily Mail style, their coverage was accompanied by an image of a bikini-clad woman, apparently reading one of the ‘books on prescription’ whilst sitting on an idyllic beach with her toes resting in the gently lapping water [read the full story…]
Depression and anxiety are common conditions in adolescence that can lead to persistent and life-long mood and anxiety disorders for some people. One theory is that prenatal maternal stress can contribute to depression in young people (the so called fetal programming hypothesis). The notion here is that pregnant women who experience stress may send messages to their foetus [read the full story…]
