The Healthcare Commission has admitted that more needs to be done for those with mental health problems, “there is a greater need for access to talking therapies - such as counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy or psychoanalysis.”

Healthcare Commission chief executive Anna Walker said, “The majority of people who suffer from mental illness receive their treatment in their own community, not in hospital. They want to remain in the community and this helps them get better. But for care in the community to work for the mentally ill, more access is needed to talking therapies and out-of-hours crisis care”.

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said, “We’re concerned about the large number of people who don’t have access to basic treatments, like cognitive behavioural therapy, which is simply not available in many areas of the country.”

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Patients given the drug AS1404 as well as standard chemotherapy lived an average of 14 months compared with 8.8 months if given chemotherapy alone according to an article on BBC News. In preliminary trials, this experimental lung cancer drug has extended patients’ life expectancy by approximately 50%.

The new drug works by cutting off blood supply to tumours; it is able to distinguish between blood vessels feeding the tumour and those serving healthy organs. Dr Mark McKeage, who co-led the trial, said “It is great to see this large survival benefit with AS1404 in lung cancer patients”.

The charity Cancer Research UK has now stepped in to take the drug into early stage clinical trials.

Four out of five adults with a long-term lung disease are unaware of their condition, research suggests. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) includes bronchitis and emphysema and only 18.8% of sufferers have had it diagnosed and only 46% of those in its severe stages know they have it.

“The lack of diagnosis is a concern because smokers, who are particularly prone to it, can halt its progression if they are diagnosed sufficiently early and stop smoking” an article in the Guardian states.

Lead researcher Professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at Cancer Research UK’s Health Behavioural Unit, said “Many smokers feel that they will ‘get away with it’ and not be affected in a serious way by their habit. For smokers with COPD that doubt is removed. Every day they continue to smoke will make things worse.”

COPD is reported as the sixth most common cause of death in England and Wales, killing more than 30,000 people each year.

Sharon Wallace, an author from Devon, is a survivor of abuse – physical, mental and sexual. In an effort to help others who are still living through abuse today, she has written a book about her own perception of what happened to her when she was growing up.

“My aim for writing about my abuse and making it public is to hopefully allow others to read it and know that a road can be found to happiness and no matter what we have been made to endure through some one else’s crimes, there is a life after desolation” she says.

‘A House Full of Whispers’ is a true account of her harrowing childhood; “It’s the first in a trilogy and is an honest account of my life with the highs and lows. There is a path to redemption within my books for any who have walked a similar road, I was lucky to be able to stop the dysfunctional lineage, and my family, and children’s children, live a life all generations deserve”

Sharon admits to struggling to finish the book at times, reliving many distressing images. For many years she tried to self harm, believing she was “setting the poison within my body free”. Now 50, Sharon wants to let the world know what she endured as a child and hopes to help others facing what she did.

“Small voices that stand alone will one day reach each other and become an ocean of power, every wave starts as a ripple”.

Her book is available at Amazon. For more information also see her website: www.sharonwallace.co.uk

Roaccutane, a popular treatment for severe acne, has been tested by University of Bath scientists after claims it has caused depression and suicide since 1982 when it was first introduced. The findings suggest the treatment produced depressive behaviour in mice, however, researcher Dr Sarah Bailey said, “Without more research it is difficult to say for sure whether the same link applies to people taking the drug”.

Roaccutane has been used by approximately 13 million patients world-wide, and is usually prescribed to teenagers with severe acne. There is a warning about depression in packets and drug maker, Roche, have apparently issued a statement welcoming the research.

There is some confusion as to the cause of depression felt among users; “severe acne can cause some sufferers to become depressed and can also affect their mood and self esteem”. Teenagers have been advised to not stop taking the drug, but to seek medical advice if they begin to feel depressed.

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A survey of parents has found that more than one third of children with ADHD have been excluded from school. The survey was carried out on 526 families as part of the first national ADHD awareness week. ADDISS (the Attention Deficit Disorder Information Support Service) said the survey highlighted a lack of resources and support available.

“With the right help from schools and access to appropriate medical and non-medical treatment, we can support children with ADHD through their developing years and help them succeed in life” said Andrea Bilbow, founder of ADDISS.

According to an article on the BBC, the government said “exclusion rates for children with special needs had decreased in the past three years”.

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The government have rejected calls for tighter controls on alcohol advertising and sponsorship. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said, “tougher methods to teach children about alcohol and tobacco are needed”. However, Schools Minister Lord Adonis said the government was focusing on existing policies to combat a consumption rise.

Raising duty on alcohol, increasing the legal smoking age from 16 to 17, banning alcohol adverts on TV and prohibiting alcohol firms from sponsoring sports or music events watched by under 18’s were ideas raised by the report, Apparently 15 year olds in Britain are among the heaviest users of alcohol, cannabis and tobacco in Europe:

“Between a fifth and a quarter of 15-year-olds are regular smokers, half drink alcohol at least once a week and nearly a quarter have used illegal drugs in the past month”, the panel said.

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According to a survey conducted by the GP magazine, Pulse, 1,092 premises out of more than 7,000 across the UK were below minimum standards. “The problem is getting worse and putting key policies such as moving care into the community in jeopardy”, the survey revealed.

According to the government, the premises were getting better as £1bn was being invested in upgrading GP surgeries, however the survey conducted by Pulse revealed that 1 in 7 GP premises was not fit for purpose.

London was the worst affected area in the UK, with a huge 522 premises deemed as “unfit”. The magazine, Pulse, said that doctors had said they could raise the capital required to build new premises, but NHS bodies could not afford the rent on them.

Jo Haynes, editor of Pulse, said “GP’s want to take on more work from hospitals and to provide more services for patients from their surgeries. But they are being prevented from doing so because the government refuses to invest the comparatively small amount of money to enable primary care organisations to fund new premises”.

For more information read the BBC article

An article on the BBC News website explains how drug users in need of care may not receive the treatment they need due to where they live. A report conducted by the Healthcare Commission and the National Treatment Agency showed that only 5% of the 149 Drud Action Teams around the UK were rated as providing an excellent service. Furthermore, only 23% were given a rating of good, 71% were said to be fair and 1% given a rating of weak.

Research conducted in the last few years suggests that sufferers of substance misuse are more likely to recover or improve their condition if treatment continues for three months. It has been noted that services have improved but in many circumstances access to a longer period of care and treatment depends on the availability of the service in your area. For more information about this topic visit the BBC Websites Health section.

A new study has investigated ways in which our cognitive skills as humans have been shaped by our primate ancestry - new findings show that human infants display the same preferences as all the other great apes in their strategies for remembering where things are, but apparently these preferences shift as humans develop.

The study found that “this change in cognitive preference indicates a uniquely human developmental trajectory when compared to the cognitive development of other great apes, and it informs our general understanding of which aspects of our cognitive development have evolved within the human lineage”.

The study compared humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans in terms of remembering where things are …

Mothers who drink three or more glasses of alchohol at any one occasion in early pregnancy increase their offspring’s chance of developing alcoholic disorders by 21 years of age, according to a new report.

Drinking during early childhood has been associated with mental and behavioural problems, difficulties in thinking, learning and memory, but few studies have so far researched the link between drinking during pregnancy and a child’s risk for alcohol dependence and other disorders in later life.

Find out more about the new report

To ensure people comply with the smoking ban, the government plans to introduce a “shop-a-smoker” hotline next summer. People will be able to report others not obiding by the ban, giving their names and the venue where thay were seen smoking.

Smoker’s lobby group Forest said, “People won’t use the phone line…It is not the British way”. Legislation to ban smoking from all public places, including pubs and restaurants will come into force from summer 2007.

Read more on BBC News

A recent study has shown that men who become fathers after the age of 40 are more likely to have an autistic child than those who have children at a younger age. The research was conducted on 132,271 children born between 1980 and 1989; it showed that the children with older dads were six times more likely to suffer from autism or a similar learning disorder than those whose fathers were under 30 at the time they were born.

For more information about this subject, visit the BBC News Health Website or Psychology in the News.

The ancient Indian ayurvedic medicine is being examined for possible use in treating Alzheimer’s disease. An article on BBC News reports that researchers found the plants used in ayurveda acted to improve memory and concentration in Alzheimer’s sufferers.

“Ayurvedic medicine uses herbs and spices like basil, turmeric, garlic, ginger and aloe vera, as well as yoga exercises, to treat physical and psychological problems … scientists are now trying to identify the chemical compounds responsible so they can be used to develop more effective drugs”.

Alzheimer’s disease, and the causes are not yet fully understood, but this research should give new hope to sufferers.

A new BBC One TV series, Temper your Temper, is now showing daily at 11am. Presented by Saira Khan (the former Apprentice contestant), the show tries to treat the cause and effects of anger. Neuroscientist Dr Alan Watkins uses his techniques to try to help frantic individuals keep their cool.

An article written about the new series on BBC News states that “there are six types of anger: explosive, argumentative, judgmental, helpless, adolescent and nutritional. For each type, the solution begins with the person accepting that they are the problem, not someone else”.

Temper your Temper is showing every weekday until 15 September.