Are you going away in August? Anywhere nice? To a happy place? Does it involve coastlines, cocktails, cookouts, and colourful clothes that you wouldn’t dream of wearing back home? Will you take in majestic vistas, far-flung sunsets, the wonders of the world? (Or will you not take them in at all but simply take pictures of them for boasting purposes on Instagram?) Do holidays make you happy? One study in Holland found that happiness comes from planning a holiday. The anticipation of a trip boosted happiness for eight weeks prior to departure. On returning home, however, for most people the good cheer quickly fades away, along with and the suntan and the memories. Back among your quotidian hassles, the limoncello doesn’t quite taste the same. Maybe you hate the summer anyway—you suffer perhaps from reverse seasonal affective disorder and your mood falls as the temperature rises. So what does make you happy? The size of your bank balance, your physical beauty, your number of Facebook friends? If so, you will never feel as if you have enough. You will never be satisfied. Is it about having security, knowledge and religion, as a 1938 U.K. survey suggested? Or humour, leisure and security, according to the same survey today? Being a heavy metal fan? Being playful, mindful, forgiving and compassionate—and getting the basics right like diet, exercise and sleep? Yes. These are all good daily, tried-and-tested practices. But true happiness runs deeper. It arises perhaps from good relationships. Having a sense of purpose and meaning. Becoming who you are, who you were meant to be—fulfilling some of your true potential. Some kind of spiritual practice and belief. A feeling of connection—with yourself, with others, and with something larger. Love. In the end, maybe it's all about love. Whatever happiness is for you, here are 5 tips to pump it up: • Change your attitude. Happiness is a choice. You can be bitter about all the terrible things that have happened to you. Or you can think good thoughts and feel good feelings about yourself and others by fostering an attitude of compassion. When your best-laid plans end up in tatters, laugh. Raise your game by all means, but lower your expectations, too—being a perfectionist is a recipe for disappointment and unhappiness. Count your blessings: cultivating a stance of gratitude really helps. Appreciate everything around you, right here, right now. Be generous. Give people a break; the benefit of the doubt. Smile. Feel the love. As Victor Frankl wrote in a supreme book on his experiences in the Holocaust, Man’s Search for Meaning: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances.” • Be around happy people. For better and for worse, emotions are contagious, and you reap what you sow. Seek out people who make you feel good. By the same token, avoid unhappy people, or people who put bad energy and unhappiness into the world, or indeed advice from such people, including dog-torturer turned U.S. Army dark arts coach Martin Seligman who churns out self-help books on “positive psychology” and professes to be an expert on “authentic happiness.” This calls for a random quote from Immanuel Kant: “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.” The kind of energy you put forth into the world is exactly the kind of energy you shall attract and receive. • Go to happy places. What is your happiest place on earth? How often do you go there? You can take yourself there anytime at all with a safe place mindfulness meditation. And go to actual happy places, too, such as inspirational, wild landscapes. In nature, we can find our true nature. So go green. Or go to Switzerland. In May I wrote about the World Happiness Report, which declared the 10 happiest countries in the world to be: 1. Switzerland 2. Iceland 3. Denmark 4. Norway 5. Canada 6. Finland 7. Netherlands 8. Sweden 9. New Zealand 10. Australia The U.S. is 15th on the list; the U.K. 21st. On the bottom of the pile are Syria, Burundi and Togo. The 10 happiest nations are generally egalitarian and collectively-minded in spirit--inequality breeds discontent. As Hector astutely notes in the whimsical novel Hector and the Search for Happiness: “It’s harder to be happy in a country run by bad people.” • Grow old. Countless studies show that in general, happiness follows a U-bend across the adult life span, regardless of factors like wealth, employment status, presence or absence of children and so on. Perhaps you set out on your grown-up journey in reasonably good cheer, full of hopes and dreams. But sooner or later all that potential and possibility gets mugged by reality. And one day you find yourself trapped in an unsatisfying job, marriage or town, struggling to pay the bills, stressed, sandwiched between looking after your kids and looking after your parents. You are miserable. You are at the bottom of the U-bend. “And you may ask yourself,” as the Talking Heads song goes, “how did I get here?” One study of happiness data in 72 countries reported that the global average bottom of the U-bend is 46 years old (though this of course masks enormous variety and individual differences). But then, after a midlife crisis or two, things get better. Your physiological decline is outweighed by your psychological advance. The death of ambition is outweighed by the birth of acceptance. Instead of trying to live up to other people’s standards or expectations, you fully accept who you are. What Jungian James Hollis calls your “provisional personality” fades away, along with all the delusions of grandeur and internalised “rules” about how you, others and life “should” be. You start to play your own game. You start to love life again. I see lots of clients going through the vortex of these kinds of transformations, painful breakdowns of various kinds that in the end turn out to be profound breakthroughs. I believe a “midlife crisis” can happen at any age, once in a lifetime or many times. Or, for the unfortunate few, never at all. • Stop trying to be happy all the time. It’ll only make you unhappy. As Oliver Burkeman writes in The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking: “In order to be truly happy, it turns out, we might actually need to be willing to experience more negative emotions—or, at the very least, to stop running quite so hard from them.” And anyway, is that what you really want, to be nothing more than a big yellow smiley face? There is so much more to life than being only happy. Note: world of therapy is on holiday for the rest of August, returning with a “Weekly news round-up” on Friday September 4. Have a great summer! Make it a summer of love!
BIPOLAR TIMES A triumph of marketing We can't tell our left from right But we know we love extremes Getting to grips with the ups and downs Because there's nothing in between —Echo & The Bunnymen In his excellent slim tome Strictly Bipolar, Darian Leader says the postwar period was the “age of anxiety,” the 1980s and ’90s were the “antidepressant era,” while now, today, “we live in bipolar times.” For people with the genuine, extreme symptoms of what is called “bipolar disorder,” the too-high highs and the too-low lows can make for an extremely difficult, roller-coaster life with times of great recklessness and wretchedness, danger and despair, and only fleeting glimpses of the straight and narrow. The diagnosis formerly known as manic depression has, says Leader, increased 4,000 percent in the past 20 years. Why? Partly because the definition has expanded to include broader categories that accommodate many more people, pathologising everyday human reactions such as “responding strongly to losses.” Anyone who has ups and downs in life, which is to say anyone, could choose to identify with the label “bipolar.” Increasingly, it has become a designer label, with some “celebrities” seeming to regard bipolarity as a lifestyle choice, a creed, an accessory to match the Hermes bag. The manic highs—like real life but with the wattage turned up all the way—are portrayed as thrilling interludes of high-intensity work, love, creativity in keeping with the frenetic pace of modern life. Stephen Fry, diagnosed at 37, says of his mania (it’s obligatory to include a quote from Stephen Fry in any story about bipolarity): “We are kings of the world, nothing is beyond us, society is too slow for our racing minds, everything is connected in a web of glorious colour, creativity and meaning.” Who wouldn’t want some of that now and again? On screens large and small, bipolarity looks rather attractive. Whether you agree with him or not, Stephen Fry’s star burns brightly, such as when he denounces religion. If you’re CIA agent Carrie Mathison in Homeland, played by Claire Danes, bipolarity makes you passionate and intrepid. If you’re Cameron Stuart in the new movie Infinitely Polar Bear, played by Mark Rufallo, being bipolar makes you an eccentric, lovable rogue (to be fair I haven’t seen the film—I’m just judging from the trailer). The too-low lows barely get a look-in. Is bipolar’s boom a sign of the times? Or is it a triumph of marketing fuelled by big—and big profit-seeking—pharmaceutical companies? As Leader points out: “Historians of psychiatry have all made the same observation: it was precisely when patents ran out on the big-selling tricyclic antidepressants in the mid-90s that bipolar suddenly became the recipient of Big Pharma marketing budgets. Websites helped people to diagnose themselves; articles and supplements appeared all referring to bipolar as if it were a fact; and nearly all of these were funded by the industry.” The system is predisposed to tell you that you are sick, and that there are pills to make you better. In fact, the pills might not work. And you might not even be sick. You might be simply human. —John Barton U.K. NEWS Cuts to UK mental health services are destroying lives and families The Guardian: In the UK, we have some of the best emergency medicine in the world for physical health. But when it comes to emergency mental health we can make no such boast. In fact the system is in crisis. Last year nearly two million people in this country sought help for mental health problems. But many didn’t get the what they needed. In June a report by the Care Quality Commission revealed thousands of people in urgent need of care received “inadequate support”. My own family experience in the last couple of years has persuaded me that those with mental illness, particularly the young, get a raw deal. Early intervention can make a vast difference and yet there is no easy way to get help. It is haphazard. You may get help or you may not. It may happen quickly or it may not. Teenagers may be in a children’s unit or thrown into an adult one. Worse still, you may be sent hundreds of miles from home, where your parents struggle to be with you. It is absurd – no wonder the outcomes are so poor. It is why on ITV News this week we are running a series of reports on the state of mental health care in Britain. An investigation by ITV News and the charity Young Minds has revealed that in the last year alone £35m has been cut from children and adolescent services, £80m in the past four years. Independent report calls for more 'balanced' and 'truthful' reporting of mental health issues Mirror.co.uk: A new front opened this week in the battle to improve media coverage of mental health problems. The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) has launched a report on what society should expect from psychiatry and vice versa. The report, entitled "A Better Understanding, Psychiatry’s Social Contract’", explains that society must support doctors in delivering high quality mental health care. Along with an appeal for government to tackle issues like unemployment, which contribute to mental illness, there is a powerful call out to the media. The MHF is asking the press to report on mental health issues in a ‘truthful' and ‘balanced’ way. If we want a caring society, we need to combat ‘irresponsible' newspaper reports that reinforce stigma and negative stereotypes. And the MHF says “journalists who work on mental health stories should have at least a basic understanding of the role and responsibilities of psychiatric services”. U.S.A. NEWS Juvenile detention centers actually suck for kids with mental health issues, study finds MTV.com: In 2011, more than 60,000 young people were placed into juvenile detention centers, and new data is raising questions as to the efficacy of the system when dealing with mental health issues. A new study from Stanford University School of Medicine looked further into the mental health of kids in the juvenile justice system, and found that “juvenile inmates are much more likely to be hospitalized for mental health problems than children and teenagers who are not incarcerated.” The study, which tracked roughly 2,000,000 hospitalizations of California boys and girls over 15 years, suggests that these detention centers probably aren’t helping kids who are already struggling with mental health. To put that into perspective, according to the study, “Mental health diagnoses were responsible for 63 percent of hospital stays by young people in the juvenile justice system, compared to 19 percent for those not in the system.” US schools introduce mental health programs to address teen cutting problem Fox News: Schools around the country have begun offering new classes and mental-health programs to help stem a sharp rise in the number of adolescents found to be engaging in self injury, especially cutting. School officials, from high school to elementary levels, are working with adolescent psychologists to train their mental-health staff and teachers to counsel at-risk teens and to educate all students in dealing with stressful emotions. A growing number of the programs are based on a treatment called dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, which aims to help people regulate their emotions and teach skills for avoiding self-injury when the urge arises. What is believed to be the first randomized, controlled study of DBT in self-injuring adolescents was published in October and showed the treatment significantly lowered the frequency of self-injury in 77 teens compared with other common therapies. WORLD NEWS Preventing long-term mental health issues in Nepal Aljazeera.com: More than 8,700 people have died since the April 25 earthquake struck Nepal. As the country begins to rebuild, mental health professionals are reaching out to those in need. "I saw a lot of grief in people," says counsellor Dristy Gurung. "If it doesn't get treated or if you don't intervene in such grief or trauma, in the long run it might create some mental health issues for people." According to the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal, 2.8 million people are still in need of some form of assistance. Gurung works for Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal, one of the country's leading psychosocial associations. While the organisation advocates for mental health laws and acts, Gurung says the country always puts physical health first and that mental health is put in the shadow. Gurung and other mental health professionals in Nepal say this can have major repercussions after a natural disaster of this scale. Gurung says they have already heard of cases of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder. Qatar: counselling centres urged for expats Gulf Times: In view of the stress felt by expatriate workers who have to live away from their families for long durations, some residents have called for counselling centres across the country, especially in areas with a high concentration of single workers. Besides low-income workers, many middle-income expatriates - particularly those facing financial problems - may also require psychological support, say residents. The counselling centres should be staffed by specialists who can effectively address the problems faced by workers, including depression and stress, they pointed out. “As there has been a huge increase in the number of workers in recent years and many more are expected to come in the next few years, there should be adequate facilities to cater to the psychological needs of expatriate workers, a majority of whom is living here without families,” said an engineer working on a major infrastructure project in north Doha. In Qatar, depression affected about 18% of the population, according to earlier reports. Cases of suicide involving expatriate workers are also reported at times. New Zealand: Kiwis crave advice to support young people Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand: New research by Common Ground shows another side to youth mental health. Nearly three quarters of the New Zealanders surveyed say it’s the responsibility of the community, not just the immediate family, to support young people who are experiencing personal issues however only 23% say they felt they could help out, with 15% saying they would like to help but don’t know how or don’t feel equipped to help. Common Ground is a dedicated website for those helping troubled young people is part of the Prime Minister’s Youth Mental Health Project and developed with collaboration from the Mental Health Foundation, Youthline, Skylight, Innovate Change and Curative. The new research shows that communities really want to help, Dr Theresa Fleming, University of Auckland psychological medicine senior lecturer and youth mental health advocate says. “Mental health is not just up to the experts. If family, friends and communities reach out, then no-one needs to struggle alone. This research highlights that Kiwis do care, and with a little info and support all of us can make a difference.” VIEWPOINTS Should I stay or should I go? Jannah Walshe in the Mayo News: To properly assess your current relationship, I’d recommend you first have a think about your own perspective on your relationship before going through it with your partner. It’s a good idea to write it down so that you remember it when you do speak about it together. The following questions may help you. > Is this relationship serving us both or just the other person? > Do I spend more time questioning whether the relationship is right or wrong than enjoying it? > Is there more to learn for me in this relationship, or can I best learn and grow outside of this relationship? > Would leaving this relationship be an act of self-care? 7 signs your therapist is good at their job (because some of us are weirdos) Kathleen Smith, in Bustle: Finding a good therapist is a lot like shopping for a good pair of pants. You’re going to have to try a few on and maybe even make a few alterations before they start working for you and help you feel great about yourself. Science tells us that psychotherapy works just as well if not better than medication, but unlike a pill, your therapist is a human. This means that personalities can clash, misunderstandings can occur, or occasionally people can just be outright weirdos. But once you get started, how do you really know you’ve found a good therapist? I know the first time I went to see a counselor, he told me to tap my shoulder blade three times and say out loud that I loved myself. Then he expected me to write him a $200 check for his oh-so-random nonsense. Rather than see someone else, I shied away from the idea. It wasn’t until I considered the profession as a career for myself that I began to see how talking, processing, and strategizing with a professional can be an invaluable resource. Because sometimes having someone with skin who can actively root for you and shine the light on new insights is better than any self-help book. It’s summertime, that supposedly easy-living season when you might be able to slow down a little, maybe take a holiday, and possibly even read an actual book. If so, my personal top-10 ranking of the best self-help books can be found here. Since it began in 1859, the self-help publishing industry has grown into an $11 billion business that shows no signs of slowing down. There are thousands upon thousands of self-help books, and some are truly terrible. But the worst I’ve ever encountered is the pernicious bestseller You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay, which inexplicably has sold over 50 million copies. “I believe we create every so-called illness in our body,” declares Hay. If you can limit yourself to having only “joyous, loving thoughts,” she says, you won’t get ill. And if you already are ill, you can cure yourself—all you have to do is “consciously release any mental patterns ... that could express as dis-ease in any way.” Psyche+Soma I do believe that the physical and the psychological cannot be separated, despite Western medicine’s tendency sometimes to do just that. There is a delicate interplay between the two—as the book Why Do People Get Ill? argues, we are psychosomatic beings and illness could certainly better be treated in a more holistic manner. And as a counsellor, I have found it can be enormously useful in the therapy room to explore the possible psychodynamic or symbolic meanings of clients’ symptoms. But Hay goes to the absurd, simplistic extreme of arguing that the cause of any illness—or even any accident or injury—is all in the mind. It’s the kind of rigid cause-and-effect certainty, based on nothing more than Hay’s imagination, that would make that old Scottish skeptic David Hume turn in his grave. More seriously, Hay rejects every basic principle of biology and medical science—most doctors, she says, only work “in one of two ways: They poison or they mutilate.” Peddling false hope for profit is dangerous and unethical. Anyone who follows her lead and shuns modern medical help in the wishful hope of being able to think themselves better is taking a huge risk. They are taking their life in their hands. Hay represents a return to the Dark Ages, The Unenlightenment, when disease and disability were seen as some kind of divine retribution for moral lapses or sins. If you’re guilty these days of the crime of not thinking positively enough, of finding life difficult, unfair or frightening, well then, says Hay, you will be punished with some ghastly affliction. So not only are you ill, you must now also suffer the additional toxic burdens of shame and guilt, born of Hay’s oppressive judgement that you did this to yourself. Here’s an extraordinary excerpt from a 2008 interview in The New York Times: When I asked her if, since people’s thoughts are responsible for their conditions, victims of genocide might be to blame for their own deaths, she said: “I probably wouldn’t say it to them. I don’t go around making people feel bad. That’s not what I’m after.” I pressed harder: Did she believe they are to blame? “Yes, I think there’s a lot of karmic stuff that goes on, past lives.” So, I asked, with a situation like the Holocaust, the victims might have been an unfortunate group of souls who deserved what they got because of their behavior in past lives? “Yes, it can work that way,” Hay said. “But that’s just my opinion.” Making Hay Hay, 88, is a former fashion model who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in the 1970s, something she attributes to her fury and lack of forgiveness over the abuse she suffered as a child, including reportedly being raped at age 5. She refused medical treatment for the cancer, and claims to have cured herself with positive thinking, diet and enemas. Writes The New York Times: “There is, she says, no doctor left who can confirm this improbable story.” She wrote a small pamphlet of “cures” in 1976. This became the book Heal Your Body which spawned a vast New Age publishing empire whose innumerable titles promise health, wealth, and visitations from angels. A big chunk of the book is “The List”—a compendium of various ailments and their causes: • Cancer, for instance, is “caused by deep resentment held for a long time until it literally eats away at the body....the individual lives with a sense of self-pity....people with cancer are also very self-critical...carrying hatreds.” How does that message go down at, say, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, or in oncology wards the world over, or among families that have been impacted by cancer, which by the way is most families: cancer will afflict 50 percent of us in the U.K. at some point in our lives. • I’d like to see Hay address a roomful of people with diabetes and tell them its supposed cause: “Longing for what might have been. A great need to control. Deep sorrow. No sweetness left.” • Aids is not caused by the HIV virus but from “a strong belief in not being good enough. Denial of the self. Sexual guilt.” • “Most bladder problems come from being ‘pissed off,’ usually at a partner.” • Old people increasingly find walking to be difficult, not as a natural consequence of the aging process but because “their understanding has been warped, and they often feel there is no place to go.” • Strokes are caused by “negative thinking”; miscarriages by “fear of the future.” • Animal bites are caused by “anger turned inward. A need for punishment”; bug bites by contrast happen when you have “guilt over small things.” • “Accidents are no accident. Like everything else in our lives, we create them.” These deranged ramblings would be funny if they didn’t inflict so much pain on vulnerable people who are already suffering. Blaming the victim is an insult to anyone who has ever got sick; to the memory of any family member, friend or colleague who has died of anything other than natural causes. As someone who has struggled with chronic illness I find Hay’s philosophies to be at best highly presumptuous and at worst deeply offensive. Such irresponsible quackery should come with a health warning.
BE A MAN Help is a four-letter word: men and suicide News comes this week that the suicide rate for middle-age men with mental health issues has risen by 73 percent since 2006. “The problem is not simply that they don’t seek help – they are already under mental health care – so we have to understand better the stresses men in this age group face,” says Louis Appleby, formerly the government’s mental health tsar and who leads the national suicide prevention strategy. This is in keeping with a general significant rise in male suicide over the past decade—although curiously not in Scotland, which has seen a decline—while the incidence for women has remained constant. The male suicide rate is the highest since 2001. The suicide rate among men aged 45-59, 25.1 per 100,000, is the highest for this group since 1981. So the question is why? There are plenty of economic reasons: the recession, falling income, “zero-hour” contracting, debt, unemployment. But there is another reason. Judging by the way he tends to be represented in our culture, a “real man” is supposed to be: strong, logical, heterosexual, attractive, virile, successful, young, deep, powerful, wealthy, rugged, hard, active, white, decisive, potent, funny, brave, knowledgeable, determined, ambitious, autonomous, rational, unemotional (though anger is desirable in certain circumstances). And under no circumstances is he to ask for directions. Ever. “Eros” dominates the female psyche, while males are governed by “Logos.” From an early age, little boys learn they must “repudiate all that is soft, vulnerable, playful, maternal and ‘feminine’ ” writes Andrew Samuels. Many grow up to remain as little boys sequestered in grown-up bodies, destined to labour under the limitations of what Moore and Gillette call “Boy psychology.” “Boy psychology is everywhere around us, and its marks are easy to see,” they write in King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. “Among them are abusive and violent acting-out behaviors against others, both men and women; passivity and weakness, the inability to act effectively and creatively in one’s own life and to engender life and creativity in others (both men and women).” Men learn to keep their relationships with other men on a superficial level. Acceptable topics: sports, cars, humour, women (as sex objects); unacceptable ones: sadness, loneliness, confusion, despair, love, joy, beauty, wonder. And men’s relationships with women stereotypically revolve around conquest and control. Writes Meg Barker: “This can mean that they don’t have a close, supportive relationship with anyone.” To be whole, we must learn to embrace all aspects of our selves, and for men that means the female archetype within, what Jung called the anima, while at the same time not diminishing the strength of our true malehood, which some of the more extreme branches of feminist philosophy would like to completely eradicate or, perhaps we might say, emasculate. Part of being human is acknowledging your vulnerability, your suffering, your sadness, your despair. Admitting your weakness—and asking for help—paradoxically requires great strength. The consequences of not doing so are dire: Men are more than three times as likely than women in the U.K. to commit suicide, or be alcohol-dependent. Men are 20 times more likely to be sent to prison. Increasingly, there seems to be less of a stigma about seeking help. Almost one person in five in the U.K. has consulted a counsellor or psychotherapist. Maybe you’ve considered it but are not sure. Watch this short film written and narrated by Alain de Botton. And try it. Sometimes in life you have to take a risk. Most of my counselling clients are men. They are all different, but they all want a richer, fuller, more meaningful, more colourful life. They want to love and be loved. It’s not always easy. But they fight for it, every day. I think of each of them as incredibly courageous. Real men ask for help. —John Barton Help! • If you are feeling suicidal, or if you know someone who is, please: —talk to someone: a family member, friend, colleague and your GP: —call the Samaritans: tel: 08457-90-90-90: www.samaritans.org; —go to the section on suicidal feelings at Mind's website to understand more about what might be going on with you, causes and ways of coping; —click on my Help page and find access to other immediate support. U.K. NEWS Funding fears as mental health demand soars Times Higher Education: A 132 per cent rise in the number of students declaring a mental health problem has sparked fears that government funding cuts may force universities to make “increasingly tough decisions” about the support they can provide. An analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency records found that nearly 18,000 students at English higher education providers said that they had a mental health problem in 2012-13, compared with fewer than 8,000 in 2008-09. The research, carried out for the Higher Education Funding Council for England, says that the most selective institutions experienced a much bigger rise, averaging 157 per cent, compared with universities with lower entry requirements, where the increase was 104 per cent. This means that 1.4 per cent of all students in England declared a mental health problem in 2012-13, with specialist and elite institutions again experiencing higher rates than less selective universities. Pupils' mental health tops head teachers' concerns BBC News: Head teachers are more concerned with pupils' mental health than any other issue related to well-being, a survey of 1,180 school leaders suggests. Two-thirds of head teachers polled for management support service, The Key, named mental health as the top concern. Domestic violence and cyberbullying were the next biggest concerns, named by 58% and 55% of heads respectively. Brian Lightman, leader of the ASCL heads' union, said it was difficult for heads to obtain support for pupils. "There certainly has been an increase in the number of pupils who are displaying different types of mental health problems," he said. "It's often arising from difficult home backgrounds or a form of abuse or other types of mental health issues such as ADHD." He said all of this required support, which head teachers were finding it hard to access from local child mental health services. 24 hour mental health care will cover every A&E unit Express.co.uk: AROUND-the-clock mental health care will be provided at all accident and emergency departments within the next five years. The move signals another victory for the Sunday Express mental health crusade, which called on the Government to broaden the range and access to acute and crisis services for those in need. In the NHS mandate between the Government and NHS England, which sets out the ambitions for the health service, it states that access to crisis services for an individual must be “at all times as accessible, responsive and as high quality as other health emergency services”. This includes ensuring the provision of adequate liaison psychiatry services in emergency departments. NHS England has adopted these aims in its business plan for the next two years. This year £30million will be spent on effective models of liaison psychiatry in a greater number of acute hospitals. However, by 2020 it is expected that all acute trusts will have liaison mental health services in place for all ages “appropriate to the size, acuity and specialty of the hospital.” Doctor brands NHS 'appalling' after her mother left mental health unit and burned herself to death Mirror.co.uk: A doctor has blasted the “appalling” NHS after her mother was allowed to walk out of a mental health unit and burn herself to death. Tragic Angela Rich, 61, was left to stroll from the centre in Tamworth, Staffs, in 2013 despite repeatedly telling staff that she planned to set herself ablaze. Angela was later found on fire under a railway bridge by a dog walker. She was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham but had suffered extensive burns across her entire body and died later that day from her severe injuries. Dr Naomi Rich, 43, said: “As a doctor myself, a carer for my mother and also as a patient at the same mental health trust as my mother, I have seen psychiatric care from several angles and have witnessed appalling care which I believe needs to change radically from within the NHS.” U.S.A. NEWS What to do during a mental health crisis U.S. News & World Report: All American youngsters know the rules: Don't take candy from strangers, play nice in the sandbox and call 911 during an emergency. But what if the emergency is related to mental health? More than 4 million people visited the emergency room due to a mental health condition from 2009 to 2010, according to the latest data from the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, Americans made 63.3 million visits to doctors offices, hospitals and emergency rooms for what were eventually diagnosed as mental disorders, the CDC also found. "The reality is, a mental health crisis is a common occurrence," says Paolo del Vecchio, who directs the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Mental Health Services. WORLD NEWS Portugal wants women seeking abortion to get counseling World Magazine: A new legislative bill in Portugal could require women to get counseling before abortions and cover part of the expense themselves. In 2007, Portugal passed an abortion law that allowed women to have a state-funded abortion up to the 10th week of pregnancy. But under the new amendment proposed Wednesday by center-right lawmakers, women would be charged the equivalent of up to a $55 to have an abortion. They also would be required to get psychological and social counseling and attend family planning sessions before ending their pregnancies. The legislation still needs a final presidential approval. Canada: Time spent on social networking sites linked to mental health problems in teens AlphaGalileo: A new study indicates that adolescents who use social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram for more than 2 hours each day are more likely to report poor mental health, high psychological distress, suicidal thoughts, and an unmet need for mental health support. These findings send an important message to parents and suggest an opportunity to increase mental health support service offerings on these sites, as described in an article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (http://www.liebertpub.com). The article is available free on the Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.2015.0055) website until August 22, 2015. Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga, MD and Rosamund Lewis, MD, Ottawa Public Health (Ottawa, Canada) analyzed data on students in grades 7-12 from the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey. About 25% of students reported using social networking sites for more than 2 hours daily. One in five relationships suffering problems relating to porn viewing, says Relationships Australia NEWS.com.au: ONE in five Australian couples battle with intimacy problems triggered by internet porn, according to research from Relationships Australia. The national counselling service has found readily accessible online porn is leading to a breakdown of trust and an erosion of intimacy in about 21 per cent of all relationships. Pornography consumption is also increasingly being cited as a reason for marriage breakdowns. VIEWPOINTS Depression didn't kill 5 servicemen in Chattanooga Scott Greer in the Daily Caller: He was depressed. He drank too much. He was going through a rough patch. Those are the current talking points for explaining what led Muhammad Abdulazeez to take the lives of five American servicemen in Chattanooga, Tenn. last week. In spite of the substantial evidence that points to Islamic extremism as Abdulazeez’s inspiration, the young man’s supposed mental health problems has received far more attention in recent days. As the Associated Press reports, Abdulazeez’s family says there is no explanation for his horrific crime, except that their son was feeling sad. For evidence of the young man’s substance problem and mental instability, they said his trip to Jordan last year was taken to get his life back in order. And as we all know, most depressed people with drinking problems don’t seek counseling, they fly over to a region with a strong element of religious extremism to get help. While it is appropriate to report the family’s side of the terror attack, it is incredible for the media to serve as the Muslim family’s public relations agency and to report the parents’ side as the likely truth. Dementia 101: Therapy can help Kyrié Sue Carpenter in Huffington Post: Choosing to participate in psychotherapy can be a difficult decision. It's easy to make a list of excuses to put it off -- it costs too much, I don't want to pay someone to listen to me, my problems aren't that big. Besides, what do they know about me that I don't already know? And what will my friends and family think? Adding a diagnosis of dementia does not make these common doubts go away, it may even intensify them. However, therapy CAN be helpful, even to someone who does not remember it. Psychotherapy creates a container through which understanding can be reached, meaning can be made, and personal development actualized. All of this is also possible for someone with a diagnosis of dementia. Sarah Robinson, in her doctoral dissertation Alzheimer's the Difficult Transition, broke down which types of therapy have proved most effective with different stages of dementia. (For more in-depth information and resources I highly recommend reading her dissertation in it's entirety.) These broad categories can give those diagnosed with dementia, and those caring for them, a starting place to seek support. The power of transforming your story in psychotherapy Dr. Gary Trosclair in Huffington Post: Whether we're aware of it or not, we live our lives based on certain fundamental stories we tell ourselves: stories about how we came to be who we are, stories about what life and people are like, and stories about the best way to live. Some of these stories work well for us, others don't. Part of our work in therapy is to connect the dots between the different aspects of our lives to determine the patterns and themes that have evolved so that we are aware of the stories we live by -- and so that we can create better ones if we need to. Here's what I mean by connecting the dots: Notice the similarities between the events you discuss each week in your sessions, the experiences you have in your sessions, and the stories that emerge in your dreams. As you connect the dots the bigger picture will begin to emerge. If you can identify two or three themes that have the most impact on you, that will help you to connect your work in session with life outside of session. TRUE NATURE This week I took a short work-related trip to Scotland. When I got out of the car, something was different. Immediately I felt the crisp, perfumed caress of something strange, something that city-dwellers have long had to live without: fresh air. I filled my lungs with this exotic elixir and instantly felt stronger, happier, fitter. I slept better in Scotland. I became more alive, more human. If only you could bottle this extraordinary intoxicant, you could make a fortune. (Actually someone did that already, in China, whose cities bring pollution to a whole new level.) Even though we may not understand all the reasons, it makes intuitive sense that metropolitan living can be detrimental not only to our physical health, but to our very psyches, too. The research findings are not a huge surprise: Urbanites have higher rates of anxiety and depression. We’re more frazzled, more sensitive to criticism. Schizophrenia, too, is much more common in cities. And since 2009, more than half the world’s population lives in cities, according to the United Nations. That’s almost 4 billion souls potentially denied the oxygen of a healthy environment, one free of pollution, car alarms, and armies of sharp-elbowed impatient people rushing to the next meeting—or away from themselves. The Hopi call it Koyaanisqatsi or “life out of balance" (and if you haven't seen the mind-blowing 1982 film of that name, please stop reading this or whatever else you are doing and order it now).
• Relieve stress. Whatever works for you. Mindfulness. Music. Exercise. Take up golf—a way of being among greenery and it might make you live five years longer (or, depending on how you play and who you play with, it might just make you feel five years older). If the stress of city life gets really bad, or even if it doesn’t, get some help. • Join or get involved with local wildlife organisations like the London Wildlife Trust, or global ones like Friends of the Earth, the World Wildlife Fund, or Greenpeace. • Take regular daytrips beyond the city limits (and beyond your comfort zone). Hopefully this will be more successful and uplifting than the legendary, foul-mouthed scene from “Trainspotting” when “Tommy” drags his sceptical city pals to the beautiful, desolate Rannoch Moor (“This is not natural man,” says one.) • Use your vacations, too, to get back to basics. Head for the hills: camp in the Lake District for instance, and “walk in blessedness” there as Wordsworth did all those years ago. As the wandering, wondering wordsmith said: “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” —John Barton U.K. NEWS Large UK trial to ask if mindfulness boosts teenage mental health From Reuters: Nearly 6,000 British school children are to take part in a major trial designed to assess whether mindfulness training for teenagers can improve their mental health. Mindfulness is based on the idea of being more aware of the present by intentionally focusing on emotions, thoughts and sensations and viewing them with acceptance. Advocates say this understanding helps people to respond in ways that are more purposeful, rather than reacting on "automatic pilot". The three-part study will include the first large randomized control trial of mindfulness training compared with teaching as usual in 76 schools. Further parts of the study include experimental research to establish whether and how mindfulness improves mental resilience of teenagers, and an assessment of the most effective way to train teachers to deliver mindfulness classes to pupils. Brain scientists know that teenage years are a crucially vulnerable time for mental health, particular in brain regions responsible for decision-making, emotion regulation and social understanding. More than three-quarters of all mental disorders begin before the age of 24, and half by the age of 15. U.S.A. NEWS Even mild mental health problems in children can cause trouble later From NPR: It's not easy for a child who has had mental health issues to make a successful transition into adulthood. But even children who have symptoms that are mild enough that they wouldn't be diagnosed are more likely to struggle with life as adults, a study finds. Children and teenagers with a psychiatric disorder had six times higher odds of having at health, legal, financial and social problems as adults, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. Those with milder symptoms were three times more likely to have problems as adults. We already know from previous studies that most adults with mental health issues had a previous psychiatric disorder during childhood – it doesn't have to be the same exact condition. But this study shows mental health problems that occurred during childhood can make it more likely that someone will struggle as an adult, making it more likely that they won't graduate from high school or commit a felony, for instance. Judge orders counseling for Obama critic Dinesh D'Souza From India West: A New York judge has ordered Dinesh D'Souza, an Indian American conservative scribe and Obama critic filmmaker, to do community service for four more years for breaking campaign-finance laws and undergo further counseling. Judge Richard Berman clarified July 13 that under the sentence he handed down after D'Souza pleaded guilty last year, he has to do eight hours each week for the entire five years he is on probation and not just the eight months he was confined to a halfway house. The Manhattan federal court judge also read aloud a report from a court-appointed psychologist who called D'Souza "arrogant" and "intolerant of others' feelings," according to the New York Post. "In my mind it was never contemplated that the eight hours only applied to the period of home confinement," Berman was quoted as telling defense attorney Ben Brafman. He later read out a report from a psychologist who saw D'Souza, the maker of the anti- Obama film "2016: Obama's America,” and then ordered him to continue attending weekly sessions, the Post said. WORLD NEWS Global health workforce, finances remain low for mental health From the World Health Organization: Worldwide, nearly 1 in 10 people have a mental health disorder, but only 1% of the global health workforce is working in mental health. This means, for example, that nearly half of the world’s population lives in a country where there is less than one psychiatrist per 100,000 people. Huge inequalities in access to mental health services exist depending on where people live. On average globally, there is less than one mental health worker per 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Atlas 2014, released today. In low and middle-income countries rates fall below 1 per 100,000 people, whereas in high-income countries the rate is 1 per 2,000 people. Spending on mental health is still very low The report states global spending on mental health is still very low. Low and middle-income countries spend less than US$ 2 per capita per year on mental health, whereas high-income countries spend more than US$ 50. The majority of spending is going to mental hospitals, which serve a small proportion of those who need care. High-income countries still have a far higher number of mental hospital beds and admission rates than low-income countries at nearly 42 beds and 142 admissions per 100,000 population. Training of primary care staff in mental health is critical to building capacity for recognizing and treating persons with severe and common mental disorders. Since 2011, the number of nurses working in mental health has increased by 35%, but shortages still exist in all disciplines, particularly in low and middle-income countries. The Atlas finds countries are making progress on creating policies, plans, and laws for mental health, which provide the bedrock for good governance and service development. Two-thirds of countries have a policy or plan and half have a stand-alone mental health law. However, most of the policies and laws are not fully in line with international human rights instruments, implementation is often weak, and persons with mental disorders and family members are frequently only marginally involved in their development. Mental health professionals demand cancelation of Israel conference From The Electronic Intifada: More than 200 leading mental health professionals from around the world have signed an open letter calling for the cancellation of a European psychotherapy conference scheduled to be held in Jerusalem in August. In the letter, published in the UK newspaper The Independent, the psychologists and psychoanalysts, many from the UK, France and the United States, urge their colleagues to respect the Palestinian call for boycott and stay away from the conference should it go ahead as planned. Meanwhile, leading actors, authors, academics and architects in the UK have put their names to an open letter to David Cameron, urging the UK prime minister to push for immediate EU sanctions on Israel until it abides by international law and ends its occupation and siege of Palestinian territories. The two letters, with their diversity of signatures, highlight how the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) is growing in range and scale. Iran changes law to make divorce harder; makes counselling compulsory From Daily News & Analysis: Iran has changed a law to make divorce by mutual consent invalid unless couples have first undergone state-run counselling, the country's latest move to tackle a rise in broken marriages. The measures, reported by media at the weekend, are contained in a new family law that a top official said would be implemented by Iran's judiciary. "A decree of divorce by mutual consent, without counselling, is forbidden," Parnian Ghavam, head of the judiciary's social work and counselling office, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency. All Iranians filing for divorce would be obliged to go to a counsellor, she said. "From now on, without this it will not be possible to register divorces of mutual consent." Iran's average divorce rate peaked at 21 per cent last year, with big cities showing far higher rates. Time to tackle Australia's mental health crisis, Tony Abbott told From The Guardian: Mental health, welfare and medical groups have intensified their call for a fully funded mental health agreement, warning the system remains in crisis. Mental Health Australia has penned an open letter to the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and the premiers and chief ministers calling for action ahead of next week’s “leader’s retreat” in Sydney. The chief executive of Mental Health Australia, Frank Quinlan, said the federal health minister, Sussan Ley, had indicated the country needed a national, coordinated and binding agreement on mental health. “We have waited too long for such and agreement,” Quinlan said. “The system is in crisis right now, and we need action, not after the next budget, not after the next election, but starting now with a commitment from our leaders.” Abbott will meet the premiers next week for a Council of Australian Governments meeting which will discuss the division of service delivery responsibilities between Canberra and the states. VIEWPOINTS I came out of a teenage mental health unit worse than when I went in From Fern Brady in The Guardian: For us, a typical day would be spent bickering with support staff in the morning over petty, ever-changing rules, followed by group therapy, doing strange artwork-cum-trust exercises with the occupational therapist and watching telly. Despite the known curative properties of watching repeats of Jeremy Kyle, I selfishly replaced them with “school time”, where my justifiable panic over how I’d ever study for my highers in a mental unit were mistakenly interpreted as part of my illness. There was no sharing of information between services (the small matter of me trying to top myself was never passed from A&E to the referring psychiatrist), there was never any explanation of a structured care plan, or if there was, no one told me. I received one hilarious session of what I think was meant to be cognitive behavioural therapy, where the unit manager dramatically pushed a tissue box askew (“How does THAT make you feel, Fern? Hmm?”) as I tried not to laugh. We were spoken about with disdain and in oddly clinical terms – “the young people” and “service users” – instead of treated as real people with valid feelings. There was always the vague sense that I’d done something wrong, that we’d all done something wrong, even though we hadn’t. Psychiatry's identity crisis From Richard A. Friedman in the New York Times: It seems that leaders in my field are turning their backs on psychotherapy and psychotherapy research. In 2015, 10 percent of the overall National Institute of Mental Health research funding has been allocated to clinical trials research, of which slightly more than half — a mere 5.4 percent of the whole research allotment — goes to psychotherapy clinical trials research. As a psychiatrist and psychopharmacologist who loves neuroscience, I find this trend very disturbing. First, psychotherapy has been shown in scores of well-controlled clinical trials to be as effective as psychotropic medication for very common psychiatric illnesses like major depression and anxiety disorders; second, a majority of Americans clearly prefer psychotherapy to taking medication. For example, in a meta-analysis of 34 studies, Dr. R. Kathryn McHugh at McLean Hospital found that patients were three times more likely to want psychotherapy than psychotropic drugs. Finally, many of our patients have histories of trauma, sexual abuse, the stress of poverty or deprivation. There is obviously no quick biological fix for these complex problems. Still, there has been a steady decline in the number of Americans receiving psychotherapy along with a concomitant increase in the use of psychotropic medication in those who are treated in the outpatient setting. These trends are most likely driven by many factors, including cost and the limited availability that most Americans have to mental health practitioners. It is clearly cheaper and faster to give a pill than deliver psychotherapy. Timing is everything when it comes to marriage counseling From Terry Gaspard in the Huffington Post: Truth be told, the effectiveness of marriage counseling is directly related to the motivation level of both partners and timing. For some couples, marriage counseling is really divorce counseling because they've already thrown in the towel. For instance, one or both partners may have already decided to end the marriage and he/she uses the counseling as a way to announce this to their partner. Sometimes, the problems in a marriage can be too ingrained and longstanding for the counseling to be effective. For others, they don't honestly share their concerns with the therapist. Further, it's important to choose a therapist who has experience working with couples and who is a good fit for both you and your partner. If both partners don't feel comfortable with the therapist, this can negatively impact progress; or one person may prematurely drop out. Timing is an essential element in whether marriage counseling works. Unfortunately, most couples wait much too long to reach out for help repairing their marriage. According to relationship and marriage expert Dr. John Gottman, couples wait an average of six years of being unhappy before getting help. Think about this statistic for a few minutes. Couples have six years to build up resentment before they begin the important work of learning to resolve differences in effective ways. DYING WITH DIGNITY In America in 2009, there was a proposal for Medicare, the government’s health insurance program for the elderly and the disabled, to provide end-of-life counselling. There was an outcry—Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for instance screeched about the spectre of government-sponsored “death panels” deciding when the game was over for hordes of frail and befuddled elders. It became a divisive issue that threatened to derail President Barack Obama's health care law. This week, Medicare finally announced that it intends after all to proceed with end-of-life counselling. There were only a few murmurs of dissent. If the proposal is accepted, the elderly and their families will be able to have conversations with doctors and nurses in advance about what kind of care and interventions they want as they face the final curtain—and what they don’t want. Giving people greater control over their death seems like an eminently sensible idea. Just because we have the technology to extend life with with a roomful of machines, tubes and drugs doesn’t always mean that’s the right thing to do, especially when the person involved has clearly expressed their desire not to “live” in this way. A civilized society should help people to die with dignity. In some countries that means not just withholding excessive though potentally life-saving treatments but actively allowing doctor-administered death, especially when the person is suffering or in great pain from a terminal illness. Switzerland has allowed doctor-assisted suicide since 1942. Voluntary euthanasia—where the doctor actually administers the fatal dose at the patient’s request rather than merely prescribing it or handing it over to the patient—was made legal in the Netherlands in 2002, but only under strict criteria. The patient's request, awareness and level of suffering must be clear and sustained, suitable information and consultation must be provided, there must be absence of reasonable alternatives, doctors must consult with other doctors and they must report euthanasia to a review committee. Belgium followed the Netherlands later in the year, followed by Luxembourg in 2009 and, this year, Canada and Colombia. The practices of assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia are both illegal in the U.K., but that may change. According to a 2007 survey, 80 percent of Brits are in favour of giving terminally ill patients the right to die with a doctor's help. In the U.S., a Supreme Court decision left rulings about assisted suicide to the discretion of individual states. Oregon swiftly passed a law allowing doctors to prescribe lethal drugs for people who have been given less than six months to live. Washington, Montana and Vermont now have similar laws in place. Opponents of such laws are concerned that they could be abused. A compliant or confused parent for instance might be coerced into literally signing their life away by uncaring offspring who are eager to get their hands on an inheritance as soon as possible. “I don’t want to be a burden,” the elderly often say. “Ok, well sign here then,” the heartless son or daughter might reply. But the problems, the violations, the abuses, do not alter the principle. Just because some people might exceed the speed limit, jump a red light or drive without a license does not mean that all driving should be banned. We have some choices in how we live. Perhaps an enlightened government can offer some choices in how we die, too. This is not an easy topic. Death is the great taboo. But why deny the undeniable? If you were heading off on any other magical, transcendent journey—backpacking in the Himalayas say, or riding a motorbike through South America—wouldn’t you want to talk about it first with family and friends, read up on it, go to a few lectures perhaps, and connect with some other people who are going, too? Yet when it comes to death, we nervously look to the floor and change the subject. A family, society or culture that doesn’t talk confidently about death consigns people to spending their final days afraid and alone. —John Barton Medicare plans to pay for end-of-life counseling From the Boston Globe: Medicare, the federal program that insures 55 million older and disabled Americans, revealed plans Wednesday to reimburse doctors for conversations with patients about whether and how they would want to be kept alive if they became too sick to speak for themselves. The proposal will be open for public comment for 60 days, but it is expected to be approved and take effect in January. If adopted, it would settle a debate that raged before the passage of the Affordable Care Act, when Sarah Palin labeled a similar plan as tantamount to setting up “death panels” that could cut off care for the sick. Medicare’s plan comes as many patients, families, and health providers are pushing to give people greater say about how they die — whether that means trying every possible medical option to stay alive or discontinuing life support for those who do not want to be sustained by ventilators and feeding tubes. “We think that today’s proposal supports individuals and families who wish to have the opportunity to discuss advance care planning with their physician and care team,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, the chief medical officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, also known as CMS, which administers Medicare. “We think those discussions are an important part of patient- and family-centered care.” U.K. NEWS Will George Osborne's budget give our children Hikikomori - Japan's new mental health problem? Mirror.co.uk: George Osborne's budget will create a generation of young people too scared to leave their bedrooms and rendered mute by fear of the future, according to a British expert. They will be suffering from Hikikomori a condition believed to affect as many as ONE MILLION Japanese. Symptoms include hiding away from society and only interacting with the world to surf the Internet and reading fantasy literature. The Chancellor's plans to limit the living wage to those aged 25 and older, along with scrapping grants to university students, increasing fees in line with inflation and cancelling housing benefit for 18-21 year olds are all likely to make matters worse. Hikikomori is a huge problem among Japanese youth and can lead to people locking themselves away from the outside world for months and sometimes years on end. Children's mental health must be cared for. Or the consequences will be dire From former minister for mental health Paul Burstow, in The Guardian: The chancellor tells us that he is putting into law the obligation to generate budget surpluses in the “interests of our children”. But the axing of funding for children’s mental health in the service of economic dogma will condemn a generation of young people to a life of misery for want of the right mental health support in their early years. Half of life-long mental illness has its first signs and symptoms in the teenage years. Poor maternal mental health can have profound consequences for them, for their children and their children’s children. The LSE put a figure on this of £8.1bn. Yet while one in 10 children and young people has a treatable mental illness just one in four receives treatment. It is a shocking indictment of our mental health services. • School accountability triggering pupil mental health problems, research warns (The TES) • Exam focus damaging pupils' mental health, says NUT (BBC News) More provision needed for mothers during pregnancy and after birth Medical Xpress: More research is needed to improve the identification and treatment of women with perinatal mental health issues, according to a new editorial co-authored by Professor Susan Ayers, the lead of the Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research at City University London. Along with co-author Judy Shakespeare, from the Royal College of General Practitioners, Professor Ayers' article highlights how between 10 and 20 per cent of women suffer from mental health problems during this period, costing the NHS £1.2 billion a year. The editorial is published in the journal of Primary Health Care Research & Development. Mental health problems can arise in pregnancy or after birth and most commonly consist of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following a difficult birth and stress-related conditions such as adjustment disorder. Severe postnatal mental illness, such as puerperal psychosis, is less common, but is one of the leading indirect causes of maternal death. U.S. NEWS Researchers: Vampires are people, too, and need as much psychotherapy as the rest of us From the Washington Post: Vampires are real. No, not the impossibly perfect Cullens in the "Twilight" movies or tortured but well-dressed souls in CW shows. But human beings who self-identify as vampires and may drink blood or sleep in coffins. And these people need as much psychotherapy and medical help as the rest of us. That's the conclusion of a study by D.J. Williams, director of social work at Idaho State University, and published in the July issue of the peer-reviewed journal Critical Social Work. Williams and his co-author, Emily E. Prior, a researcher at the College of the Canyons, interviewed 11 vampires from across the United States and South Africa and found that they were reluctant to come out to clinicians because they were fearful about being labeled as being psychopathological or "perhaps wicked, and not competent to perform in typical social roles, such a parenting." However, he noted that the people he interviewed "seem to function normally, based on demographic questions concerning their psychiatric histories, in their social and occupational roles, and some have achieved considerable success in their chosen careers." WORLD NEWS India: counselling reveals anger, helplessness From The Hindu: Counselling sessions of the victims of the child prostitution case revealed their anger and helplessness at their precarious plight. The victims are believed to have told counsellors arranged by the Child Welfare Committee that they were angry with themselves and with those who had pushed them into prostitution. They reported feeling guilty and disoriented, and having haunting memories and an inability to remain calm according to information from the sessions overseen by the CWC. Apart from the anxiety about the future, there was also fear about being recognised in public. VIEWPOINTS Sex therapy is making its way into couples counseling, and it's about damn time From Lea Rose Emery, in Bustle: Some “renegades” in the field of couples therapy are bringing sex into counseling, The New York Times reports. Although couples therapy and sex discussion may seem like obvious bedfellows, discussions of sex have often been, counterintuitively, absent during couples counseling. The reasons for this may be that the two arenas, couples counseling and sexual counseling, developed as completely different strains, meaning that overlap between them was limited. Often relationships counselors often have no sexual training, as there are currently no requirements for sexual education in traditional counseling licensing. And the opportunities to receive sexual training are limited. According to The New York Times there ”is only one certification program for sex therapists, the American Association of Sexuality Educators and Counselors, which means aspiring sex therapists may find access to courses and supervisors a challenge.” But luckily the increased acknowledgement of the importance of sex in relationships may help change this. Some therapists are now “emphasizing the importance of good sex in relationships and sometimes suggesting the radical idea that couples fix the sex before tackling other issues”. This makes me so happy. Psychiatric drugs are false prophets with big profits. Psychiatry has been hijacked From Robert Berezin MD, Mad In America: We have repeated the same mistakes over and over again, and we are doing so today. It doesn’t seem to matter that the chemical imbalance theory has been discredited. It doesn’t seem to matter that the multibillion dollar pharmaceutical industry and its influence peddling in academic psychiatry has been exposed as financially and scientifically corrupted and manipulated. The drug companies have engaged in study suppression, falsification, strategic marketing, and financial incentives. A complete picture of the studies that pretended to validate antidepressants has now emerged which confirms that they do absolutely nothing. (See – “No, it’s not the Neurotransmitters, Depression is not a biological disease cause by an imbalance of serotonin.”) It rakes in a whopping $70 Billion a year for the drug companies. Unfortunately once people embrace a false belief it is so hard to think clearly again. I’m told its irresponsible to be so extreme. A thoughtful psychiatrist would use both drugs and psychotherapy. Apparently this sounds reasonable in today’s climate. Doing harm is never reasonable. Human struggle is now, and always has been, the real issue. The very idea that drugs can cure what ails is an insult to the human condition. The magical healing power of caring and hope in psychotherapy From Allen Frances in the Huffington Post: There are three consistent research findings that should make a world of difference to therapists and to the people they treat. First, psychotherapy works at least as well as drugs for most mild to moderate problems and, all things being equal, should be used first. Second, a good relationship is much more important in promoting good outcome than the specific psychotherapy techniques that are used. Third, there is a very high placebo response rate for all sorts of milder psychiatric and medical problems. This is partly a time effect -- people come for help at particularly bad times in there lives and are likely to improve with time even if nothing is done. But placebo response also reflects the magical power of hope and expectation. And the effect is not just psychological -- the body often actually responds to placebo just as it would responded to active medication. These three findings add up to one crucial conclusion -- the major focus of effective therapy should be to establish a powerfully healing relationship and to inspire hope. Specific techniques help when they enhance the primary focus on the relationship, they hurt when they distract from it. SUMMERTIME Summer boldly announced itself on Wednesday this week—July 1—with temperatures in London reaching 36.7C (98F). It was the hottest July day in the UK since records began in the 1870s. Hotter than Barcelona, Ibiza and Athens. Summer is good, right? The living is easy. The sunshine makes us happy because it promotes vitamin D, an antidepressant. We’re nicer, more helpful. We become heightened, more relaxed, more confident and better-looking versions of ourselves at this time of year. We ripen. We are in abundance. Aren’t we? No, not necessarily. For some, summer is a time of dread. You’re “supposed” to be living la dolce vita, basking with amazing friends in some tropical beach resort, Tuscan villa, or Caribbean yacht or whatever, and you’re not. You’re home, alone, still you, still unhappy. The heat saps your strength. You’ve lost your appetite. All your appetites. The noonday glare is oppressive, exposing you, attacking you. Maybe you have a disability that means you can’t head for the beach, or a poor body image that makes it impossible to wear sandals, shorts or skimpy swimwear. You’re anxious and you can’t sleep. The kids are home from school or college. Everything is expensive. Tempers flare. The pollution is terrible. You can’t breathe. No wonder suicide rates rise in spring and summer. There is something called “seasonal affective disorder” or SAD. It is generally a chronic, recurring low mood, but usually in the winter months—a kind of annual psychic hibernation. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) identifies it as a type of “major depressive disorder” with a seasonal pattern: “The essential feature is the onset and remission of major depressive episodes at characteristic times of the year...This pattern of onset and remission of episodes must have occurred during at least a 2-year period, without any non-seasonal episodes occurring during this period.” SAD was first identified in 1984 by Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal and his associates at America’s National Institute of Mental Health (Rosenthal’s definitive book on the subject is Winter Blues). The estimates of prevalence of SAD range from 1.4 percent in Florida to almost 10 percent in northern, low-light regions such as Alaska and Finland. SAD is thought to have an organic cause, perhaps some delicate bodily unbalance involving circadian rhythms, melatonin and serotonin levels and the pineal gland. It has been found to respond well to bright-light therapy. The summer variant--sometimes called reverse seasonal affective disorder or “summer SAD”—is more unusual. According to researchers’ estimates, it’s about a tenth as common than the winter kind, although in some countries near the equator like India or Brazil, the summer kind is more prevalent. If you’re struggling this summer—and seem to struggle every summer: • Get some professional help. No need to suffer in silence. A therapist might help you understand what it is that makes summer such a slog and develop ways to manage it better. • Pay attention to the basics: food, light exercise, sleep. And drink plenty of water. And find ways of restoring your energy: meditate, spend time with close friends or in nature. Try saying no to some of your obligations. • If you can, plan a trip to cooler climes. Head north—or head for the hills. • Make your summer your own. Forget about the idealized image of what summer “should” be all about and instead find all the things you actually quite like about it and build your own routines, rituals and traditions around them. • Relax—autumn is just around the corner. —John Barton • Seasonal depression can accompany summer sun (The New York Times) • Summer depression: causes, symptoms, and tips to help (www.webmd.com) • Janis Joplin sings “Summertime” in 1969 (YouTube) A year later she died from a heroin overdose: One of these mornings You're going to rise up singing Then you'll spread your wings And you'll take to the sky U.K. NEWS Semicolon tattoo trend spreads to raise awareness over mental health This is an interesting project. Getting a tattoo is a step up from wearing one of those charity bracelets that were popular a few years ago. Project Semicolon was started in America in the spring of 2013 by Amy Bleuel, who lost her father to suicide. Why a semicolon tattoo? Because “A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life.” It is a faith-based Christian organisation. “This by no means excludes any other beliefs or religions, as we accept them all,” states the Project Semicolon website. But it is of course by its very nature exclusionary. People of other beliefs or religions are unlikely to want to get involved. Why not unite people with mental health challenges the world over by making it nondenominational? Until or unless that happens, for most Project Semicolon is a Full Stop. From www.dailymail.co.uk: Thousands of people across the globe are getting semicolons tattooed on their bodies in a bid to raise awareness about mental health. The simple punctuation mark - used to divide sentence clauses - has been adopted by the non-profit group 'Semicolon Project' to help raise awareness over depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide. The organisation hopes that by persuading people to have semicolon tattoos - permanent or temporary - will help break down the stigma associated with mental illness. Although the U.S.-based charity was founded in April 2013, it has recently attracted renewed attention. Indeed, Emma Richards of Llandudno, Wales, got a semicolon tattooed on her little finger this week after reading about the initiative online. The 30-year-old started suffering with depression after her young son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism. Today, she remains on medication to alleviate the symptoms, which include palpitations and panic attacks. She told Mirror.co.uk that she read about the Semicolon project and completely related to the message. EastEnders: Lee Carter to battle depression in new mental health storyline From the Radio Times: EastEnders is working with mental health charity Mind for an upcoming storyline that will see Lee Carter (Danny-Boy Hatchard) fight depression. In the coming weeks, viewers will see army recruitment officer Lee begin to struggle with everyday life as he battles with his emotions. After coming under pressure from sister Nancy (Maddy Hill) to reveal what's wrong, Lee finally comes clean. But Lee will decide to keep his feelings from mum Linda (Kellie Bright) and dad Mick (Danny Dyer) for fear of causing them worry. "This is not a subject that only a handful of people can relate to. It’s something that at some point most people in their lives will experience on different levels," said actor Danny-Boy Hatchard, who plays Lee. As to how the depression will affect Lee's relationship with Whitney, Hatchard explained: "This will make them stronger. What Lee wants in a relationship is what his own mum and dad have. And Lee knows that in order to have that, he has to confide in Whitney. Positive view of NHS marred by fears over dementia and mental health care From The Guardian: Public perceptions of local NHS care for people with mental health problems and dementia are stubbornly low despite overall pride in England’s healthcare system rising to its highest level in recent years, a government-commissioned survey reveals. Just over two-thirds of more than 1,000 adults questioned in their own homes last winter were satisfied with the running of the NHS at a national level – a figure that has seen little change – but satisfaction with local services dropped from 78% in 2013 to 74%. Well over eight in 10 people who have been to hospital or their GP recently are positive about the experience, according to a report from the Ipsos Mori Social Research Institute. More negatively, a higher proportion of people think those with mental health conditions are not well cared for (39%) compared with those who think they are (31%). Dissatisfaction has increased by seven percentage points since the last but one survey in spring 2013. Almost three in 10 people say they don’t know about care for this group of patients. U.S.A. NEWS Science proves what you suspected: hiking's good for your mental health From the Los Angeles Times Do not underestimate the power of a walk in the woods: A new study suggests that even a 90- minute stroll in a natural environment can lead to measurable changes in the brain, and may help combat depression. Previous research has shown that just a 50-minute walk in nature can improve your mood, decrease your anxiety and even improve your memory. But for the new study, published this week in PNAS, the research team wanted to see if they could understand what the mechanisms for these positive effects might be. To help them figure it out, they decided to focus specifically on what psychologists call "rumination," which has been shown to predict depressive episodes. "Ruminative thought means something very specific in psychology," said Gregory Bratman, a PhD candidate in environmental science at Stanford University and the lead author of the study. "It is repetitive thought that is focused on negative aspects of the self." Examples of rumination include spending a lot of time thinking back over embarrassing or disappointing moments, or rehashing recent things you've said or done. To see how a walk in nature affects ruminative thought, the researchers randomly assigned 38 volunteers with no history of mental illness to take a 90-minute walk in an urban green space near Palo Alto or a loud, busy street with three to four lanes of traffic in each direction. Traumatizing impact of family detention on mental health of children and mothers From the American Immigration Lawyers Association: The psychological harm caused when mothers and children seeking asylum in the U.S. are detained in jail-like facilities is the subject of a complaint filed today with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) by the American Immigration Lawyers Association, the Women's Refugee Commission, and the American Immigration Council. The complaint includes details of the harsh and detrimental impact of detention on ten case examples of mothers and children documented by mental health professionals after in-depth evaluations. CRCL must immediately and thoroughly investigate these cases of trauma in family detention and further request a complete investigation into psychological and physiological impact that family detention is having on children and mothers. WORLD NEWS Turkey: Therapy center looks to heal wounds of Syrian children of war From Daily Sabah: Two nongovernmental organizations inaugurated a rehabilitation center in Istanbul yesterday for Syrian children and their mothers traumatized by the civil war in their country. The Psychosocial Support Center in Istanbul's Fatih district, a hub for displaced Syrians who fled to Turkey after war broke out in their country four years ago, will provide therapy to distressed children and their families. Mevlüt Yurtseven, director of the Alliance of International Doctors, one of the NGOs operating the center, said Syrian children underwent the most severe trauma during the war and they aimed to help them to recover. The center will serve 240 children and their mothers in six-monthly terms during which they will undergo psychotherapy, art therapy including other forms of therapy. Both mothers and children will be able to attend the lifelong learning courses that aim to help traumatized children forget their past troubles and boost their self-confidence, NGO officials said. Apart from children, the center will cater to Syrian women in need of legal and social counseling and offer Turkish classes. Turkey is home to nearly 1.8 million Syrians and over 260,000 Syrians living in tent camps built by the Turkish government in provinces near the Turkish-Syrian border, while others either reside in their own homes, in rental houses or squat in abandoned buildings and parks. Psychological therapy and social support are provided for Syrians in camps but those not living in camps have no prospect of therapy. Australia: new concept takes counselling into the great outdoors From www.dailytelegraph.com.au: If EXERCISE is just as good as medication in treating depression then Ryde psychologist Jo-Anne Sammons could be on to an absolute lifesaver – counselling in the great outdoors. It was while completing a course at the Black Dog Institute, which looked at the success of using exercise to treat mild and moderate depression, that Ms Sammons came up with the idea of walking and talking. “I’d been thinking about it for a couple of years,’’ she said. “I had a client with a newborn baby and she had post-natal depression. I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could do this outside where she could push the baby in a pram’. “When you are outside you can practise mindfulness, focusing on the sun on your face, you get the benefit of exercise and some people just feel more comfortable being side-by-side – particularly men.’’ Holland: Dutch study on diabetes reports effectiveness of mindfulness-based psychotherapy From Diabetes News Journal: In a recent study published in the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic, a team of Dutch researchers led by professor Paul Emmelkamp assessed the long-term clinical outcomes of psychotherapy in patients with diabetes. Patients with diabetes often report depressive symptoms, a comorbidity that has a negative impact in clinical outcomes and mortality. The burden of depression is increased by the fact that it is a chronic and progressive condition, with high rates of relapse. Recently, evidence has shown that Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is effective and beneficial as a psychological treatment for patients with depressive symptoms. The method is also beneficial for relapse prevention. VIEWPOINTS Equality at work is still a pipedream for people with mental health problems From Clare Allan in The Guardian: One of the very few things the last government did to make life easier for people with mental health problems was to introduce legislation preventing employers from asking about the health of an applicant before making a job offer. (There are some exceptions. You cannot apply to MI6 if you’ve ever been diagnosed with either “manic depression” or schizophrenia, for example.) While this change was long overdue and extremely welcome, that such legislation is needed is indicative of the fact that true equality, equality whereby the full range of human experience is regarded as equally valid and potentially useful, is still pretty much a pipedream for the vast majority of people with mental health problems. The best we can hope for is that nobody will find out. This seems a pity. It’s a pity for the person forced to try and conceal the gaps in their CV by means of extended periods of “overseas travel”, career breaks and whatever else, like brushing strands of hair across a bald patch. But it’s a pity for employers, too, who must assess candidates without access to information on the full range of skills and experience they may have to offer. How ketamine is revolutionizing the way we treat depression From Dr. Keith Ablow in Fox News: I have now treated approximately one hundred patients with intravenous ketamine. The results mirror those of research trials on the treatment; more than two thirds of my patients have experienced dramatic recoveries. Their profoundly low mood, lack of energy, decreased self-esteem and even suicidal thinking very frequently yields entirely to the ketamine infusions. And while the results from ketamine may last weeks or months, that is often more than enough time to allow other medications and psychotherapy to permanently rid patients of their suffering. Have your feelings without your feelings having you Dr. Gary Trosclair in Huffington Post: I've noticed that most people come in to therapy with some preconception about what to do with their feelings in session: Some believe that venting will help them to heal, others feel that it will be most helpful to remain distanced from their feelings so that they can analyze them. They're both right. And they're both wrong. It's the use of both of these modes in alternation that's most helpful -- though I think that there are better ways to describe them than "venting" and "analyzing." We need to value our feelings and use them rather than trying to get rid of them through either venting or analyzing. I've found that the best way to do this is to let feelings rise into consciousness, fully experience them, contain them and learn from them, and then decide what to do about them. This means expressing feelings without reacting to them impulsively, and then making conscious decisions about how to live based on what we learn from them. This whole process could take minutes or years. Some feelings take a long time to fully rise into conscious, and to be fully experienced and fully understood. Others emerge quickly. “This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts,” President Obama said. “When all Americans are treated as equal, we are all more free.” Same-sex marriage has been legal in England, Scotland and Wales since 2014. A significant proportion of humanity is gay—the U.K. government puts the estimate at 5-7 percent of the population—and there’s no reason to suppose this hasn’t been so since time immemorial. Yet for centuries, it was illegal. As long ago as 1290 homosexuality was mentioned in English common law as a punishable offence. It wasn’t decriminalized until 1967. The world of psychotherapy has been no more enlightened—it perhaps has even been somewhat reactionary, lagging behind society and clinging to the old social “norms" for as long as possible. Homosexuality was long seen as aberrant, a pathology, a mental illness. It was only removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as recently 1973, and even made a brief reappearance—“ego-dystonic homosexuality”—in 1980. Beliefs in “conversion therapy” persist today, though there’s a rising chorus of complaints—and lawsuits—against it. Common sense will prevail. But there’s a long way to go. It’s still illegal to be gay in 75 countries and still punishable by death in 10. In the civilized west, meanwhile, plenty of countries don’t yet allow same sex marriage—including Northern Ireland—and homophobia is hardly a thing of the past. This all has a profound effect on mental health. Studies show for instance a greater prevalence of psychiatric complaints among gay people in states where same-sex marriage was banned compared to those in states where it wasn’t. This should not be a surprise—it’s hardly a revelation that oppression is not great for psychological well-being. We all deserve “equal dignity in the eyes of the law,” as one of the 5 “yes” judges, Justice Anthony Kennedy, put it in his closing argument. We all deserve the opportunity “not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions.” There are hundreds of millions of people on this earth who are attracted to the opposite sex, and hundreds of millions who are attracted to the same sex. This simple fact of life is so basic, so incontrovertable, so banal, that you wonder what all the fuss is about. Can’t we all just live and let live? —John Barton Supreme Court decision really good for health From Huffington Post: The Supreme Court of the United States made a historic ruling on same-sex marriage on Friday, voting 5 to 4 in favor of legalizing all unions. Not only does this allow everyone to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation, but it's also a step forward for mental health in a community that's often stigmatized. The SCOTUS decision is a leap in the right direction -- especially when it comes to boosting the mental health of LGBT individuals. According to the American Psychological Association, marriage boosts psychosocial and mental health due to the moral, social and even economic support extended to married couples in our society -- and denial of those rights may impose certain risks when it comes to well-being. A 2012 University of California, Los Angeles study found that psychological distress is lower among gay, lesbian and bisexual couples who are allowed to be legally married, compared with those in unions that are not legally recognized. In other words, science suggests that letting people marry who they want boosts mental and maybe even physical health. The UCLA study isn't the only evidence that champions legalized same-sex marriage for this reason. Around 2004, when state bans on same-sex marriage started to peak, the National Institutes of Mental Health conducted a survey that examined respondents' mental health. Results showed gay, lesbian or bisexual individuals who lived in states where their unions were banned experienced a notable increase in psychiatric disorders, NPR reported, including mood disorders and alcohol-use disorder. U.K. NEWS Black and minority ethnic people are shortchanged by mental health services From The Guardian: Ramone is in his mid-20s and with his family emigrated to the UK around 10 years ago from eastern Europe. He developed a severe mental illness that requires long-term care, but is not eligible for treatment. This means that when he becomes extremely ill, he is sectioned (usually by the police) and admitted to a mental health unit where he is medicated to a point where he can be released, with no care afterwards. This pattern has repeated itself for six years. People from some black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds are more likely to use crisis mental health care. Racism, poor mental health services and stigma are often cited as the reasons for this inequality. However, once in crisis care, many people like Ramone find the care they are offered does not work for them. His was one of dozens of stories we collected at the Race Equality Foundation to show the experiences of BME people, and was used as evidence by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in their review of mental health crisis care. What we found mirrored much of the CQC’s findings. People had generally had bad experiences in a crisis system that left them feeling disempowered. They often didn’t believe staff would be caring and compassionate. When asked whether they had complained, they normally responded that they felt nothing would change as a result. Male matters: 'Psychologists should lead the way on male mental health' From Telegraph.co.uk: A group of Britain's most senior psychologists are so concerned about the unique – and increasingly fatal – problems facing modern men, they are urgently calling for a dedicated Male Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. Although there has been a women's section of the BPS since 1988, there is no male equivalent, even though “vast public health issues” face men, including the fact they are three to four times more likely to commit suicide. Today, eminent psychologists and keynote speakers will gather at the second annual Male Psychology Conference at University College London to address this pressing matter. To meet criteria, a mere one per cent of BPS members – around 500 signatures – must vote for it. As 300 have already done so, that means a mere 200 further signatures are needed to make their dream a reality. Mental health problems rise among teenagers From The Times: Teenagers are suffering growing problems with mental health, reporting difficulties with sleep, anxiety and eating disorders, according to two studies. One study found that more than a third of older teenagers had suffered sleeplessness in recent months as they wrestled with anxious thoughts and stress. A second found that eating disorder admissions in under-19s had almost tripled in ten years. U.S.A. NEWS Could brain scans help guide treatment for OCD? From HealthDay: Psychotherapy can help some people avoid the disruptive behaviors linked to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and a new study suggests that brain scans can help spot those patients for whom the therapy will be most effective. The treatment is called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It works by placing patients in controlled situations where they are exposed to anxiety-causing stimuli, so that they gradually learn to deal better with these situations. "Cognitive behavioral therapy is in many cases very effective, at least in the short term," said Dr. Jamie Feusner, an associate professor of psychiatry at University of California, Los Angeles, and director of the Semel Institute's Adult OCD Program. However, the treatment is "costly, time-consuming, difficult for patients and, in many areas, not available," Feusner noted in a UCLA news release. So, "if someone will end up having their symptoms return [after treatment], it would be useful to know before they get treatment," he reasoned. SAME-SEX MARRIAGE “A victory for love” Schopenhauer said all truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. One such supposedly controversial truth is the idea that regardless of gender, two consenting adults should be allowed to marry each other. This hardly earth-shattering concept took a massive step towards becoming self-evident when America’s Supreme Court declared on Friday that same-sex marriages are now legal in all 50 states, with 5 of the 9 court judges ruling that any attempt to ban them is now unconstitutional. The narrow majority was hailed as a “victory for love.” Horses that heal: how equine therapy is helping people find peace of mind From The Guardian: It’s Saturday night in downtown Long Beach, California, and laughter can be heard from the streets below. Sarah Smith is sprawled on her bed, diligently peeling through sociology notes, preparing for her impending exams. An acoustic guitar rests against her bed, and a colorful gay-pride flag is pinned next to her bookshelf. At first glance, Sarah comes across as a typical college student – but her serious blue eyes sometimes betray a history of violence, abandonment and emotional trauma. ...Horses make great companions for psychotherapy because they can mirror and respond to human behavior. Being herding animals, they rely on an acute stream of sensory data to sense safety or danger; they can also hear the human heartbeat within four feet, and research on heart-rate variability indicates that horses have a profound ability to synchronize their own heartbeat with that of human beings. When people are introduced to the herd environment for therapy, horses respond within the same spectrum of physical and emotional responses that govern their own behavior, allowing therapists an insight into the inner psychology of the client. Clouds hung dramatically low above the stables of Ortega Equestrian Centre in San Juan Capistrano and in the main arena, a herd of three mares donated by the nonprofit Otra Mas were awaiting Sarah’s arrival. The program director, Carol Caddes, is a horse lover and licensed marriage and family therapist with over 20 years of experience. Sarah, for her part, had very little experience with horses and had never undergone any form of emotional treatment outside of medication and traditional office-based talk-therapy. WORLD NEWS South Africa: Counselling on wheels in Khayelitsha From AllAfrica.com: "It will be like an emotional ambulance." This is the vision of 28-year-old Banetsi Mphunga: a mobile psychology clinic in Khayelitsha which will see kids in the township receive free help dealing with psychological trauma. "I grew up in Khayelitsha. I am a registered counsellor by profession. The idea of the mobile clinic started after realising the need for psychological services here in the township. I realised this from the kids that I worked with in a previous programme; it was an after school care programme. I was a programme manager for psycho-social skills, high school level, which is the group that is most vulnerable when it comes to substance abuse and gangsterism." Mphunga said while working with children he found that some had problems that needed psychological interventions. "They always manifested in front of other children and I had to constantly intervene.” ...Mphunga said he was familiar with the kinds of problems that today's youth face especially when it comes to substance abuse. "I also experimented with drugs while growing up, I started smoking weed and then from there I did mandrax, but luckily I managed to stop before I became an addict and before my family found out. But these days, kids are not that lucky." Mphunga bought a green Volkswagen Microbus popularly known as iCaraCara, in May. He has already used it for a study group consisting of four kids. "A Combi is more or less the same size of the rooms that I have viewed that I would be using and running the practise from.” Yoga can cure India's rising mental health issues From NDTV: Leading mental health experts have advocated Yoga as an efficacious tool for managing rising mental health issues in India, a statement said ahead of the International Yoga Day. Crediting Yoga as an effective tool in holistic maintenance of health, Sunil Mittal, a senior psychiatrist at Cosmos Institute of Mental Health and Behavioral Science (CIMBS), New Delhi, said Yoga is beneficial as an "adjunct to mainline treatment". "Yoga can be an effective preventive tool in fighting stress and other mental health concerns, and while Yoga may not be an alternate to medical intervention, it can be beneficial as an adjunct to mainline treatment," he said. Sharing the experience of his team at CIMBS, Mittal added: "Yoga and medical intervention can compliment each other well." "By combining the two, we have seen positive outcomes in the over-all well-being of our patients," he said. VIEWPOINT Do I need therapy? How do I find a good therapist? From Judith S. Beck PhD in the Huffington Post: You may not need therapy if you are weathering the trials and tribulations life throws at you pretty well. If you are basically emotionally healthy, have good problem-solving skills and call on a support network when you need help, you are probably already dealing with your challenges effectively. You certainly should consider therapy if you have psychological problems, psychiatric symptoms, a medical condition with psychological components, difficulty implementing a health care plan, disturbances in your relationships or your functioning or other pressing difficulties you can't resolve on your own or within your social network. You may find therapy desirable, however, to improve your life: to identify your core values, set goals, reduce stress, function more effectively, get unstuck, gain a different perspective, solve or cope better with a problem, accept an unmodifiable situation, make an important decision, improve your mood or get you started in making lifestyle or relationship changes -- that is, if you (even with the help of family and friends) don't seem to be able to bring about or sustain the changes you want to make. Or if you're uncertain about what changes you should make. Schwarzenegger: marriage counselling the ‘biggest mistake I’ve ever made’ From www.thestar.com: Schwarzenegger, 67, opened up to Howard Stern about the collapse of his marriage — and the counselling that didn’t help. “This was without any doubt the biggest setback and the biggest failure,” the former governor said of his split with Maria Shriver. “. . . You really feel like: ‘I’m to blame for it. It was me that screwed up.’ You can’t point the finger at anyone else.” Stern said that when he was divorced in 2001 — from a wife he paid tribute to in the 1997 film “Howard Stern: Private Parts” — he saw a psychiatrist. “Did you seek out therapy?” he asked Schwarzenegger. “Yes,” Schwarzenegger said. “. . . It was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made because that guy was so full of s---.” Schwarzenegger said Shriver talked him into counselling, but he was met with “nonsense talk” that was “counterproductive to our future relationship.” “Maria talked me into it,” Schwarzenegger said. “I went and I felt instinctively maybe I shouldn’t go because I know I screwed up. I don’t have to go to anyone to have him explain to me anything. I apologized to Maria. I apologized to the kids and then tried to move forward.” Schwarzenegger made it clear that this was not a Tom Cruise-like rant against psychiatry. “I think people should get help when they need help,” he said. “. . . I’m not against that, but in my particular case it was not helpful.” Schwarzenegger said his family is now in a much better place, recounting a story in which he was met with balloons and gifts from his four children by Shriver and Shriver herself at a premiere of the new “Terminator” film. “That is the relationship I was really looking forward to after this complicated bump,” he said. Stern said he was moved “almost to tears” by Schwarzenegger’s success in repairing his relationship with his family. |
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AuthorJohn Barton is a counsellor, psychotherapist, blogger and writer with a private practice in Marylebone, Central London. To contact, click here. |