Minister sets out new mental health strategy

By Simeon Brody on September 2, 2010 11:43 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Care services minister Paul Burstow has outlined his vision for a revised mental health strategy, in an opinion piece for Community Care.

In it he says he wants to put mental health on an equal footing with physical health and focus more on the factors that cause mental illness.

While these sentiments are to be welcomed I wonder how they can be squared with a government that seems to be taking such relish in cutting public services.

I also think his criticisms of the previous government's record on mental health were a little unfair as I thought it was an area where they made some progress.

Social relationships, food supplements and changing the mind

By Simeon Brody on September 1, 2010 3:36 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Social workers have been saying it for years but now it seems the medical community is at last catching up. Commenting on recent research, which found that social relationships can have as big an impact on health and wellbeing as factors such as smoking, the journal PLoS Medicine has called for societies to look beyond the medical causes of disease.

Elsewhere, a small scale survey returned positive results when using a dietary supplement called SAMe alongside antidepressants in the treatment of major depression. I had never heard of SAMe but apparently it may work by increasing the availability of serotonin and dopamine. There are various safety concerns associated with it and about.com says:

People with bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and other psychiatric conditions should only use SAMe under the supervision of their healthcare provider. SAMe has been associated with hypomania and mania.
There's more information about it on Wikipedia. Proceed with caution. More research needed, I think.

There's a nice piece on Mindfulness and Psychotherapy on how you need to change your thought patterns if you want to change your life and how that takes real effort.

And finally a research resource for students - a search engine that finds papers that can be quoted in essays.

Why don't you switch off your television set and go for a walk instead?

By Simeon Brody on August 31, 2010 3:06 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
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This post is a homage to 70s and 80s kids TV programme Why Don't You, which exhorted viewers to "switch off their television sets and do something less boring instead" (after the programme had finished obviously).

I mention it because the Mail today reports that a psychologist has called for television to be banned for toddlers and severely rationed for other youngsters, to help protect their physical and mental health. Governments get involved in all sorts of other health advice, so why not advise on telly, he says. In principle I agree, but sitting the kids down in front of the TV can give parents a few precious moments of peace.

Once you've switched off the telly, you should get out there and take a walk. New research suggests regular walks can increase brain function.

(Pic courtesy of videocrab on Flickr)


The role of serotonin, psychodynamic therapy and mind-melding

By Simeon Brody on August 23, 2010 1:32 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
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Well, it turns out that the role played by serotonin in the brain is not as simple as was first supposed. Researchers have now discovered that depression and anxiety are associated with high levels of serotonin in certain parts of the brain. It had been assumed that serotonin boosts mood but the new discovery is prompting a rethink, argues New Scientist.

While high serotonin levels in some parts of the brain are mood enhancing in other parts they have negative effects. Tricky stuff but scientists hope better treatments will result.

Still with New Scientist and humans are capable of that old Klingon technique of mind melding apparently. Sort of, anyway.

A new study finds a connection between yoga and enhanced mood. It may be more effective than other forms of exercise apparently.

The Telegraph has a good piece by a psychiatrist about the mental health of service personnel and why more specialist support is needed.

And finally, psychotherapy is often accused of not having a solid evidence base but a study in American Psychologist (PDF) suggests this is not the case. With a few caveats, the authors says:

"the available evidence indicates that effect sizes for psychodynamic therapies are as large as those reported for other treatments that have been actively promoted as "empirically supported" and "evidence based."
He continues:

"...the evidence indicates that the benefits of psychodynamic treatment are lasting and not just transitory and appear to extend well beyond symptom remission."

Making the budget cuts - some social work ideas

By Simeon Brody on August 19, 2010 4:39 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
cash.jpgThe good people of Britain have been happily contributing to the government's spending cuts challenge, posting 44,000 suggestions so far, which we can now all vote on.

But are there any suggestions which relate to social care? There certainly are. For starters I searched for "social work" and it returned 57 results.

Interesting suggestions include:

Well those are the ones that caught my attention. If you find any good suggestions please do let me know.

The whole project seems to have generated a predictably varied selection of ideas and general rants. I suspect it might lead to a handful of short-lived initiatives which shave a little bit of money off the edges of the budget deficit but not a lot more.

(Photo courtesy of HowardLake on Flickr)

Mapping happiness on iPhone and quitting your job

By Simeon Brody on August 17, 2010 11:58 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
iphone lse.pngIf you happen to be one of those iPhone owners you might want to check out a new app by the London School of Economics which helps measure your happiness on a daily basis. The free mappiness app will anonymously collate all the information to build a national picture of happiness and how it is affected by environmental factors. Sounds like a good use of technology.

Elsewhere, have you thought of leaving your job recently? If the evidence on CareSpace is anything to go by, lots of social workers find themselves in rather unhappy working situations. Psychology Today has come up with eight good reasons to quit your job - although a recession is perhaps not the ideal time to be looking for another one.

Also today, NICE is consulting on draft recommendations for psychosis and co-existing substance misuse.

And achieving goals can help people in the early stages of dementia manage their condition, research has found.

Finally, there's a new blog out there dedicated to fostering wellbeing.

Superheroes and a new borderline personality disorder blog

By Simeon Brody on August 16, 2010 12:02 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
superheroes.jpg

Today's superheroes are not presenting a very useful role model for boys, US psychologists have argued. They are essentially gun-toting thugs who don't have the more rounded personalities of the superheroes of old.

I'm not sure about that - while most mainstream films are constantly striving to be "tougher" and more cynical what about the recent Spider Man films? Anyway, must move on.

Psychology Today have launched a new borderline personality disorder blog, which looks like it might be interesting. It will draw from social cognitive and affective neuroscience (SCAN) which aims to break down the Cartesian dualism between mind and body.

Finally, there is a rare story in the press where people talk about how they benefited from mental health services. Not quite sure the line "Mention the words "psychiatric unit" and many people use unkind phrases such as "nutters" and "psychos" was completely necessary though!

(Photo courtesy of nestor galina on flickr)


Sex and disability, positive practice and social work gifts

By Simeon Brody on August 13, 2010 5:09 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
instant social worker.pngThere's some great stuff on our social work forum CareSpace at the moment. Here are some examples:

(The image is a social worker magnet from CafePress.co.uk)

Cuts begin to bite as care home recruits donkey

By Simeon Brody on August 12, 2010 12:23 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
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Faced with a dramatic cut in funding, one care home has resorted to hiring a donkey to provide support for residents.

I'm only joking of course. What's really happening here is the result of savage cuts at the Care Quality Commission which has recruited a team of donkeys to carry out inspections as part of a desperate bid to save money.

Sorry, I'm joking again. This is actually a rather nice story about Rusty the donkey, who paid a visit to Hurst Hall care centre in Ashton. Apparently residents very much enjoyed stroking and petting the donkey, from the Elizabeth Svensden Trust. Pictured with Rusty is Hurst Hall resident Lillian Davis.

Five destructive mind habits

By Simeon Brody on August 10, 2010 1:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I forgot to include this in the morning's round-up but I thought it was quite interesting. Psych Central examines our destructive mind habits.
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