How depression has been let down by the media: On Hopkins, Morgan & the battle ahead

No more wriggling out of writing ......

Katie Hopkins

I have tried so hard not to write this post. Don’t get me wrong – it is not through any feelings of shame at admitting my years of battling depression and anxiety (anyone who knows me and this blog will know I am totally open about my mental health issues and have a page devoted to posts on the subject by me, and by others) but because I felt I had nothing to add to the discussion of the Germanwings plane crash tragedy and subsequent media treatment of the story. I shared a couple of posts on Facebook, but quickly realised how wound up I was feeling and made the decision to step back and observe, as people I respect and mental health organisations made statements I heartily endorsed.

But this morning, having read a great post from The Blurt Foundation and more of the marvellous Matt Haig…

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11 things Sunday Times journalist Camilla Long didn’t tell you about Thanet | Thanet Gazette

11 things Sunday Times journalist Camilla Long didn't tell you about Thanet | Thanet Gazette.

Quick, everyone vote Ed Miliband: Katie Hopkins will leave the UK if we do

Plain Jane 270315: Meet the candidates for the Green Party

Jane Wenham-Jones

Continuing our series in which Jane Wenham-Jones meets the candidates, this week: the Greens…

I was initially invited to visit the Green candidate for Thanet South  at his Broadstairs home – an arrangement I jumped at, to check if it featured  sacks of mung beans and a composting toilet. In the event, we meet in the Belgian Bar in Ramsgate, which boasts  neither. It is a testament to Councillor Ian Driver’s capacity for forgiveness or the thickness of his hide that he wants to meet me at all. I have been less than complimentary on these pages in the past. But his smile is wide when I arrive, so I cut straight to the nub of my doubts.

He tends to party hop, doesn’t he?

“Not really, no,” he says.  “I’ve gone Labour, Independent, Green.” He cites other council movers.  “Zita Wiltshire’s gone Conservative, Independent, UKIP…”  I wouldn’t hold her…

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United Thanet election candidates demand unitary authority for Thanet | Thanet Gazette

United Thanet election candidates demand unitary authority for Thanet | Thanet Gazette.

Government proposal to extend Discovery Park Enterprise Zone to Manston airport and Betteshanger | Thanet Gazette

Government proposal to extend Discovery Park Enterprise Zone to Manston airport and Betteshanger | Thanet Gazette.

Lithium Carbonate (the pharmaceutical) is a dangerous drug

Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry

Granted, everyone should already know this, but these are serious and disturbing statistics that bear repeating since Lithium is still touted to be the gold standard in the treatment of those labeled with bipolar disorder within the psychiatric establishment. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.

A third of patients who have taken the common psychiatric medication lithium for over ten years have developed “chronic renal failure” from the drug, according to a study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.  (READ MORE at Mad in America)

I have known several people made seriously permanently ill. I’ve known people who’ve needed kidney transplants and I had a client, whom I loved, die from lithium induced kidney failure. I cannot tell you how much I loathe lithium…it’s truly a source of great pain in my heart. There are so many ways to support people in healthful ways!

By the way…

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Complex PTSD and PTSD – Do you know the differences?

Trauma and Dissociation

PTSD and Complex PTSD

PTSD and Complex PTSD are both caused by trauma. PTSD can be caused either by a single traumatic event (e.g., earthquake, sexual assault, or serious auto accident) or by multiple traumatic events (e.g. several traumatic events during war). Complex PTSD can only be caused by multiple traumatic experiences which have a wider range of symptoms than those in the PTSD criteria. Typical causes involve the person being in a prolonged, and normally continuous, set of traumatic experiences over a considerable period of time. For example, child abuse lasting several years or prolonged captivity with severe mistreatment, e.g. in a concentration camp. [2] This related interpersonal abuse causes problems in many future relationships.

Complex PTSD has additional symptoms

Complex PTSD involves all key components of PTSD, plus :

• Interpersonal difficulties, meaning relationship problems
• Negative self-concept, for example persistent beliefs that
• Affect dysregulation, meaning being unable to manage…

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Preventing FGM: Beware A Turf War Between Medicine And Law

Hilary Burrage

The symposium Contestations around FGM: Activism and the Academy, held on 7 March 2015 and organised by Dr Tobe Levin, was a first, in formally bringing together activists and academics to discuss many aspects of continuing efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation.  My task was to contribute to a round table discussion on ‘the benefits, the hurdles and the effects on prevention of committed implementation of the law’. In my paper I examined the risk that an inadvertent turf war around FGM might now be emerging in the UK between the medics and the lawyers.

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The Guardian Global Media Campaign #EndFGMWhyWait

Hilary Burrage

The Guardian launched its Global Media Campaign to end FGM at the UN ONE Plaza Hotel on 12 March 2015. The idea is to support the new generation of activists using the media to amplify their message – stop FGM! – to their communities and the world. Here you see two of these determined activists, Domtila Chesang from Kenya and Jaha Dukureh, originally from the Gambia. Their presentations, with those of UN Women Under-Secretary General Mme Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and others, are available here.

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