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Schizophrenia Awareness Week, November 11-17, 2013
R.D. Laing And so it is upon us – Schizophrenia Awareness Week 2013, now with just two days to go until the closing gong. So here I am doing my bit, in the hope that my small action here will help to de-stigmatise what must be an incredibly difficult condition to live with. I have…
Good news for paedophiles
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has recently re-classified paedophilia in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, mark five (DSM-V). In a move towards destigmatising the disorder, the organisation has changed their terminology to describe paedophilia as a ‘sexual orientation’, thereby opening the door to paedophiles arguing that their behaviour (as per the precedent…
A therapy that makes good horse sense
Just lately, I’ve been hearing reports from a friend about her experience of equine psychotherapy. Once a week, she boards a train and heads for the hills, so to speak, to meet with her four-legged chestnut therapist (who, for the purposes of this post, is just out of view munching on turf in the scene…
Who’s got OCD? Obsessive treatment of OCD on TV screens this week
People seem to be returning to the subject of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) rather a lot lately (boom-boom). And is it any wonder. Almost half of the UK adult population believe themselves to be suffering from mild to severe OCD, a recent study reveals. The study, conducted by Benenden Health in partnership with OCD UK,…
It’s standing room only in English mental health facilities
In this post-modern era (and I never have been entirely sure what that means) it’s difficult to know, at least from the outside, what’s going on with mental health services in the NHS. In recent weeks I’ve written about a friend of mine who has lately been confined to a secure unit in North London…
Conference alert: Psychological Therapies in the NHS
In 2007, the government issued its first ever commitment to enable universal access for anyone with depression and anxiety to NHS-funded psychological therapies. The then Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, announced funding for a national programme, which has since been well underway. So how has the government investment in the mental health of our nation fared?…
Neurocognitive impairment or just bad memories?
Just recently, there have been a few occasions on which I’ve had cause to wonder whether I’m headed squarely for dementia – being absolutely certain I’d forgotten my keys and then being surprised to find I had remembered them after all (better than the other way round), and the increasingly common disappearance of a word…
A crisis of character in the Western world
I have a friend who has recently been ‘committed’. In the psychiatric sense. To a mental hospital. Perhaps rather arrogantly, I didn’t imagine I would ever be in this position – how could anyone I would befriend ever be locked away for mental illness? I discovered this just a few days ago. She called from…
