Category Archives: Mental health

How a digital detox day could help people take control of downtime

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Offline Club’s first global event on Sunday will begin with tips on how to be phone-free for 24 hours every week

Haunted by a pile of unread books? Or taunted by climbing equipment lurking in the cupboard? If you are one of the UK adults who spends on average five hours a day looking at screens rather than participating in pastimes, perhaps it’s time to join the offline revolution.

Instead of spending those five hours staring at a screen, you could read about 300 pages of a book, climb Mount Snowdon, or – depending on your pace – run a marathon. Some are even choosing to turn off their devices for the day.

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Young people addicted to ketamine a national problem, says UK expert

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Situation potentially fuelled by people unable to access mental health services self-medicating, clinic founder says

Young people becoming addicted to ketamine is a national problem that is growing rapidly, a leading addiction psychiatrist has said.

Specialist ketamine clinics have recorded a surge over the past two years in the numbers of young people coming through their doors, many of whom have struggled to engage with mainstream treatments. NHS and private clinics have also reported significant rises.

Owen Bowden-Jones, a consultant psychiatrist and founder of the pioneering Club Drug clinic, said he had seen a definite increase in young people after “a pretty big lift off” in ketamine’s popularity, making the drug a national problem.

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Dementia prescriptions jump 46% in a decade as Australia urged to prepare for ‘full impact’ of disease

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Neuroscientist says rapidly ageing population puts country at forefront of a health crisis

The number of dementia medication prescriptions has jumped by almost 50% in Australia in the past decade as more people seek out therapies that may slow the progression of the disease.

The latest report on dementia from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, released on Friday, revealed that health services for managing dementia have increased to accommodate 411,100 people.

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Commissioner condemns ‘failure of leadership’ in Australian defence force, urges greater focus on wellbeing of personnel

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After three years and more than 5,000 submissions, royal commission into veteran suicide hands down its full report. Here are its key points

Australian defence force personnel and veterans have suffered “a catastrophic failure of leadership at all levels” to prioritise their health and wellbeing, according to the head of a long-running royal commission into veteran suicide.

Nick Kaldas, the former New South Wales police deputy commissioner, made the comment on Monday shortly before the royal commission he chaired provided its final report to the federal government.

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‘Better than medication’: prescribing nature works, project shows

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Scheme helping people in England connect with nature led to better mental health, report finds

A major scheme helping people in England connect with nature led to big improvements in mental health, a report has found.

The prescribing of activities in nature to tackle mental ill health has benefited thousands of people across England, a government-backed project has shown.

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Australian teenagers’ mental health problems linked to vaping, study finds

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High school students with depression or poor wellbeing are twice as likely to have vaped at some time, survey of 5,000 shows

Australian high school students with symptoms of severe depression or poor wellbeing are twice as likely to have tried vaping, a new study has found.

The study also found one-fifth of students in years 7 and 8 had moderate to severe depression symptoms and demonstrated the need for early intervention targeting both mental health and vaping, experts said.

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Dangerous play: how online gaming purchases led an Australian youth into a secret gambling addiction

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Matthew’s* father had no idea his son was even gambling, let alone deep in debt, until he got a terrifying phone call

Vincent* didn’t know his 20-year-old son Matthew* was gambling until he took a phone call from him as he stood on a cliff’s edge after racking up thousands of dollars of debt.

Matthew was crying and revealed a gambling problem which had begun years earlier with online gaming, causing increasing debt. Matthew had opened up to another family member earlier that evening, who made him feel more ashamed, calling him an idiot.

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Suicide rates in England and Wales reach highest level since 1999

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Samaritans charity calls on government to invest in suicide prevention as it has with smoking reduction

Ministers have been urged to treat suicide as a public health crisis after the rate at which people killed themselves in England and Wales reached the highest level in more than two decades.

The official figures, described by the suicide prevention charity Samaritans as “worse than expected”, showed 6,069 suicides were registered in the two nations in 2023, up from 5,642 in 2022 and the highest rate since 1999.

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Sale of chemical used in suicides of three transgender women should be restricted, Victorian inquest finds

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Sodium nitrite has been used in dozens of deaths in the state and federal government should take action, coroner says

The sale of a chemical used by three transgender women who took their own lives should be restricted by the federal government, the Victorian coroner says, after an inquest heard it has been used in dozens of suicides in the state.

Victoria’s coroners court last year held an inquest into the suicides of five transgender women who died between 2020 and 2021, including that of Matt Byrne, 25, who took her life after a botched back yard surgery.

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‘Happiness recession’: UK 15-year-olds at bottom of European satisfaction league

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Quarter of British teenagers in age group report low life satisfaction, compared with 7% of their Dutch peers

More 15-year-olds are reporting low life satisfaction in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, amid what experts are describing as a “happiness recession” for British teenagers.

The group is at the bottom of European rankings in terms of life satisfaction across 27 nations, analysis by the Children’s Society reveals. In the UK 25% of 15-year-olds reported low life satisfaction, compared with 7% of Dutch children of the same age – the lowest level among any of the countries surveyed.

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‘Alarming’ surge in mental ill health among young people in face of ‘unprecedented’ challenges, experts warn

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Insecure employment, climate crisis and social media are driving ‘dangerous’ decline, research finds

Intergenerational inequality, unregulated social media, wage theft, insecure employment and the climate crisis are driving a “dangerous” and “alarming” global surge in mental ill health among youth, a consortium of health experts has warned.

There is an urgent need to address these driving factors and improve mental health treatments to stymie rates of premature death, disability and lost potential, all of which have escalated over the past two decades, the research from The Lancet Psychiatry Commission on youth mental health found.

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Nottingham attack preventable if NHS had ‘done its job’, health secretary says

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Wes Streeting says victims ‘might still be alive’ if health service had recognised Valdo Calocane’s risk to others

The health secretary said “three innocent people might still be alive” if the NHS had “done its job” in treating Valdo Calocane in the years running up to the Nottingham attacks.

Wes Streeting said the deaths of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates were “preventable if the NHS had been there when it should have been”.

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Nottingham attacks: series of errors led to Valdo Calocane being discharged, review finds

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CQC finds risk he presented to public was ‘not managed well’ before he killed three people in Nottingham last year

A “series of errors and misjudgments” in Valdo Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged, despite repeatedly not taking medication and showing signs of aggression, months before he killed three people in Nottingham, a report says.

A review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of the treatment that Calocane received from Nottinghamshire healthcare NHS foundation trust over two years between May 2020 and September 2022 found that “the risk he presented to the public was not managed well”.

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Doctor warned Valdo Calocane could kill, three years before Nottingham stabbings

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Family share medical records of Calocane’s mental illness with BBC that they say show missed opportunities to prevent attacks

A doctor warned that Valdo Calocane’s mental illness was so severe he could kill someone, three years before he stabbed three people to death in Nottingham, his medical records reveal.

Calocane’s family, who were shown the records only after he was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital for the attacks, have criticised the missed opportunities they believe could have prevented the killings.

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Teen mental health in US has improved post-pandemic, new CDC data says

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Schools’ investment in social-emotional support appears to pay off, especially for girls, but work is ‘far from complete’

A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows levels of sadness and hopelessness are improving in some US teenagers, and notably among girls.

However,, the survey and experts said, challenges remain, as some metrics worsened in the most recent report. Of particular concern is a growing group of students who missed school because they did not feel safe.

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‘Feels quite cruel’: Australians with ADHD scrambling to find medication amid shortage

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Patient says pharmacists she went to were suspicious because Vyvanse is a stimulant, causing her the ‘most dehumanising medical experience’ of her life

Emma* says she was made to feel “like a drug addict” for simply trying to access medication for her ADHD.

When she was prescribed Vyvanse in June, she was relieved to realise she had found a treatment that would make it easier to live with the developmental disorder that affects the brain’s executive functioning.

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Challenges to deprivation of liberty orders in England soar by a third

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Campaigners say vulnerable people receiving care are being deprived of their freedom in order to save money

Growing numbers of vulnerable people receiving care are challenging deprivation of liberty (Dol) orders that can mean they are locked up or kept under restrictive supervision.

Dol orders are meant as a last resort but campaigners say the increase shows that too often people’s freedoms are restricted as a cheaper option.

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Cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could hit £86bn by 2050

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Study predicts overall economic cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke will rise by 61%

The cost of England’s four biggest killer diseases could rise to £86bn a year by 2050, prompting calls for a crackdown on alcohol, junk food and smoking.

The ageing population means the annual cost of cancer, heart disease, dementia and stroke combined will go from the £51.9bn recorded in 2018 to £85.6bn in 2050 – a rise of 61%.

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Overhaul UK benefits to tackle child poverty, charities urge

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Report warns of crisis of poverty and mental health which ‘casts a shadow’ over young people’s wellbeing

Ministers have been urged to reform the benefits system to tackle child poverty, after a report found it to be a major cause of mental illness that “casts a shadow” over young people’s wellbeing.

The report, by the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, found that the number of children living in poverty in the UK had increased to 4.3 million, while one in five children and young people aged between eight and 24 had a diagnosable mental health problem.

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Up to 100,000 may have undiagnosed forms of dementia in England

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NHS figures show underdiagnosis of Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementias

Up to 100,000 people in England may be living with undiagnosed forms of dementia that present with symptoms such as depression and hallucinations, according to government figures.

Dementia is an umbrella term for many different conditions, affecting more than 55 million people worldwide. In England, about 7,000 people are diagnosed every month. While the health service has made progress in headline diagnosis rates, latest figures show that underdiagnosis of specific dementias remain a problem.

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