Search the psychminded news archive (2003-7) via Google.
Listed 2003 news archive
Dec 20: Psychiatric patients should be protected from compulsory treatment, argues long-time critic of psychiatry - Article by Thomas Szasz provokes criticism from psychiatrists who are also service users.
Dec 20: Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust drops cuts plan but still faces strike threat - reports the Guardian
Dec 19, 2003: Finding a way out of paranoia - a report on the first self help group for people with extreme paranoia
Dec 18: Mental health services lag behind rest of NHS - staff shortages, under investment and organisational shake-ups to blame, says report by the Commission for Health Improvement
Dec 14: Doctors told not to prescribe SSRI antidepressants to under 18s - but should we listen to the new advice, ask some psychiatrists
Dec 14: Decrease in suicides, government report claims Dec 14: Mental Health Act Commission calls on government to promote human rights for detained patients - psychiatrists and other professionals are unsure of legal obligations and powers, reports the commission
Dec 6: Register of psychotherapy psychologists launched to end "tribal" rivalries between schools of thought - initiative by the British Psychological Society
Dec 6: My depression helps me empathise with patients, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists reveals
Dec 6: Invest in early intervention services to increase young people's chances of recovering from psychosis, report urges
Dec 6: Manchester Mental Health and Social Care trust tries to head off strike threat - the trust postpones a £500,000 cut in services
Nov 30: Patient who murdered may sue Cardiff's Whitchurch Hospital - reports BBC
Nov 30: Psychiatric patients in central Europe being kept in padlocked, caged beds
Draft mental health bill latest Nov 26: Revised draft mental health bill to be scrutinised in parliament - ministers promise a code of conduct on how proposed new mental health law should be applied
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Nov 24: Less people being detained under the mental health act - government statistics reveal. Yet, Nov 24: Twice as many psychiatric patients compulsory detained in London hospitals than elsewhere in country
Nov 24: New funding of £15 million for mental health services in Scotland announced
Nov 24: Inspectors find Broadmoor's wards 'unfit'
Nov 24: Mental health bill could lead to doubling of psychiatrists' workload warns NHS Confederation
Nov 24: Reducing suicide (pdf) - The National Institute for Mental Health's toolkit to assist mental health services in assessing performance in addressing recommendations of the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness.
Nov 15: Mental health services 'losing out' despite extra cash for NHS, reports Sainsbury Centre - government's claim to be giving priority to improving mental health services put in doubt
Nov 3: The management of acute mania - encouraging results from clinical trials need to be replicated in practice - BMJ editorial by Paul Keck
Nov 3: Treatment of postnatal depression - British Medical Journal editorial by Victoria Hendrick
Nov 3: Children's commissioner for Wales condemns mental health services for teenagers as "wholly unacceptable" - reports the Guardian
Oct 27: Psychiatrists call for improved perinatal training for health service professionals following inquiry into suicide of psychiatrist with manic depression - Dr Daksha Emson, who killed her daughter and then committed suicide, was a victim of mental health stigma within the NHS, inquiry concludes.
Oct 27: Psychiatric hospitals in battle to halt invasion of drug dealers - reports the Guardian
Oct 27: Counsellors and psychotherapists attack anti-therapy academic for pandering to "forces of conservatism" - The BACP hits back at extensive coverage of book by Frank Furedi
Oct 19: Government plans for overhaul of mental health services for black and ethnic minority patients
Oct 19: Psychiatrists call for NHS trusts to set up student mental health services
Oct 19: Bid to help mental health and learning disability residential services crack down on violence
Oct 19: Murderer can be forced to take medication to become sane enough to be executed in US
Oct 19: 30 die in Belarussian psychiatric hospital blaze
Oct 12: Mental health trusts should not "sleepwalk" into gaining foundation status - argues the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
Oct 12: Consultant psychiatrists are overburdened and under stress - and the Royal College of Psychiatrists wants something to be done about it
Oct 12: British Iraqi psychiatrists and psychologists set up charity to support Iraq’s mental health services
Oct 12: The patient's perspective on medicines in mental illness - British Medical Journal editorial by Mike Shooter, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Oct 7: Police officers 'unlawfully killed' mental health service user - 30-year-old brain damaged after being pinned face down for up to 20 minutes
Oct 4: Psychiatric diagnosis, drug development, and ethics: Accurate assessment and proper prescription - British Medical Journal editorial
Oct 3: US researcher in rethink over antidepressant Lustral's link to suicide - But Karen Wagner says the number of children who became suicidal in a key Lustral trial were small.
Oct 3: Bruno media coverage prompts optimism from mental health charities - reports the Guardian. Plus, Raj Persaud give his view in the British Medical Journal
Oct 3: Campaigner makes lone vigil outside hospital detaining Bruno - David Peacock protests outside Goodmayes Hospital
Sept 27: Government launches guidance for mental health services for women - trusts should appoint someone responsible for women's mental health, say ministers
Sept 27: The Bruno effect. Does the Sun's climbdown after protests from readers mean public attitudes to mental health problems are really changing? - asks the Guardian
Sept 21: Mental health trusts face financial crisis with soaring staff costs and more young patients - Camden and Islington Mental Health Trust, for example, has a £2m deficit
Sept 21: Venlafaxine antidepressant prescribed for children although not recommended for such use - government regulatory agency issues a warning
Sept 14: Antidepressants not recommended for initial treatment of mild depression, say draft guidelines on depression - The National Institute for Clinical Excellence also gives its draft verdict on SSRIs
Sept 12: Charity says mental health professionals need more training to empathise with gay, lesbian and bisexual service users
Sept 12: Landmark mental health first aid training makes UK debut - social workers and frontline healthcare staff get taught how to spot mental health problems reports the Guardian
Sept 12: Managers ill-prepared for mental health issues in the workplace
Sept 12: Would you prescribe antidepressants to a 15-year-old?
Sept 11: 'Why I agreed for my patient to be exorcised' - Consultant psychiatrist Douglas Turkington once asked a clerical minister to come to his hospital to perform an exorcism on a patient. He explains why
Sept 11: Is post-traumatic stress disorder a valid diagnosis? Pat Bracken does not think so
Sept 9: Swindon psychiatrist cleared of abuse claims in first 'recovered memories' case of its kind - General Medical Council's verdict goes "to the heart of a doctor's dilemma" See also: Sept 5: Swindon pychiatrist who reported colleague for child abuse faces GMC hearing in first 'recovered memories' case of its kind - reports British Medical Journal
Sept 6: The National Institute of Clinical Excellence issues for consultation its guidelines on clinical practice for eating disorders - emphasis has been placed on psychological interventions
Sept 5: Social anxiety disorder is common, underdiagnosed, impairing, and treatable writes Prof Franklin Schneier, professor of clinical psychiatry, in the British Medical Journal
Sept 5: What is it with a certain type of psychiatrist and psychologist who just can't live without the fame? - Whether or not you think media-savvy psychologists and psychiatrists are credits to their professions, their colleagues are unlikely to cast public judgement on them. But award-winning writer Liz Main will
August 29: President of the American Psychiatric Assocation meets with hunger strikers protesting against psychiatric practice - latest from this unprecedent action by US mental health campaigners. Also see: August 23: US newspaper reports on a hunger strike by former psychiatric patients protesting against drug firms' "stranglehold" on psychiatry - Research by Mary Boyle, head of the doctoral program in clinical psychology at the University of East London, is quoted in the article as supporting the strikers' view
August 29: Patient jailed after threatening to kill Epsom psychiatrist
August 29: Can autism be diagnosed early? Identification and assessment for children with autism and autistic spectrum disorder - Clinical review by Gillian Baird, Hilary Cass and Vicky Slonims in British Medical Journal
August 29: Copying letters to patients is a good thing - writes David Roy consultant psychiatrist, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, in the British Medical Journal
August 29: Psychiatric patient awarded compensation after doctors in Australia failed to detain him
August 29: Obituary: David Downham - "Pioneer of modern welfare for psychiatric patients"
August 29: Psychological testing planned for police to cut sickness rates - reports the Guardian
August 23: What do symptoms mean? In the British Medical Journal, reader in health psychology Jane Ogden writes symptoms should be explained in the broader perspective of the patient's cognition and mood
August 23: Compensation for woman's 10 years in psychiatric hospital - reports the Guardian
EXCLUSIVE: August 16: Ivan Massow bids to take advantage of 'mad pound' - the entrepreneur who first saw the potential of the gay pound, is backing a bid by a campaign, co-founded by psychologist Peter Barham, to provide tailor-made finanical services for people with mental health problems
August 16: Pushing for compassionate and ethical psychiatric nursing - Name an eminent thinker from 20th century psychiatry and mental health, and a psychologist, psychiatrist or philosopher might spring to mind. It's unlikely to be a psychiatric nurse. But if it was, it might be Phil Barker.
August 15: Mental health services for ethnic minorities criticised by Tories - Shadow health secretary says: "This government has betrayed some of our most vulnerable communities"
August 15: Guide launched on how to evaluate mental health services from perspectives of service users - published by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
August 15: Double trouble - a Guardian report on the failure of services to recognise the link between domestic violence and mental health
August 15: Childrens' films stigmatise mentally ill - Journal of Mental Health claims family movies give dangerous impression of mental health
August 15: Psychiatrists criticise plans to close psychiatric hospitals in Israel - Dr. Shmuel Kron said the plan takes view that hospitals are "storage rooms for nihilist patients."
August 8: The long and short of depression - Prof Johnjoe McFadden says a study into the length of the 5-HTT gene is key to understanding depression. But will the study bear the test of time?
August 8: Judges rule that children can sue for wrongful diagnosis of abuse - ruling comes after parents claimed they suffered psychiatric harm from incorrect diagnoses that their children had been abused.
August 8: Government's "yellow card" announcement used to head off concerns, experts claim - reports the British Medical Journal
August 8: Maintaining our credibility - Psychiatrists are concerned research objectivity and patient care risks being compromised by pharmaceutical firm sponsorship. In response, the Royal College of Psychiatrists has published some guidance
August 8: My Family and Autism - This absorbing BBC programme introduced us this week to the Jacksons family. Mother Jacqui has four sons diagnosed on the autistic spectrum.
August 2: Something fishy on eating disorders - Amanda Elkin and Ulrike Schmidt select what they consider are the best websites on eating problems and disorders. Plus: In the Psychologist magazine, Patrick Davies and Zara Lipsey (pdf file) believe some websites actually encourage anorexia
August 2: The impact of parental psychiatric disorder on children: avoiding stigma, improving care - a British Medical Journal editorial by Paul Ramchandani and Alan Stein
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Draft mental health bill latest: July 28: Prof Appleby promises that changes to the draft mental health bill will meet the approval of psychiatrists and other professionals - the national director for mental health also hints that broader criteria for detention will be included in the bill. As for the new health minister Rosie Winterton...she claims the bill will be 'patient-centred'
July 28: Bad behaviour by children is being falsely attributed to ADHD and autism, claims Professor Priscilla Alderson. Not true, responds educational psychologist Barry Bourne in the Times newspaper. Plus: Professor Peter Hill, adviser to the government on children's medication, gives his views to the Guardian on Ritalin
July 28: Councils ordered to repay £80m to mentally ill people who were charged for residential care that should have been free - reports the Guardian
July 28: Bolton, Salford and Trafford NHS Trust denies causing psychological damage - after a patient was said to have traumatised the mother of a boy he killed by coming face to face with her in a court
July 28: Most mental health trusts in deficit, says Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health study
July 28: Helping people bereaved by suicide - British Medical Journal editorial by Keith Hawton and Sue Simkin
July 28: America's mental health system 'beyond repair' - according to a presidential commission report. Plus read the British Medical Journal report
July 28: Psychiatrists 'illegally detained psychiatric patients' claims newspaper - Highland Primary Care Trust said the problem had been sorted out quickly
July 20: Social inequalities, madness and the system: where are we? Mark Bertram believes mental health service providers should attend more to how disadvantage effects people's lives.
July 18: How can psychologists protect young people from abuse and neglect? (pdf file) The Professional Practice Board of the British Psychological Society offers an answer
July 18: Mental health campaigners dub NHS performance grades as "astonishingly unrealistic" - reports the Guardian
July 18: Word power - Can people with mental health problems take the sting out of stigma by reclaiming pejoratives?
July 18: Row over Blair’s mental health - Tony Blair is not mentally ill, his spokesman said after a magazine branded him a “psychopath”.
July 16: Psychiatric patients missing from Royal Edinburgh Hospital
July 16: What makes a good clinical trial? - The European Commission is consulting on plans for a directive on good practice in clinical trials to be made UK law. What do psychiatrists think?
July 16: Texas psychiatric hospitals to mark patients' graves under new state law
July 6: Northamptonshire mental health trust chairman admits change needed after report of low staff morale
July 6: “Terrible timing” for closure of secure women’s ward at Ashworth
July 6: Psychiatrists call attention to the desperation of asylum seekers - but they also warn against over-medicalisation of distress
July 6: Department of Health survey shows fear factor fuels stigma towards mental health service users - reports the Guardian
June 29: Incapacitated patients to get new right on deciding treatment - and psychiatrists approve
June 29: US psychiatric hospitals try to ID graves of long-dead patients - reports American newspaper
June 29: Berkshire mental health services cuts point to funding crisis - reports the Guardian
June 29: Mental health reforms failing to impact on patients says Rethink
June 29: Northern Ireland 'Troubles' take toll on mental health, claims journal report
June 29: Privy Council overturns GMC’s erasure of psychiatrist
June 28: 'Better or worse: a longitudinal study of the mental health of adults living in Great Britain' (pdf file)- research by the government's National Statistics office.
June 22: Psychiatrists hit back at "inaccuracies"of British Medical Journal paper on ECT
June 22: Consultant psychiatrist among the new appointments at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
June 22: Psychiatric patient at London teaching hospital appears on murder charge
June 22: Trust calls for "systematic reviews" after two women sexually assaulted in North Birmingham psychiatric unit
June 22: Shortage of consultant psychiatrists and clinical psychologists is why 8,000 under-18s are being prescribed Seroxat, says psychiatrist on the Committee on Safety of Medicines - Dr Jonathan Chick gives his view in Hospital Doctor magazine.
June 22: Did you pass? - A list of candidates successful in the MRCPsych Part II Examination of Spring 2003
June 22: "From devastated mother to pioneering researcher" British Medical Journal profile of Lorna Wing, psychiatrist and pioneer of the concept of the "autistic spectrum". She says she was motivated by her daughter's autism diagnosis.
June 22: Reality TV - a documentary that features brain surgery on a conscious patient is to be screened tonight as part of the Reel Madness film festival. Producer Duncan Dallas says in the Guardian that three decades ago - unlike now - hard-hitting mental health progammes reached mainstream television
June 14: Psychiatric ward managers to compare facilities and performance - new research by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
June 14: Seroxat banned for under-18s - the latest from the Guardian
June 14: GPs prescribe self help books for mental health problems - a novel intervention, as reported by the British Medical Journal
June 14: Baghdad psychiatric hospital struggles to cope with chaos - as reported by a Lebanese newspaper
June 14: Mescal and madness - A documentary reveals the extraordinary story behind the making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
June 14: What are the key changes in Scotlands's new mental health act? - the view of the legal officer from the Scottish Association for Mental Health
June 14: Does the creation of a new mental health division in Scotland signal a different approach to policy? - David Bolger is head of the newly created mental health division within the Scottish Executive. Does the creation of the new division signal a different approach to mental health policy?
June 14: The impact of homophobia on mental health in Scotland - read the view from Glasgow 'INCLUSION' project manager Alastair Pringle.
June 14: 'Having a diagnosis is a qualification for the job' - says Diana Rose of the Institute of Psychiatry in the British Medical Journal
Draft mental health bill latest: June 11: Psychiatrists say government should "hang its head in shame" over plans to extend powers of compulsory detention of mentally ill - but they are more upbeat about plans to be given discretion when making orders.
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June 8: Coroner hedges on whether Prozac drove woman to suicide - but David Healy, director of the North Wales department of psychological medicine, says people can become suicidal on SSRIs.
June 8: TEFL assistant barred for having depression - reports the Guardian
June 8: Reflections on death book wins Mind's book of the year
June 2: 'Untreatable' Broadmoor patient goes to jail - reports the Guardian
June 2: Mental health service user movement needs funding and a national voice, says Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health
June 2: Drug costs 'too high for mentally ill', claims MIND
June 2: Counsellors slams South Warwickshire Trust for proposing 50 per cent cut in counselling services - counselling is "cost effective" says the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. So why cut back on the service?
SSRI's news: May 24: Chair of Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency welcomes new inquiry into SSRI's May 24: Is this journalism that makes a difference? - asks the BMJ on the Panorama Seroxat documentaries
Draft mental health bill latest: May 24: DoH admits draft mental health bill to be " "refined" - as reported in Community Care
May 24: US psychologist says "mental illness is incompatible" with being a suicide bomber - a Reuters report on research by Jerrold Post, founder of the CIA's Intelligence Agency's Centre for the Analysis of Personality and Political behaviour.
May 24: Participation in screening for cardiovascular risk by people with schizophrenia or similar mental illnesses: a cross sectional study in general practice featured in the British Medical Journal
May 24: Evaluation of suicide rates in rural India using verbal autopsies, 1994-9 - paper in British Medical Journal
May 24: Northern Ireland school counselling under threat - warns NSPCC
May 24: Alzheimer's vaccine 'promising', report researchers
May 17: US may withdraw federal funds from schools that exclude ADHD children for not taking treatment - reports British Medical Journal
May 17: A quarter of patients with neurotic disorders don’t seek help, claim researchers - reports British Medical Journal
May 17: I'll defy NICE's ECT guidelines, vows Glasgow psychiatrist - 'I have no difficulty deciding not to follow the guidelines because I do not think they are correct' says Dr Donny Lyons, consultant at Leverndale Hospital. (See more ECT news below)
May 17: National Institute for Mental Health chief admits NHS is racist - reports Community Care
May 17: Mind over matter - Freud never quoted 17th century philosopher Spinoza. But neuroscientist Antonio Damasio claims Freud was influenced by him.
May 17: 'Is the government listening to us?' Forensic psychiatrists are concerned their voice is not being heard in the corridors of power.
May 12: Seroxat manufacturer hits back on BBC's Panorama programme against the drug's addiction and suicide links - "Anybody who suffers side effects of any sort I feel every sympathy for, but that does have to be balanced by the enormous benefit that is seen by many millions of patients around the world" - Dr Alastair Benbow, head of European clinical psychiatry at GlaxoSmithKline. > What did you think of the programme? Let us know by email. Please give your name, profession and place of work
Foundation hospitals: Good or bad for psychiatry, psychology and mental health services? May 10: In my opinion - foundation trusts and mental health - Angela Greatley, director of policy with the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, argues foundation mental health trusts could benefit service users and be the answer to staffing problems. May 10: MPs warn new foundation hospitals might fail people with mental health problems - reports Community Care > What do you think? Let us know by email. Please give your name, profession and place of work
ECT news: May 10: Shock tactics - Prof Phil Barker hopes new advice on ECT treatment will lead to more responsible use of a 'dubious therapy'. May 10: New NICE guidance on ECT curbs use for those who might benefit from it - "What should a doctor do faced with a moderately ill patient for whom ECT has worked and who asks for the treatment again?" asks Dr Allan Scott
Anti-depressant latest: May 10: Better antidepressant prescribing is associated with fewer suicides - British Medical Journal paper by researchers in Australia May 10: 'Tricyclics and SSRIs are equally effective in primary care' - concludes British Medical Journal paper May 10: Co-proxamol overdose is an important means of suicide - claims British Medical Journal paper, co-authored by Prof Keith Hawton May 10: Unknown unknowns in suicide and depression - comment by British Medical Journal editor Richard Smith. May 10: GPs accused of not reporting Seroxat suicides - reports the Guardian ...........
May 10: US army secures Iraq psychiatric hospital after rapes - Nurse disguised herself in patients' clothes to remain with patients during looting and rape rampage, reports Reuters
May 10: Tyranny of mind - Ultimate therapy for traumatized Iraqi nation is a hopeful personal vision of the future, reports US News
May 10: Mental healthcare review in Ireland should involve 'users and providers' - reports Irish Examiner
May 10: Staff shortages hit mental health child and adolescent inpatient units - according to a YoungMinds report.
May 10: Discrimination divide - People with mental health problems suffer 'protection gap', reports the Guardian
May 3: Seroxat maker abandons 'no addiction' claim - reports the Guardian
May 3: How much is violence associated with mental illness? - Latest bid by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to debunk myths surrounding violence and mental health. ......... ECT news May 3: NICE releases new guidelines for ECT May 3: New ECT advice weak, says Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health May 3: RCP launches new accreditation service to raise standards for ECT .........
May 3: The problem with drugs - British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy presses home what it believes is the limited efficacy of anti-depressants.
May 3: Changing prescription patterns for lithium and valproic acid in old age - British Medical Journal paper by Canadian clinicians
May 3: Pharmaceutical firm broke advertising rules over antidepressant - reports the Guardian
April 27: Fatal fallout: Royal Navy psychiatrist, Lieutenant Commander Neil Greenberg, denies services for traumatised military personnel are restricted by a shortage of military psychiatrists. Yet, the Guardian reports that the NHS has no extra funds for specialist mental health treatment after the Iraq war.
April 27: Women psychiatrists unite to form special interest group.
April 21: God on the brain: is religion just a step away from mental illness? A BBC documentary argued that a famous evangelist's "visions" were caused by epilepsy and that religious feelings are brain malfunctions. Anjana Ahuja reports in the Times on the work of US neurologist Gregory Holmes.
April 21: Impact of anti-social lifestyle on health - David Farrington, professor of psychological criminology, co-authors a British Medical Journal editorial
April 21: Baghdad psychiatric hospital in chaos amid claim that patients raped by looters - reports the Independent
April 21: Service of thanksgiving for Dr Bob Kendell, former president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists - announces the Royal College of Psychiatrists
April 15: Government report on improving mental health services for black and ethnic minority communities - Professor Sashi Sashidharan, medical director of North Birmingham Mental Health Trust, chaired the panel which produced this report
April 15: New and radical solutions needed to tackle staff shortages in mental health services - reports Community Care magazine
April 15: A victim of child abuse, or just prey to fantasies? The Observer newspaper reports on work by Richard McNally, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, which it says "reignites the furore over 'recovered' memory".
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has issued a number of recent documents: April 4: Advice issued for psychiatrists assessing patients with brain injury April 4: Doctors working in old age psychiatry advised on how to deal with complaints April 4: Report recommends best psychiatric practice for caring for over-65s with continuing mental illness. April 4: Belfast psychiatrist wins international prize for work in protecting rights of people diagnosed with mental illness
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April 4: Open minds - A Guardian newspaper report on a scheme helping police and students to understand people diagnosed with mental illnesses
April 4: The National Autism Plan for Children - completion of the work of the National Initiative: Autism Screening and Assessment. What do you think of it?
April 4: "Teaching as therapy: cross sectional and qualitative evaluation of patients' experiences of undergraduate psychiatry teaching in the community" - a paper published in the British Medical Journal
March 30: Treating generalised anxiety disorder - a clinical review in the British Medical Journal
March 30: Latest Mental Health Act detention figures - released by the Department of Health
March 30: 'We want to help but we are powerless' - When a close relative was evicted from her home, Marina Cantacuzino told the Guardian that she discovered the law offered little protection for mentally ill people
March 30: SSRIs drug review halted over GlaxoSmithKline share links - reports the Guardian
March 30: One in 10 teenagers self-harm, claim the Samaritans
March 30: NICE guidelines address social aspect of schizophrenia - reports the British Medical Journal
March 30: Stop press: The Sunday Times is heading a crusade against counselling. But the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy continues to fight back.
March 30: Counselling saves British business millions every year, claims counselling and psychotherapy association
March 24: "The growth of therapy tells us something about the breakdown of relationships and the decline of religion and the nuclear family" - Dr Raj Persaud explains to Daily Telegraph readers why he believes counselling and psychotherapy does not stand up to scientific scrutiny. What do you think of what he has to say?
March 24: Did you pass? Last week the Royal College of Psychiatrists listed candidates successful in the MRCPsych Part I written paper of Spring 2003
March 24: Celebration in memory of life and work of physician Sir Douglas Black - a notice issued by the Royal College of Psychiatrists
March 24: Coming home: Why, asks the Observer newspaper, are 1,000 psychiatric patients still living in asylums?
March 24: Ecstasy use triggers deep depression, report London psychologists - reports the Guardian
March 24: Lawyers may seek judicial review of panel reviewing paroxetine - reports the British Medical Journal
March 24: Fifty mental health beds in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland Mental Health Trust under threat - reports Newcastle Journal
March 24: Green light for Scottish mental health bill - reports the BBC
March 16: Brief cognitive behavioural intervention delivered by nurses reduces overall symptoms in schizophrenia - reports a study in 'Evidence Based Mental Health'
March 16: Psychological coping and cancer - the debate continues over the reliability of a recent study in the British Medical Journal
March 16: Dealing with a biological attack - The Department of Health has asked the Royal College of Psychiatrists to make this emergency planning information available to its members.
March 16: Housing needs of people with severe mental health problems living in London not being met due to postcode lottery - reports a King's Fund study
March 16: All mental health workers and GPs should be given mandatory training in "cultural awareness"- according to a National Institute for Mental Health report submitted to the Department of Health on improving mental health services for black and minority ethnic people.
March 16: Culture of abuse - The former director of high security psychiatric services, Ray Rowden, says in the Guardian that vulnerable women should never have been left open to attack in Broadmoor.
March 16: Coroner calls for inquiry into Seroxat - reports the Guardian
March 9: Inquiry urged into Broadmoor abuse claims - following reports that director of women's services at the secure hospital, Julia Wassell, was victimised after reporting serious allegations of rape, indecent assault and sexual harassment to senior managers.
March 9: ECT 'better than anti-depressants' - reports the BBC on an Oxford study published in the Lancet.
March 9: Psychiatrist who helped declassify homosexuality as mental illness dies
March 9: Church of England demands changes to 'regressive' mental health reforms - reports Independent on Sunday
March 9: Scottish National Party seek counselling for stressed out teachers
March 9: Shrinking number of psychiatrists sparks crisis - reports the Guardian
March 9: Counsellor and therapy organisation 'sets the record straight' over Sunday Times article - the BACP is angry over newspaper story which doubts the efficacy of counselling for traumatised clients
March 2: Depression and young people - psychologist Eileen Scott of Edinburgh's Young People's Unit reports on a new CD Rom and website aimed at tackling the "under diagnosis" of depression in teenagers.
March 2: Out of Isolation - the Guardian reports on projects trying to change rural communities' reluctance to seek mental health help.
March 2: Sharp practice: Nick Johnstone recalls in the Guardian how slicing his arms with a razor blade helped escape his pain. To coincide, yesterday, with Self-Injury Awareness Day.
March 2: Concern over psychiatric patient discharge protocols and lack of links between ward staff and community resources in Scotland
March 2: Increase in long-term compulsion in Scottish psychiatric wards continues - with reflections by Dr Michael Smith.
March 2: London's primary care mental health services improving, but funding and recruitment problems remains, reports the King's Fund
March 2: The media's influence on suicide - the debate rages in the British Medical Journal
Feb 23: Should psychiatrists protect the public?, ask forensic psychiatrists in British Medical Journal
Feb 23: Taking refuge. Prof Erica Burman argues black and minority ethnic women are being prejudiced against in the provision of refuges
Feb 23: Pressure on young over mental illness. The Independent reports ministers have launched a campaign to improve the understanding of mental health issues among young people.
Feb 23: Psychiatric patients entitled to compensation for detention delays, the high court has ruled in a landmark decision.
Feb 16: Mental Health Act changes could 'treble' psychiatrists' workload - based on a Oxford psychiatric unit study
Feb 16: East London and the City health trust 'complacent' over deaths - report government inspectors
Feb 16: Widespread experience of mental health issues among young - according to Department of Health research
Feb 7: Depressed patients need more than drugs and psychiatrists - writes retired psychiatric nurse in British Medical Journal
Feb 7: Immigrants have higher risk of schizophrenia, claim Danish psychologists
Feb 7: Scotland's mental health services to be reviewed
Feb 7: Israel to move more psychiatric services into the community
Feb 2: Shake-up of psychiatric services for patients in Kingston, London, could mean massive upheaval, voluntary worker warns
Feb 2: Royal College of Psychiatrists says patients 'must receive psychological care'
Feb 2: Forensic psychiatrists report mental health patients more likely to suffer violence
Feb 2: £500,000 shortfall for Norfolk Mental Health Trust.
Feb 2: Obituary: Robert Kendell - "psychiatrist who made major contributions to the diagnosis of mental illness"
Feb 2: Observer newspaper report - Forty years since Valium came on the market the alleged suffering and battle for compensation from addiction continues...
Feb 2: British Medical Journal study - on detection of Alzheimer's disease and dementia in the preclinical phase
Jan 30: Schizophrenia: A scientific delusion? Dr Jonathan Bindman reveals a significant swing in opinion at the Institute of Psychiatry's public debate on whether 'schizophrenia exists'
Jan 26: First ever Scottish psychiatric drugs survey launched
Jan 26: Lone-parent children at higher risk of suicide, reports research in Lancet
Jan 24: Learning disability task force criticises draft mental health bill
Jan 24: Conservative Party calls in Goldsmiths occupation psychologist to recruit women MPs
Jan 24: US psychologists report monkeys think logically
Jan 24: BMJ editorial: "Reinstitutionalisation in mental health care"
Jan 24: BMJ paper: "Identifying depression in primary care: a comparison of different methods in a prospective cohort study"
Jan 24: BMJ editorial :"Causes of autism spectrum disorders"
Jan 20: Drugs used to treat cognitive symptoms of Alzheimer may provide other benefits, report US researchers
Jan 20: US pschiatrists' concern over drug sales reps sitting in on treatments
Jan 20: Children in families with relative in prison more likely to have mental health problems, reports charity
Jan 15: Charities say improved benefits system needed to help people with mental health problems
Jan 15: Schizophrenia drug Clozaril could cut suicides claims study
Jan 15: Online Guardian report: 'How the internet breaks through the isolation that accompanies mental illness'
Jan 15: Government told people with learning difficulties must be higher priority
Jan 6: Gay suicide research 'flawed' US psychologist claims
Jan 6: Hertfordshire psychologist's book claims people make their own luck
Jan 6: US approves Prozac for children
January 1: "Manifesto" for mental health survivor workers launched
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