Piano especially associated with improved mental processes in those over 40, Exeter University research finds
Playing a musical instrument or joining a choir is linked to better memory and thinking skills in older age, research has found.
The piano was especially associated with a better brain in those over 40 in the study from Exeter University, which reviewed data from more than a thousand adults and looked at how much experience the people had in participating in music.
Continue reading...Emma Webber describes ‘fury’ at sentence received by Valdo Calocane for deadly rampage last June
The mother of one of the students stabbed to death in Nottingham has called for an inquiry into any failings that led to the knife attacks.
Emma Webber told the Times that her family “fully support” calls for a public inquiry, which also has the backing of the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, into the killings of her son Barnaby Webber, fellow University of Nottingham student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and the 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.
Continue reading...Peak body also campaigning for a reduction in the growing gap fee as the cost-of-living crisis puts increases financial strain
Psychologists are renewing calls for the federal government to double the number of subsidised psychology sessions a patient can access, along with reducing the growing gap fee, as the cost-of-living crisis puts households under financial strain.
The Australian Association of Psychologists Inc, one of two psychology peak bodies, wants the federal government to lift the Medicare rebate by more than $50 for some sessions and increase the number of subsidised sessions from 10 to 20.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sydney University’s Alone Together study finds one-third of group of young adults had moderate to severe symptoms over the two years of lockdowns
In 2020 Chantelle Fogg was 23 and the primary carer for her teenage brother. She had been stood down without pay from her job in hospitality and was in a marriage that was breaking down.
“I had put up with [a lot] for [many] years … and it wasn’t until I was at home all the time, and it was in my face and I couldn’t hide from it any more, that I decided that I’d had enough,” she said.
Continue reading...The country has been fighting since 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and many people are battling mental health issues
Serhii Dovbysh was defending his home in Chernihiv when something inside him snapped. The Russians were a few kilometres away. Enemy planes bombed the city. Shells landed among its gold-domed cathedrals. And young soldiers under his command were dying in battle. Dovbysh, a major in Ukraine’s armed forces and a deputy commander, felt responsible.
“Everything broke in my head and soul. And my body. You are alive but you don’t feel alive,” he said. He estimated that about 10% of the men in his battalion were killed during fighting, and another third wounded. “You eat with people. For months you share a room with them. It’s like a big family. When they die you feel a wound in your heart.”
Continue reading...Bone strength is set in childhood so better park access could prevent fractures in older people, study finds
Children with more green space near their homes have significantly stronger bones, a study has found, potentially leading to lifelong health benefits.
Scientists found that the children living in places with 20-25% more natural areas had increased bone strength that was equivalent to half a year’s natural growth.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Review ordered by police commissioner Karen Webb after string of fatalities last year is more than two months overdue
New South Wales police have failed to hand a promised review of the way they respond to mental health crises to the government, as pressure again mounts on the force to enact reforms after the fatal shooting of a mentally unwell man.
Alexander Stuart Pinnock died on Wednesday after being shot at by multiple officers outside a medical clinic in Nowra on the south coast following an almost two-hour standoff that began when the 34-year-old pulled out a gun, police said.
Continue reading...Experts say being discharged prematurely can be ‘disastrous’, setting back chances of full recovery
Thousands of patients are being readmitted to NHS mental health units in England every year soon after being discharged, raising concerns about poor care, bed shortages and increased risk of suicide.
Experts say being discharged prematurely can be upsetting, set back the patient’s chances of making a full recovery and be “disastrous” for their health.
Continue reading...Scottish singer says six-month hiatus from live shows after struggling during his performance at Glastonbury helped him ‘cope better with my Tourette’s and anxiety issues’
Lewis Capaldi has said he is “going to continue taking some time to carry on looking after myself” after his six-month hiatus from touring yielded an improvement in his health.
The Scottish singer-songwriter announced in June he would be taking a break from touring “for the foreseeable future” after he struggled with his voice during a Glastonbury set, during which the crowd stepped in to sing the lyrics to his final songs.
Continue reading...Exclusive: lack of resources to treat people whose ill health is often worsened by poverty is taking a heavy toll on medics’ wellbeing
Two in three UK doctors are suffering “moral distress” caused by the enfeebled state of the NHS and the damage the cost of living crisis is inflicting on patients’ health, research has found.
Large numbers are ending up psychologically damaged by feeling they cannot give patients the best possible care because of problems they cannot overcome, such as long waits for treatment or lack of drugs or the fact that poverty or bad housing is making them ill.
Continue reading...Experts link 44% increase in four years to a growing mental health crisis and underinvestment in health services
More than half a million young people in the UK say they are out of work due to long-term illness, a 44% increase in just four years.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that more than 560,000 people aged between 16 and 34 were economically inactive – meaning they were not in work or seeking work – in the first three months of 2023 due to long-term sickness.
Continue reading...After 11-year wait for inquest into his death in custody, relatives say Devon and Cornwall police still need to admit mistakes
One of the most poignant moments for Alison Orchard came when she was sorting out her son Thomas’s room after his fatal collapse while in police custody.
Over the years, Thomas Orchard had experienced mental health problems and had not been allowed to fulfil one of his ambitions: to drive.
Continue reading...Open letter to government from experts and politicians says rising usage ‘is a clear example of over-medicalisation’
Medical experts and politicians have called for the amount of antidepressants being prescribed to people across the UK to be reduced in an open letter to the government.
The letter coincides with the launch of the all-party parliamentary group Beyond Pills, which aims to reduce what it calls the UK healthcare system’s over-reliance on prescription medication.
Continue reading...New study which tracks changes in mental health over 20 years finds cohort born in 90s worse off compared to older generations at similar ages
Each successive generation of Australians since the 1950s is suffering worse mental health than the generation which came before them, new research has shown.
A study led by the University of Sydney has found that people born in the 1990s have poorer mental health for their age than any previous generation and are not experiencing better mental health as they age, as earlier generations have.
Continue reading...The government may increase premiums paid by businesses if Labor’s WorkCover bill is defeated, Jacinta Allan says
The Victorian premier has threatened to further hike premiums paid by businesses to fund the state’s workers’ compensation scheme if parliament does not pass proposed reforms she says will secure its financial future.
The Coalition party room on Tuesday voted to oppose the WorkCover bill in its current form, joining the Greens and several other crossbenchers in effectively denying Labor the numbers it needs to pass the legislation in the upper house.
Continue reading...Labour party leader criticises speech as ‘admission that government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline’
Here is Ben Quinn’s guide to what will be in the king’s speech.
In a statement about the king’s speech issued overnight, Keir Starmer said:
Britain is crying out for the long-term change that harnesses the ambition of our young people, the innovative drive of our businesses, and the ordinary hope and optimism that exists around every kitchen table.
A government acting in the national interest would deliver a big build programme to kickstart growth in every region and begin to turn around 13 years of decline with a plan for a decade of national renewal.
Continue reading...Ombudsman orders UK housing association Clarion to apologise to family in ‘deeply distressing’ case
A tenant killed himself after his landlord dismissed his pleas for help with a noisy neighbour as “whining” and told him he could not expect silence if he lived in London.
Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association, had been warned by the vulnerable resident’s doctor that the effect of noise from the upstairs flat on the tenant’s mental health was such that he had already attempted suicide twice.
Continue reading...Concern over Robert Card’s mental health dated back to last summer after a training facility episode sparked an evaluation
Five months before the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the New England state of Maine, the gunman’s family alerted the local sheriff that they were becoming concerned about his deteriorating mental health while he had access to firearms, according to authorities.
After the alert, the Sagadohoc county sheriff’s office reached out to officials of Robert Card’s army reserve unit, which assured deputies that they would speak to Card and make sure he got medical attention, sheriff Joel Merry said.
Continue reading...Inquest finds death of Duangphet Phromthep, 17, could not have been foreseen or prevented
The captain of the Thai football team who were trapped in a cave for several days in 2018 took his own life while at school in the UK, a coroner has ruled.
Duangphet Phromthep died at Kettering general hospital on 14 February, two days after being found unconscious at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire.
Continue reading...Decision to discharge ‘low risk’ Anthony O’Donohue from mental health service in 2016 found to be ‘not satisfactory’
The firebombing death of a young bus driver “might not have occurred” if different decisions had been made about the care of the mental health patient who had been deemed “low risk” before killing him, Queensland’s state coroner has found.
Terry Ryan handed down his findings a day before the seventh anniversary of the death of Manmeet Sharma, a 29-year-old from India who had been working as a bus driver for the Brisbane city council for just three months.
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