Blogging about mental health issues
Each week we publish blog posts on a whole range of topics, relating in some way to mental health — written by Mind staff, service users and health and policy professionals. Some blog posts may not reflect official Mind policy.
We welcome comments and questions on our posts, but have a few ground rules to keep the site welcoming and interesting to every body. The first rule is the most important: be respectful of other commenters and bloggers.
Create mentally healthy communities:
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16 June 2011
Different pasts, shared futures: Refugee week 2011The slogan for Refugee Week (20 to 26 June) says it all: “Different pasts, shared future”. A man or woman may be born in a distant country, raised in a different culture, exposed to persecution and forced to travel a long distance to reach safety, but through contact with a community of fellow survivors and carers, can achieve recovery and begin a new life in the UK.
Start the discussion -
5 October 2009
The elderly are the happiest...but badly servedThe Telegraph recently reported that the elderly are generally mentally healthier than younger people. This is apparently explained in part by their living for the present and not worrying about the future. In a past worklife, I worked for Help the Aged and we spent a lot of our time trying to publicise the fact that many people can and do have a very active, fulfilling and happy later life.
However, the images of a 'silver surfer' generation living in retirement bliss - relaxed happiness with a yacht here and a Spanish villa there - do not hold true for the entire elderly population. In stark contrast, one in four older people have symptoms of depression severe enough to warrant intervention. But even more worrying is the fact that people over 75 are sixteen times - sixteen! - less likely to be asked about suicidal thoughts than young adults.
Why the shocking disparity? Ageism clearly plays a large part, with many wrongly believing that depression is a natural part of the ageing process. A survey by the British Geriatric Society found that over half of respondents believed the NHS is institutionally ageist. The fact that this came from doctors specialising in the treatment of older people makes the findings all the more upsetting - they really know what they're talking about.
The consequences of older people not getting proper care can be fatal. In particular, suicide rates for older men are very high. This is often blamed on the isolation that many older men experience. Around 500,000 older men live alone and, sadly, one in five people with an elderly father is not in contact with him. Mind's Men and Mental Health campaign highlights the need to make mental health services more male friendly.
Something needs to change. Services need to take the needs of older people into account and not pass their symptoms off as 'old age'. Who knows, perhaps universal 'retirement bliss' - Spanish villa included - could become a reality for the future!
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Mariam Kemple, Policy and Campaigns Officer