While taking care of our body is an extremely important job and most of us do realise that, one thing that many of us seem to overlook is the fact that the importance of mental health is no less than physical health. The different problems that were are currently facing with regard to mental health nowadays are quite staggering and the number of people who are falling victim to the wide range of mental illnesses is starting to cause serious problems in the society too. With problems that are as small and regular as stress and as serious as schizophrenia affecting people all around us, it is important that we aware ourselves of the things that cause it and more importantly, what is being done to prevent it. Keeping in touch with the way the mental health services are being developed is important to not only know what the field of medicine has achieved but also to see what potential problems we may be facing. This article will be covering some of the most important current news with regard to mental health so keep reading to find out more.
Reduction in mental health services for children in UK
The psychologists all over the UK are starting to show concern regarding the attitude that the health services industry has taken in the recent time regarding the mental health of adolescents and children. According to a recent survey, people are reporting serious downfalls in both the quality and the extent of the service that is made available to them by their health services. The biggest problem that has been reported is the acceptance criteria of the different health services as 71% of the people surveyed said that their service had tightened their criteria of selection. More than half of the people in the survey were also showing concerns about the quality of service they were getting, especially in the case of children who required intensive care. There were several other problems too including no after-hours services for nearly half of the participants of the survey and an absence of certain treatments for half the participants in the last three years. The concern is quite serious and there is a strong need to bring improvements in the quality of services being provided for maintaining mental health.
Suicide and its relation with unemployment
Unemployment is a problem that has been strongly related to a deteriorating mental health and in a recent study conducted by a team from the University of Zurich it has been found that unemployment is the cause of more than 45000 suicides worldwide every year. The data was derived from the mortality database of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and also from the Economic Outlook Database of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The research spanned over four different regions of the world and covered suicides reported from 63 countries. According to the research, the rates have increase significantly in the recent years with an overall increase of 20-30% between 2000 and 2011. What is more alarming is the fact that these statistics make unemployment far deadlier than any problems that one may have faced due to economic crisis. What is truly troubling though is that researchers say that this is just the tip of the iceberg and the overall impact of a lack of economic well-being on mental health is much greater.
Lack of mental health care for prisoners
In a recent research conducted in the University of Texas at Dallas by Dr. Nadine Connell, who is a professor of criminology, it has been found that the mental health care for the prisoners has been deteriorating quite seriously in the recent times. The number of inmates who were suffering from different mental illnesses is quite large and a staggering 25% of all inmates have been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their life. With only a 10th of the mentally ill inmates receiving proper medication for their problems, the results were quite clear in showing how little was being done to ensure the mental well-being of the inmates. A major reason this lack of proper care is the tight budget that every prison has and the study focuses on the importance of providing proper facilities. Dr. Nadine has clearly stated that providing proper services can not only help in reducing the chances of recidivism but will also as a result ensure a safer and healthier society, both in and outside the prison.
You can do further reading too by visiting this government mental health website to a policy by the UK government regarding mental health.
