People suffering from depression are not getting enough access to exercise on prescription, which can be helped to treat depression, reports the BBC.

Research carried out by the Mental Health Foundation showed that only half of GPs are able to refer patients to exercise schemes due to availability. The schemes have proved to be as successful at treating depression as anti-depressants. It’s thought there is not enough funding, and that many GPs are not aware the schemes exist.

Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: “This is not about knocking antidepressants, they can be incredibly helpful for some people but the truth is that their side-effects can be unpleasant.”

“People experiencing mild or moderate depression are currently being denied access to a clinically recommended, medication-free treatment that could help them.”

Exercise is best used to treat mild or moderate depression, and patients should have up to three structured and supervised sessions a week, lasting around 45-60 minutes each.

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A feature on the Independent website today highlights the emotional cost of the recession.

The Samaritans are reporting a rise in the number of calls, mainly from people worried about money. One in ten calls are related to financial worries, with over half of these being from people worried about job security.

Drinking has also risen, with many people turning to the bottle to help forget their problems. A survey of those who had recently become unemployment or made redundant, one in ten admitted to drinking more to cope with stress.

Relationships are also under pressure due to the recession. Extra stress causes more arguments, and in some cases couples who have broken up and forced to continue living together because neither can afford
to move out.

It’s feared that the psychological stress is only beginning to show in people, and could continue to increase. It seems that it is fear and worry that is causing the most problems - people are most stressed whilst waiting for a decision, rather than when the announcement is made.

Read the feature here…

New figures show the that depression is costing £8.6 billion a year, reports The Independent.

Over the last decade the figure has risen by £3 billion. The figure does not include the impact on the NHS, just the cost on the economy caused by people taking time off work. Those who become unemployed due to mental illness are 70% less likely to ever go back to work.

The Mental Health Foundation is calling for better awareness and education about mental health issues, and more measures to help people prevent them, such as dealing with work related stress.

Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation said: “Depression can be a debilitating illness, affecting a person’s ability to function.

“All people, whether or not they have experience of mental ill health, should be helped to protect themselves against the most common mental health disorders – depression and anxiety. Currently, only £4m of the £4.5bn of NHS adult mental health investment is spent on promoting good mental health – less than 0.1 per cent. Greater investment in promotion would be advantageous for both the economy and society.”

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Moving house more than three times can have a detrimental effect on children’s’ mental health, reports the Telegraph.

A new study has shown that moving house, and therefore losing contact with friends and being taken away from familiar surroundings, may cause the child to feel they’re being ignored, and can result in suicidal feelings.

The study monitored how many children had committed suicide over a period of 17 years, and found over half of those who took their own life had moved house more than three times.

Ping Qin, the lead author, wrote: “The breakdown of connections with peers, discontinuation of group activities, distress and worries related to the new environment are potentially psychologically distressing events for young children. Frequent exposures to these events can be stressful and confusing and may affect their psychosocial wellbeing, thus increasing their intention toward ending their life if they are unable to cope.

“Children may feel ignored and have no one to communicate with. A suicide attempt may, to some extent, express the need for more attention from their parents.”

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New figures released have shown that Britain is sinking deeper into dangerous drinking habits, reports the Independent today.

New figures published by the NHS Information Centre shows that one in three men and one in six women drink to a point where they are in danger of suffering from mental health problems such as depression, and are likely to cause damage to their liver. One in ten men and one in 25 women exhibited signs of being dependent on alcohol - suggesting that developing alcoholism is likely.

Over the last five years the number of people being admitted to hospital due to alcohol has risen by 70%, putting a huge strain on the NHS and costing around £2.7 billion.

Professor Ian Gilmore, an alcohol expert said: “The pivotal role of increasing affordability of alcohol over the last few decades as a key factor in increasing consumption and harm has been yet again confirmed.”

Read more here…

Post-natal depression is a familiar condition, however antenatal depression is far more unheard of, reports The Times.

One in four women experience an episode of depression in their life, and it’s most likely to occur during the reproductive years.

Symptoms during pregnancy such as tearfullness, anxiety, and being irritable are often put down to hormones, but could be signs of depression. Women who have had previous mental health problems are more likely to develop antenatal depression, as are women with difficult social circumstances or those in an unhappy relationship.

Treatments from the condition range from counselling, being encouraged to take more exercise, or in more serious cases cognitive behavioural therapy or being prescribed antidepressants, although this is only in very serious cases as it can harm the development of the baby.

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Despite those suffering with depression now being offered many more options for treatment, the cost of antidepressants in Scotland has soared to £40million, reports The Times.

3.9 million prescriptions for antidepressants were issued last year, and there was an increase across every area in Scotland. The Western Isles saw the biggest increase with a rise of 7.7%. Milton in Glasgow is ‘the most depressed’ area, with antidepressants being prescribed to one in five residents.

The opposition parties in Scotland have highlighted this as a failure for the current government, who pledged to try and reduce the use of antidepressants. They are calling for more funding for alternative methods of treatment, such as counselling, to try and combat the problem, as well as tackling the causes of depression, such as unemployment and poverty.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said: “As a first step we have set a target to reduce the growth in prescribing of antidepressants to zero by 2010.Latest figures show an 11% increase in the numbers of mental health staff in the past year, which will result in improved access to talking therapies in NHS Scotland.”

Read more here…

A new survey carried out by mental health charity Mind has found that nearly half of men are suffering from ‘recession blues’, reports the BBC.

In a survey of 2000 men, 40% said they feel low due to job and money worries. However, the survey also found that men are less willing to talk about their mental health problems, and less likely to seek help than women. 29% of men said they would talk about their problems with friends, as opposed to 53% of women.

Paul Farmer, chief executive at Mind, said: “The recession is clearly having a detrimental impact on the nation’s mental health, but men in particular are struggling with the emotional impact.

“Being a breadwinner is something that is still crucial to the male psyche so if a man loses his job he loses a large part of his identity putting his mental wellbeing in jeopardy.”

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Research shows that children whose fathers suffer from mental health problems are more likely to suffer themselves, reports the BBC.

Reviewing previous research, the team from Oxford University said too much emphasis had been placed on mothers’ mental health rather than fathers, as mothers are considered to provide the most childcare. However, with shifting roles within the family, fathers often now have more of an impact on their child’s upbringing.

The children of parents who are depressed after the birth are more likely to experience emotional or behavioural problems. A child is also ten times more likely to develop bipolar disorder if their parents suffer from it.

It’s also thought that boys are affected more by their father’s mental health than girls, particularly if the father suffers from alcohol addiction.

Professor Paul Ramchandani, who led the team re-analysing the research said: “Fathers are more involved in child-rearing in countries including the UK than they used to be. In years gone by, if fathers were depressed and distant it may not have made much of an impact. We now need a more general understanding of what effects psychiatric problems in fathers can have on children.”

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The Women’s Institute has been campaigning for better mental health for women in prison , highlighted by a blog written by the head of public affairs at the Women’s Institute for the Guardian website.

They began campaigning after the son of one member of the WI committed suicide after suffering from mental health problems and not receiving adequate support whilst in prison.

however it’s women and young people who are being affected most, often being placed in prisons when they should be in hospital or an alternative. Four out of five women in prison suffer from some kind of mental health problem, most commonly depression or anxiety, and it’s also the prisoner’s family that suffers.

the WI are hoping to raise awareness on a community level, by campaigning in their local areas.

Read the blog here…

an increasing strain on teachers is causing their mental health to suffer, reports The Times today.

the pressure of Ofsted inspections, exam targets and badly behaved pupils in putting teachers under extra stress. the National Union of Teachers have been looking into the issue for the past two years, and found that there is a higher suicide rate amongst teachers, and that many leave the profession due to stress.

The NUT is now appealing to the government to tackle the issue, and encourage the school inspection body Ofsted to pay more attention to the mental health of staff when assessing schools.

Helen Andrews from the NUT said: “Originally we had issues such as class sizes, now it has been joined by Sats tests, performance [assessment], Ofsted, and management bullying.

“Schools under constant alert of Ofsted inspections frequently create unacceptable levels of stress which are passed on to all staff, and which can be sufficient to tip a teacher into mental illness.”

Read more here…

GPs are failing to let those suffering with depression know about all the treatment options available to them according to a new study, reports The Independent.

The study carried out by the Depression Alliance, entitled Daring To Choose, surveyed 513 people diagnosed with depression, and revealed that only a third had been told there were other treatment options besides anti-depressants.

There is now pressure on the Government to make sure GPs are informing patients about self-help groups and psychological treatments, as well as anti-depressants. 70% of those surveyed felt that had not been given enough information about the possible side-effects of taking anti-depressants.

The Government has already invested £173m to be used over the next three years to help improve psychological therapies.

The chief executive of Depression Alliance, Emer O’Neill, said: “Choice is not a reality for most people with depression and anxiety. While there are some excellent GPs and some well-informed patients, there are huge numbers of people who are sinking because they are brushed off, not taken seriously and walk away from the doctor empty-handed apart from a prescription.”

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A promotion at work may result in mental health problems according to new research, reports the BBC website.

Warwick University carried out a poll of 1000 workers who had been promoted in the last five years, and found that on average, each volunteer’s mental health had deteriorated by around 10%. The research is due to be presented next month at the Royal Economic Society’s conference.

The survey revealed that being given more responsibility at work could lead to anxiety and depression, which could eventually also lead to physical health problems. It also showed that there was less time to look after general health, with people visiting GPs 20% less than before their promotion.

Chris Boyce, who lead the research said: “Getting promoted at work is not as great as people think.
Our research finds that the mental health of managers typically deteriorates after a job promotion and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change.”

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A new poll has shown that nearly 20% of mothers of twins and triplets experience post-natal depression, reports the Telegraph today.

The survey of more than 1000 mothers carried out by the Twins and Multiple Births Association (Tamba) found that 17% of mothers who had multiple births experienced post-natal depression, possibly due to most birth preparation and ante-natal classes being geared towards single births.

Half of those surveyed also said they spent less than an hour a day talking to other adults, leading to feelings of isolation. The research showed that causes for post-natal depression may include experiencing depression before, being a single mother, or experiencing complications during the birth.

Judi Linney, president of Tamba said: “At present, many families struggle because not all of the NHS is sufficiently informed and equipped to meet the challenges of multiple births and pregnancies. Simple steps like improving access to multiple-specific parent education and providing practical support during the early days would do much to promote the health and wellbeing of mothers and their babies, and we call on the Government to ensure this happens.”

Read more about the survey here…

A new poll shows that 77% find the world a more frightening place than 10 years ago, reports the BBC website.

The survey of 2000 people carried out by the Mental Health Foundation charity found that more than three quarters believe we live in a ‘culture of fear’. The report, entitled the Face of Fear, revealed that more than a third of those surveyed said they felt more worried an anxious than they used to.

The current economic climate is thought to be a factor, but not solely to blame. Other factors included the fear of constant surveillance through CCTV, knife crime, terrorism, as well as the ‘worst-case-scenario language’ used by politicians, businesses and public bodies.

Feelings of anxiety can contribute to the development of health problems, including heart disease, and the Mental Health Foundation caused for these increasing anxieties and fears to be addressed.

The Chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, Dr Andrew McCulloch said: “A mental health promotion campaign that shows individuals how to look after their own mental health would be of immense public benefit, and help prevent common mental health problems like anxiety and depression.”

Read more about the survey…