Recovery residences and long-term addiction recovery
via OUP Blog by Leonard A. Jason, Amy A. Mericle, Douglas L. Polcin, and William L. White
Drug abuse and addiction are among the costliest of health problems, totaling approximately $428 billion annually. People recovering from substance abuse disorders face many obstacles in our current health care system. Dropout is common from detoxification and acute treatment programs, and many people who dropout relapse. This cycle often repeats many times with high personal and social costs.
It has become increasingly clear that detoxification and short-term treatment programs are insufficient to ensure success; for most people with substance use disorders continued longer-term support following treatment is necessary. There are a number of community-based organizations that provide support to those following treatment, including self-help organizations such as AA.
Unfortunately, groups such as AA do not provide needed housing, employment, or reliable sober-living environments. Halfway houses and therapeutic communities are one type of environmental support for many following substance abuse treatment. However, they have a number of limitations including length of stay, high cost, and required completion or involvement in some type of formal treatment.
Continue reading noting that the writers are talking about services in the USA and that the original article was written in 2013
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Saturday, 17 December 2016
Friday, 16 December 2016
The Interface between the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act...
via Current Awareness by sally: Fennella Morris QC, Thirty Nine Essex Street Chambers
"There are, in one sense, multiple interfaces between the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005: those concerning medical treatment, welfare and finances as well as restriction and deprivation of liberty. This paper focuses upon the latter since there is a confusing line of authority developing on the topic, and because there remain a number of questions to be answered and problems to be solved. It is fair to say that today's talk perhaps raises more questions than it provides answers."
Full story (PDF)
Thirty Nine Essex Street, 15th October 2012 Source: www.39essex.com
================
Please note: This is me playing catch-up and picking only those items which, although old, I believe are still relevant. Hazel
"There are, in one sense, multiple interfaces between the Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005: those concerning medical treatment, welfare and finances as well as restriction and deprivation of liberty. This paper focuses upon the latter since there is a confusing line of authority developing on the topic, and because there remain a number of questions to be answered and problems to be solved. It is fair to say that today's talk perhaps raises more questions than it provides answers."
Full story (PDF)
Thirty Nine Essex Street, 15th October 2012 Source: www.39essex.com
================
Please note: This is me playing catch-up and picking only those items which, although old, I believe are still relevant. Hazel
Thursday, 28 July 2016
A Higher Power for Those Who Don’t Believe in a Higher Power
via Psych Central World of Psychology by Ilissa Ducoat
This article is not directed toward individuals who do not find themselves struggling to embrace a Higher Power of their understanding while working toward recovery. It is directed at those who may want to embrace something, yet cannot identify with what they are comfortable.
Continue reading
This article is not directed toward individuals who do not find themselves struggling to embrace a Higher Power of their understanding while working toward recovery. It is directed at those who may want to embrace something, yet cannot identify with what they are comfortable.
Continue reading
Monday, 6 June 2016
Mindful exercise and meditation for the ageing
via OUP Blog by Helen Lavretsky
Global population is aging rapidly. Over the next four decades the number of individuals aged 60 years and older will nearly triple to more than 2 billion in 2050 (UN, 2013). With the ageing of the population, the burden and cost of chronic disease will escalate worldwide. In order to ensure healthy and successful aging and reduce the cost of care for this huge increase, building resilience and well-being among the ageing becomes a top priority for individuals, families, and society at large. Complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) is well positioned to offer interventions leading to prevention of major mental and physical diseases of ageing and improve the quality of life for aging individuals and their families.
Continue reading
Global population is aging rapidly. Over the next four decades the number of individuals aged 60 years and older will nearly triple to more than 2 billion in 2050 (UN, 2013). With the ageing of the population, the burden and cost of chronic disease will escalate worldwide. In order to ensure healthy and successful aging and reduce the cost of care for this huge increase, building resilience and well-being among the ageing becomes a top priority for individuals, families, and society at large. Complementary and integrative medicine (CIM) is well positioned to offer interventions leading to prevention of major mental and physical diseases of ageing and improve the quality of life for aging individuals and their families.
Continue reading
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Youth suicide and bullying: what’s the connection?
via OUP Blog by Dorothy Espelage and Peter Goldblum
The role of bullying in suicide among our young people has been intensely scrutinized in both media and research. As the deleterious impacts on mental and physical health for both perpetrators and targets – suicide being the most severe – become more evident, calls for framing of the problem from a public health framework have increased. A scientifically grounded educational and public health approach to both bullying and suicide prevention is required.
So let’s look at the science regarding the connection between bullying and suicide. As with most highly emotional phenomena, there has been a tendency to both overstate and minimize the connection. As Jeffrey Duong and Catherine Bradshaw point out: while the prevalence of bullying is high (approximately 20% to 28%), “most children who are bullied do not become suicidal.” At the same time, children who have been bullied have an increased risk of mental and physical problems. Melissa Holt warns us that bullying should be considered one of several factors that increase a young persons risk for suicide. We must be careful, though, not to confuse correlation with causation. That is to say, that bullying most typically has an indirect effect on a young person taking their life, rather than being the sole cause. Finally, the suicide rate (both attempts and completions) among our young people is unacceptably high and requires systematic efforts for prevention and intervention.
Continue reading
The role of bullying in suicide among our young people has been intensely scrutinized in both media and research. As the deleterious impacts on mental and physical health for both perpetrators and targets – suicide being the most severe – become more evident, calls for framing of the problem from a public health framework have increased. A scientifically grounded educational and public health approach to both bullying and suicide prevention is required.
So let’s look at the science regarding the connection between bullying and suicide. As with most highly emotional phenomena, there has been a tendency to both overstate and minimize the connection. As Jeffrey Duong and Catherine Bradshaw point out: while the prevalence of bullying is high (approximately 20% to 28%), “most children who are bullied do not become suicidal.” At the same time, children who have been bullied have an increased risk of mental and physical problems. Melissa Holt warns us that bullying should be considered one of several factors that increase a young persons risk for suicide. We must be careful, though, not to confuse correlation with causation. That is to say, that bullying most typically has an indirect effect on a young person taking their life, rather than being the sole cause. Finally, the suicide rate (both attempts and completions) among our young people is unacceptably high and requires systematic efforts for prevention and intervention.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
3 Ways to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others On Social Media
an article by Emily Holland on the World of Psychology blog from PsychCentral
Holland spells it out in better words than I could ever use
“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.”I’ve been saying this to people for a long time.
Steve Furtick
Holland spells it out in better words than I could ever use
Anxiety in non-human primates
via OUP Blog by Kristine Coleman and Peter J. Pierre
Anxiety disorders adversely affect millions of people and account for substantial morbidity in the United States. Anxiety disrupts an individual’s ability to effectively engage and interact in social and non-social situations. The onset of anxiety disorders may begin at an early age or occur in response to life events. Thus, the effects of anxiety are broad ranging, affecting both family and work dynamics, and may limit an individual’s quality of life.
Continue reading
Anxiety disorders adversely affect millions of people and account for substantial morbidity in the United States. Anxiety disrupts an individual’s ability to effectively engage and interact in social and non-social situations. The onset of anxiety disorders may begin at an early age or occur in response to life events. Thus, the effects of anxiety are broad ranging, affecting both family and work dynamics, and may limit an individual’s quality of life.
Continue reading
Sunday, 29 May 2016
New Study Examines the Effects of Prayer on Mental Health
via PsychCentral by Traci Pedersen
Continue reading
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the eveningWhat are your deepest beliefs regarding the nature of God? When you pray, do you talk to a loving, protective and easily accessible God? Or does God feel strangely distant and unreachable? Perhaps a disciplinarian? A new study says that your beliefs about the “character” of God determine the effects of prayer on your mental health.
Mahatma Gandhi
Continue reading
Saturday, 28 May 2016
Childhood adversity affects adult brain and body functions, researchers find
Poverty can impair working memory while physical abuse can raise risk of cardiovascular disease, scientists claim
via The Guardian by Alok Jha, science correspondent
Note: This is quite an old piece but I have not seen anything in the interim to refute these findings. However, please be aware that I have missed a lot with being physically and mentally unwell.
via The Guardian by Alok Jha, science correspondent
Note: This is quite an old piece but I have not seen anything in the interim to refute these findings. However, please be aware that I have missed a lot with being physically and mentally unwell.
Friday, 20 May 2016
Orthorexia Takes Healthy Eating to an Unhealthy Extreme
via Big Think by Natalie Shoemaker
Our relationship with food has evolved to a point of complexity as some people strive to find the “perfect” diet. Indeed, studies and individual testimonies have shown how powerful a balanced diet can be to help us stay healthy in mind and body. But Jen Schwartz from Popular Science writes that researchers are bringing attention to an eating disorder that's causing some people to go overboard with healthy eating: it’s called orthorexia.
Continue reading
Our relationship with food has evolved to a point of complexity as some people strive to find the “perfect” diet. Indeed, studies and individual testimonies have shown how powerful a balanced diet can be to help us stay healthy in mind and body. But Jen Schwartz from Popular Science writes that researchers are bringing attention to an eating disorder that's causing some people to go overboard with healthy eating: it’s called orthorexia.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Online Psychotherapy More Effective than Face-to-Face
via Big Think by Orion Jones
In a clinical trial of 62 patients diagnosed with moderate depression, individuals who received online psychotherapy were relieved of more symptoms than those who saw psychotherapists face-to-face. Surprisingly, those treated by correspondence also rated their treatment sessions as more personal.
“The treatment consisted of eight sessions with different established techniques that stem from cognitive behaviour therapy and could be carried out both orally and in writing. Patients treated online had to perform one predetermined written task per therapy unit – such as querying their own negative self-image. They were known to the therapist by name.”
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
This was a small trial conducted a while ago. I could not find any follow up but found the idea interesting. I wonder if CBT online would have been better for me – I did not do very well with the six sessions from the NHS!
In a clinical trial of 62 patients diagnosed with moderate depression, individuals who received online psychotherapy were relieved of more symptoms than those who saw psychotherapists face-to-face. Surprisingly, those treated by correspondence also rated their treatment sessions as more personal.
“The treatment consisted of eight sessions with different established techniques that stem from cognitive behaviour therapy and could be carried out both orally and in writing. Patients treated online had to perform one predetermined written task per therapy unit – such as querying their own negative self-image. They were known to the therapist by name.”
Continue reading
Hazel’s comment:
This was a small trial conducted a while ago. I could not find any follow up but found the idea interesting. I wonder if CBT online would have been better for me – I did not do very well with the six sessions from the NHS!
Thursday, 12 May 2016
Anorexia and its Metaphors
an article by Susannah Wilson (Department of French Studies, University of Warwick) published in Exchanges: the Warwick Research Journal
Abstract
This article highlights questions about a number of popularly held beliefs regarding anorexia nervosa.
The beliefs this article addresses include that it is a ‘disease’ caused by socio-cultural pressures on women to be excessively thin or self-effacing; and that in the post-war period the problem has increased to the level of an epidemic.
Using the influential insights offered by cultural critic Susan Sontag’s consideration of ‘illness as metaphor’, the article examines the ways in which these beliefs are culturally constructed through metaphorical thinking. Without discounting the socio-cultural explanations for the increased diagnosis of anorexia, it suggests that the breaking down of these powerful metaphors would be constructive in order to achieve a more measured cultural view of the problem.
Drawing on key publications from the last 50 years, contemporary press reports and historical research on anorexia I argue that the myths surrounding the disorder confer on it a potency that is out of proportion to its cultural importance.
Continue reading (full text PDF)
Abstract
This article highlights questions about a number of popularly held beliefs regarding anorexia nervosa.
The beliefs this article addresses include that it is a ‘disease’ caused by socio-cultural pressures on women to be excessively thin or self-effacing; and that in the post-war period the problem has increased to the level of an epidemic.
Using the influential insights offered by cultural critic Susan Sontag’s consideration of ‘illness as metaphor’, the article examines the ways in which these beliefs are culturally constructed through metaphorical thinking. Without discounting the socio-cultural explanations for the increased diagnosis of anorexia, it suggests that the breaking down of these powerful metaphors would be constructive in order to achieve a more measured cultural view of the problem.
Drawing on key publications from the last 50 years, contemporary press reports and historical research on anorexia I argue that the myths surrounding the disorder confer on it a potency that is out of proportion to its cultural importance.
Continue reading (full text PDF)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Mental illness and the NHS
via Latest articles from CentrePiece – The Magazine for Economic Performance – produced by the CEP
(CEPCP380. September 2012)
Richard Layard and colleagues reveal the shocking scale of mental illness in Britain – and how little the NHS does about it.
Full article: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp380.pdf
This article summarises 'How Mental Illness Loses Out in the NHS', a report by CEP's Mental Health Policy Group. http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/special/cepsp26.pdf
OK, this is old, very old, but has anything changed?
It seems that the Centre for Economic Policy’s group has not done more research but there are other resources using the title “Mental Health Policy Group&rdquo.
1. A Manifesto for Better Mental Health: The Mental Health Policy Group – General Election 2015
https://www.mind.org.uk/media/1113989/a-manifesto-for-better-mental-health.pdf
2. Spending Review 2015: response from the Mental Health Policy Group
Andy Bell, chair of the Mental Health Policy Group, a coalition of leading mental health organisations*, has today issued the following initial response to the Government’s Spending Review: http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/News/spending-review-2015
Now that I'm seriously playing catch-up with this blog I have signed up to the group's newsletter.
(CEPCP380. September 2012)
Richard Layard and colleagues reveal the shocking scale of mental illness in Britain – and how little the NHS does about it.
Full article: http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp380.pdf
This article summarises 'How Mental Illness Loses Out in the NHS', a report by CEP's Mental Health Policy Group. http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/special/cepsp26.pdf
OK, this is old, very old, but has anything changed?
It seems that the Centre for Economic Policy’s group has not done more research but there are other resources using the title “Mental Health Policy Group&rdquo.
1. A Manifesto for Better Mental Health: The Mental Health Policy Group – General Election 2015
https://www.mind.org.uk/media/1113989/a-manifesto-for-better-mental-health.pdf
2. Spending Review 2015: response from the Mental Health Policy Group
Andy Bell, chair of the Mental Health Policy Group, a coalition of leading mental health organisations*, has today issued the following initial response to the Government’s Spending Review: http://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/News/spending-review-2015
Now that I'm seriously playing catch-up with this blog I have signed up to the group's newsletter.
Sunday, 8 May 2016
No apologies
Interesting items have simply been saved by emailing a link to this blog. The majority are still sitting there anything up to three, yes three, years later.
This time last year I told people at church that I would include the information resources I had prepared for their "Mental Health Matters" day into this blog.
You’re right. I have not yet done it and this year’s day is in six days.
Trigger for doing something?
Having got my main blog looking a bit more sensible I found an article I thought should go in here.
Oops.
Lots to sort.
But, as the title says, no apologies.
Poor mental health and even worse physical health over the last year have left their mark.
27 January 2016 I had my right hip replaced, by the end of March I had managed to get off the addictive codeine and now, on 8 May, I am back “on form”.
This time last year I told people at church that I would include the information resources I had prepared for their "Mental Health Matters" day into this blog.
You’re right. I have not yet done it and this year’s day is in six days.
Trigger for doing something?
Having got my main blog looking a bit more sensible I found an article I thought should go in here.
Oops.
Lots to sort.
But, as the title says, no apologies.
Poor mental health and even worse physical health over the last year have left their mark.
27 January 2016 I had my right hip replaced, by the end of March I had managed to get off the addictive codeine and now, on 8 May, I am back “on form”.
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