Lewis Wolpert: developmental biologist who raised the public profile of mental illness

BMJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. n441
Author(s):  
John Illman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
The Public ◽  
Developmental Biologist

Failure of a moral enterprise: Attitude of the public toward mental illness.

1970 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore R. Sarbin ◽  
James C. Mancuso
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
The Public

scholarly journals Burden of mental health disability in Kerala: A secondary time trend analysis from 2002 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Joseph ◽  
H Sankar ◽  
D Nambiar
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Retardation ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Mental Health Disorders ◽  
The State ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Infrastructure ◽  
Health Disorders

Abstract The fourth target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 advocates for the promotion of mental health and wellbeing. The Indian state of Kerala is recognized for its gains in health and development but has substantial burden of mental health ailments. Historical analysis is vital to understand the pattern of mental health morbidity. The current study focusses on comparable estimates available from three largescale population-based surveys in India to explore trends in prevalence of mental health disorders over the years and map resources and infrastructure available for mental health care in Kerala. We undertook a secondary analysis of national demographic surveys from 2002 to 2018 which reported information on mental health and availability of health infrastructure and human resources. Data were collated and descriptive analyses were conducted. We compared the national and state level estimates over the years to study the trend in the prevalence of mental health disability. The prevalence of mental retardation and intellectual disability in Kerala increased from 194 per hundred thousand persons in 2002 to 300 per hundred thousand persons in 2018, two times higher to the national average. The prevalence of mental illness increased from 272 per hundred thousand people to 400 per hundred thousand people in sixteen years. The prevalence was higher among males (statistical significance was not indicated) in mental illness and mental retardation. 2018 data showed that the public sector had 0.01 hospitals and 5.53 beds per hundred thousand persons available for mental health treatment. Results showed a substantial increase in mental health illness over the 16-year study period that has affected males and females, as well as all social classes of the state. The current health infrastructure and human resources in the public sector of the state are inadequate to meet the current burden of the problem and to ensure universal access to care for its population. Key messages The trend in prevalence of mental health disorders in the state is increasing across the years. There is a mismatch between the extend of the problem and resources available in public sector.

Mental Health Ontologies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna Hastings
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
The Public ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Public Health Challenges ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Way

Mental health presents one of the defining public health challenges of our time. Proponents of different conceptions of what mental illness is wage war for the hearts and minds of patients, practitioners, policy-makers, and the public. Debate and fragmentation around the nature of the entities that feature in the mental health domain divide resources and reduce progress. The way mental health is publicly discussed in the media has tangible effects, in terms of stigma, access to healthcare and resources, and private expectations of recovery. This book explores in detail the sorts of statements that are made about mental health in the media and public reporting of scientific research, grounding them in the wider context of the theoretical frameworks, assumptions and metaphors that they draw from. The author shows how a holistic understanding of the way that different aspects of mental illness are interrelated can be developed from evidence-based interpretation of the latest research findings. She offers some ideas about corrective, integrative approaches to discussing mental health-related matters publicly that may reduce the opposition between conceptualisations while still aiming to reduce stigma, shame and blame. In particular, she emphasises that discourse in the media needs to be anchored to an overview of all the research results across the field and argues that this could be achieved using new technological infrastructures. The author provides an integrative account of what mental health is, together with an improved understanding of the factors driving the persistence of oppositional accounts in the public discourse. The book will be of benefit to researchers, practitioners and students in the domain of mental health.

Children's Attitudes toward Mental Illness as Assessed by the Opinions about Mental Illness Scale

1985 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 251-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Franchot Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Psychiatric Patients ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Elementary School Age ◽  
The Public ◽  
Children's Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes Toward Mental Illness ◽  
Opinions About Mental Illness

Research on attitudes toward mental illness held by the public, by mental health professionals and personnel, and by psychiatric patients and their families is substantial. Little attention has been given to children's attitudes toward mental illness and the mentally ill, so this exploratory-descriptive study examined the developmental trends of children's attitudes toward the mentally ill. An adaptation of the Opinions About Mental Illness Scale was given to 512 elementary school age children who were placed in Grades 2, 4, 6, and 8. It was determined that with increasing grade/age children took a less authoritarian attitude toward the mentally ill and viewed mentally ill persons as more like themselves. Children rook an increasingly parernalistic view of the mentally ill, were less likely to see mental illness as an illness like any other, perceived mental patients as less of a threat to society and needing fewer restrictions. Finally, with increasing age/grade children perceived mental illness as less likely attributable to inadequate, deprived or interpersonal experiences. Results were discussed in terms of a relatively increased “positive attitude” and the relative acceptance and rejection of the mentally ill.

Mental Illness and the Media: Part II. Content Analysis of Press Coverage of Mental Health Topics

1986 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 431-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Matas ◽  
N. El-Guebaly ◽  
D. Harper ◽  
M. Green ◽  
A. Peterkin
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Public Image ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
Negative Attitudes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Accuracy Check ◽  
The Media ◽  
Selection Of

The public image of psychiatry has been tarnished in recent years. In order to determine the extent to which press coverage has contributed to negative attitudes towards psychiatry, we conducted a content analysis of a random selection of newspaper articles which appeared over a twenty-year period in two different newspapers. We found that although there had been some minor, cosmetic changes over the years, such as more appropriate headlines and more direct quotes from psychiatric experts, on the whole, content and attitudes had changed very little. An accuracy check of media reporting of forensic cases over a 20-year period revealed that when reporters have access to written material, the accuracy levels are greatly improved.

scholarly journals Stigma 1, Psychiatrists 0

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 430-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Searle
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
The Public ◽  
Education Campaign ◽  
Public Education Campaign ◽  
The Media

I think I can honestly say that I am a seasoned complainer, although I am careful not to attempt to be Mary Whitehouse and I do not assiduously scan the media looking for trouble. My interest in the area of stigmatization started with an episode of the TV drama Boon, where they suddenly had a character become ‘mentally ill’ so that he could conveniently shoot the hero to achieve a cliff-hanging end-of-series episode. Subsequently I specialised in the portrayal of mental illness in dramatic productions, joined the Public Education Campaign divisional network and had some media training. I have been listed as an expert in the portrayal of mental illness for five years but have never been approached for my advice on this area. However, following this year's announcement of the new Royal College of Psychiatrists' campaign ‘Changing Minds: Every Family in the Land’, I obtained all the names and addresses in Deborah Hart and Jill Phillipson's article above and stood ready to ‘do my bit’ for truth and honesty.

scholarly journals Doctors, suicide and mental illness

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 165-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clare Gerada
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Mortality Data ◽  
Next Of Kin ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
Additional Risk ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Health Programme

This article focuses on doctors and suicide. It provides real examples to illustrate why doctors die by their own hand. These reasons are replicated in the general population, but also include a host of additional risk factors related to being a doctor. In each case, information about the doctor is in the public domain or, as in one case, consent from the next of kin has been obtained for a detail not in the public domain. The author is a doctors' doctor, heading up a confidential health service for doctors with mental illness or addiction, the National Health Service Practitioner Health Programme. Mortality data from the programme (January 2008–January 2017) will also be included. For the sake of confidentiality, data is collated and details regarding age and gender have been approximated.Declaration of interestNone.

Electroconvulsive therapy

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
Emad Sidhom ◽  
David Welchew
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
Electroconvulsive Therapy ◽  
Safe Delivery ◽  
The Public ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Will

In an acute inpatient environment, clinicians are often faced with patients experiencing mental illness to an extent that is life-threatening, whether this is through absolute loss of the will to eat and drink, through the intense impulse towards suicide, or through the sheer exhaustion of severe mania. It is essential to have the ability to bring these symptoms under control in a way that is rapid, effective, and humane, and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) provides this. Despite enormous advances in the safe delivery, regulation, and efficacy of ECT over the last 70 years, and its ability to bring patients from stupor to recovery over (on average) just 6–12 treatments, it remains a stigmatized and stigmatizing treatment in the public eye. This chapter outlines the history of ECT, and explains how it can be safely prescribed and monitored, and who will be most likely to benefit.

Owning the brand of psychiatry

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S740-S740
Author(s):  
A. Peters
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Medical Training ◽  
The Public ◽  
Community Information ◽  
Zealand College ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Promotion Campaigns

In Australia and New Zealand, conversations around mental health are playing out in the public space with increasing frequency. Mental health promotion campaigns and organizations are embraced by mainstream and other forms of media, and supported by government. Whilst public knowledge of mental illness is increasing, the profile of psychiatrists as leaders and medical experts in mental illness is a more difficult brand to sell. With a somewhat tarnished history behind us, the modern evidence-based practice of psychiatry is not always at the forefront of public impression. Furthermore, in Australia, more than half of the population (56%) is unaware that psychiatrists have undertaken medical training as a doctor. This presentation will outline Royal Australian and New Zealand college of psychiatrists (RANZCP) action to improve community information about psychiatry, psychiatrists and treatment experiences.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

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