The weather has been ‘bipolar’ this week, a neat and tidy friend has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and someone who tried to chat you up in a bar was as awkward as someone with Asperger’s. Using mental health terms as if they are clichés has become commonplace in the past few years, we hear them read more »

A ten-year-old child, born as a boy, has returned from the summer holidays dressed as a little girl. The child has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that means an individual believes they are not the gender they were born with. The child’s mother has explained to the press that, growing up, her daughter read more »

Research has revealed that individuals suffering from serious mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia can have a life expectancy significantly lower than the national average, reports BBC News. A london based study which tracked electronic medical records of over 30,000 patients found that many people were dying early from stroke, heart attack and read more »

New research has suggested that there are a number of children out there, bright, polite and academically sound who outright refuse to go to school and no it is not a clever play on truancy it is a very real and genuine phobia of the classroom. School Phobia is a condition which is currently estimated read more »

Brain patterns could now give a valuable insight into youngsters who run a possible risk of becoming ill, reports the Daily Mail. A team of British scientists from Nottingham University have found specific patterns of brain activity which could be ‘makers’ of those who will go on to develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. In read more »

For many years there has been a stigma attached to mental illness which often sees people going to great lengths to avoid being diagnosed. However recently a new phenomena has arisen with some people actually asking to be diagnosed with a mental illness, reports BBC News. The stigma attached to mental illness has been around read more »

Former boxer Frank Bruno has spoken out about living with a mental illness, reports the Times. Last week during an interview with Radio 4′s Today programme, former boxer Frank Bruno opened up about being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and how he coped living with the illness for years. He told Radio 4 of the breakdown read more »

A programme aired on BBC2 yesterday evening aimed to highlight how the authorities are playing down the number of murders committed by the mentally ill, reports The Independent. The head of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Health Problems (NCISH) has said that approximately 50 people a year who read more »

A fascinating show recently aired on BBC Radio 4 about the emotional effect of taking a stand if someone you love has a mental illness. The show focussed on the lives of William and Kate Lyons’ a young married couple whose experience with bipolar disorder radically changed their lives. According to the mental health charity read more »

A recent article featured in The Guardian has exposed fears that taking antidepressants may change aspects of a persons personality. The personality traits we inherit from our parents often have a huge bearing on our chances of becoming depressed. Neuroticism means that a person has a strong tendency towards negative emotions and emotional instability and read more »