Tag: Mental Illness

How Mad Are You? (2008): Part 01

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

“How Mad Are You?” is a two-part 2008 BBC Horizon/Discovery Channel Co-Production produced and directed by Rob Liddell.

Part of the BBC’s Horizon documentary series.

The programme was recreated in 2018 by SBS for Australian TV.

UK Version (BBC)
Australian Version (SBS)

Outline (UK Version)

Ten Britons spend a week together. Five have a history of mental illness. Five do not. The question is – Who’s Who?

The programme explores the relationship between character traits and mental illness and considers the social implications of inaccurate diagnosis of the latter. Ten volunteers, five of whom have been previously diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, are observed and interviewed by a panel of three mental health experts who then venture their diagnoses. The experts include a psychiatrist, a professor of clinical psychology, and a psychiatric nurse. The volunteers and experts have no prior knowledge about one another, and were brought together for this one week study.

The program was inspired by the 1972 “Rosenhan Experiment,” in which the American psychologist David Rosenhan and several associates feigned auditory hallucinations in order to have themselves admitted to psychiatric hospitals. Eight of these “pseudopatients” were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. Although they ceased displaying any symptoms once admitted to a hospital, they were detained for between 17 and 52 days. None were recognised by hospital staff. The experiment’s results, published in Science in 1973,1 raised questions about the validity of psychiatric diagnosis.

You can read an in-depth overview of the programme by Yusef Progler in the Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.

Part 01

First of a two-part special. Ten volunteers have come together for an extraordinary test. Five are ‘normal’ and the other five have been officially diagnosed as mentally ill. Horizon asks if you can tell who is who, and considers where the line between sanity and madness lies.

Part 02 here.

Outline (Australian Version)

Recreates the BBC UK version.

New two-part SBS documentary series How ‘Mad’ Are You? addresses mental illness in a way never seen before on Australian television. Ten Australians, from all backgrounds and ages spend a week together. Five have a history of mental illness. Five do not. Who is who?

  • This ground breaking two-part series will address the issue of mental illness in a way never seen before on Australian television.
  • Around one in five Australians experience mental illness every year. Despite the scale of the problem – the stigma remains.
  • Ten Australians with diverse backgrounds and from right across the country, have all agreed to take part in a bold and daring study in the hope of breaking down this stigma.
  • Five of them have been diagnosed as being mentally unwell, five have not; the question is – Who’s Who?
  • Over the next week, they will take part in a series of specially designed tests.
  • The group will be under the gaze of experts who face the daunting task of working out who has been diagnosed as mentally ill and who has not.
  • The experts are putting their professional reputations on the line, and the ten risk being labelled with a mental illness they don’t have. It is all in the name of breaking down stigma and exploring where the fine line between being ‘well’ and ‘mentally ill’ lies.
  • Each episode delves into the relationship between character traits and mental illness, and considers the social implications arising from the diagnosis of mental illness.
  • The series will explore major disorders including Clinical Depression, Social Anxiety Disorder, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anorexia Nervosa.
  • The question of who is ‘mad’ and who is not goes to the core of how we see ourselves, and how we see others in Australia today.
  • Crucially the volunteers who take part are ultimately living proof that a history of mental illness does not have to define you or make you ‘other’ in today’s society.

Production & Filming Details

  • Narrator(s):
    • Judy Davis.
    • Paul McGann
  • Director(s):
    • Naomi Elkin-Jones … (2 episodes, 2018)
    • David Grusovin … (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Rob Liddell
  • Producer(s):
    • Darren Dale … producer (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Jacob Hickey … series producer (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Agnes Teek … story producer (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Rob Liddell
  • Writer(s):
    • Jacob Hickey … (2 episodes, 2018)
  • Music:
    • Angela Little … (2 episodes, 2018)
  • Cinematography:
    • Justin Brickle … (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Marden Dean … (2 episodes, 2018)
    • Daniel Gallagher … (2 episodes, 2018)
  • Editor(s):
    • Mark Atkin … (2 episodes, 2018)
  • Production:
    • Blackfella Films
  • Distributor(s):
    • BBC.
    • SBS.
  • Release Date:
    • UK: 11 and 18 November 2008.
    • Australia: 11 and 18 October 2018.
  • Running Time: 2 x 50 minutes.
  • Rating: Unknown.
  • Country: UK.
  • Language: English.

An Overview of Socioeconomic Status and Mental Health

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

Numerous studies around the world have found a relationship between socioeconomic status and mental health.

There are higher rates of mental illness in groups with lower socioeconomic status (SES), but there is no clear consensus on the exact causative factors. The two principal models that attempt to explain this relationship are the social causation theory, which posits that socioeconomic inequality causes stress that gives rise to mental illness, and the downward drift approach, which assumes that people predisposed to mental illness are reduced in socioeconomic status as a result of the illness. Most literature on these concepts dates back to the mid-1990s and leans heavily towards the social causation model.

Social Causation

The social causation theory is an older theory with more evidence and research behind it. This hypothesis states that one’s socioeconomic status (SES) is the cause of weakening mental functions. As Perry writes in The Journal of Primary Prevention, “members of the lower social classes experience excess psychological stress and relatively few societal rewards, the results of which are manifested in psychological disorder”. The excess stress that people with low SES experience could be inadequate health care, job insecurity, and poverty, which can bring about many other psycho-social and physical stressors like crowding, discrimination, crime, etc. Thus, lower SES predisposes individuals to the development of a mental illness.

Research

The Faris and Dunham (1939), Hollingshead and Redlich (1958), and Midtown Manhattan (1962) studies are three of the most influential in the debate between social causation and downward drift. They lend important evidence to the linear correlation between mental illness and SES, more specifically that a low SES produces a mental illness. The higher rates of mental illness in lower SES are likely due to the greater stress individuals experience. Issues that are not experienced in high SES, such as lack of housing, hunger, unemployment, etc., contribute to the psychological stress levels that can lead to the onset of mental illness. Additionally, while experiencing greater stress levels, there are fewer societal rewards and resources for those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. The moderate economics assets available to those just one level above the lowest socioeconomic group allows them to take preventative action or treatment for psychoses. However, the hypothesis of the social causation model is disputed by the downward drift model.

Faris and Dunham (1939)

Faris and Dunham analysed the prevalence of mental disorders, including schizophrenia, in different areas of Chicago. The researchers plotted the homes of patients preceding their admission to hospitals. They found a remarkable increase of cases from the outskirts of the city moving inwards to the centre. This reflected other rates of distributions, such as unemployment, poverty and family desertion. They also found that cases of schizophrenia were most pervasive in public housing neighbourhoods as well as communities with higher numbers of immigrants. This was one of the first empirical, evidence-based studies supporting social causation theory.

Hollingshead and Redlich (1958)

Hollingshead and Redlich conducted a study in New Haven, Connecticut, that was considered a major breakthrough in this field of research. The authors identified anyone who was hospitalised or in treatment for mental illness by looking at files from clinics, hospitals, and the like. They were able to design a valid and reliable construct to relate these findings to social class using education and occupation as measures for five social class groups. Their results showed high disproportions of schizophrenia among the lowest social group. They also found that the lower people were on the scale of social class, the likelier they were to be admitted to a hospital for psychosis.

Midtown Manhattan Study (1962)

The study by Srole, Langer, Micheal, Opler, and Rennie, known as the Midtown Manhattan Study, has become a quintessential study in mental health. The main focus of the research was to “uncover [the] unknown portion of mental illness which is submerged in the community and thus hidden from sociological and psychiatric investigators alike”. The researchers managed to probe deep into the community to include subjects usually left out of such studies. The experimenters used both parental and personal SES to investigate the correlation between mental illness and social class. When basing their results on parental SES, approximately 33% of Midtown inhabitants in the lowest SES showed some signs of impairments in mental functioning while only 18% of the inhabitants in the highest SES showed these signs. When assessing the relationship based on personal SES, 47% of inhabitants in the lowest SES showed signs of weakening mental functions while only 13% of the highest SES demonstrated these symptoms. These findings remained the same for all ages and genders.

Downward Drift

In contrast to social causation, downward drift (also known as social selection) postulates that there is likely a genetic component that causes the onset of mental illness which may then lead to “a drift down into or fail to rise out of lower SES groups”. This means that a person’s SES level is a consequence rather than a cause of weakening mental functions. The downward drift theory shows promise specifically for individuals with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Research

Weich and Lewis (1998)

The Weich and Lewis study was conducted in the United Kingdom where researchers looked at 7,725 adults who had developed mental illnesses. They found that while low SES and unemployment may increase the length of psychiatric episodes they did not increase the likelihood of the initial psychotic break.

Isohanni et al. (2001)

In the Isohanni et al. longitudinal study in Finland, the researchers looked at patients treated in hospitals for mental disorders and who were aged between 16 and 29. The study followed the patients for 31 years and looked at how their illness affected their educational achievement. The study had a total of 80 patients and it compared patients who had been treated in the hospital for diagnoses of schizophrenia, and other psychotic or non-psychotic diagnoses, to those of the same 1966 birth cohort who had received no psychiatric treatment. They found that individuals who were hospitalised at 22 years or younger (early onset) were more likely to only complete a basic level of education and remain stagnant.

Some patients were able to complete secondary education, but none advanced to tertiary education. Those who had not been hospitalised had lower completion rates of basic education but much higher percentages of completing both secondary and tertiary education, 62% and 26%, respectively. This study suggests that mental disorders, especially schizophrenia, impede educational achievement. The inability to complete higher education may be one of the possible contributors to the downward drift in SES by individuals with mental illness.

Wiersma, Giel, De Jong and Slooff (1983)

The researchers in the Wiersma, Giel, De Jong and Slooff study looked at both educational and occupational attainment of patients with psychosis compared to their fathers. Researchers assessed both topic areas in the fathers as well as in the patients. In a two-year follow-up, the downward mobility in both education and occupation was greater than expected in the patients. Only a small percentage of patients were able to keep their job or find a new one after the onset of psychosis. Most of the individuals participating in the study had a lower SES than when they were born. This study also showed that the drift may begin with prodromal symptoms rather than at full onset.

Debate

Many researchers argue against the downward drift model, because unlike its counterpart, “it does not address the psychological stress of being impoverished and fails to validate that persistent economic stress can lead to psychological disturbance”. Mirowsky and Ross discuss in their book, Social Causes of Psychological Distress, that stress frequently stems from lack of control, or the feeling of lack of control, over one’s life. Those in lower SES have a minimal sense of control over the events that occur in their lives.

They argue that lack of control does not only stem from jobs with low income, but that “minority status also lowers the sense of control, partly because of lower education, income, and unemployment, and partly because any given level of achievement requires greater effort and provides fewer opportunities”. The arguments posed in their book support social causation since such high stress levels are involved. Although both models can be existing, they do not need to be mutually exclusive, researchers tend to agree that downward drift has more relevance to someone diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Implications for schizophrenia

Although social causation can explain some forms of mental illnesses, downward drift “has the greatest empirical support and is one of the cardinal features of schizophrenia”. The downward drift theory is more applicable to schizophrenia for a number of reasons. There are varying degrees of the disease, but once a psychotic break is experienced, the person often cannot function at the same level as before. This impairment affects all areas of life—education, occupation, social and family connections, etc. Due to the many challenges, patients will likely drift to a lower SES because they are unable to keep up with previous standards.

Another reason why the downward drift theory is preferred is that, unlike other mental illnesses such as depression, once someone is diagnosed with schizophrenia they have the diagnosis for life. While symptoms may not be constant, “individuals with this diagnosis often experience cycles of remission and relapse throughout their lives”.

This explains the large discrepancy between the incidence of schizophrenia and prevalence of the disease. There is a very low rate of new cases of schizophrenia in comparison to the number of total cases because “it often starts in early adult life and becomes chronic”. Patients will usually function at a lower level once the illness has manifested itself. Even with the help of antipsychotic medication and psycho-social support, most patients will still experience some symptoms making moving up out of a lower SES nearly impossible.

Another possible explanation discussed in literature regarding the relation between the downward drift theory and schizophrenia is the stigma associated with mental illness. Individuals with mental illness are often treated differently, usually negatively, by their community. Although great strides have been made, mental illness is often unfavourably stigmatised. As Livingston explains, “stigma can produce a negative spiraling effect on the life course of people with mental illnesses, which tends to create…a decline in social class”.

Individuals who develop schizophrenia cannot function at the level they are used to, and “are particularly likely to experience the effects of ostracism, being amongst the most stigmatized of all the mental illnesses.” The complete exclusion they experience helps to maintain their new lower status, preventing any upward mobility. The downward drift theory may be mainly applicable to schizophrenia; however, it may also apply to other mental illnesses since each is accompanied by a negative stigma.

While it can be hard to maintain status once the schizophrenia appears, some individuals are able to resist a downward drift, particularly if they start out at a higher SES. For example, if a person is from a high SES, they have the ability to access preventative resources and possible treatment for the disease which can help buffer the drift downwards and help maintain their status. It is also important for those with schizophrenia to have a strong network of friends and family because friends and family may notice signs of the illness before full onset. For example, individuals that are married show less of a drift downwards than those who are not. Individuals who do not have a support system may show early signs of psychotic symptoms that go unnoticed and untreated.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socioeconomic_status_and_mental_health >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is a Therapeutic Community?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

Therapeutic community is a participative, group-based approach to long-term mental illness, personality disorders and drug addiction. The approach was usually residential, with the clients and therapists living together, but increasingly residential units have been superseded by day units. It is based on milieu therapy principles, and includes group psychotherapy as well as practical activities.

Therapeutic communities have gained some reputation for success in rehabilitation and patient satisfaction in the UK and abroad. In the UK, ‘democratic analytic’ therapeutic communities have tended to specialise in the treatment of moderate to severe personality disorders and complex emotional and interpersonal problems. The evolution of therapeutic communities in the US has followed a different path with hierarchically arranged communities (or concept houses) specialising in the treatment of drug and alcohol dependence.

Brief History

Antecedents

There are several antecedents to the therapeutic community movement. One of the earliest is the change in treatment of institutionalised patients in the late 18th century, continuing throughout the 19th century. A major contributor to this change is Philippe Pinel, a French physician who advocated for a more humane treatment of psychiatric patients. In the UK William Tuke founded the Retreat where patients were treated according to humanitarian principles, called moral treatment. Tuke based the treatment of mentally ill people partly on the Quaker ideology. The influence of Quaker principles continues through out the development of the therapeutic community.

Moral treatment focused on a more humane treatment of patients and a stimulating environment that engages them in healthy behaviour. An important distinction between the later therapeutic community is the strong hierarchy in moral treatment facilities. The superintendent had authority over and responsibility of the patients. The patients followed a strict schedule to promote obedience and self-control.

After the First World War, multiple varieties of living-and-learning communities for young adults were established. Examples are the Little Commonwealth school run by Homer Lane and the Q camps initiated by Marjorie Franklin. The Q camps were based on Planned Environmental Therapy, which focused on normally functioning parts of a patient’s personality and use them to deal with difficult social situations. These projects all emphasized shared responsibility and decision-making and participation in the community. What influenced the establishment of these projects were, among others, the developments in psychoanalytic theory in the UK.

United Kingdom

The work conducted by pioneering NZ plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe at Queen Victoria Hospital and others at Northfield Military Hospital during World War II is considered by many psychiatrists to have been the first example of an intentional therapeutic community. But this story is prone to adopt a origin myth approach. The principles developed at Northfield were also developed and adapted at Civil Resettlement Units established at the end of the war to help returning prisoners of war to adapt back to civilian society and for civilians to adapt to having these men back amongst them.

The term was coined by Thomas Main in his 1946 paper, “The hospital as a therapeutic institution”, and subsequently developed by others including Maxwell Jones, R.D. Laing at the Philadelphia Association, David Cooper at Villa 21, and Joshua Bierer.

Under the influence of Maxwell Jones, Main, Wilmer and others (Caudill 1958; Rapoport 1960), combined with the publications of critiques of the existing mental health system (Greenblatt et al. 1957, Stanton and Schwartz 1954) and the sociopolitical influences that permeated the psychiatric world towards the end of and following the Second World War, the concept of the therapeutic community and its attenuated form – the therapeutic milieu – caught on and dominated the field of inpatient psychiatry throughout the 1960s.

The first development of therapeutic community in a large institution took place at Claybury Hospital under the guidance of Denis Martin and John Pippard. Beginning in 1955 it involved over 2,000 patients and hundreds of staff. The aim of therapeutic communities was a more democratic, user-led form of therapeutic environment, avoiding the authoritarian and demeaning practices of many psychiatric establishments of the time. The central philosophy is that clients are active participants in their own and each other’s mental health treatment and that responsibility for the daily running of the community is shared among the clients and the staff. One phrase commonly used to summarise this treatment philosophy is ‘the Community as Doctor’. ‘TC’s have sometimes eschewed or limited medication in favour of group-based therapies.

The Henderson Hospital first established in 1947 by Maxwell Jones and named after David Henderson evolved the specific concept of Democratic Therapeutic Community (DTC). Admission to and early discharge from the one year of residential treatment was by majority vote and residents of the DTC always held the majority in these votes. No psychotropic medication or one to one therapy sessions were available and so all the work of the DTC was pursued, on the one hand, in small or larger therapy groups or work groups and community meetings, which could be called (by the residents) day or night; and on the other hand, in the unstructured time in between these more formal spaces, in which belonging in and membership of a living community could become in itself a healing experience. The Henderson Hospital DTC became an international centre of excellence for the care of survivors of severe trauma who did not fall under conventional psychiatric classifications and towards the end of the twentieth century it was funded to replicate the treatment model in two other DTCs: Main House in Birmingham and Webb House in Crewe.

The availability of the treatment on the National Health Service in the UK came under threat because of changes in funding systems. Researchers at the University of Oxford and King’s College London studied one of these national Democratic Therapeutic Community services over four years and found external policy ‘steering’ by officials eroded the community’s democratic model of care, which in turn destabilised its well established approach to clinical risk management (this had been jointly developed by clients and staff). Fischer (2012), who studied this community’s development at first hand, described how an ‘intractable conflict’ between embedded and externally imposed management models led to escalating organisational ‘turbulence’, producing an interorganisational crisis which led to the unit’s forced closure. The three ‘Henderson’ DTCs had all closed their doors by 2008.

However, development of ‘mini’ therapeutic communities, meeting for three or fewer days each week and supported out of hours by various forms of ‘service user led informal networks of care’ (for example telephone, texting and physical support), now offers a more resource and cost effective alternative to traditional inpatient therapeutic communities. The most recent exponent, the North Cumbria model, uses a dedicated out of hours website moderated by service users according to therapeutic community principles. This extends the community beyond the face to face ‘therapeutic days’. The website guarantees a safe group-based response not always possible with other systems. The use of ‘starter’ groups as a preparation for entry into therapeutic communities has lowered attrition rates and they now represent a cost-effective model still aimed at producing durable personal and intergenerational effects; this is at odds with the current trend towards the defensive needs of service providers, rather than service users, for less intensive treatments and management of pathways to control risk.

United States

In the late 1960s within the US correctional system, the Asklepion Foundation initiated therapeutic communities in the Marion Federal Penitentiary and other institutions that included clinical intervention based upon Transactional Analysis, the Synanon Game, internal twelve-step programmes and other therapeutic modalities. Some of these programmes lasted into the mid-1980s, such as the House of Thought in the Virginia Correctional system, and were able to demonstrate a reduction of 17% in recidivism in a matched-pair study of drug-abusing felons and sex offenders who participated in the program for one year or more.

Modified therapeutic communities are currently used for substance abuse treatment in correctional facilities of several US states including Pennsylvania, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Delaware, and New York. In New York City, a programme for men is located in the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island and the women’s programme is part of the Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan.

Main Ideas

The therapeutic community approach aims to help patients deal with social situations and to change perceptions they have about themselves. Difficult situations are re-enacted and experienced and patients are encouraged to examine and try to learn from them with the help of group and individual therapy. The communities function as a living-and-learning situations, where every interaction can serve as a learning moment.

There is no encompassing definition of what a therapeutic community should be. Some have therefore also argued that it follows a family resemblance. A common conception of therapeutic community is a group of people living together in a non-hierarchical, democratic way that brings psychological awareness of individual as well as group processes. Furthermore, the community has clear boundaries of place, time and roles of the participants. They are democratic because the patients are involved in decision-making to encourage a sense of responsibility. This is fostered by the non-hierarchical structure that tries to minimise dependency on the staff.

A key principle is the creation of a culture of enquiry. Everyone within the community is encouraged to reflect and ask question about themselves and others. In this way the participants are supported by continuous feedback to create better self-awareness.

The therapeutic community approach is informed by systems theory, organisation theory and psychoanalytic practice.

Effectiveness

As an intervention model for drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental health disorders, therapeutic communities may help people reduce drug use and subsequent criminal activity. Research evidence for the effectiveness of therapeutic community treatment is substantial and a demonstration of the cost efficacy of a year of residential therapeutic community treatment was instrumental in funding being granted in the late 1990s for the replication of the Henderson Hospital DTC.

In Popular Culture

  • The Alfred Hitchcock film Spellbound takes place within a therapeutic community called Green Manors.
  • Leonard Cohen and his touring band The Army gave an impromptu concert at the Henderson Hospital DTC in August 1970, just before the Isle of Wight Festival, after being invited by one of the residents.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_community >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is Emotions Anonymous?

Published on by Andrew Marshall4 Comments

Introduction

Emotions Anonymous (EA) is a twelve-step programme for recovery from mental and emotional illness. As of 2017 there were approximately 300 Emotions Anonymous groups active in the United States and another 300 around the world.

Brief History

Marion Flesch (24 July 1911 to 10 October 2004) is responsible for creating the groups that would become Emotions Anonymous. Marion was a graduate of St. Cloud State Teachers College (now St. Cloud State University) and at various times worked as a teacher, secretary, clerk, accountant, bookkeeper and office manager. Later in life she became a certified chemical dependency counsellor through the University of Minnesota and started work on a master’s degree, but stopped at age 80 due to health concerns. Marion originally went to Al-Anon meetings at the advice of a friend to help cope with panic attacks. Later Marion learned of another twelve-step programme, Neurotics Anonymous and she started the first such meeting in Minnesota held 13 April 1966, at the Merriam Park Community Centre in St. Paul. Neurotics Anonymous grew quickly in Minnesota, and by Fall of 1966 there were thirty active groups in the state.

Differences developed between the Minnesota groups and the central offices of Neurotics Anonymous. The Minnesota Intergroup Association separated from Neurotics Anonymous on 06 July 1971. After unsuccessful attempts to reconcile differences with Neurotics Anonymous, the Minnesota groups later adopted the name Emotions Anonymous. They wrote to Alcoholics Anonymous World Services for permission to use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. Permissions was granted. Emotions Anonymous officially filed Articles of Incorporation on 22 July 1971.

Misconceptions

Purpose

EA is not intended to be a replacement for psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, or any kind of professional mental health treatment. People may find useful as a complement to mental health treatment, as a personal means to better mental health in general, or when psychiatric treatment is not available or they have resistance to psychiatric treatment. EA does not attempt to coerce members into following anyone’s advice.

Intellectual Disabilities and Hospitalisation

Jim Voytilla of the Ramsey County, Minnesota, Human Services Department created EA groups for intellectually disabled substance abusers in 1979. Voytilla noted when this particular demographic of substance abusers attended AA meetings in the surrounding community, they felt uncomfortable and made others attending the meetings uncomfortable. Voytilla’s EA meetings were created to avoid these problems, and address the illnesses of his clients other than substance abuse. Since then, four articles have narrowly defined EA as a program specifically for mentally retarded or intellectually disabled substance abusers. In a similar way, EA has also been incorrectly described as an organisation either specifically or primarily for those who have been discharged from psychiatric hospitals.

EA does not discriminate against any demographic. All that is needed to join EA is a desire to become emotionally well. EA is not, and never has been, a programme specifically for people of any particular background or treatment history. It is not uncommon for individuals in recovery from addictions or former patients in psychiatric hospitals to seek help in EA after being discharged.

Processes

Emotions Anonymous views mental and emotional illness as chronic and progressive, like addiction. EA members find they “hit bottom” when the consequences of their mental and emotional illness cause complete despair. Twelve-step groups symbolically represent human structure in three dimensions: physical, mental, and spiritual. The illnesses the groups deal with are understood to manifest themselves in each dimension. The First Step in each twelve-step group states what members have been unable to control with their willpower. In some cases the emphasis is on the experience in the physical dimension; in AA the First Step suggests admitting powerlessness over alcohol, in Overeaters Anonymous (OA) it is powerlessness over food. In other groups the First Step emphasizes the experience in the mental dimension; in NA the First Step suggests admitting powerlessness over addiction, in EA (as well as Neurotics Anonymous), it is powerlessness over emotions. Emotions Anonymous focuses on deviant moods and emotions, not just a craving for mood alteration. The subjective experience of powerlessness over one’s emotions can generate multiple kinds of behavioural disorders, or it can be a cause of mental suffering with no consistent behavioural manifestation (such as affective disorders).

In the Third Step members surrender their will to a Higher Power, this should not be understood as encouraging passiveness, rather its purpose is to increase acceptance of reality. The process of working the Twelve Steps is intended to replace self-centredness with a growing moral consciousness and a willingness for self-sacrifice and unselfish constructive action; this is known as a spiritual awakening, or religious experience.

Literature

Emotions Anonymous publishes three books approved for use in the organization. Emotions Anonymous is the primary book, the Today book contains 366 daily meditation readings related the EA programme, and It Works If You Work It discusses EA’s tools and guidelines in detail.

  • Emotions Anonymous (1996). Emotions Anonymous (Revised ed.). St. Paul, Minnesota: Emotions Anonymous International Services. ISBN 978-0-9607356-5-5. OCLC 49768287.
  • Emotions Anonymous (1987). Todays. St. Paul, Minnesota: Emotions Anonymous. ISBN 978-0-9607356-2-4. OCLC 19232484.
  • Emotions Anonymous (2003). It Works If You Work It. St. Paul, Minnesota: Emotions Anonymous. ISBN 978-0-9607356-9-3. OCLC 54625984.

Tools and Guidelines for Recovery

All twelve-step programs use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, but most have their own specialised tools and guidelines emphasizing the focus of their programme. EA developed the “Twelve Helpful Concepts,” and “What EA Is…and Is Not.” the “Just for Todays,” as well as a slightly modified version of AA’s Twelve Promises. The EA “Just For Todays” were adapted by a twelve-step organisation for female victims of domestic violence with substance abuse histories, Wisdom of Women (WOW).

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotions_Anonymous >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

What is the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience?

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) is a research institution dedicated to discovering what causes mental illness and diseases of the brain. In addition, its aim is to help identify new treatments for them and ways to prevent them in the first place. The IoPPN is a faculty of King’s College London, England, previously known as the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP).

The institute works closely with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Many senior academic staff also work as honorary consultants for the trust in clinical services such as the National Psychosis Unit at Bethlem Royal Hospital.

The impact of the institute’s work was judged to be 100% ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’ in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014). The research environment of the institute was also rated 100% ‘world-leading’. King’s College London was rated the second for research in Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience in REF 2014. According to the 2021 US News Ranking, King’s College London was ranked second in the world in Psychiatry and Psychology.

Refer to Maudsley Bipolar Twin Study.

Brief History

The IoPPN shares a great deal of its history with the Maudsley Hospital, with which it shares the location of its main building. It was part of the original plans of Frederick Mott and Henry Maudsley – inspired by the Munich institute of Emil Kraepelin – that the hospital would include facilities for teaching and research in 1896. In 1914, London County Council agreed to establish a hospital in Denmark Hill and Mott’s plan began to take shape. The Maudsley Hospital was opened in 1923 as a result of a donation by Henry Maudsley.

Originally established as the “Maudsley Hospital Medical School” in 1924, it changed its name to the Institute of Psychiatry in 1948, with Aubrey Lewis appointed to the inaugural Chair of Psychiatry (which he held until his retirement in 1966). The main Institute building was opened in 1967 and contains lecture theatres, administrative offices, library and canteen.

In 1959 a group of genetic researchers led by Eliot Slater were given Medical Research Council funding to establish themselves as the ‘MRC Psychiatric Genetics Unit’. Although this closed down in 1969, psychiatric genetics continued, eventually as the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre (SGDP Centre) which moved into new purpose-built building in 2002.

In 1997, the institute had split from the Maudsley and become instead a school of King’s College London. The Henry Wellcome building was opened in 2001 and houses most of the IoPPN’s psychology department. In 2004, a new Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (CNS) was opened which provides offices, lab space, and access to two MRI scanners for neuroimaging research. In 2014 the institute was renamed to the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), as the remit of the institute was broadened to include all brain and behavioural sciences.

Departments

Addictions

The Addictions Department specialises in research into tobacco, alcohol and opiate addiction policy and treatment. In March 2010 the addiction research unit and the sections of alcohol research, tobacco research and behavioural pharmacology were brought together to form the current The Addictions Department, also known as the National Addiction Centre (NAC).

Biostatistics

This department provides advice in the interpretation and use of statistical techniques in psychological research. They work closely with members of the Neuroimaging section in their work using brain scanners.

The Biostatistics department opened in 1964, then as the Biometrics Unit. The department holds particular expertise in multivariate statistical methods for measurement, life-course epidemiology and the analysis of experimental, genetic and neuropsychiatric data.

The department provides both introductory and advanced training in applied statistical methodology, collaborate on studies of mental health based here and internationally, and undertake research in relevant applied methodology.

The department also hosts the UKCRN accredited King’s Clinical Trials Unit which provides randomisation, data management, analysis and trial management – all of which are available to researchers across King’s Health Partners. The CTU provides support to both medicinal and non-medicinal clinical trials assisting researchers in the conduct of carrying out clinical trials.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The department is dedicated to the study of developmental disorders such as ADHD, clinical depression, autism and learning difficulties. The department has close links with the Michael Rutter Centre for Children and Young People at the Maudsley Hospital which has a number of specialist services for children and adolescents.

Forensic Mental Health Science

Forensic Mental Health Science is the study of antisocial, violent, and criminal behaviours among people with mental disorders. The department’s research focuses on antisocial behaviour as it appears in people with either major mental disorders or personality disorders. The department is closely allied to the Forensic Psychiatry Teaching Unit.

Neuroscience

Researchers in this department carry out a range of studies into diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and motor neuron disease. The Institute of Psychiatry now houses the Medical Research Council Centre for Neurodegeneration Research, where pioneering research is conducted investigating disease of the CNS. The Department of Clinical Neuroscience in Windsor Walk also contains the MRC London Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank.

Department of Neuroimaging and Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences

The Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences (CNS) is a joint venture of the King’s College London Institute of Psychiatry and the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLAM). Completed in early 2004, the centre provides an interdisciplinary research environment.

The Clinical Neuroimaging Department, situated at the Maudsley Hospital, provides a full range of neuroradiographic imaging services, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Within the CNS, the academic Department of Neuroimaging’s Major Research Facility (MRF) manages a range of MRI facilities for research studies. The Department of Neuroimaging also runs an EEG laboratory, re-launched in 2010.

Psychology

The IoPPN Psychology department was founded in 1950. The department conducts research in neuropsychology, forensic psychology, and cognitive behavioural therapy. Hans Eysenck set up the UK’s first qualification in clinical psychology in the department, which has now evolved into a three-year doctoral ‘DClinPsych’ qualification.

Clinically, members of the department offer expert services to the Maudsley Hospital, Bethlem Royal Hospital, King’s College Hospital, Guy’s Hospital and community mental health teams in the South London area. Members of the department also teach psychology to undergraduate medical students from the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals. Psychiatric geneticist Peter McGuffin was awarded a fellowship at the institute.

Psychological Medicine

The Department of Psychological Medicine, chaired by Professor Ulrike Schmidt, addresses many of the commonest mental disorders which affect adults including depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, somatoform disorders, and medically unexplained symptoms and syndromes. Its research spans basic science, experimental medicine, epidemiology and public policy. It includes the King’s Centre for Military Health Research, led by the department’s former chair, Professor Simon Wessely, and is responsible for studying the psychological impacts of the 2003 Iraq War. The department also contains a programme of work on liaison psychiatry and studies the many complex interactions between mental and physical illness.

Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry

The SGDP centre is a multi-disciplinary research centre devoted to the study of the interplay between “nature” (genetics) and “nurture” (environment) as they interact in the development of complex human behaviour. Research at the SGDP acknowledges that there is no simple solution to the “nature versus nurture” debate; instead, expertise is combined across fields such as social epidemiology, child and adult psychiatry, developmental psychopathology, development in the family, personality traits, cognitive abilities, statistical genetics, and molecular genetics. In this way it is hoped that a greater understanding can be achieved in risk factors that might predispose an individual to depression, ADHD, or autism.

Brief History

The MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre was founded in 1994 by the Medical Research Council, in partnership with the Institute of Psychiatry (now a school of King’s College London).

The research in social, genetic and developmental psychiatry have already existed at the Institute of Psychiatry since its establishment in 1948. However, the streams of research were not integrated and there have even been times when genetic researchers and social psychiatrists were in a state of hostility. The intellectual warfare between nature and nurture reached its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.

Aubrey Lewis, who was the first Professor of Psychiatry at the institute and the director of the MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit (first MRC unit at the institute), noticed that social psychiatry was a broad field that included both biological substrate of disorders and social causes. Eliot Slater, the ‘founding father’ of psychiatric genetics in the United Kingdom, was encouraged by Lewis to study genetics in 1930s. In 1959, Slater established another MRC unit at the institute (MRC Psychiatric Genetics Unit), but the unit was closed in 1969 on Slater’s retirement. In 1984, MRC Child Psychiatry Unit was established at the Institute of Psychiatry by Michael Rutter, a member in the MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit led by Lewis. The unit brought together experts in many overlapping fields, and the mix proved highly successful as the unit had a major impact on child psychiatric research throughout the world.

The MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit was closed in 1993. The MRC and the institute found that there was a need for refocusing and reintegration with other strands of research including psychiatric genetics and disorders of adult life. Rutter and David Goldberg discussed with the MRC about the establishment of an interdisciplinary research centre that could comprehensively study the interplay of nature and nurture in the development of psychiatric disorders. In 1994, MRC SGDP Centre was established in Denmark Hill, and Rutter was appointed as the first director of the centre. The SGDP Centre has moved into its new purpose-built building in 2002.

Psychosis Studies

The department is the most highly cited group of scientists working on schizophrenia and related disorders. Work focuses on integrating cognitive measures and multimodal neuroimaging techniques, with perinatal, genetic and developmental data. The central aim is to characterise the core pathophysiological dimensions of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The section has initiated or participated a number of such treatment studies of new atypical antipsychotics and potential mood stabilising medication and is also developing computerised and web-based applications for disease self-management.

Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute

The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute is a centre for neuroscience research opened by The Princess Royal in 2015. It is one of the leading neuroscience institutes in the world. The centre is named after British philanthropist Maurice Wohl, who supported many medical projects and had a long association with King’s College London, and was funded by several philanthropic donors, organisations and King’s Health Partners.

The Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute focuses on the development of new treatments to patients affected by neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and motor neurone disease), mental disorders (depression, schizophrenia) and neurological diseases (including epilepsy and stroke), and the understanding of disease mechanisms. The research institute has 250 clinicians and research scientists from neuroimaging, neurology, psychiatry, genetics, molecular and cellular biology and drug discovery.

The current three major goals of the institute is to determine the underlying genetic and environmental risk factors for disease, to identify tests for early diagnosis and biomarkers that measure disease progression, and to develop informative cellular and animal disease models of disease to accelerate drug discovery.

Funding

Approximately 70% of the IoPPN’s income comes from the research it conducts. Approximately 20% is from clinical work performed for the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Approximately 10% of gross income is from taught courses offered to postgraduate students.

Sources include the government’s National Institute for Health Research and Higher Education Funding Council for England, grant-giving bodies such as the Medical Research Council (UK) and the Wellcome Trust, as well as other governmental, charitable and private-sector organisations. Individual research teams secure around £130 million of funds for their projects each year. Many projects are carried out in partnership with other university and health services, charities and private companies.

The IoPPN and the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck are led one of the largest ever academic-industry collaborations in research, known as NEWMEDS – Novel Methods leading to New Medications in Depression and Schizophrenia. The project is part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative developed by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations and the European Commission. NEWMEDS aims to facilitate the development of new psychiatric medications by bringing top scientists and academics together in partnership with nearly every major global drug company.

Another key project is the KCL and Janssen led pre competitive public private consortium RADAR-CNS (Remote Measurement of Disease and Relapse in Central Nervous System Disorders), which uses smartphones and wearable devices to track clinical outcomes in disorders like depression, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maudsley_Bipolar_Twin_Study >; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness (2022): Part 02

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

A documentary about the mental health crisis among youth in America.

Outline (General)

Mental illness is one of the most significant health crises in the world – as pervasive as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease – but it often exists in secret and is endured in isolation. It is the place where sadness leaves off, and depression begins; where nervousness becomes anxiety; excitement becomes mania, and habit becomes addiction. It’s the place where simply living becomes painful.

It affects all ages, in families both rich and poor, healthy and dysfunctional. Trauma can be the trigger – from personal crises such as divorce and neglect to environmental disasters, racial injustice, and pandemics. Over time, the symptoms can progress, and lead to increasingly extreme behaviours – like eating disorders, self-harm, and thoughts of suicide.

The issues surrounding mental illness are extraordinarily complex. The risk factors are daunting, the economics bewildering, and the politics contentious. But the most important step – and often the most difficult one – is to start talking about it. Hiding in Plain Sight will bring that conversation into homes, schools, the workplace, and community organisations across the country.

The two-part, four-hour film follows the journeys of more than 20 young Americans from all over the country and all walks of life, who have struggled with thoughts and feelings that have troubled – and, at times – overwhelmed them. They share what they have learned about themselves, their families, and the world in which they live. Through first-person accounts, the film presents an unstinting look at both the seemingly insurmountable obstacles faced by those who live with mental disorders and the hope that many have found after that storm. In the process, they will directly confront the issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence, and, in doing so, support the ongoing shift in the public perception of mental illness today.

Outline (Part 02)

Our “heroes” speak about finding help and inpatient and/or outpatient treatment. It also explores the criminalization of mental illness, tragedy of youth suicide, and “double stigma” that occurs when mental illness is combined with racial or gender discrimination. Throughout, the interviewees demonstrate the power of resiliency and hope.

Part 01 here.

Production & Filming Details

  • Director(s):
    • Christopher Loren Ewers.
    • Erik Ewers.
  • Producer(s):
    • Ken Burns … executive producer.
    • Julie Coffman … producer.
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … co-producer.
    • Susan Shumaker … co-producer.
    • Erik Ewers … co-producer.
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … co-producer.
    • David Blistein … co-producer.
    • John F. Wilson … executive producer: WETA.
    • Tom Chiodo … executive producer: WETA.
  • Writer(s):
    • David Blistein.
  • Music:
    • David Cieri.
  • Cinematography:
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … director of photography.
  • Editor(s):
  • Production:
    • Florentine Films.
    • Ewers Brothers Productions.
    • WETA Washington D.C.
  • Distributor(s):
  • Release Date: 27 June 2022 to 29 June 2022.
  • Running Time: 60 minutes.
  • Rating: Unknown.
  • Country: US.
  • Language: English.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness (2022): Part 01

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

A documentary about the mental health crisis among youth in America.

Outline (General)

Mental illness is one of the most significant health crises in the world – as pervasive as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease – but it often exists in secret and is endured in isolation. It is the place where sadness leaves off, and depression begins; where nervousness becomes anxiety; excitement becomes mania, and habit becomes addiction. It’s the place where simply living becomes painful.

It affects all ages, in families both rich and poor, healthy and dysfunctional. Trauma can be the trigger – from personal crises such as divorce and neglect to environmental disasters, racial injustice, and pandemics. Over time, the symptoms can progress, and lead to increasingly extreme behaviours – like eating disorders, self-harm, and thoughts of suicide.

The issues surrounding mental illness are extraordinarily complex. The risk factors are daunting, the economics bewildering, and the politics contentious. But the most important step – and often the most difficult one – is to start talking about it. Hiding in Plain Sight will bring that conversation into homes, schools, the workplace, and community organisations across the country.

The two-part, four-hour film follows the journeys of more than 20 young Americans from all over the country and all walks of life, who have struggled with thoughts and feelings that have troubled – and, at times – overwhelmed them. They share what they have learned about themselves, their families, and the world in which they live. Through first-person accounts, the film presents an unstinting look at both the seemingly insurmountable obstacles faced by those who live with mental disorders and the hope that many have found after that storm. In the process, they will directly confront the issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence, and, in doing so, support the ongoing shift in the public perception of mental illness today.

Outline (Part 01)

Focuses on more than twenty young people who provide an intimate look at what it’s like to experience the symptoms of mental illness, from depression to addiction to suicide ideation. The film includes insights from families, providers, and advocates and explores the impact of childhood trauma, stigma, and social media.

Part 02 here.

Production & Filming Details

  • Director(s):
    • Christopher Loren Ewers.
    • Erik Ewers.
  • Producer(s):
    • Ken Burns … executive producer.
    • Julie Coffman … producer.
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … co-producer.
    • Susan Shumaker … co-producer.
    • Erik Ewers … co-producer.
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … co-producer.
    • David Blistein … co-producer.
    • John F. Wilson … executive producer: WETA.
    • Tom Chiodo … executive producer: WETA.
  • Writer(s):
    • David Blistein.
  • Music:
    • David Cieri.
  • Cinematography:
    • Christopher Loren Ewers … director of photography.
  • Editor(s):
  • Production:
    • Florentine Films.
    • Ewers Brothers Productions.
    • WETA Washington D.C.
  • Distributor(s):
  • Release Date: 27 June 2022 to 29 June 2022.
  • Running Time: 60 minutes.
  • Rating: Unknown.
  • Country: US.
  • Language: English.

On This Day … 26 July [2022]

Published on by Andrew MarshallLeave a comment

Events

  • 1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.

People (Births)

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12101) is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability.

It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which made discrimination based on race, religion, sex, national origin, and other characteristics illegal, and later sexual orientation and gender identity. In addition, unlike the Civil Rights Act, the ADA also requires covered employers to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with disabilities, and imposes accessibility requirements on public accommodations.

In 1986, the National Council on Disability had recommended the enactment of an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and drafted the first version of the bill which was introduced in the House and Senate in 1988. The final version of the bill was signed into law on 26 July 1990, by President George H.W. Bush. It was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of 01 January 2009.

Disabilities Included

ADA disabilities include both mental and physical medical conditions. A condition does not need to be severe or permanent to be a disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regulations provide a list of conditions that should easily be concluded to be disabilities:

Other mental or physical health conditions also may be disabilities, depending on what the individual’s symptoms would be in the absence of “mitigating measures” (medication, therapy, assistive devices, or other means of restoring function), during an “active episode” of the condition (if the condition is episodic).

Certain specific conditions that are widely considered anti-social, or tend to result in illegal activity, such as kleptomania, paedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, etc. are excluded under the definition of “disability” in order to prevent abuse of the statute’s purpose. Additionally, gender identity or orientation is no longer considered a disorder and is also excluded under the definition of “disability”.

Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (26 July 1875 to 06 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung’s work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies.

Jung worked as a research scientist at the famous Burghölzli hospital, under Eugen Bleuler. During this time, he came to the attention of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. The two men conducted a lengthy correspondence and collaborated, for a while, on a joint vision of human psychology.

Freud saw the younger Jung as the heir he had been seeking to take forward his “new science” of psychoanalysis and to this end secured his appointment as president of his newly founded International Psychoanalytical Association. Jung’s research and personal vision, however, made it impossible for him to follow his older colleague’s doctrine and a schism became inevitable. This division was personally painful for Jung and resulted in the establishment of Jung’s analytical psychology as a comprehensive system separate from psychoanalysis.

Among the central concepts of analytical psychology is individuation – the lifelong psychological process of differentiation of the self out of each individual’s conscious and unconscious elements. Jung considered it to be the main task of human development. He created some of the best known psychological concepts, including synchronicity, archetypal phenomena, the collective unconscious, the psychological complex and extraversion and introversion.

Jung was also an artist, craftsman, builder and a prolific writer. Many of his works were not published until after his death and some are still awaiting publication.

Glynis Breakwell

Dame Glynis Marie Breakwell DBE DL FRSA FAcSS (born West Bromwich, 26 July 1952) is a social psychologist and an active public policy adviser and researcher specialising in leadership, identity process and risk management. In January 2014 she was listed in the Science Council’s list of ‘100 leading UK practising scientists’. Her achievements as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath in Bath were marred by controversy culminating in her dismissal in a dispute regarding her remuneration.

Breakwell has been a Fellow of the British Psychological Society since 1987 and an Honorary Fellow since 2006. She is a chartered health psychologist and in 2002 was elected an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences.

Breakwell was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to higher education. She is also a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Somerset.

Mysteries of Mental Illness (2021): S01E04 – The New Frontiers

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

Mysteries of Mental Illness explores the story of mental illness in science and society. The four-part series traces the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times. It explores dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness and gives voice to contemporary Americans across a spectrum of experiences.

Outline

Cutting-edge treatments for mental illness; profiles of patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery, infusions of ketamine and modern electro-convulsive therapy.

Mysteries of Mental Illness Series

You can find a full index and overview of Mysteries of Mental Illness here.

Production & Filming Details

  • Release Date: 23 June 2021.
  • Running Time: 60 minutes (per episode).
  • Rating: Unknown.
  • Country: US.
  • Language: English.

Mysteries of Mental Illness (2021): S01E03 – The Rise and Fall of the Asylum

Published on by Andrew Marshall1 Comment

Introduction

Mysteries of Mental Illness explores the story of mental illness in science and society. The four-part series traces the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times. It explores dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness and gives voice to contemporary Americans across a spectrum of experiences.

Outline

The rise and fall of mental asylums in the US; the largest de-facto mental health facility in the US, its detainees and the realities of care both inside and outside.

Mysteries of Mental Illness Series

You can find a full index and overview of Mysteries of Mental Illness here.

Production & Filming Details

  • Release Date: 23 June 2021.
  • Running Time: 60 minutes (per episode).
  • Rating: Unknown.
  • Country: US.
  • Language: English.