Teenage Mental Health
Waiting for talking therapy?
The Government’s ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapies’ (IAPT) scheme is in the news today. There’s concern that the gap between an initial NHS assessment for mental health issues and actual talking therapy is too long. Over a million people a…
Tuning into autumn
What does the autumn season bring up for you? For some people autumn means less light, both literally and metaphorically. The darker evenings can provoke depression and low mood and this time of year is known for an increase in…
Harry tackles media intrusion and the grief for his mother
Prince William and Prince Harry have spoken movingly about their own mental health struggles. Both men have been deeply affected by the traumatic death of their mother in 1997, and in recent months Harry has tackled the ongoing issue of…
Brexit uncertainty
As I write there is still no clarity about Brexit. Anxiety and uncertainty about the state of the Nation is spilling into the consulting room. For some of us, disagreements over Brexit have created or exposed divisions within families and…
Britain Get Talking
We’re excited to endorse ITV’s new mental health campaign, Britain Get Talking, launched by Ant and Dec during Saturday night’s Britain’s Got Talent final. The duo paused the show to encourage the audience at home to talk to each other for…
Poems for life and love
Today is National Poetry Day. Here are two poems by the wonderful Wendy Cope who writes with poignant humour – and brevity – about life and love. The Orange At lunchtime I bought a huge orangeThe size of it made…
Dealing with high emotion
Emotions are running high in public life this week. MPs have been shouting at each other over the floor of the House of Commons, using words like ‘cowardly’, ‘disgrace’ and ‘horror’. And world leaders at the United Nations were excoriated…
What is ‘depression’?
There are many ways to define and describe depression. Fighting an invisible enemy, living with a ‘black-dog’, walking through thick fog, wearing a lead suit, trapped with a critical gremlin. What would your word or image be? I relate to…
Un-shaming ourselves about climate change
I’ve been thinking about Greta Thunberg over the summer. The Swedish teenager and climate campaigner has been travelling by boat across the Atlantic to the US to attend a climate conference. I thought about this particularly hard as I sat…
Summer self-help
As we take our summer break we thought we’d highlight some great sources of online help and inspiration for your mental health. WEBSITE: welldoing.org has a directory of therapists and also lots of accessible articles about all aspects of therapy. Recent…
Loose language around mental health
Donald Trump has decided to brand recent mass shootings in America as a ‘mental health’ problem. Whatever your views on US politics it’s concerning for mental health professionals to hear mental illness casually associated with violence. Negative stereotyping fuels misunderstanding…
Facing up to Fortnite
British 15 year-old, Jaden Ashman, this week won nearly a million pounds playing ‘Fortnite’, a fast and furious online game where 100 players battle to be the last one standing. “I’ve thrown out an Xbox and snapped a headset because…