New research has shown that there may be a link between a genetic variation and developing schizophrenia, reports the BBC.

Three separate teams analysed thousands of DNA samples in the biggest study ever into the genetics of schizophrenia, and the findings showed that the illness can come from common as well as rare genetic forms. It’s thought that this could count for around a third of the inherited risk of schizophrenia.

There were around 30,000 tiny genetic variations identified as being more common in those who had schizophrenia, and similar results were also found in those who had bipolar disease, linking the two illnesses.

Paul Corry, of the mental health charity Rethink, said: “This exciting research brings us one step closer to understanding the causes of schizophrenia, but we are still a long way from a full explanation.

“Most of the genetic contribution to this illness is still unknown and it is crucial to realise that genes are only part of the picture - environmental and social factors, such as drug use or trauma, can exacerbate or even trigger schizophrenia.”

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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…

Many dementia sufferers are not receiving appropriate treatment due to poor staff training, reports the Guardian.

A new report, called Prepared To Care, revealed that less than half of those who carried out home visits to dementia patients, to help with dressing and washing, were trained to do so. One in three care homes who had residents with dementia also admitted that they did not give staff training on dealing with sufferers.

There are around 700,000 people in the UK with dementia, with 244,000 in care homes and 424,000 living in the community.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “What sort of society do we live in when the people who deliver care to thousands of vulnerable people with dementia have no training or support? The situation is a disgrace. Staff turnover is high and the quality of care in some areas is very poor. There is a lot of work to be done if we are to drag the standard of dementia care in the UK from its position in the bottom third of Europe.”

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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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Many soldiers returning from duty in Afghanistan and Iraq may be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder in silence, reports The Telegraph.

A ’stiff upper lip’ attitude may be preventing soldiers from admitting they have a problem, and talking about how they feel.

Professor Alexander McFarlane, professor of psychiatry at the University of Adelaide and head of the Australian Centre for Military and Veterans’ Health has claimed that British soldiers do not receive the same level of after care as American and Australian soldiers.

He said: “People who have been traumatised are in a peculiar position in a community.

“The very nature of what they have suffered silences them. People who have had these sort of experiences can’t understand what they have been through, so even if veterans do speak they are not heard. ”

Read more here…

In a world of rolling news and constant information updates, scientists fear that it is causing extra stress on the brain, reports The Times.

Two new studies have suggested that the constant flood of information may result in brains blocking the development of wisdom - traits such as empathy, tolerance, emotional stability and compassion, and we become ‘ethically numb’.

With the amount of information consumed increasing each year - the amount of time people spend on line went up by nearly a quarter from 2006 to 2007, it’s feared that the brain may reach saturation point, and begin to shut down.

Professor Dilip Jeste, the author of one of the studies said: “Psychosocially positive behaviours such as admiration and indignation are more work for the brain than basic emotions such as pain response.

“Constant bombardment by outside high-intensity stimuli is not likely be healthy. It may prevent people from having an opportunity to digest the information, match it with culturally resonant reactions and then execute well-considered behavioural responses.”

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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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Plans from the government to raise the retirement age to 70 have been welcomed by those researching Alzheimer’s disease, reports the Times.

The Institute of Psychiatry, at the Maudsley Hospital in London said that for every extra year worked dementia could be off-set by just over a month. So working until age 70 rather than the current retirement age, 65, could prevent the on-set of dementia by another six months.

Keeping the brain active and stimulated won’t prevent Alzheimer’s, but can help the severity of the symptoms. “Exercising” the brain can also help, such as doing puzzles and challenging it. It’s also important to look after the rest of the body, particularly the heart, blood pressure and cholesterol.

Read more tips on helping prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s here…

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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The first study to investigate adolescent victims of stalking has showed that the problem is largely being ignored, reports the Guardian.

the report says that behaviour associated with stalking is instead being categorised as bullying if the victim is a teenager, whereas if the victim was an adult it would warrant a police investigation.

the research consisted of interviewing those who had been convicted of stalking to determine what form the stalking had taken - 67% said they’d used text messages and phone calls and 54% had physically or sexually assaulted their victim.

Emma-Jane Cross of Beatbullying said: “The research further proves that juvenile stalking is a very dangerous form of bullying and one that is likely to escalate to youth-on-youth violence. Early intervention and on the ground bullying prevention work in schools and local communities needs to be part of the solution, with young people at the heart of implementing change.”

Read more about the report…

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 mental health nurse is calling for more training to consider children’s needs when assessing parents mental health, reports the BBC.

Sarah Rutherford from Manchester Metropolitan University said that currently children are still being cared for by parents who are undergoing treatment for mental health problems, which could be putting them at risk. She said that there were no guidelines for how to assess what should happen to the child, and also no follow-up procedure after the parent had been given treatment.

It is the responsibility of the mental health nurse to inform social services if a child may be at risk due to their parents mental health issues, and Ms Rutherford said that they were not given guidelines to follow or any training on what to look out for.

Ms Rutherford said: “It used to be the case that children were taken away from mothers with serious mental health problems. Now, this is not the case and that is a good thing because children are often better off with their parents. But we do not know if children are being put at risk either emotionally or physically.”

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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