Personal independence allowance (PIP) is soon to replace the disability living allowance (DLA). The new PIP benefit will form part of the Welfare Reform Bill and will be made up of a daily living component and a mobility component – both of which will have two levels (standard and enhanced).

Under the new legislation many individuals with mental health problems stand to lose out under the new government plans, as these benefits help many with the cost of transportation and getting around.

According to mental health charity Mind, 85% of individuals who currently claim DLA for mental health problems would receive the reduce rate for mobility – amounting to a total cost of around £20 each week.

Chief Executive of Mind, Paul Farmer, said: “365,000 people with mental health problems rely on DLA mobility, using the money to run a car or take taxis so that they can leave the house and go to medical appointments when their anxiety levels prohibit them from taking public transport.”

Farmer believes that individuals suffering from mental health problems will find it very difficult to qualify for the mobility section of PIP when DLA is abolished, which could lead to further distress for some individuals who are unable to get around without the benefits.

Mind is urging the Government to halt the introduction of PIP so that an independent report assessing the suitability of the benefit for individuals with mental health problems can be undertaken.

View and comment on the original Mind article.

According to a recent study, recommendations that were introduced across England and Wales during the past decade

The study in question has been published in health journal the Lancet, and has suggested that new interventions such as introducing a 24-hour crisis team for individuals who have refused treatment appear to have had a positive impact.

Whilst the way in which the study was carried out means that researchers cannot say whether it was the reforms that were responsible for the reduction or other changes in society – comparing figures from before and after the recommendations were introduced has left researchers feeling fairly certain that they did have an impact.

Speaking to the BBC, Professor Nav Kapur from the University of Manchester – where the study was conducted – has said that he and his team have estimated that there were 200 to 300 fewer suicides per year as a result of the measures.

The idea of the reforms came about in 2001, when a series of recommendations were made in a bid to reduce the number of suicides among individuals receiving mental health care.

Over a decade after the changes were introduced and it would seem that providing more intensive support to vulnerable individuals has actually helped to reduce the rates of patient suicides.

The findings have been welcomed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists: “We welcome this excellent study showing how local implementation of comprehensive mental health services reduces the number of people who die by suicide.” Commented director of public education at the organisation, Dr Peter Byrne.

“It proves the value of investing in safe psychiatric wards, close follow-up of discharged patients and specialised teams.” He said.

View and comment on the original BBC News article.

Midwifery experts become growingly concerned about new ‘foetus party’ craze sweeping the UK.

The new trend sees pregnant women inviting family and friends to a view 3D and 4D scans of their unborn children. Some companies even offer a service allowing parents-to-be to have their scans printed on key-rings, magnets and coasters for party guests to take away.

Ultrasound scans are traditionally used as a way of identifying any serious defects or health problems in unborn babies. Now scan ‘packages’ are being sold across the country offering paying parents the opportunity to buy VIP celebration scans plus champagne for nearly £200.

Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, has expressed her worry at this apparent commercialisation of pregnancy and birth.

From a psychological perspective, the public celebration of an unborn baby always has the potential to cause additional stress to the parents if anything were to go wrong.

Professor Warwick said: “A mother may need increased counselling after raising everyone’s expectations of her pregnancy at a ‘foetus party’, only to learn of complications later on.”

Ethical questions could also be raised regarding the rights of the unborn foetus itself. UK laws currently allow the mother to make decisions for the baby while in the womb. The increasing use of potentially life-saving technology for entertainment purposes could, however, throw this law into dispute.

Additionally, the idea of ‘VIP’ scans could potentially widen the class gulf and alienate lower earning parents, leading to a sense of inadequacy and inequality.

Is this ‘yummy mummy’ WAG culture transforming pregnancy into a fashion brand and objectifying vulnerable human life?

If you have experienced problems with pregnancy or childbirth, you may wish to see a counsellor. To find out more, please visit Pregnancy and Childbirth. 

View and comment on the original Independent article 

Workers are putting their mental and physical health at risk by spending too long sitting at their desks without interaction.  

The findings, based on interviews and surveys with over 1,000 people from a variety of jobs, showed that people were spending an average of five hours and 41 minutes sitting at their desks throughout the day.

Dr Myanna Duncan, of Loughborough University, said: “We’re looking at an ageing population, working later into their lives. To work later you need to be healthy.”

Participants claimed that they simply ‘forgot’ to stand up, after becoming absorbed in work or inundated with things to do.

The results also showed that people who spent a lot of time sitting at their desks at work were also more likely to sit around at home.

When workers spend nearly the same amount of time sitting in a stationary position as they do sleeping at night, obesity and health problems are bound to rise.

The findings are due to be presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Occupational Conference later on this year.

Dr Duncan advises office workers to make a conscious effort to get out of their chairs and move around throughout the day. She suggests talking to colleagues face to face rather than using email, or placing post-it notes on screens to act as reminders.

 Activity and social interaction are essential for a healthy mind. If you suffer from any mental health issues as a result of your daily habits, you could benefit from consulting a counsellor. To find out more about how counselling can help, please visit Types of Distress. Alternatively, you can use our simple search tool to find a counsellor near you. 

View and comment on the original BBC article. 

Mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness have launched a media campaign designed to take away some of the fear and awkwardness that still surrounds the subject.

‘It’s Time to Talk, Time to Change’ will consist of three radio ads created by renowned advertising agency Dare.

Dare has an impressive resume, having worked successfully with Hovis, Virgin and EA Games among other prestigious brands. The radio adverts, one of which will star Sophie Chapman from the Peep Show, will be played across Kiss, Capital and Heart FM.

The campaign will also run in print form throughout The Sun and the Metro, featuring comic strips designed by The Times and Spectator illustrator Steven Collins.

A TV advert run in 2011 will also be circulated again this year.

Sue Baker, director at Time to Change, said: “Through the use of subtle humour in our advertising, we hope we can remove the awkwardness and fear that stops many people talking about mental health.”

Along with radio and paper adverts, the campaign has its own website featuring tips on how to breech the subject of mental health. It will also give the option to send an e-card to your loved one, showing them you are thinking of them during their illness.

“Time to Talk, Time to Change’ is funded by Comic Relief and the Department of Health. By reaching the public through humour, the charities aim to fully remove the stigma that currently surrounds mental health in the hope that it will encourage people to open up and accept their conditions.

If you are suffering from a mental health problem and would like to talk about it, you may benefit from counselling. To find out more about the services counsellors offer, please visit our Types of Distress page. To locate a counsellor near you, please use our search tool.

View and comment on the original Campaign Live article.

Scientists at Surrey University have announced plans to conduct a three-year research project into the impact of birdsong on human creativity and wellbeing.

There’s been many a meandering speculation into the enlightening effects of birdsong throughout the history of romantic poetry. True, it was Aldous Huxley who once said ‘remove birds from poetry, and we would have to cast aside half of the English canon’.

Huxley famously wrote ‘Island’, a story of a utopia where inhabitants lived in pure enlightened bliss. In this state of Nirvana, the birds never sang, but instead mimicked the word ‘attention’ in order to remind people to stop and take in the world around them. By connecting with the world, people could be at peace with life.

Now scientists are considering whether there is an element of fact in Huxley’s famous imaginings.

The study, supported by the National Trust and Surrey Wildlife Trust, will involve experiments testing the impact of birdsong on participants’ ability to relax, concentrate and think creatively.

According to researcher Eleanor Ratcliffe: “A great deal of anecdotal evidence suggests that we respond positively to birdsong. However, currently there is a lack of scientific research on the psychological effects of listening to birds”.

Peter Brash of the National Trust believes that birdsong is ‘good for the mind and soul’, that it helps to bring us closer to nature and is more effective at evoking happy memories than any other sound.

Even without scientific evidence, it is clear that being outside can help restore mental health and make us feel better.

If you are struggling with emotional distress, you may wish to speak with a counsellor. To discover the vast number of different ways a counsellor can help, please feel free to browse our Types of Distress page.

View and comment on the original Guardian article. 

Today sees the launch of Britain’s first ever mental-health clinic designed to treat stalkers.

Contrary to sensationalist crime dramas and horror movies, not all stalkers are raging psychopaths- most are ex boyfriends or girlfriends unable to deal with failed relationships.

According to the British Crime Survey, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 10 men have suffered unwanted attention from a stalker at some point in their lives.

‘Stalking’ includes anything from bombarding someone with texts and calls, to following, approaching or impersonating them with malicious intent.

Stalking is commonly known to lead to terrible violence and in some cases, murder. Researchers found that 3 in 4 women murdered by their former partners had been stalked or harassed beforehand. This crime is referred to, rather chillingly, as ‘murder in slow motion’.

Forensic psychiatrist Frank Farnham believes there are 4 types of stalker.

1. The first kind is known as the ‘rejected and resentful’- these are people who can’t handle a failed relationship and want to reunite with or hurt their ex-partner.

2. The second is known as the ‘incompetent suitors’ who are slightly autistic and may exhibit inappropriate behaviour.

3. The third are referred to as the ‘pathologically infatuated’, who have delusions of love.

4. The fourth is the most severe, known as ‘predatory’. Predatory stalkers tend to have made plans of attack and are often found with ropes and handcuffs.

Dr Farnham is the co-founder of the new clinic that opens today In Haringey, North London. He said: “If we can treat stalkers we can save lives. There is a great need for a co-ordinated national service that can provide specialist advice and treatment.”

There is evidence that offenders with mental health problems can be treated with drugs (such as anti-depressants), cognitive behaviour therapy and social skills training.

The clinic is backed by the police force and the Home Office.

 View and comment on the original Independent article. 

Tributes have been pouring in from friends and fans up and down the country, with former teammates Alan Shearer, Ryans Giggs and Robbie Savage, just a few of the big football names to speak up about the loss of their friend and colleague.

Current Strictly Come Dancing contestant and former Wales teammate, Robbie Savage took to Twitter yesterday upon hearing the news: “The world has lost a great man in Gary speed I’m devastated spoke to him yesterday morning why ! Why. Why !! I’ll miss him so much x”.

Savage went on to say how Speed had been to watch Strictly Come Dancing just a few weeks before his death and that he had appeared to have had a good time with his family. “he loved life he loved his family! Devastated”, said Savage.

Speeds wife reportedly found his body at their home in the early hours of Sunday morning. A statement has been issued to say that the circumstances surrounding his death were not suspicious and a coroner is now in the process of conducting the report.

Speed took over as Wale’s manager in December 2010, despite having very little managerial experience under his belt. However, the Welsh team have made some impressive progressions under his leadership and they are all extremely shocked and saddened by his death.

Speaking about the tragic death of Speed, Chief Executive of leading mental health charity Mind, Paul Farmer, made the following comments:

“The apparent suicide of Gary Speed is a tragic and shocking event. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this very difficult time.

The high-pressure environment of top-level sport can cause huge levels of stress and, just because someone appears to be able to carry on their usual daily life, it does not mean that they are not struggling in private.

Gary Speed is not the first footballer to experience mental distress and nor, sadly, will he be the last. The suicide of German goalkeeper Robert Enke in 2009 shows that sportsmen, like anyone else, are not immune from the devastating effects of mental health problems.”

Farmer went on to discuss how the ‘macho’ culture of football has resulted in very few professionals feeling comfortable enough to come forward and talk openly about their mental health problems – but this is the action needed in order to increase understanding and awareness.

“It is only by speaking out about mental health, whether through the media or privately, that we can increase understanding and awareness of these issues, and encourage people to be able to seek the help that they need.” He said.

If you believe that either yourself or someone you know may be suffering from a mental health problem then visit your GP who will be able to discuss with you in confidence, ways in which you could tackle the problem and move forward.

Many individuals who do suffer from a mental health problem are often referred on for counselling or psychotherapy – talk therapies which both help the sufferer to understand and explore the feelings they are experiencing.

If you would like more information about the various areas in which counselling may be able to help, please visit our Types of Distress page to explore our various fact-sheets. Alternatively, if you would like to contact a counsellor in confidence, visit our homepage and use the search tool to locate a professional in your local area.

View and comment on the original BBC News and Mind articles.

According to the results of a year long enquiry commissioned by leading mental health charity Mind, the mental health services on offer to some of society’s most vulnerable people are not fit for purpose, reports The Independent.

The study, which compiled evidence from 400 patients has revealed that some seriously ill patients were subjected to assaults, taunting and overcrowding in hospitals.

Additional findings included individuals on the brink of suicide or with manic depression being unable to access services either because the crisis centre teams were too busy or because the offices were closed outside of working hours.

In response to also uncovering that certain facedown restraint techniques use techniques that could potentially be fatal, Mind have called for a complete ban on the controversial method that is used to try and control some patients.

Whilst the Labour governments record investment in mental health services has meant improvements to hospital admissions and home treatments, in the majority of other areas mental health teams are understaffed and undertrained.

Paul Burstow, Care Services minister has said that the government is committed to increasing patient choice and will publish more data on mental health services so that the public can challenge commissioners who commission services which do not fit best practice.

“Mental health consumes the biggest chunk of NHS spend but do we always get the best value for money? The answer to that has to be ‘No’, with consequences for individuals using those services.” He said.

Vickie Nash, who acts as the head of Policy and Campaigns at Mind has said the inquiry into mental health services has unveiled some harrowing evidence of inhumane treatment and violence that is completely unacceptable. Mind hope that the findings will go some way in drawing attention to the need for far better mental health services.

According to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the University of Cambridge’s Autism Research Centre, people who work with numbers are more likely to have autistic children.

Autism is characterised by both a lack of empathy and a tendency to ‘hyper-systemise’. ‘Hyper-systemising’ is the practice of creating patterns, coupled with the often obsessive desire to understand how they work.

Certain industries that require engineering, scientific, mathematic and technological skills, demand this kind of highly systematic thinking.

Prof Baron-Cohen, cousin of controversial comedian Sacha Baron (most famously known as Ali-G), believes that if both parents work in a mathematical field of work then they are more likely to have an autistic child.

The professor’s theory rests on the basis that humans choose partners who are genetically similar to them- otherwise known as the ‘assortative mating hypothesis’.

Currently, scientists accept that autism occurs as a combination of genetics and environment, although the root cause has yet to be fully established.

There are approximately half a million people with autism living in the UK, equivalent to 1 in every 100 people. According to researchers, this number has grown hugely over the past 20 years.

It is unknown whether the boom in numbers is due to a boom in autism, or a boom in diagnosis. Many cases of autism prior to the 1980s may simply have passed unrecognised.

Prof Baron-Cohen said: “Fathers of children with autism are more likely to work in engineering and this is also true of grandfathers of children with autism on both sides of the family. We also know from a 2001 study that mathematicians have more autistic traits than people in the general population.”

If you or your child has a form of autism, there may be certain issues you require help with. A counsellor can offer guidance and support throughout all aspects of life. To find out more, you may wish to visit out pages about Child Related Issues, Asperger’s Syndrome or Stress.

View and comment on the original Metro article.