***
James Hillman, a charismatic therapist and best-selling author whose theories about the psyche helped revive interest in the ideas of Carl Jung, animating the so-called men’s movement in the 1990s and stirring the pop-cultural air, died on Thursday 27 October 2011, at his home in Thompson, Conn. He was 85.
James Hillman was one of the most inspirational contemporary thinkers in psychotherapy field. His thought-provoking and soulful ideas will be greatly missed.
Read New York Times tribute: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/health/james-hillman-therapist-in-mens-movement-dies-at-85.html
Watch DVD trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFng0WCJ8X8&feature=related
Buy James Hillman's DVDs: http://www.psychotherapydvds.com/James-Hillman-Set
Our video tribute to this extraordinary man:
Showing posts with label current affairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label current affairs. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
No Health Without Mental Health
Greetings all!
The Coalition Government has just published its initial plans on mental health - "No Health Without Mental Health": "No Health Without Mental Health"
I don't want to go into the content of the document at present or even raise the question of how mental health can be improved within a context of service cuts.
Instead, I want to draw your attention to and seek your thoughts on a key expressed assumption within the document highlighted by NHS Networks, namely that " THE GOVERNMENT [HAS THE] AIM OF ACHIEVING PARITY OF ESTEEM BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH". I’ve never come across such a strongly expressed statement of parity between physical and mental health in ANY government policy document before.
Now, of course, this may all be talk and that the reality may be quite different. However, my cynicism isn't quite so marked - not because of my belief in the intrinsic altruism of governments - but rather because of the financial issues currently being grappled with.
Firstly, there is the issue of the welfare budget. Forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here but for those unaware of the history of incapacity benefits let me give some brief background. Twenty years ago, Invalidity and Sickness Benefit (as it was then called) along with associated housing benefit was significantly short term in nature (six months or less) and primarily claimed by those with industrial injuries and pain problems. By 2010 this situation had radically changed whereby an increasing number of claimants were claiming for more than six months and over 50% of these were claiming for mental health problems. At estimated costs of £16 billion a year all political parties began to look seriously at the question of addressing this cost. IAPT (Increasing Access To Psychological Therapies), introduced by the last government and extended by this government by hundreds of millions of pounds, is the most visible example of how seriously central government now takes mental health. (CBT Training); (Managing Depression)
Secondly, the parity between mental health and physical health has also become apparent as a result of their interconnectedness - again from the perspective of the costs, this time associated with health costs associated with "long term conditions". The latter includes such illnesses as diabetes, cardiovascular problems, respiratory diseases and stroke. They are conditions that are often associated with repeated hospital admissions (which are costly) usually prompted by failure to maintain changes in health behaviour or because of the de-motivating effects of mental health problems such as depression. The thinking is that IF services can address depression or poor motivation in such groups, hospital re-admission rates will fall and costs reduced. (Motivational Interviewing Training); (Psychological Coping Post-Stroke)
Now this is all very understandable and laudable stuff - all industrialised countries at present are trying to contain healthcare costs, but a recognition that mental and physical health are intrinsically interconnected strikes me as a radical new framework in which to start debating this. However, it also raises difficult questions about the priorities that we we establish within this however.
• With limited money, do you agree that Depression and Degenerative Arthritis are of "parity of esteem".
• What about Panic Attacks and Palliative Care or Gall Bladder problems and Generalised Anxiety Disorder? Or do you think that we should recognise that such "parity of esteem" varies according to the type of problem.
• Should Botox continue to be funded on the NHS in certain circumstances when those with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder still have problems finding ANY service wanting to work with them?
• Should Pancreatitis be seen as having a "parity of esteem" with PTSD or should the latter be seen as a more pressing issue.
These are difficult questions with no easy answers. However the government's express acceptance of "parity of esteem" between physical and mental health opens up this debate.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ALL VIEWS AND IDEAS ARE GREATLY WELCOMED.
The Coalition Government has just published its initial plans on mental health - "No Health Without Mental Health": "No Health Without Mental Health"
I don't want to go into the content of the document at present or even raise the question of how mental health can be improved within a context of service cuts.
Instead, I want to draw your attention to and seek your thoughts on a key expressed assumption within the document highlighted by NHS Networks, namely that " THE GOVERNMENT [HAS THE] AIM OF ACHIEVING PARITY OF ESTEEM BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH". I’ve never come across such a strongly expressed statement of parity between physical and mental health in ANY government policy document before.
Now, of course, this may all be talk and that the reality may be quite different. However, my cynicism isn't quite so marked - not because of my belief in the intrinsic altruism of governments - but rather because of the financial issues currently being grappled with.
Firstly, there is the issue of the welfare budget. Forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here but for those unaware of the history of incapacity benefits let me give some brief background. Twenty years ago, Invalidity and Sickness Benefit (as it was then called) along with associated housing benefit was significantly short term in nature (six months or less) and primarily claimed by those with industrial injuries and pain problems. By 2010 this situation had radically changed whereby an increasing number of claimants were claiming for more than six months and over 50% of these were claiming for mental health problems. At estimated costs of £16 billion a year all political parties began to look seriously at the question of addressing this cost. IAPT (Increasing Access To Psychological Therapies), introduced by the last government and extended by this government by hundreds of millions of pounds, is the most visible example of how seriously central government now takes mental health. (CBT Training); (Managing Depression)
Secondly, the parity between mental health and physical health has also become apparent as a result of their interconnectedness - again from the perspective of the costs, this time associated with health costs associated with "long term conditions". The latter includes such illnesses as diabetes, cardiovascular problems, respiratory diseases and stroke. They are conditions that are often associated with repeated hospital admissions (which are costly) usually prompted by failure to maintain changes in health behaviour or because of the de-motivating effects of mental health problems such as depression. The thinking is that IF services can address depression or poor motivation in such groups, hospital re-admission rates will fall and costs reduced. (Motivational Interviewing Training); (Psychological Coping Post-Stroke)
Now this is all very understandable and laudable stuff - all industrialised countries at present are trying to contain healthcare costs, but a recognition that mental and physical health are intrinsically interconnected strikes me as a radical new framework in which to start debating this. However, it also raises difficult questions about the priorities that we we establish within this however.
• With limited money, do you agree that Depression and Degenerative Arthritis are of "parity of esteem".
• What about Panic Attacks and Palliative Care or Gall Bladder problems and Generalised Anxiety Disorder? Or do you think that we should recognise that such "parity of esteem" varies according to the type of problem.
• Should Botox continue to be funded on the NHS in certain circumstances when those with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder still have problems finding ANY service wanting to work with them?
• Should Pancreatitis be seen as having a "parity of esteem" with PTSD or should the latter be seen as a more pressing issue.
These are difficult questions with no easy answers. However the government's express acceptance of "parity of esteem" between physical and mental health opens up this debate.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? ALL VIEWS AND IDEAS ARE GREATLY WELCOMED.
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
More casualties of the BP oil spill!
Anger, depression, and helplessness are the main psychological responses being seen in response to the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and they are likely to have long-lasting effects, according to an interview in Ecopsychology, a peer-reviewed, online journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
In an interview published in Ecopsychology and conducted by Editorial Board member Susan Koger, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Willamette University in Salem, OR, Winter predicts a great deal of chronic depression, withdrawal, and lack of functioning among not only people directly affected by the events in the Gulf, but also people nationwide and globally who identify or empathize with their circumstances.
Describing the oil spill as "the absolutely worst 'environmental' disaster" in the history of the United States, Winter discusses her own personal attempts to deal with the negative emotions she is experiencing by focusing at times on hopeful, positive feelings related to the "tremendous self-sacrifice and generosity of spirit" among those affected by the spill and those helping to contain it and clean up the oil.
With the hope that the BP spill, with all the damage and suffering it is causing, will stimulate renewed environmental activism and changes in attitudes and behaviors, Winter says, "this disaster is probably just the kick in the pants that the environmental movement has needed."
____________________________________________________
Maybe it's stronger in the US, being a little closer to home, but how do you feel about the oil spill? Has it made you feek angry or depressed? Why do you think others feel like this?
Link to Article
In an interview published in Ecopsychology and conducted by Editorial Board member Susan Koger, PhD, Professor of Psychology at Willamette University in Salem, OR, Winter predicts a great deal of chronic depression, withdrawal, and lack of functioning among not only people directly affected by the events in the Gulf, but also people nationwide and globally who identify or empathize with their circumstances.
Describing the oil spill as "the absolutely worst 'environmental' disaster" in the history of the United States, Winter discusses her own personal attempts to deal with the negative emotions she is experiencing by focusing at times on hopeful, positive feelings related to the "tremendous self-sacrifice and generosity of spirit" among those affected by the spill and those helping to contain it and clean up the oil.
With the hope that the BP spill, with all the damage and suffering it is causing, will stimulate renewed environmental activism and changes in attitudes and behaviors, Winter says, "this disaster is probably just the kick in the pants that the environmental movement has needed."
____________________________________________________
Maybe it's stronger in the US, being a little closer to home, but how do you feel about the oil spill? Has it made you feek angry or depressed? Why do you think others feel like this?
Link to Article
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