Sensible advice

Good to hear Ian Higgins' advice at The School and Public Health Nurses' Association Conference. He said that school nurses needed to advise parents that experimenting with alcohol or feeling sad did not mean that their child was an alcoholic or clinically depressed but was part of their natural development which, of course, involves much testing of boundaries. Whilst it is important to be aware of behaviour that could lead to ongoing problems, it can be far too easy to apportion mental health labels to behaviours and emotions that are natural and common to us all.

Ian Higgins is Nurse Consultant for South West London and St. Georges Mental Health NHS Trust.

Creativity and Schizophrenia

Click here for a personal insight into one man's experience with schizophrenia. It's worth having a look on the BBC Health website as they seem to be running a few stories relating to individual's experience with mental health problems.

Loneliness

Research in the United States has found a link between physical health and loneliness in the elderly. Disturbed sleep and increased stress hormone levels were more evident in lonely people.

Current Directions in Psychological Science (2007) 16: 187-191

Ron Coleman and Recovery

A friend of mine was on a ferry travelling from Harris to the mainland when he met and became engaged in conversation with Ron Coleman. My friend was impressed with Ron's views on mental health not realising the impact he has had on mental health practice through his work on Recovery. I remember when I was a relatively new nurse coming across the Victim to Victor book on voices. It had a major influence on how I approached working with people who experienced voices and also reinforced many of my own beliefs regarding "treatment" and "recovery". You can read about Ron's life here. Useful and often inspiring information elsewhere on the site too.

Anti depressants in the news

A few highlights from the research concerning anti depressant medication.

SSRI anti depressants (see link below to explain the jargon!) have been shown to have an effect after one week rather than two to four weeks as previously assumed claims a review of 50 controlled trials.

Archives of General Psychiatry (2006) 63: 1217-1223

Researchers claim that there is an increase in attempted suicide by patients taking anti depressant medication but rates of sucess were decreased. This could be explained by the use of anti depressants in suicide attempts as opposed to other more violent methods. Reasons for the increase may include increased motivation and energy without a shift in circumstance or environment once the anti depressant starts to have effect.

Archives of General Psychiatry (2006) 63: 1358-1367

SSRI anti depressant medication may be linked to an increase in violence and hostile acts.

Public Library of Science Medicine (2006) online DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030372

A useful link to explain all... http://www.depressionalliance.org/docs/help/treatments.html

Suicide and the elderly

Older people are more likely to be successful when attempting suicide a study review has shown. The review claims that in the 16-25 year old age group, for every 200 attempts there is one suicide. In males over 80 for every two attempts one is successful.

Nursing Times (2007) 103: 14

Anger and Headaches

When compared with a control group migraine sufferers were found to have a higher prevelance of anger management problems. Now there's a surprise!

Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (2007) 76: 122-128

The mental health of our children

The children's charity NCH says that there has been a significant increase in emotional disturbance and the prevelance of conduct disorders amongst young people. They claim an increase of 100% since the 1990's.

www.nch.org.uk

The fathers impact on eating disorders

A study has suggested that a woman's relationship with her father can be a major factor in her developing an eating disorder. The study shows that women with over protecting fathers or fathers who have rejected them believe that they are defective and vulnerable to harm or rejection leading to the conclusion that paternal rearing can be used as a predictor of an eating disorder.

British Journal of Clinical Psychology (2006) 45: 319-330

Stalked... by their colleagues

Half of mental health nurses responding to a survey claimed to have been stalked, with 23% of the stalkers being other mental health nurses.

Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing (2006)

Nightmares and suicide

Frequent nightmares have been linked to severe suicidal tendancies in people who have previously attempted suicide. This has prompted calls for sleep disturbance to be factored into assessments of risk with improved and higher profile interventions for sleep disorders.

Sleep (2007) 30: 91-95

PTSD gender differences

US research suggests that men and womens different responses to traumatic events results in more women meeting the diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress syndrome. The study also found that men generally experienced more traumatic events than women. I'm sure someone somewhere will have something to say about that.

Psychological Bulletin (2006) 132: 959-992

Rural suicide

Researchers have identified higher than expected suicide rates amongst men in remote rural coastal areas, and whilst unemployment and chronic ill health were contributory factors it was suggested that rural life itself may be a risk factor.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2006) 60: 1040-1047

Puberty is accelerated by stress

Researchers in Liverpool say that stress amongst teenagers may bring on puberty more quickly, claiming that the trend towards earlier onset of puberty over the last 150 years has been triggered by stressors such as divorce, single parenting and poor nutrition.

Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2006) 60: 910-911

Depression and your heart

Research from the Netherlands shows that patients whose first experience of depression follows a heart attack are at increased risk of heart problems. Seperate research from the UK indicates that patients with a severe mental illness are 3.22 times more likely to die from coronary heart disease and 2.53 times more likely to die from a stroke.

Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2006) online DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2006.06.077

Archives of General Psychiatry (2007) 64:242-249

Drunk not spiked

Research from the Emergencey Medical Journal showed that the majority of patients arriving at A&E claiming to have had their drinks spiked tested positive for alcohol but not GHB or Rohypnol, the drugs commonly associated with cynical spiking. So watch your drinking as well as your drinks.

Emergency Medical Journal (2007) 24: 89-91