News

What is World Mental Health Day?

Posted on 11th October 2022 by Dan Price

At least one in eight of us is affected by mental health issues.

And World Mental Health Day 2022 on 10 October is a chance to “rekindle our efforts to protect and improve mental health,” says the World Health Organization (WHO).

The COVID-19 pandemic alone caused a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. It created “a global crisis for mental health,” according to the WHO, while services, skills and funding for mental health “remain in short supply, and fall far below what is needed, especially in low and middle-income countries,” it adds.

As well as anxiety and depression caused by the pandemic, the WHO says growing social and economic inequalities, protracted conflicts, violence and public health emergencies affecting whole populations are threatening progress towards improved wellbeing.

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MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US

Posted on 29th September 2022 by Dan Price

Mental health matters just as much as our physical health, yet too often it is ignored, misunderstood and neglected. It is one of the biggest public health issues of today, impacting all aspects of society. It is simply wrong that 300,000 people in Britain lose their jobs each year due to mental health, or that one in six children have a probable mental health disorder. And this issue was brought into even sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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From doing laundry to washing the dishes: unpaid work is bad for our mental health

Posted on 21st September 2022 by Dan Price

I’ve been agonizing over how to respond to an email for the last 48 hours.

It doesn’t involve a medical issue, a work deadline, some horrifying piece of news, a kids-back-to-school task that requires unearthing the dreaded label-maker or logging into some byzantine online portal – all of which are represented in full force in my inbox. Just a completely anodyne suggestion, from a colleague of a college friend who’s eager to talk about a project she’s working on, and whom I’m eager to meet.

“Wanna try for a happy hour meetup next week?”

I mean, yes. I’d love to. Me, a martini, some non-expandable pants, all outside at dusk? Valhalla.

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The big idea: should we drop the distinction between mental and physical health?

Posted on 14th September 2022 by Dan Price

A few months ago, I was infected by coronavirus and my first symptoms were bodily. But as the sore throat and cough receded, I was left feeling gloomy, lethargic and brain-foggy for about a week. An infection of my body had morphed into a short-lived experience of depressive and cognitive symptoms – there was no clear-cut distinction between my physical and mental health.

My story won’t be news to the millions of people worldwide who have experienced more severe or prolonged mental health outcomes of coronavirus infection. It adds nothing to the already weighty evidence for increased post-Covid rates of depression, anxiety or cognitive impairment. It isn’t theoretically surprising, in light of the growing knowledge that inflammation of the body, triggered by autoimmune or infectious disease, can have effects on the brain that look and feel like symptoms of mental illness.

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Jonah Hill says he will no longer promote his own films to protect his mental health

Posted on 24th August 2022 by Dan Price

Jonah Hill has announced he will no longer take part in promoting his films due to his mental health issues being exacerbated by media appearances and public-facing events.

The 38-year-old actor revealed his plan in an open letter published by Deadline ahead of the debut of his new documentary, Stutz, which he directed. The film is about Hill’s relationship with his therapist, Phil Stutz, whom Hill began seeing in 2017 at the recommendation of fellow actor Joaquin Phoenix. In the film Hill and his therapist discuss his mental health.

“Through this journey of self-discovery within the film, I have come to the understanding that I have spent nearly 20 years experiencing anxiety attacks, which are exacerbated by media appearances and public facing events,” Hill wrote.

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Teacher sick days soar as poor conditions take toll on mental health

Posted on 2nd August 2022 by Dan Price

Teachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom.

With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago.

The data came in response to freedom of information requests provided by 143 out of 152 local education authorities in England and Wales. In total, over seven million teacher days have been lost to stress and mental health issues in the past five years. They showed a steady increase, highlighting the pressures that the pandemic put on teaching staff.

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