Tag Archives: mental health
Loneliness is ‘major health issue’
It is also associated with poor mental health and, more surprisingly, with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and dementia.
By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” wrote the poet John Donne in the 17th century, in an expression of loneliness and longing.
Some people seek isolation, but few choose to be lonely, primarily because it isn’t good for us.
Loneliness doesn’t just make people unhappy, research shows that it has an effect on mortality too.
It is also associated with poor mental health and, more surprisingly, with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension and dementia.
Loneliness is a public health issue that should be tackled urgently, says Laura Ferguson, director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, a coalition of organisations working to combat the problem including Age UK.
Call for carers to help shape future of NHS trust in Norfolk and Suffolk
Carers in Norfolk and Suffolk are being given the opportunity to be involved in a pioneering programme to redesign mental health services.
Carers of people with mental ill health are being invited by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust to join a monthly focus group dedicated to helping the organisation shape future services.
The focus group is part of an innovative project called Radical Pathway Redesign, which sees doctors, psychologists and other mental health professionals taking a fresh look at what, where and when the Trust provides treatment.
The group, announced during Carer’s Week <18 – 22 June>, will directly influence the programme by putting forward thoughts, ideas and suggestions about how services can be improved.
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.
