Happiness And Resilience Lessons For Children

Submitted by tonyplant on July 9, 2006 - 08:58.

Following the disastrous report into the state of children's and adolescents' mental health I was wondering about the only possible mechanism for delivering appropriate interventions for children who need them.

So, I'm pleased to see that the Independent on Sunday carries a story about Prof. Marty Seligman being invited over to the UK to train teachers in delivering happiness and resilience lessons to children. It's an exciting prospect. It is more than a little interesting that the reporter has made the usual mistake of referring to Seligman as the "guru of positive thinking" as if it is a synonym for positive psychology and as if Prof. Seligman has accepts the annointment as "guru".

I think that this is an excellent innovation (particularly because it seems as if parents will be allowed to participate) but it is not clear that this is meant to address the needs of children identified in the BMA report as in need of treatment. Apparently, the "anti-depression classes" have been approved by Lord Layard. Now, the classes are either happiness and resilience classes or they are anti-depression: it is hard to imagine that they are synonymous. This is very sloppy reporting.

The move comes as experts warn that record numbers of young people are on the verge of mental breakdown as a result of family break-up, exam pressures and growing inability to cope with the pressures of modern life. Figures show that at least 10 per cent - three children in every average-sized class of 30 in the country - are experiencing symptoms of severe depression, including suicidal thoughts, prolonged bouts of despair and the urge to cry on a daily basis.

Irritatingly, the IoS's third article then styles the lessons as optimism lessons. Yes, there are overlaps but be consistent. It is ludicrous that there are three articles but it is still not clear what the lessons are and whether they are offered to all pupils as a means of developing resilience (probable) or considered to be sufficient for the children identified as having severe mental health problems. If it is the latter, it would have been helpful if the articles had mentioned the involvement of family doctors or any psychologists or psychiatrists who are already involved in the family.

read more | add new comment | school | resilience | mental health | happiness | children

Who Are You Calling Paranoid?

Submitted by tonyplant on July 8, 2006 - 15:03.

AADT has published a funny overview of the recent findings about the level of paranoia in the UK. They quote the BBC account of the statistics that paranoia is nearly as common as anxiety and depression and comment:

Their statistics paint a picture of a nation not quite teetering on the brink of tin foil hat sales and mass hysteria, but still facing an unexpectedly large problem.

I haven't read the original paper but AADT quotes:

• Over 40% of people regularly worry that negative comments are being made about them
• 27% think that people deliberately try to irritate them
• 20% worry about being observed or followed
• 10% think that someone has it in for them
• 5% worry that there is a conspiracy to harm them

I've no idea what the comparable figures are for other countries but it would be a fascinating comparison!

A while ago, Dr. Sanity’s offered a tongue-in-cheek account of command hallucinations. I rather blithely suggested that we need a Happystance to resist these strong command hallucinations and to provide us with personal and social resilience in the face of all the dire news that confronts us on a regular basis. As a consumer of media reporting, I sometimes feel that a lot of it implies that I am been governed by idiots who are incapable of concealing their disdain for me by covering up their attempts to deceive me on matters great and small. Possibly not a fair characterisation, but I'm not sure that media reporting is always a fair characterisation of the issues, people and stories.

read more | add new comment | psychiatry | paranoia | mental health | FEAR | crichton

Psychiatrists Admit No Science And No Cures: In A 5 Minute One-Sided Video

Submitted by tonyplant on July 5, 2006 - 09:14.

A video from CCHR (co-founded by the Church of Scientology) is doing the rounds: Psychiatrists Admit No Science and No Cures. The video is 5 minutes long (an automatic defence against being nuanced), one-sided, it features Thomas Szasz, it semi-ambushes a number of American Psychiatric Association conference delegates/psychiatrists on the street who can have had little idea that the material would be used in this way.

I'm taken aback by the video. No, there is no blood test for it, but if a troubled teen self-harms many times a day, I think there is a mental-health problem. However, the video seems to be anti-psychiatry (perhaps this is not surprising, given its origins). I don't understand what is being offered as a solution. It's all well and good to advise us to say, "Gee, Doc. Where's the test for that?" upon hearing a psychiatric diagnosis for a loved one, but what is that supposed to do? Leave us refusing interventions (pharmacological or not) that might help the putative loved one? Depression does have a well-established mortality rate, doesn't it? Or is there some serious and well-researched disagreement on this point?

As for the sneering cui bono question which Szasz answers with, "The people who make the diagnosis", what? Seriously, it's the psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers etc. who benefit? Nice to see that Big Pharma is implicitly left out of the rogue's gallery for once, although I am sure that they would be in the list of secondary beneficiaries or rogues. I know very little about what the Church of Scientology recommends for diagnoses in which they don't believe, but media reports tend to contain the words vitamins and saunas. I have no idea whether they charge for these interventions, I equally have no idea whether or not they are effective although I have my doubts.

1 attachment | read more | add new comment | psychiatry | mental health | FEAR | crichton

Quantum Healing: Quantum Claptrap

Submitted by tonyplant on July 4, 2006 - 08:45.

Flea has posted an interesting comment on several recent abuses of quantum mechanics to account for our knowledge gap in some tough areas like mental health. Basically quantum [mechanics, physics, insert your favourite] is being used:

to explain phenomenon that otherwise doesn't make sense to normal people.

I'm frequently being told rubbish about the observer effect being an instance of sub-atomic entangling in which the observer's perception is influencing reality. Anyway, I recommend Flea's sane take on the topic.

add new comment | quantum mechanics | mental health

What Is The Cost Of Mental Health For 1 Million Children?

Submitted by tonyplant on June 25, 2006 - 15:48.

Shinga was so fed up at the lack of costings for mental health treatment for children that she has attempted it for herself.

Shinga mentions the need to treat both the child and probably at least one other member of the family. She discusses the 'dispiriting' overlap between mental health problems in children and special educational needs (itself a very costly area). The figures are imperfect and far from comprehensive for the reasons that she describes: nonetheless, it is an interesting and grim read. We are constantly being told that children are our future: is this how we treat them? Is this the best quality investment we are making in the future of our citizens and our economy?

Some commentators greeted the announcement that children in Wellington College are to be taught resilience and happiness with derision. I wonder if the costs of introducing such topics in school would reach more pupils, more quickly, than waiting for the implentation of a large-scale mental health treatment programme that doesn't seem to exist? The children who need more specialised treatment need it. But, in the interim, and for those in the hinterland of having a mental health condition that is not yet serious enough to warrant a psychiatric intervention, what would be the costs of providing Laughter and resilience sessions in schools? The Laughter Leaders could be parent volunteers, local volunteers or maybe even some of the Classroom Assistants. I shall think about this scheme.

 

read more | 1 comment | statement | special educational needs | schools | mental health | economics | children

1 in 10 Children Has A Mental Health Problem That Needs Treatment

Submitted by tonyplant on June 21, 2006 - 13:41.

I was going to discuss the Independent's summary of the British Medical Association's Board of Science report  that 1 in 10 Children Has A Mental Health Problem That Needs Treatment. However, Shinga has reviewed the summary and associated comment and finds them striking for their "poverty of imagination".

I agree with Shinga that the report tells us nothing that would startle anyone's granny. Children don't have the luxury of time. Speaking to the Independent, Avis Johns of YoungMinds, the mental health charity, said:

The majority of adults with mental illness are able to trace their symptoms back to childhood. It is essential we act now to prevent generations of children being blighted.

 

I couldn't agree more - but what is Avis Johns proposing? Sure Start isn't working. Hand-wringing isn't working - but then, it's not supposed to. The extra investment isn't working (but like the expensive Sure Start programme - that's getting to be old news). UnLtd funds lots of innovative projects that are aimed at improving family life or the physical, emotional and cognitive well-being of children. Do we need more seed-corn projects like that?

read more | add new comment | mental health | children