The coronavirus pandemic is causing increased stress and anxiety, particularly people with existing mental health problems, practitioners and campaigners have said. The behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings has been talking through how to cope with these feelings and offering advice to those who have a fear of isolation
Category Archives: Mental health
Girls stay longer in school but obesity, suicide and sexual violence remain risks
A quarter of a century after world conference pledged to advance gender equality, reports finds opportunities and rights still lacking
Girls are far less likely to get married or drop out of school than ever before, but worryingly high rates of obesity, suicide and sexually transmitted infections underline how uneven global progress has been for them over the past 25 years, according to a report published on Wednesday.
Despite major gains in some aspects of girls’ lives since governments pledged at the fourth world conference on women in 1995 to advance the rights of women and girls, violence against them is still not only common but accepted, claim the UN children’s agency, Plan International, and UN Women. They warn that if discrimination continues, the 2030 gender equality targets are unlikely to be achieved.
Continue reading...‘Judge me fairly’: man who starved to death’s plea to welfare officials
Handwritten letter found in Errol Graham’s flat, where he died after his benefits were cut
Errol Graham, a desperately ill man who died of starvation when his benefits were cut off, wrote a moving letter pleading with welfare officials to “judge me fairly” because he was overwhelmed by depression.
The handwritten letter, seen by the Guardian, was released by Graham’s family as they launched a legal attempt to prove that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) acted unlawfully and put him at risk by failing to put in place effective safeguards to protect vulnerable benefit claimants.
Continue reading...Mel C speaks out: trying to be the perfect Spice Girl made me ill
Melanie Chisholm tells Desert Island Discs of her struggle to cope with fame
Melanie Chisholm, the former Spice Girl Mel C, dates her past struggle with eating disorders and depression back to an incident at a Brit awards ceremony, she reveals on Desert Island Discs on 23 February.
In 1996, before the girl group was officially launched, Chisholm was almost chucked out of the Spice Girls for unruly behaviour, following “a scuffle between me and Victoria” that she has only recently admitted to.
Continue reading...Researchers find a western-style diet can impair brain function
After a week on a high fat, high added sugar diet, volunteers scored worse on memory tests
Consuming a western diet for as little as one week can subtly impair brain function and encourage slim and otherwise healthy young people to overeat, scientists claim.
Researchers found that after seven days on a high fat, high added sugar diet, volunteers in their 20s scored worse on memory tests and found junk food more desirable immediately after they had finished a meal.
Continue reading...Reform urged in Malaysia after disabled man is jailed for attempted suicide
Campaign groups unite in condemnation of ‘grossly inhumane and incompassionate’ verdict
Human rights groups in Malaysia are calling for the repeal of a law that criminalises attempted suicide after a man with a physical disability was sentenced to six months in prison for trying to take his own life.
Malaysia is one of the few countries where attempting suicide is illegal. Under existing legislation, people found guilty can be punished by up to a year in prison, a fine, or both. But the Malaysian government is now considering a change to the law, which advocates say cannot come soon enough.
Continue reading...Politicians condemn press intrusion after Caroline Flack’s death
ITV says Sunday’s Love Island will not be broadcast as calls mount for regulation of traditional and social media
Politicians have condemned press intrusion, calling for more regulation of both traditional and social media after the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack.
The former Love Island presenter is understood to have taken her own life on Saturday at her home in Islington, London. She had been charged with assaulting her partner and was due to stand trial in several weeks’ time.
Continue reading...Cast out: the women of Ghana’s ‘witch’ village – in pictures
As women age in rural Ghana, signs of dementia, mental health issues or even menopausal symptoms can result in them being declared ‘witches’ and pushed out of their community. Around 80 women live in such exile in Kukuo ‘witch village’
- All photographs by Robin Hammond
Shackling of Ghana’s mentally ill – in pictures
Stigma, misinformation and a dearth of psychiatric resources mean many Ghanaians resort to chaining up their loved ones or patients, sometimes for years on end
All photographs by Robin Hammond
Continue reading...‘All we can offer is the chain’: the scandal of Ghana’s shackled sick
For the families of Ghanaians with mental health or substance abuse issues, shackling their loved ones can seem the only option, as faith healers compete to fill the mental health void
All photographs by Robin Hammond
Under the baobab tree two goats are tethered to the great trunk by ropes. Baba Agunga, a man in his twenties, is held by chains. A bracelet shackle round each of his ankles leads to a chain rusted to the same tone as the Ghanaian mud and welded tight around a thick, solid tree root.
He sits naked on a cloth, hugging thin legs, his skin dusty dry and his eyes vacant. He has been there for three years says his mother, Aniah Agunga.
Continue reading...Disabled man starved to death after DWP stopped his benefits
MPs call for inquiry into case of Errol Graham, 57, who weighed 28.5kg when he was found dead
MPs and campaigners have called for an independent inquiry after it emerged a disabled man with a long history of mental illness starved to death just months after welfare officials stopped his out-of-work and housing benefits.
Errol Graham, a 57-year-old grandfather, and in his younger days a keen amateur footballer, weighed just four and a half stone (28.5kg) when his emaciated body was discovered by bailiffs who had broken down his front door to evict him for non-payment of rent.
Continue reading...Taylor Swift discloses fight with eating disorder in new documentary
‘There’s always some standard of beauty that you’re not meeting,’ she tells Miss Americana director Lana Wilson
Taylor Swift has disclosed her experiences with an eating disorder in a new documentary. In Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, which received its premiere at the Sundance film festival last night, Swift says that she would starve herself to the extent that she felt as if she might pass out during live performances.
The 30-year-old star said she would make a list of everything she ate, exercised constantly and shrank to a UK size two; she is now a size 10. “I would have defended it to anybody who said ‘I’m concerned about you,’” she tells the film’s director, Lana Wilson.
Continue reading...Hong Kong: nearly a third of adults report PTSD symptoms – study
Research also finds heavy use of social media to follow socio-political events appears to increase risk on mental health
Nearly one in three adults in Hong Kong reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder during months of often violent social unrest in the city, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal on Friday.
Related: Portraits of Hong Kong's masked protesters – in pictures
Continue reading...‘They travel hours to see a doctor for a minute’: India’s mental health crisis
With fewer than two psychiatrists for every 100,000 people, experts are seeking innovative solutions to address the emergency
On a sunny morning at Calcutta Pavlov Hospital, 600 people wait patiently in the outpatient department. For many, the journey to see a doctor started hours before sunrise, with some even travelling overnight to secure their place in line. Despite waiting for hours, most will spend just 90 seconds with the psychiatrist.
One of the doctors on call, Dr Debananda Saha, expects to treat about 250 patients during his seven-hour shift at the government hospital.
Continue reading...Depression and suicide linked to air pollution in new global study
Cutting toxic air might prevent millions of people getting depression, research suggests
People living with air pollution have higher rates of depression and suicide, a systematic review of global data has found.
Cutting air pollution around the world to the EU’s legal limit could prevent millions of people becoming depressed, the research suggests. This assumes that exposure to toxic air is causing these cases of depression. Scientists believe this is likely but is difficult to prove beyond doubt.
Continue reading...New inpatients banned at mental health unit rated unsafe
Damning CQC report on private Cygnet Acer clinic where patients could self harm and one died by hanging
A privately run mental health unit has been banned from admitting new patients after inspectors found numerous safety failings, one of which led to a resident dying by hanging.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has stopped the Cygnet Acer Clinic, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, from accepting new inpatients. It declared that the facility was “not safe” for people to use.
Continue reading...Abuse and torture of mental health patients ‘rife’ across Nigeria, says report
Human Rights Watch said people were chained and faced physical and sexual violence in both state and religious centres
Nigeria has been urged to end all forms of abuse in state-run mental health institutions as well as religious healing centres.
In a report published on Monday Human Rights Watch (HRW) said thousands of Nigerians with mental health conditions face prolonged detention, chaining, physical and sexual violence or forced treatment, including electroshock therapy.
Continue reading...Australians are yelling in grief and frustration – but will Scott Morrison act?
The deficiencies in the mental health and aged care systems are distressing realities that need to be confronted
The facts on suicide in Australia, the Productivity Commission informs us, are stark. Every year, 3,000 people end their own lives, more than eight people every day. It is the leading cause of death for young adults, and suicide rates in Indigenous communities are more than double the rest of the community. This picture has been static for a decade.
Some people with mental illness are plagued with suicidal ideations, and for some that ends in tragedy, but as Scott Morrison’s suicide prevention adviser, Christine Morgan, told me earlier this year, a substantial proportion of people who take their lives in Australia never present to clinicians with depression or another illness.
Continue reading...NHS doctor may leave UK over refusal of permission to remain for mother
Top child psychiatrist appeals to Johnson over Home Office’s ‘almost callous’ decision
A leading children’s psychiatrist plans to quit the NHS and move to Australia because of the Home Office’s “almost callous” refusal to let his mother stay in Britain.
Dr Nishchint Warikoo, the lead psychiatrist for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in Hampshire, said he and his family were being “forced to leave” the UK in order to stay together.
Continue reading...My land of make believe: life after The Sims
Feeling increasingly anxious and lost, Liv Siddall found herself retreating to the comfort and security of video games – often playing for hours at a time. Here, she reveals how she finally escaped back to reality
In 2005, when I was 16, I worked in a busy local café. My job was to make tea and coffee and I churned out hot beverages at high speed, while constantly restocking my cup and saucer area. I found the work hard and boring, which was strange given that at the end of every shift I’d rush home to play Diner Dash, a video game in which you become a waitress in a busy restaurant, taking orders, serving customers, clearing away their cups and plates.
In the great pantheon of PC games, Diner Dash was not among the most realistic, but I enjoyed its simplicity and I was enthralled by the thrill that came with pleasing customers and advancing levels. How many levels were available was never made clear. The game seemed infinite. I’d play it for hours.
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