Researchers estimate lifetime earnings lost as charities call for independent review of causes of the crisis
More than £1tn will be lost in lifetime earnings in the UK as a direct result of the mental health crisis in young people, research estimates.
Published to launch the new Future Minds mental health campaign, the study forecasts the financial burden of failing to tackle the mental health crisis.
Continue reading...Laura Kyrke-Smith says perinatal mental health care in England is ‘postcode lottery’, with disadvantaged women more likely to miss out
A new Labour MP will speak in parliament on Wednesday of her anguish over her friend’s suicide just 10 weeks after giving birth – despite the friend having repeatedly sought help for her anxiety.
Laura Kyrke-Smith, the MP for Aylesbury, will call for more specific mental health support to be embedded in maternity services.
Continue reading...Summary of care received by Valdo Calocane will be made public, but complete version to be kept confidential
NHS England (NHSE) has been urged to reconsider its decision to refuse to publish a report into the care received by Nottingham triple killer Valdo Calocane, despite the wishes of the victims’ families.
A summary of the independent mental health homicide report is due to be made public later this week, but the full version will be kept confidential due to “data protection legislation relating to patient information”, with only Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to be granted access.
Continue reading...Study of GP records finds prevalence rose from one in 60,000 in 2011 to one in 1,200 in 2021 – but numbers still low overall
The number of children and young people in England with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria recorded by a GP has risen fiftyfold over 10 years, researchers have found, though numbers are still relatively small.
The growing number of birth-registered females seeking referrals to gender clinics has raised concerns in recent years, with tensions over how best to tackle gender dysphoria in children resulting in the Cass review last year.
Continue reading...One psychiatrist raises concerns about proposed back-up arrangements as health officials rush to fill staffing gaps
More than 60 mental health beds in public hospitals are temporarily closing in New South Wales as some hospitals are being given directives to limit psychiatric assessments because of mass resignations.
A senior psychiatrist told Guardian Australia that the emergency plans to manage psychiatric patients will mean decisions on discharge or the need for further care will be delayed, causing bed blockages across the health system. The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity.
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Continue reading...Hospital wards struggle to cope with rising cases of self-harm and eating disorders, the study warns
The number of children admitted to acute hospital wards in England due to serious concerns over their mental health has increased by 65% in a decade, with a particularly alarming surge in girls who have self-harmed, research reveals.
Doctors are treating almost 40,000 children with acute mental ill health in general wards every year, up from about 24,000 10 years ago. The increase is six times higher than the rise in admissions of children for all conditions (10.1%) over the same period.
Continue reading...Doctor calls situation ‘an absolute disaster’ for public mental health system and vulnerable patients
Mental health wards have begun to close in New South Wales as negotiations to avert the mass resignations of psychiatrists continue.
At Cumberland psychiatric hospital, the largest mental health facility in NSW and the oldest in Australia, the acute and rehabilitation wards have closed, and the NSW branch of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) predicts more will follow.
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Continue reading...Experts say mental health treatment is key to tackling rise in UK, rather than simply reclassifying drug as class A
It was once viewed as a fringe club drug whose use as a horse tranquilliser gave it a “dirty” reputation. But with illegal ketamine use reaching record levels, the Home Office announced last week that it was considering reclassifying it as a class A drug in response to a dramatic increase in use among young people.
An estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 reported ketamine use in the year ending March 2023 in England and Wales, the largest number on record, according to Home Office data. Behind the headline figures, there is also evidence of a troubling culture shift, with an increasing number of people taking the drug, which has dissociative, anaesthetic and psychedelic effects, at home rather than in an occasional party setting. This heightens the risk of dependency, experts say, which can lead to devastating health consequences.
Continue reading...Thomas Kingston, son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, had been prescribed SSRIs
A coroner has issued a warning about the effects of antidepressants prescribed by a Buckingham Palace doctor to the son-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent before his suicide.
Thomas Kingston, 45, whose marriage to Lady Gabriella at Windsor Castle in 2019 was attended by the late Queen, killed himself last February after “suffering adverse effects of medication he had recently been prescribed”, an inquest found last month.
Continue reading...The judgment has been welcomed as an important shift in perceptions by human rights and mental health groups
A Kenyan judge has declared as unconstitutional sections of the country’s laws that criminalise attempted suicide. In a landmark ruling on Thursday, Judge Lawrence Mugambi of the country’s high court stated that section 226 of the penal code contradicts the constitution by punishing those with mental health issues over which they may have little or no control.
While the constitution says in article 43 that a person has the right to the “highest attainable standard of health”, criminal law states that “any person who attempts to kill himself is guilty of a misdemeanour and is subject to imprisonment of up to two years, a fine, or both”, with the minimum age of prosecution for the offence set at eight years old.
Continue reading...Illegal use in UK seems to reflect growth of unregulated market in US, where its high-profile users include Elon Musk
Ketamine, the anaesthetic taken by Elon Musk to control his moods, could be reclassified as a class A drug by the Home Office after illegal use reached record levels last year.
Currently controlled as a class B substance, ministers are seeking “expert advice” on reclassification after an estimated 299,000 people reported use of the drug last year.
Continue reading...Researchers say parent company Meta is failing to remove explicit images on the social media site
Meta is actively helping self-harm content to flourish on Instagram by failing to remove explicit images and encouraging those engaging with such content to befriend one another, according to a damning new study that found its moderation “extremely inadequate”.
Danish researchers created a private self-harm network on the social media platform, including fake profiles of people as young as 13 years old, in which they shared 85 pieces of self-harm-related content gradually increasing in severity, including blood, razor blades and encouragement of self-harm.
Continue reading...Child safety experts say similar move in Britain would penalise young people for the failings of tech companies
Child safety experts have warned the UK government against enacting an Australian-style social media ban for children under 16, which they called a “retrograde step” that would “do more harm than good”.
On Thursday, Australia became the first country in the world to ban under-16s from using social media platforms. The move was supported by a large majority of the Australian public – but academics, politicians and child rights groups said it could backfire, driving teenagers to the dark web, or make them feel more isolated.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Annie Ashton, whose husband killed himself, says more people will die because of Gambling Commission inaction
The widow of a man who took his own life after becoming addicted to gambling says more people will die because the regulator is refusing to investigate suicides linked to the addiction.
Annie Ashton is planning legal action against the Gambling Commission after it said it would not investigate or penalise Betfair over the death of her husband, Luke – despite concerns raised about the company at his inquest.
Continue reading...Distant placements found to have led to anxiety, PTSD and suicide in some cases, as use of them increases in England
Mental health patients in England are being harmed by the increase in placements in psychiatric units far from their homes and families, a new report indicates.
Patients have had anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), while some have died by suicide as a result of their distant placements, according to a Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) report, which drew on interviews with patients and their loved ones. The participants spoke of how their experiences had resulted in feelings of anger, frustration and a loss of trust in the mental health system.
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 counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Rachel Reeves made funding the NHS a priority but people working in other areas said they were disappointed
Rachel Reeves’s first budget emphasised raising taxes to help the NHS, as the health service tries to cope with huge waiting lists and an ageing population. Funding the NHS was a top priority but people in other sectors – from universities to social care – feel the budget was a missed opportunity to tackle impending crises or introduce desperately needed reforms in their areas.
Continue reading...The Democrat’s cozy chat with the vulnerability expert was largely apolitical – which could play well with a key demographic
In the quest to win over white female voters – 53% of whom showed up for Donald Trump in 2020 – Kamala Harris made her case on a podcast hosted by one of their beloved avatars, the vulnerability researcher Brené Brown. The episode, released on Monday, was a mostly fluffy discussion about leadership, trauma and the notion of voting as agency in an uncontrollable news cycle.
Brown, a University of Houston professor and bestselling author who has spent two decades studying social sciences, became an overnight celebrity after giving a 2010 Ted Talk called “the power of vulnerability”. One could argue the talk, which birthed Brown’s Oprah-approved speaking empire, also spawned our culture’s current obsession with therapy-speak.
Continue reading...Authors of study that found 12% of year 8 pupils identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual or asexual say results highlight ‘urgent need’ for support services
More than one in 10 Australian teenagers identify as gay, bisexual, pansexual or asexual, a survey of high school students has found.
Researchers surveyed 6,388 year 8 students between 2019 and 2021, finding that 12% of the teens reported diverse sexualities, while 3.3% identified as gender-diverse.
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Continue reading...George Conway-led Pac questions Republican nominee’s mental fitness for office in full-page New York Times ad
An anti-Trump political group organized a letter signed by more than 200 mental health professionals, warning that Donald Trump is dangerous because of “his symptoms of severe, untreatable personality disorder – malignant narcissism”, which makes him “grossly unfit for leadership”.
Less than two weeks before the presidential election, the group bought a full-page ad styled as an open letter in the New York Times on Thursday, arguing that the Republican nominee for the White House is “an existential threat to democracy” in the US.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: Lack of formal oversight means anyone can set up in practice and continue to work after misconduct cases, campaigners say
Ministers face calls for the urgent regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors to protect vulnerable people, as lawyers report a rise in lawsuits by patients for alleged harm done during therapy.
Unlike most other healthcare roles, including doctors, midwives and osteopaths, “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected titles nor statutorily regulated professions in the UK.
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