Enhancing learning and teaching about mental health across the disciplines
In the last few weeks, as the publication of DSM 5 grows near, there have been some unprecedented reactions to the new psychiatric bible. The 3 that stick out are
1. activity on twitter from US psychiatrists who have 'come out' and admitted that the biological theory of depression, for instance the serotonin hypothesis, is known by medics to have no evidence and is something that they tell patients because it seems to go down well and is found to be reassuring. What this means for the status of biological models and indeed so-called 'anti-depressant' drugs remains to be seen...but not for long...
2. the National Institute for Mental Health USA, the largest funder of mental health research globally, announced it is departing from the use of DSM 5 because of its lack of validity. NIMH wants a more scientific view of mental illness to prevail, and a few months back a pan-European agreement was made (I forget between who but 'they' were important) to put neurological research into mental illness as a greater priority.Will this herald a new era of biological determinism or perhaps confirm the lack of scientific rigour in current models? Maybe, although...
3. Over this weekend the Clinical Psychology section of the British Psychological Society fired a shot across psychiatry's bows taking a stance that mental health problems are the result of complex psychological and social processes and that bio-psychiatry has little to offer. Is this opportunistic professional positioning given the DSM controversy or the time up on bio-psychiatry?
What remains to be seen is what the fall out will be. This is pure speculation but big pharma will still want a piece of the pie- would that be to the extent that it would re-brand again its drugs as an adjunct, switching the current emphasis, but remaining in the market? Will pharma court the psychologists as the psychiatrists lose their crown? It could be the start of the mental health version of 'Game of Thrones', except there is no fantasy element here, but rather real impact on real lives.
Unfortunately, nothing ever is as black and white as we would like, and maybe that is why the biological model is often criticised as an attempt to simplify a complex situation. Wasn't this the reason why Laing attempted to get alongside and understand the world as the person experienced it, and that this would take some effort to appreciate? But then talking therapies isn't an alternative to a biological model - things can't be polarised like that; and the reason I say this is because neuroscience is moving at such a pace that it is providing fascinating and complex insights into how CBT and mindfulness approaches may impact on pathways in the brain. For those who are interested, I can suggest some reading that presents the evidence for this and I for one think its a case of "watch this space".
All theories, knowledge and practice have their place - of course - where would we be without them! But it is when their jostle for power displaces the person from the central focus, and power becomes an closed end in itself, rather than an enabling of services of empowerment and liberation to humanity.
Interesting article here: Delusions of Progress - Psychiatry's diagnostic manual - by Andrew Scull
http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?type=&id=1677&fullte...
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Posted by Jill Anderson on December 1, 2020 at 11:50 0 Comments 0 Likes
Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh is launching the world’s first master’s degree in Mad Studies. The MSc Mad Studies course is primarily a course for graduates with lived experience of mental health issues. It has been hailed by a leading international Mad Studies academic as the most exciting piece of curriculum development in the last 20 years!
Mad Studies is a recognised academic discipline that explores the knowledge and actions that have grown…
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 26, 2020 at 19:00 0 Comments 0 Likes
Medical discourse currently dominates as the defining framework for madness in educational praxis. Consequently, ideas rooted in a mental health/illness binary abound in higher learning, as both curriculum content and through institutional procedures that reinforce structures of normalcy. While madness, then, is included in university spaces, this inclusion proceeds in ways that continue to pathologize madness and disenfranchise mad people.
This paper offers Mad…
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:48 0 Comments 0 Likes
Earlier this year, UUK published a refreshed version of its strategic framework, Stepchange: mentally healthy universities, calling on universities to prioritise the mental health of their students and staff by taking a whole university approach to mental health.
The Stepchange approach and shared set of principles inform the …
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:44 0 Comments 0 Likes
Three sample articles are available on the Asylum website:
Beyond the Pale – Raza Griffiths
An Illustrated Mind – Kathryn Watson …
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:41 0 Comments 0 Likes
Fast-track mental health social work provider Think Ahead will expand its intake by 60% from next year following a government funding boost of at least £18m.
The Department of Health and Social Care has agreed a contract with Think Ahead to increase the number of trainees for its 2021 and 2022 cohorts from 100 to 160, with…
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:39 0 Comments 0 Likes
Health Education England has commissioned 11 videos centered on real-life experience of specialists in the social work field.
Posted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:37 0 Comments 0 Likes
In February 2020 Health Education England and Skills for Care put on two major conferences about the role and development of mental health social work.
Posted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:33 0 Comments 0 Likes
A section of the Skills for Care website has been developed for mental health social workers and AMHPs
Posted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:29 1 Comment 1 Like
Social workers are among the largest group of professionals in the mental health workforce and play a key role in the assessment of mental health, addictions and suicide. Most social workers provide services to individuals with mental health concerns, yet there are gaps in research on social work education and training programmes. The objective of this open access scoping review is to examine literature on social work education and training in mental health, addictions and…
ContinuePosted by Jill Anderson on October 16, 2020 at 15:25 0 Comments 0 Likes
With World Mental Health Day this Saturday, a new Nuffield Trust report discusses how more people might be attracted to apply to study mental health nursing, and the reasons why they might currently be less likely to do so.
Co-author Claudia Leone picks out some key findings.
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