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TAG: Mental Health

Psychiatry: Neither a magic bullet nor a simple target

Medical approaches to mental health often seem under fire. Huw Green reviews a spirited defence of a medically oriented psychiatry.

The Medical Model in Mental Health: An Explanation and Evaluation
Ahmed Samei Huda
Oxford University Press
2019
408 Pages

The medical model of mental health has become such a ready object of criticism that it is a little odd to see a book that actually defends it. In response to growing library of books and papers that critique psychiatry as a medical approach to mental health problems, Samei Huda, a consultant psychiatrist, has written a comprehensive retort. If you had to rename this book, with a specific view to selling it to psychologists such as myself, you might call it “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Medical Model.”

Podcast: What is Psychosis?

John Richardson and Anne Cooke  on how we think about psychosis and schizophrenia.

 

Many people hear voices, believe things that others find strange, or sometimes appear out of touch with reality. These experiences are sometimes seen as symptoms of psychosis or schizophrenia. But what is “psychosis”? In this public lecture our own Anne Cooke discusses what these experience mean, how we see them and what hope we can hold if we’re given such a a diagnosis. Anne is joined by filmmaker John Richardson who talks about his own experience of psychosis and hospitalisation.

This talk was recorded on the 21st of March 2019.

Transforming Children’s Mental Health: An Open Letter to Theresa May

The Prime Minister wants to use the last weeks of her premiership to tackle children’s mental health. Can she avoid the mistakes of the past? Trish Joscelyne offers some advice.

 

Dear Prime Minister,

Your time in office is coming to an end. I realise that the frustrations of the last three years have been huge, and that many of your political hopes have been casualties of the Brexit impasse. With all that’s gone on, it’s good to know that you haven’t given up on other issues. It’s even better to hear that one place you still hope to have an impact is on the mental wellbeing of children. I’ve been reading the Government’s Green Paper on transforming young people’s mental health and I have a few thoughts I want to share. This isn’t a straightforward subject and I’d really like what you do to have lasting benefits.

Podcast: The politics of mental health

The panel try to make sense of mental health policy and politics

This week Anne, Rachel and John are joined by two special guests to discuss the politics of mental health. What are the main initiatives in mental health policy? What do the different political parties have to say? Are there even any meaningful differences between them? And does the recent Mental Health Act Review move us forward? To help us think though these questions we had some help from Akiko Hart and Mark Brown, two people far more involved in political conversations than we are. We also have an interview with our colleague, child psychologist Trish Joscelyne, who takes us through the changing landscape of children’s mental health.

Podcast: Working so that people don’t need us anymore

John McGowan talks to six clinical psychology trainees just about to qualify

 

Every September we say goodbye to a qualifying cohort of our clinical psychology trainees. They’ve been with us for three years and it’s always a pongiant moment. This year John McGowan sat down with six of our leavers to talk about their hope for qualified life and the challenges of planning a career in public service. The discussion ranged from the kind of teams they want to work in to whether health services are always the best place to help people. We’d like to thank all of the participants: Abi Davison-Jenkins, Marguerite Gallagher, Helen Layton, Rebecca Newman, Hannah Prytherch and Owen Thompson. We’ll miss you!