Seven mental health patients died waiting for hospital beds
Seven mental health patients have killed themselves in England since 2012 after being told there were no hospital beds for them, the BBC has learned. An investigation of coroners' reports and NHS trust papers with the journal Community Care found another patient denied a bed later killed his mother. It comes as mental health beds are being cut in England - figures show more than 2100 have gone since 2011. (BBC News)
• Meanwhile, a girl aged 16 with mental health issues was held in police custody for two days due to the hospital bed shortage: A senior police officer has claimed that a teenage girl with mental health issues was being held in police custody because there were “no beds available in the UK.” Paul Netherton, assistant chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, tweeted about the “unacceptable” scenario. (The Guardian)
Seven mental health patients have killed themselves in England since 2012 after being told there were no hospital beds for them, the BBC has learned. An investigation of coroners' reports and NHS trust papers with the journal Community Care found another patient denied a bed later killed his mother. It comes as mental health beds are being cut in England - figures show more than 2100 have gone since 2011. (BBC News)
• Meanwhile, a girl aged 16 with mental health issues was held in police custody for two days due to the hospital bed shortage: A senior police officer has claimed that a teenage girl with mental health issues was being held in police custody because there were “no beds available in the UK.” Paul Netherton, assistant chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, tweeted about the “unacceptable” scenario. (The Guardian)
Texas execution stayed amid mental health dispute
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has stayed the execution of Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti (pictured). Panetti’s case has sparked debate for years over whether the state can execute someone who is severely mentally ill. During his trial for the 1992 slayings of his mother- and father-in-law, Panetti represented himself — dressed in a purple cowboy outfit — and called Jesus, John F. Kennedy and the Pope to the stand. Panetti has suffered from schizophrenia for 30 years, his lawyers say, and he was hospitalized for mental illness numerous times before the murders. (5newsonline.com)
• Here’s a good opinion piece on America’s hideous appetite for executing people suffering from mental illnesses. Writes Sarah Griffith Lund, whose mentally ill cousin was executed by the state of Missouri: “The fact that death row often resembles an acute-care psychiatric unit means that we've lost our moral grounding and have failed both justice and public mental healthcare in America.” (Huffington Post)
• Meanwhile, Mohammad Asghar, from Edinburgh, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, remains on death row in Pakistan, where he was recently shot and injured by a prison guard. (Amnesty International)
• At least 778 people were executed in 22 countries around the world in 2013. (Amnesty International)
Doc shines light on mental health in poor nations
The World Health Organization predicts that depression alone will be the leading global cause of disease by the year 2030. Low- and middle-income countries have 86% of the world's almost million yearly suicides, but just one psychiatrist for up to every two million people. Issues such as hunger and malnutrition, education and more visible diseases like malaria dominate the attention of the international aid community, leaving few resources for mental health. And the cultural stigma against mental illness is even more deeply ingrained than in the West. (Canoe)
• Meanwhile, women and girls with intellectual disabilities or mental illness in India are subject to forced institutionalization in sometimes overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, verbal and physical abuse, and medication without consent, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday. (Boston Globe)
Meditation as effective as psychotherapy for depression
For the first time ever, a study conducted at Lund University in Sweden tested the effects of mindfulness based group meditation classes head-to-head against traditional psychotherapy on a group of clinically depressed patients. The results are remarkable. (Digital Journal)
The Guardian and Observer Christmas appeal 2014: mental health
Our Christmas appeal will raise money for nine superb UK-based charities. Each offers innovative services in their particular areas of expertise, but all have a common mission, which is one we as a media organisation share: to challenge stigma and create more positive societal attitudes towards mental illness. (The Guardian)
The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has stayed the execution of Texas death row inmate Scott Panetti (pictured). Panetti’s case has sparked debate for years over whether the state can execute someone who is severely mentally ill. During his trial for the 1992 slayings of his mother- and father-in-law, Panetti represented himself — dressed in a purple cowboy outfit — and called Jesus, John F. Kennedy and the Pope to the stand. Panetti has suffered from schizophrenia for 30 years, his lawyers say, and he was hospitalized for mental illness numerous times before the murders. (5newsonline.com)
• Here’s a good opinion piece on America’s hideous appetite for executing people suffering from mental illnesses. Writes Sarah Griffith Lund, whose mentally ill cousin was executed by the state of Missouri: “The fact that death row often resembles an acute-care psychiatric unit means that we've lost our moral grounding and have failed both justice and public mental healthcare in America.” (Huffington Post)
• Meanwhile, Mohammad Asghar, from Edinburgh, who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, remains on death row in Pakistan, where he was recently shot and injured by a prison guard. (Amnesty International)
• At least 778 people were executed in 22 countries around the world in 2013. (Amnesty International)
Doc shines light on mental health in poor nations
The World Health Organization predicts that depression alone will be the leading global cause of disease by the year 2030. Low- and middle-income countries have 86% of the world's almost million yearly suicides, but just one psychiatrist for up to every two million people. Issues such as hunger and malnutrition, education and more visible diseases like malaria dominate the attention of the international aid community, leaving few resources for mental health. And the cultural stigma against mental illness is even more deeply ingrained than in the West. (Canoe)
• Meanwhile, women and girls with intellectual disabilities or mental illness in India are subject to forced institutionalization in sometimes overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, verbal and physical abuse, and medication without consent, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday. (Boston Globe)
Meditation as effective as psychotherapy for depression
For the first time ever, a study conducted at Lund University in Sweden tested the effects of mindfulness based group meditation classes head-to-head against traditional psychotherapy on a group of clinically depressed patients. The results are remarkable. (Digital Journal)
The Guardian and Observer Christmas appeal 2014: mental health
Our Christmas appeal will raise money for nine superb UK-based charities. Each offers innovative services in their particular areas of expertise, but all have a common mission, which is one we as a media organisation share: to challenge stigma and create more positive societal attitudes towards mental illness. (The Guardian)
