Published: August 30, 2009
Paul Davidge, Employment Law Consultant, writes in the Manchester Evening News about mental health and the law surrounding disability discrimination:
The UK Government has announced this week that people with mental health problems will receive help to manage their condition enabling them continue to work.
Pilot schemes carried out in conjunction with the mental health charity Mind have achieved a 90 per cent success rate in helping people with fluctuating mental health conditions retain their jobs.
Regrettably, despite its prevalence, there is a huge ignorance about mental illness in general and the effect this has on particular individuals. This can lead to those suffering from such conditions being stigmatised and sufferers being discriminated against, not only in day to day life, but also in the workplace. link to continue reading
Source: Manchester Evening News
Published: August 17, 2009
Lesbians, gays and bisexuals are twice as likely as heterosexual men and women to seek help from mental health professionals, according to a new study by the UCLA School of Public Health.
The study, published today in the journal BMC Psychiatry, examines the relationship of gender and sexual orientation to the use of services to treat psychiatric problems such as mental health and alcohol and drug disorders. [continue reading…]
Published: August 4, 2009
Teenagers whose mothers have mental health impairments are likely to suffer behavioural problems, UQ research has found.
Using data from the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), recent PhD graduate Belinda Lloyd studied maternal mental health and its impact on children.
The MUSP is a longitudinal study of more than 7000 mothers and their children born at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital between 1981-83.
“Children whose mothers experienced mental health problems as their children grew older (during adolescence) had substantially elevated rates of the behavioural and mental health problems measured in the study,” Dr Lloyd said.
“Also, children whose mothers experienced recurrent mental health problems were significantly more likely to display behavioural and mental health problems.
[continue reading…]
Yesterday I posted a link to the New York Times article on the controversy surrounding the internet publication of the Rorschach Ink Blots on Wikepedia.
One of the most well-known psychological tools is the Rorschach Inkblot Test. However, does the inkblot really reveal all? According to the current report, despite its popularity, the Rorschach may not be the best diagnostic tool and practitioners need to be cautious in how they use this technique.
A viewer looks at ten inkblots, one at a time, and describes what they see. The rationale behind this test is the idea that certain aspects of the subject’s personality will be exposed as they are interpreting the images, allowing for the possible diagnosis of various psychological disorders. However, does the inkblot really reveal all? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, published an exhaustive review of all data on the Rorschach (and other similar “projective” tests) in 2000. Such meta-analyses are major undertakings, so although this report is a few years old, it remains the most definitive word on the Rorschach. [continue reading…]
