Jamie Pearson killed himself in toilet at Blackpool Victoria hospital after being admitted over painkiller overdose
The death of a 27-year-old man who killed himself in a hospital toilet after waiting 22 hours to be seen by the mental health team was “contributed to by neglect”, a coroner has ruled.
Jamie Pearson was admitted to Blackpool Victoria hospital’s A&E department after taking an overdose of high-strength painkillers on 17 August 2024.
Continue reading...Loughborough University and ONS study of 1 million school-age children reveals risks increase with longer absence
School absences “significantly contribute” to children’s mental ill health, according to research backed by the Office for National Statistics that shows the risks increase the longer a child is absent.
“Our research shows that the more times a child is absent from school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough University and the ONS, concluded.
Continue reading...Jury finds failings of worker before Ruth Szymankiewicz, 14, took own life amount to gross negligence manslaughter
A vulnerable 14-year-old girl was unlawfully killed when an agency support worker failed to keep her under observation at a secure psychiatric unit, an inquest jury has concluded.
The worker, who used a false identity, left Ruth Szymankiewicz alone even though she had complex mental health issues and was judged to need constant watching because she was a suicide risk.
In the UK, the youth suicide prevention charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Academic Heather Scott has been told by Home Office that being ‘acutely ill’ is not an exceptional circumstance
The Home Office is threatening to ban a Canadian academic from the UK after she was unable to renew her visa in time during a mental health crisis.
Dr Heather Scott has lived in Britain since she came in 2011 on a study visa. The renowned academic, whose area of research relates to Victorian cemeteries including Highgate, Brompton and Abney Park, is required to be based in London.
Continue reading...Analysis suggests long-term damage to wellbeing can be worse than for children experiencing physical abuse
Parents who ridicule, threaten or humiliate their children risk leaving them with a 64% higher chance of having poor mental health as an adult, a study has found.
The research also found physical abuse experienced among the research participants reduced over time, while verbal abuse increased.
Continue reading...An inquest into the former England cricketer’s death last year has recorded a conclusion of suicide
There were “failings” in the provision of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe’s care in the months before he died, a coroner has said, as a conclusion of suicide was recorded at an inquest.
Thorpe, 55, died on 4 August 2024 after being struck by a train at a railway station in Surrey.
Continue reading...Patient safety measure is part of 10-year plan to tackle poor standards in mental health and maternity services
The NHS is to become the first health system in the world to use AI to analyse hospital databases and catch potential safety scandals early, the government has said.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the technology will provide an early warning system which could detect patterns or trends and trigger urgent inspections. The scheme is part of the 10-year plan for the NHS that is due to be published by Wes Streeting this week.
Continue reading...Rates are higher in young women as in young men and mental ill health up across age groups, study shows
Sharp rises in rates of anxiety, depression and other disorders have led to one in four young people in England having a common mental health condition, an NHS survey shows, with young women more likely to report them than young men.
The study found that rates of such conditions in 16- to 24-year-olds have risen by more than a third in a decade, from 18.9% in 2014 to 25.8% in 2024.
More than a fifth (22.6%) of adults aged 16 to 64 have a common mental health condition, up from 18.9% in 2014.
More than one in four adults (25.2%) reported having had suicidal thoughts during their lifetime, including about a third of 16- 24-year-olds (31.5%) and 25- to 34-year-olds (32.9%).
Self-harm rates have quadrupled since 2000 and risen from 6.4% in 2014 to 10.3% in 2024, with the highest rates among 16- to 24-year-olds at 24.6%, especially young women at 31.7%.
Continue reading...Chronic exposure to inflammation may explain link to conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, researchers say
Living with an autoimmune disease may almost double the risk of mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, a study suggests.
The link may be explained by the chronic exposure to systemic inflammation that the autoimmune disease causes, researchers at the University of Edinburgh said.
Continue reading...Both parties have made closing submissions in their wage dispute before the NSW industrial relations tribunal
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Closing submissions have been heard in the long-running dispute between psychiatrists – who are pushing for a 25% pay increase – and the New South Wales department of health, bringing to a close a landmark legal action brought by the psychiatrists, who argue psychiatric care in NSW is facing “collapse” because of poor pay and conditions.
Over two days this week, the Industrial Relations Commission court in Sydney heard closing submissions from lawyers, before the full bench retired to consider their decision.
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Continue reading...Funding shortfalls and inadequate services are letting down people in psychiatric crises, the Bondi Junction stabbings inquest hears
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Joel Cauchi’s mother didn’t appear before the coronial inquest examining her son’s life and the day her son murdered six people at a popular Bondi Junction shopping centre. But her presence was often felt, taking shape in the form of notes she had written to his doctor or in a conversation with a police officer.
One of the most striking moments of the inquest was when Michele Cauchi, now in her mid-70s, was filmed via body-worn video camera on a police officer.
Continue reading...Elizabeth Young, who is mourning her ‘slightly goofy’ daughter Jade, gives emotional evidence that 2024 attack was due to ‘cumulative failures’
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The mother of Jade Young, a victim of the Bondi Junction stabbings, has described her daughter’s murder as the “stuff of nightmares” and the result of “years of neglect” within the mental health system.
Elizabeth Young told the New South Wales coroner’s court on Thursday that her words were “both a distillation and a manifestation of anguish”.
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Continue reading...Uinversity students’ mental health and wellbeing must be ‘prioritised alongside their studies’, argue campaigners
A review of student suicides in England dodged “the real issues” with universities, the parents of a student who killed herself before a class presentation have said.
The national review of higher education student suicide deaths, commissioned by the Department for Education, heard that families suffered “distressing experiences” at the hands of university administrators, and concluded that universities owed a “duty of candour” to relatives, including greater transparency and involvement.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...New study found a drop in enjoyment, trust and feelings of safety after year 7 and a largely positive primary experience
One in four pupils in England “disengage” when they move up to secondary school, with enjoyment, trust and a sense of feeling safe declining sharply, according to a new report.
After a largely positive experience at primary school where children report high levels of enjoyment, there is a “steep and lasting” drop in engagement after year 7 when pupils transfer to secondary at the age of 11, the survey of 100,000 pupils in England reveals.
Continue reading...Actor and daughter of country star shares heartbreaking story in docuseries of discovering her mom’s 2022 suicide
Ashley Judd has delivered her most complete account yet of the heart-wrenching moments during which she personally discovered her mother’s suicide in 2022 – and sought to ensure her parent let go of “her guilt and her shame” over what she had done at the conclusion of a long struggle with depression.
“I … told her how much I loved her, and it’s OK to go,” the actor said on The Judd Family: Truth Be Told.
Continue reading...Health worker describes 40-year-old as ‘compliant’ and ‘diligent’ patient but recalls 2020 phone call and a possible ‘warning sign’ of mental health relapse
A nurse at the Queensland medical practice where Joel Cauchi was treated for schizophrenia remembers him as a “compliant” and “diligent” patient, telling an inquest she vomited when she learned he had fatally stabbed six people at a Sydney shopping centre.
Cauchi, 40, killed Ashlee Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at Westfield Bondi Junction on 13 April last year before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.
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Continue reading...Swiss study finds wellbeing and life quality can be improved more than with insulin and other antidiabetic drugs
Weight loss jabs may be good for people’s mental health as well as helping curb their appetite, according to research.
A study by scientists from the University of Bern in Switzerland has found that appetite-suppressing injections also improve mood, wellbeing and quality of life more than insulin and other antidiabetic drugs.
Continue reading...The president’s little used social media platform offers him a forum for his nonstop haranguing and score-settling
No political leader has used social media quite like Donald Trump. But his recent posts on Truth Social, the social media platform he founded in 2021, have become increasingly bizarre: the president using the lack of scrutiny afforded by the platform’s small user base to truly let loose.
In the hundreds of “Truths” since he took office, Trump has variously used Truth Social to reimagine himself as a king and to urge Americans to “BE COOL!” as the stock market tanked in the wake of his trade war, the president’s seemingly random use of capital letters, punctuation and inaccurate spelling consistent across the messages.
Continue reading...Funding will not be continued next year after bill signed in 2022 helped schools hire more mental health workers
The Trump administration is moving to cancel $1bn in school mental health grants, saying they reflect the priorities of the previous administration.
Grant recipients were notified on Tuesday that the funding will not be continued after this year. A gun violence bill signed by Joe Biden in 2022 sent $1bn to the grant programs to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers.
Continue reading...Maintaining a positive mood and eating more fruit may also help lower risk, researchers find
Drinking champagne, eating more fruit, staying slim and maintaining a positive outlook on life could help reduce the risk of a sudden cardiac arrest, the world’s first study of its kind suggests.
Millions of people worldwide die every year after experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), when the heart stops pumping blood around the body without warning. They are caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, when the electrical system in the heart is not working properly. Without immediate treatment such as CPR, those affected will die.
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