The recent court case involving Danielle Wails denying the murder of her baby son, but pleading guilty to infanticide, has once again put postnatal depression and other mental health illnesses into the spot light. According to an article on the BBC there are a number of ways women’s mental health can be affected by childbirth.

A lot of new mums suffer the “baby blues”, but this usually passes after a few days. One in ten women will suffer from postnatal depression and one in every 1000 new mothers will suffer from the rare mental health illness puerperal psychosis (also known as postpartum psychosis).

Antipsychotic drugs or antidepressants are used to help the conditions – some women recover within a few weeks, but it can take a long time for others to recover completely.

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We are all encouraged, by medical experts and charities, to be more aware of cancer – there are now even celebrity-backed advertising campaigns and clothes in high street stores such as Topman to encourage us all to regularly “check ourselves”. The more we know about the warning signs the better right? It makes sense that the answer to that question would be yes, however some medical researchers and cancer experts are now questioning the benefits of tests and self-examinations.

Although it is evident that some will have their life prolonged, studies over the past few years have concluded that “both self-examination and mass screening for signs of cancer can sometimes cause a good deal of harm - as well as good - generating widespread anxiety, giving rise to misdiagnosis and even leading to unnecessary and invasive surgical procedures.”

According to an article on the BBC, “10 in 2,000 women were having invasive and sometimes sickness-inducing procedures - including chemotherapy, radiotherapy or mastectomies - for cancers that may never have developed.”

The article received a large number of comments … the general feeling being that people would rather be safe than sorry.

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According to an article on NetDoctor, many patients with serious mental health problems are being sent home when they should be in treatment, because of a shortage in beds.

The psychiatric committee of the British Medical Association (BMA) has revealed that those in the medical profession have been concerned about the issue for some time. Dr Bamrah, the committee’s chairman, said, “The BMA’s psychiatric committee certainly believes that the critical number of acute psychiatric beds that are required in mental health are not there.”

The mental health charity Mind also released a report stating that environments of mental healthcare facilities need to be improved.

According to the campaigning group Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), smoking is inextricably linked to poverty. An article in the Guardian revealed that 48% of men in the poorest social class died before they reached 70, compared with 22% of men in the richest social class - half of that difference is estimated to be accounted for by smoking.

ASH have launched interactive maps online revealing the close link between cigarette consumption and deprivation – they show how even relatively small areas of deprivation match up with areas of heavy smoking.

In the Princess ward in Merseyside, which is said to be the most deprived area of England, a huge 52% of the population smoke. In the least deprived ward (Keyworth North in the East Midlands) only 12% of the population smoke. The national average is 26% so the huge variations are evident.

Experts believe the term schizophrenia should be abolished. Apparently the category “falsely groups a wide range of symptoms and encourages over-reliance on anti-psychotic drugs rather than psychological intervention”.

Paul Hammersley, who is involved with the Campaign to Abolish the Schizophrenia Label (Castle) said “It is associated with violence, dangerousness, unpredictability, inability to recover, constant illness, constant need for medication and an inability to work. I cannot emphasise enough how stigmatising this label is.”

It is estimated that 1 in every 100 person will develop schizophrenia at some point in their life. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of SANE, said “While we recognise that the term ’schizophrenia’ can act as a stigmatising label, without identifying this condition as a serious illness how can there be any hope of researching it and providing better treatments? Simply replacing the term with another is unlikely to add to our understanding of this complex condition.”

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Only 20% of those with severe mental health problems have jobs compared with 65% who have physical problems according to a new report. Employers are apparently far less likely to employ people with mental illnesses than those with physical disabilities, so the government is launching a new initiative urging employers to improve conditions for those with mental health problems.

Statistics show that up to 90% of people with mental health problems want to work, compared with 52% of disabled people generally. Work and Pensions Minister Lord Hunt said “Work is important and beneficial to our physical and mental well-being. Because of this, it is essential that we remove the barriers that prevent people starting, returning to, or remaining in work.”

An artical in the Guardian today asks the question ‘Can anything persuade Britain’s smokers to quit?’ We’ve all seen the adverts with fat dripping off cigarettes and the oxygen being used to help an elderly lady breathe. But apparently this hasn’t worked so the government have launched a new campaign:

“Getting a cat’s bum mouth?”, the latest public health advert reads. “Fags are the best ageing treatment money can buy. They make your skin look like an old dishrag. You know all that good stuff night creams and day creams do? Fags undo it. They’re just plain ugly.”

In an effort to appeal to smokers’ vanity this ad is different to those seen before. Will it work? We’ll have to wait and see …

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Early signs of Alzheimer’s disease may be detected by a new computer-aided analysis. The cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease can be analysed according to an article on the BBC, which could lead to earlier diagnosis and the most effective treatment being given. Dr Min-Ying Su (researcher) said “Our methods may aid in earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, allowing earlier intervention to slow down disease progression.”

This could be used to tailor treatments to individual patients. Susanne Sorenson, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said “More research will be required, but it is possible that as more scanners become available it could contribute to providing a diagnosis at an earlier stage of the disease.”