Blog Entries - May 2009

What you eat affects your mental health

editor@uticopa.com — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Our body's ability to metabolise food is complex and not widely-understood. There are as many different types of metabolic-rate as there are, say, types of facial features. If someone has inherited a poor bodily metabolic rate and then, foolishly, overeats to a marked extent as well - then we get the sort of extreme obesity levels one sees in places like the USA. There's one particular family I know where the wife is obese, the husband skinny, the one son following the mothe [...]

Couples and the recession: a survival guide

editor@uticopa.com — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 +0100

As the recession deepens, many couples are struggling - financially, in their relationships and in their own inner mental states.

A typical scenario

Where once the joint monthly income was easily enough to cover outgoings, now that one partner has lost their job, their very financial credibility is at stake. Their arguments become ever more rancorous over how to spend their limited resources; they criticize and blame each other for their current financial woes an [...]

As though unemployment is not bad enough....

editor@uticopa.com — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 +0100

It's now out in the open. Unemployment causes depression causes physical symptoms. We all know that the main reason for working is to gain money to feed ourselves and our families, together with fuelling our ever-increasing lifestyles. However, it seems it's more subtle than that - and this is historically significant for men in particular. To work, and indeed the type of work, is a significant source of a person's sense of self-worth and self-esteem.

How many o [...]

Taking the high road to mental health care

editor@uticopa.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 +0100

For men with mental health issues, is life any easier in Scotland? Is NHS provision better in the north than in England and Wales? And what about costs and waiting times?

I thought I'd better find out.

However, before you get your hopes up too much, it seems that information gathered by a spending watchdog has highlighted a mixed picture on the provision of mental health services in Scotland.

In one area - NHS Highland - waiting times are among the longes [...]

Our troops deserve better mental health care

editor@uticopa.com — Sat, 16 May 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In the days of yesteryear, WW1 soldiers returned from the fields of battle with all kinds of undiagnosed mental health injuries. But what of the soldiers in today's battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan? A recent investigation puts the spotlight on whether adequate care is offered to them.

In Baghdad, the U.S. military command recently launched an investigation into whether it offers adequate mental health care to its soldiers. This followed a tragic incident where a serge [...]