Monthly Archives: October 2015

The Winter Blues

31 Saturday Oct 2015

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With the clocks going back and the evenings drawing in most people feel a bit of a lul’ in mood. But for some the winter blues can be much worse.

Those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also known as “ the winter blues” experience a much greater change in their mood and energy levels than the rest of us. So much so that it has a significant impact on their day-to-day life

SAD or “the winter blues” is form of depression that people experience at a particular time, normally in the winter months,  although more rarely it can occur over the summer.

Like other forms of depression SAD can be triggered by a traumatic event, such a loss of a loved one or serious illness. Research suggests that people who move from a more tropical climate are also more at risk.

Treatment of SAD

Getting diagnosed with SAD can be difficult because the symptoms are very similar to other types of depression. It may take several years for you and your GP to establish that the symptoms come at a regular time.

But even without a diagnosis, if you suspect you have SAD, then there are things you can do to help reduce the severity of the symptoms:

Plan stressful events for the summer: If you know you are going to be moving house, having a baby, taking on extra work do it in the months when you know you will be feeling better

Make the most of natural light: Try and get as much exposure to sunlight as possible. This could be by walking part of your journey to work or going for a stroll at lunch time.

Look after yourself: Get out in green space, exercise, eat well. All these things are shown to improve symptoms, although you may not feel like it at the time you will feel better for it.

emily johnson

Accredited to Emily Johnson

Light box: According to the SAD association (SADA) “ light therapy has been shown to be effective in up to 85 per cent of diagnosed cases” Normal domestic lighting doesn’t have enough lux (measure of luminance) to treat SAD . Light box treatment will usually take at between 30 minutes to 1 hour a day but it is not available on the NHS.

Once diagnosed SAD can be treated with therapies used for more common types of depression including antidepressants and CBT.

For more information:

http://www.sada.org.uk/index_2.php

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/seasonal-affective-disorder

Featured image accredited to Kip Dudden

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Suicide: A Not-So Silent Epidemic.

29 Thursday Oct 2015

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Professor Green’s BBC 3 documentary “Suicide and Me” is bringing a lot of much needed media attention to the prevalence of suicide.

The rapper, who won best Dance Floorfiller in the NME awards 2011, father committed suicide seven years ago.

He sates a humble ambition: “I would like to highlight the severity of the situation and bit by bit remove the taboo that surrounds it.” The hour of footage is extremely personal. Green is sacrificing his privacy for public awareness.

The situation is undoubtedly severe. Between 5000-6000 people commit suicide in the UK each year. That’s more than double the number of people that die in all road traffic accidents, which is under 2000. The vast majority are men, many of them young men.

A study looking at medical records, diaries and testimonies from friends and family has demonstrated 90% of people who commit suicide are suffering from a classifiable psychiatric disorder. But it is important to remember 1 in 4 people will fall victim to mental illness at some point this year so only a tiny fraction of those people will take their own life.

But the shocking regularity of suicide does suggest a lot more needs to be done to support those suffering from mental health issues.

Figures released on Friday by Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) showed a 9.8% increase in the number of detentions under the mental act since 2014. Detention under the mental health act is an emergency intervention and only used when people are extremely unwell.

The charity Mind reacted to the figures by saying “people are not getting help for their mental health problems early enough, meaning they become more unwell and more likely to reach crisis point”.

Arguably suicide is the action of someone who has gone beyond crisis point. These statistics suggest that mental health services are being spread thinner and less equipped to deal with this epidemic. But it’s only through discussing this difficult topic that we can hope to raise awareness and financial support.

If you feel you need someone to talk with the Samaritans are always happy to listen. They provide a 24 hour, free and confidential service:

Call 116 123

The paradox of empathy

20 Tuesday Oct 2015

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A philosophical interlude

The paradox of empathy was going to be the title of yesterday’s post “the empathy trap”. Thankfully however before publishing Google revealed the true definition of a paradox.

Paradox:  “A statement that apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true (or wrong at the same time)”.

For example: “Nobody goes to that restaurant because it is too crowded.”

Jane marries John and they take their honeymoon on the beautiful island of St Vincent. While they are sunbathing together a coconut drops from a great height killing John. Jane flies home early in floods of tears and is inconsolable.

Her close friend Jess, who is also widowed, tries to comfort her and tells her she knows how she feels. The presumption leaves Jane incandescent with rage. How could she know how she feels, what she is thinking? No one can no how anyone else feels.

Here’s the clever bit: If Jane claims that Jess cannot know how she feels, she is making an assertion about how she feels!

This story was adapted from an article by Ramsey McNabb in Philosophy Now. He adds that according to logical purists this is not quite a genuine paradox. But it still creates a serious question: How is empathy possible when every person’s experience is so unique?

McNabb also takes an extract from Chang Zu composed 4th-2nd century BC that deals with the same concept.

Chuang-Tzu and Hui Shih were strolling on the bridge above the Hao river. “Out swim the minnows, so free and easy,” said Chuang-tzu. “That’s how fish are happy.”
“You are not a fish. Whence do you know that the fish are happy?”
“You aren’t me, whence do you know that I don’t know the fish are happy?”
“We’ll grant that not being you I don’t know about you. You’ll grant that you are not a fish, and that completes the case that you don’t know the fish are happy.”
“Let’s go back to where we started. When you said, ’Whence do you know that the fish are happy?’, you asked me the question already knowing that I knew. I knew from up above the Hao.”

(Chuang-tzu, chapter 17, translated by A.C.Graham)

Featured image Paradox Box Face accredited to Imagenerator

Anxiety & Depression – The Empathy Trap

19 Monday Oct 2015

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Empathy:  “The experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling.”

Depression and anxiety are common medical conditions that afflict millions of people across the world. According to mentalhealth.org they account for nearly 20% of all GP appointments in the UK

What is confusing for many is that these conditions share their names with normal emotions that everyone experiences at some time or another. For example someone might feel anxious about starting a new job or moving to a new city. Equally someone who has never suffered from clinical depression will have felt despair, perhaps following the death of a loved one.

This insight should in theory provide friends and families [if not society at large] with a better understanding of these diseases. Ironically when it comes to discussing these conditions a fundamental misunderstanding can lead to two common failures of empathy amongst those who are not familiar with mental illness:

“I don’t understand what you are anxious/depressed about?”

“I’m so sorry. I know EXACTLY how you feel, I remember before this job interview…”

In an attempt to relate to someone’s suffering people see things through the lens of their own experience. Both these statements reflect a lack of knowledge rather than a lack of empathy. For now, this may be their best efforts to step into someone else’s shoes.

Even so, these responses can be difficult. The stigma around mental illness means it can take a lot of courage for people to talk about their condition. Once this has been done anything that feels belittling or patronising can be understandably very frustrating.

BUT

If you have reached out to someone and heard these words don’t be defeated.  With a bit more knowledge people who make the effort to empathise can be supportive. If you take the time to send them a link on Facebook and in the future explain a little more, their understanding will improve. Hopefully then, not only can they support you when things are tough but it might be that bit easier for the next person who has to explain what they are going through.

Here are some resources that may be helpful:

http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/ 

http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/talk-about-mental-health/telling-someone-about-your-mental-health-problem 

Featured image: Edvard Munch – Anxiety

NOT SAFE // NOT FAIR

18 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by in The NHS

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Protesters Listen to Heidi Alexander

“There are thousands of us here today, and no matter what hunt says BMA represents all of us” Dr Janj Singh

Crowds form on Waterloo

  “NHS NHS NHS”

Sign writing.

“Nobody wants industrial action but nobody wants junior doctors who are to exhausted to provide safe care” Heidi Alexander

A Bevan

Aneurin Bevan

RIP NHS

“The NHS is Britain’s greatest achievement” Harry Leslie Smith

The Mysterious Case of the Root Canal Amnesia.

15 Thursday Oct 2015

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Today on Radio 4 I heard the very sad story of a man left with a 90 memory following routine dental treatment.

According to the case study published in neurocase, the infamous root canal in 2005 lasted 50 minutes. Following the procedure the patient, known as WP, was suffering “slow speech” and appeared “vacant” according to the dentist.

When after half an hour there was no improvement WP was taken to hospital. Initially his memory stretched just 10 minutes but over the following month that improved, eventually reaching 90 minutes, the level at which it remains to this day.

WP was initially under the care of neurologists, who suspected his symptoms may be caused by anesthesia. However brain scans showed non structural damage normally associated with this type of memory loss.

Anterograde amnesia: is the loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia. Leading to an inability to recall the recent past, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact.

Retrograde amnesia: is the loss of memory about events that occurred, or information that was learned before the onset of amnesia.

WP remembers all personal details up to the morning of the event but nothing since [anterograde amnesia]. This means he wakes up each morning still expecting the root canal he received in 2005.

Thankfully WP’s personality and ability to problem solve remain largely unchanged. This means with prompts from his wife and using tools such as a digital camera, sat-nav and electronic diary he is able to get by in his day to day life.

a little bit of science

It had previously been understood that the functioning of the diencephalon or basal ganglial structures were the basis of forming new memories. But due to the absence of damage to these areas in the case of WP and the 4 others described in the case study it has been suggested that this is an over simplification.

The study suggests one explanation of this previously uncatalogued memory loss, which has elements of both aneterograde and retrograde amnesia, requries a new classification.

Dr Gerald Burgess presents a theory citing “the breakdown mRNA protein synthesis” as the cause of this unusual occurrence. However he goes on to state more research is needed

Featured image accredited to Marumari

Jeremy Hunt’s claims GPs will become Obsolete face Severe Criticism from both Academics and Doctors.

13 Tuesday Oct 2015

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The health secretary has predicted that in 20 years GPs would cease to make a diagnosis.

The comments were made while speaking at a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester.

Quoting conversations with “LA tech gurus” he said: “You can get 300,000 biomarkers from a single drop of blood, so why would you depend on a human brain to calculate what that means when a computer can do it for you?”

His comments which were published in an article by Pulse, a GP magazine, have caught the attention of family doctors. The remarks came at a time when relations between UK doctors and the government were already frosty

Speaking to littlegreycells blog (LGC), Prof. Barbara Prainsack of King’s College London and an expert in DNA databasing and personal medicine said these predictions were “rather far fetched”.

She continued: “It is highly unlikely, and clearly highly undesirable, that algorithms will replace human doctors.”

“The human brain can filter our ‘noise’ much better than computers, and there is always something that human experience and the ‘personal touch’ brings to the table that cannot be coded into algorithms,” Prof Prainsack added.

LGC also spoke to Dr Steve Clayton a Dorset GP who has been running a family-based practice for 23 years. He said: “If one was ‘screening’ for all these things then one may identify them and provide a diagnosis before they were symptomatic. This would have great benefit if something can be done to prevent or offset any potential physical damage coming to that patient.”

He added, however: ”This blunderbuss approach of three hundred thousand biomarkers has the potential to give someone a diagnosis that they harbor and may never develop symptoms from and so create unnecessary anxiety. The medical code is above all, do no harm.”

According to Prof. Prainsack there are other serious consequences regarding liability not considered by the health secretary “Handing over diagnosis or treatment decisions to computers would be very problematic because these decision makers would not be accountable to anybody (while doctors are).”

This is supported by figures that were released in 2013 by the NHS Litigation Authority which state that legal costs have risen by 22 per cent in just one year, and almost doubled in five years.

The comments come at a time when several studies have shown GPs’ morale to be at an all time low. Dr Clayton said he sees the glass as “half full”. Although he added: “I can see that many of my colleagues who already feel beleaguered after the relentless battering that GP’s have had in the last 2 years will feel this is just about the final straw”

The public is already witnessing a candescent contract dispute between Hunt and junior doctors over hours and pay. These have so far culminated in protests and no agreement has yet been reached.

More protests are planned for the 17th October but the prospect of strikes looms.

Featured image accredited to Ted Eytan

Research Suggests Inadequacies in the Physical Care of the those Suffering from Mental Ill-health

13 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by in Mental Health, News, The NHS

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A report published this morning shows people suffering from mental ill health are significantly more likely to require emergency care services in hospital.

The research, which looked at 100 million hospital episodes in England per year for five years, suggests much more needs to be done to care for the physical health of those who have or are suffering from mental health problems.

Infographics used with the permission of Quality Watch

The report by the Nuffield Trust, an independent health think tank, shows people with mental problems had 4.9 times more emergency hospital admissions and 3.2 times more A&E attendances compared with people without mental ill health. However only a fifth of the emergency admissions this group experience were explicitly for mental health needs. They also had 10% less planned admissions.

Infographic used with the permission of Quality Watch

When assessing how well someones healthcare needs are met it can be useful to look at how much emergency care they receive compared to the amount which is planned in advance. This can indicate how well problems are being foreseen, how quickly and how effectively they are treated.

Commenting on the findings Felicity Dormon, Senior Policy Fellow at the Health Foundation said: “It is deeply unfair that the physical health needs of people with mental health problems continue to be poorly met.”

Felicity added that the report sets a challenge to policy makers who must think seriously about how to overcome the disparity highlighted in the report.

This report builds on the existing knowledge that those among us with both severe and common mental health problems are more likely to suffer from other physical conditions. This research demonstrates the needs improve the integration of mental and physical healthcare, both economically (as emergency treatment is expensive) and of course for the benefit of the victims.

Featured image accredited to Jaggery

Labour candidate for London Mayor Sadiq Khan helps celebrate World Mental Health Day

10 Saturday Oct 2015

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Yesterday Sadiq Khan, the Labour candidate for London mayor, participated in a balloon release at St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust Recovery College.

The event in Tooting was a premature celebration of World Mental Health Day (WMHD) which is on Saturday! The aim of the day is to raise awareness, through events and social media.

The balloons are carrying messages of hope and a return address so they can be posted back to the hospital. Last year balloons were returned from as far away as Finland.

Speaking at the event Khan, who studied next door at Ernest Bevin College, called for “parity of treatment” going on to say mental health has been a “Cinderella service” and “that needs to change”

His attendance comes at time when awareness of mental health and it’s desperate under funding seems to be growing among politicians. Recent examples include Jeremy Corbyn’s attendance at Camden & Islington NHS Mental Health Fun Day on his first day as party leader. This was quickly followed by the appointment Luciana Berger as the first shadow cabinet Minister for Mental Health on the 14th September.

You can help by engaging in discussion and sharing facts using the hashtag #WMHD

Just in case your were panicking – the balloons are eco friendly.

featured image accredited to Steve Punter

#smallthings

08 Thursday Oct 2015

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Today @timetochange launched their new campaign #smallthings. Small things aims to highlight the little things that people can do for friends and loved ones who have a problem with mental health.

The campaign comes just two days after a survey by YouGov revealed that 28% of people in England (nearly a third) say they would feel uncomfortable asking someone close to them about  mental health problems. With the top reason being “they worried that it would make the other person feel uncomfortable or embarrassed”

But speaking with a young woman who has suffered with depression and anxiety she said “with some people it helps to talk, it’s sharing the burden” As a sufferer she shared similar concerns to those polled “At first talking about my problems does make me feel uncomfortable because your worried people will think your being stupid. But them trying to understand can make it easier, even if they don’t understand”

But it’s not just friends and relatives of suffers who struggle to approach the subject. I spoke to a male in his 20’s, who has been suffering from anxiety for several years, who has finds it hard to broach the subject with people loved.

He said  “I think the main thing is a general fear that your letting them down in someway”

From personal experience I know that talking to someone about their struggles with mental ill-health can provide a huge amount of relief to both parties. It has the potential to bring down what is often an elephant in the room and open up a dialogue that can be a lifeline to someone who may find it difficult sharing feelings with others.