Category Archives: Carers
MP reveals his battle against OCD as he campaigns against stigma of mental illness
I was visited by obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
PUBLISHED: 22:51, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 22:51, 16 June 2012
I am delighted to say that I have been a practising fruitcake for 31 years. It was in 1981 at St John’s Wood Tube station – I remember it vividly – that I was visited by obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
Over the intervening years it has played a fairly significant part in my life. On occasions it is manageable and sometimes it becomes quite difficult. It takes one to some quite dark places.
I operate to the rule of four, so I have to do everything in evens. I have to wash my hands four times and I have to go in and out of a room four times.
My wife and children often say I resemble an extra from Riverdance as I bounce in and out of a room, switching lights off four times.
Woe betide me if I switch off a light five times because then I have to do it another three times. Counting becomes very important.
How love of Billy the stray cat has finally brought four-year-old autistic boy out of his shell
- Billy has made a complete difference to the family home, bringing happiness and an air of calm
By Liz Hull
PUBLISHED: 00:04, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 12:11, 16 June 2012
Even simple tasks used to be fraught with difficulty for Fraser Booth.
The four-year-old, who is autistic, easily became overwhelmed by everyday events, resulting in tears and temper tantrums.
Then Billy the stray cat came along. Abandoned by his previous owner and rescued from a boarded-up council house by a charity, he had not had the easiest start to life.
But since their first meeting, Fraser and Billy have been inseparable – and the moggy has helped bring the little boy out of his shell.
Now, whether it’s playtime, storytime or bedtime, Billy is there to offer a reassuring paw.
And he is the first to sense when Fraser is getting frustrated, calming him down with a cuddle or comforting purr.
Fraser’s mother Louise said: ‘If Fraser is around or playing in the garden, Billy is never far away. It is like he is watching Fraser and calming his behaviour.
He always appears when Fraser is getting upset and offers his head close to Fraser’s to reassure him and recently, when Fraser was poorly, Billy sat on his lap all day.
Care home nurses to be taught to play board games with dementia patients to stop them being prescribed chemical cosh
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
PUBLISHED: 00:22, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 00:22, 16 June 2012
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
Under a Government-backed scheme, they will be encouraged to help patients with hobbies such as baking and painting in the hope it will help their symptoms.
It follows concerns that thousands of the elderly with dementia are being given drugs to sedate them and stop them wandering off.
Such drugs – dubbed a ‘chemical cosh’ – have been found to double the risk of death and actually worsen patients’ symptoms leaving them unable to walk or speak coherently.
Over the next few month nurses in 150 care homes in the UK will be trained to care for patients as people, rather than just a condition.
They will be taught to find out what hobbies patients used to enjoy when they were younger and encouraging them to take part in the activites in the care home.
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