Over on Left Foot Forward Mark Davies, a former special advisor to Jack Straw and now Director of Communications for Rethink, praises the coalition government’s approach to mental health:
Mental health is one of the defining issues of our times. Always present, rarely talked about, people affected by mental illness represent a massive group who continue to face a degree of discrimination which would trigger street protests in any other context. Nine out of ten people with mental health problems experience prejudice…
Judging by his words, the health minister Paul Burstow recognises this. In an article published in Community Care to set the scene for the government’s new mental health strategy, expected later this year, he argues that poor mental health is a key factor in a “miserable chain” which links family breakdown, worklessness, drug and alcohol abuse and crime with long term poverty and exclusion. Tackling this issue, he suggests, is critical to any attempt to reduce deprivation.
The blog post is well worth a read, and I’d just add that the emphasis on mental health reflects a personal passion that both Paul Burstow and Nick Clegg share. I have heard them both speak eloquently about the importance of doing better by those who run into mental health problems – and stress the importance of doing so regardless of the issue’s usual low public profile. The full piece is here.
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15 Comments
Yeah, yeah. Fine words. They don’t butter stale toast.
Paul Burstow almost sounds like a sub-set of IDS’s great template for reforming the benefits and welfare system. For, after all, physical healthcare and mental healthcare are no more, no less than one of those social-securing benefits: a better-informed, Tardis-equipped Bill Beveridge might have included just such provision sixty-odd years ago. It just so happens we have too long chosen to operate them through a separate bureaucratic apparatus.
Now let’s see the impact on care-in-the-community.
And, here’s the killer: what about (say) some early intervention on autism? Investment now (in ABA?) would likely save millions over the next decades. Yet, currently, like so much of the sweeping-up after Great Ministerial Pronouncements, it is left to those local authorities scorned by Whitehall and starved of resources.
It is still far too difficult to obtain cognitive behavioural therapy on the NHS and Trusts are also reluctant to admit the reasons why they are falling short.
There is a link here to welfare reform. Claimants are being assessed as fit for work when they have not even been provided with the treatment recommended for depression and anxiety. That can’t be right.
IMO those on a waiting list for treatment should be exempt from capability assessments. That would provide an incentive for government to put a bomb under NHS Trusts and ensure that they provide the right treatment within a reasonable period.
i agree good policy
but will mean nothing if GPs get to control NHS budget
Gps will not see it as a priority
mental health budget needs to be seperated out
I don’t remember any emphasis on mental heath on any of the three main parties, manifestos – this is because they didn’t think it was important.
The always say they will reform mental health care in the UK within the first 6mths/1 year, but as time goes on they get too caught up in the whole NHS vs. Private care “dilemma” and how the NHS can be “ring fenced” and cut at the same time; after a few weeks mental health issues will get pushed aside (as unusual).
I know people who suffer from mental & emotional health (mainly btn ages 19-22), and haved worked in a Mind, and feel the government needs to do more than just talk.
They need to get involved with local charities, (Samaritans, mind, depression alliance etc), improve teacher training to include better suiting modules for dealing with students with mental health problems of different age groups, so much more need to be done, I wish I could believe them, but don’t.
I think because of ‘Hague-Laws-Coulson-59 majority………..could go on’- they need something good to say . . .
@fatuma ukwaju
“I don’t remember any emphasis on mental heath on any of the three main parties, manifestos – this is because they didn’t think it was important.”
Mental health got a number of specific mentions in the Lib Dem manifesto, look at pages 33, 40-41, 74 and 102.
You need to understand that secular atheistic psychiatry does NOT heal mental illness. It causes it with their toxic and ineffective drugs. The only solution to mental illness is prayer in Jesus name. mental illness is caused by demonic oppression, not chemical imbalances (that is a lie to sell drugs). the solution is prayer. All illnesses both physical and mental are caused by demonic oppression and can be rebuked in Jesus name. I have done it; it works. Also psychiatry is atheistic and slanders religious people, since people wtih spiritual experiences are thought to have hallucinations. Read my free book on my website that explains all this: Manual for Transformational Healing-God’s Answer to Psychiatry. Following is a book blurb:
A MANUAL FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL HEALING
– God’s Answer to Psychiatry
“If you believe in the bible, you’re mentally ill.” A court clinician told me this and sent me to a mental hospital for the first time. I was 42 years old. I have been in mental hospitals purely because I am a Christian who believes in Jesus and has a relationship with Jesus. That is a total violation of the 1st amendment constitutional right to freedom of religion.
A doctor’s second question is always “Do you hear voices?” If you answer “Yes, God talks to me when I pray.” they are trained to call it an auditory hallucination and diagnose you psychotic. Christians get labeled Schizophrenic &Schizoaffective which are fictitious diseases. In the New Testament, Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27”. You are supposed to hear God talk to you, according to Christian theology. Actually, everyone hears voices, as thoughts in our heads. The word “inspiration” means “a spirit goes into it”. Thoughts come from the spiritual realm. The book of James ch 3 (NT) says there is “wisdom from above and wisdom from below”.
Psychiatry is Atheism Masquerading as Science.
They claim that mental illness is caused by chemical imbalances. This is a lie, fostered by the drug
companies to market their drugs.The psychiatric drugs actually cause mental illness, not cure it. The
handbooks of drugs state that a lot of anti-psychotic drugs actually can cause psychosis. This is because all drugs, including caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, potc, lsd, etc and psych meds, are openings for demonic spirits, which cause mental and physical illness. The solution, according to the bible, is prayer in Jesus’ name. His name has authority over demonic spirits. I have rebuked illnesses, both mental and physical. It works. There are many things that can be openings for demonic attack; such as sin, drugs, bad music, books, art, symbols, occult objects. When they are removed the oppression leaves. The book explains this in depth.
Holding and drugging patients involuntarily is also a violation of the 8th amendment (cruel and unusual punishment) because the drugs amount to torture sometimes from the direct effect and the side effects, and the 13th amendment (anti-slavery) because patients are treated involuntarily as
guinea pigs for the drugs. This is involuntary servitude which is slavery. Being drugged involuntarily is a crime like rape – a bodily violation. This also violates the UN Human Declaration on Human Rights, Article 3 which calls for life liberty and security of person.
I have played the piano since age 3, improvising & writing music.
I remember having this idea since childhood, that I was put on this
earth to do music & it’s holy.
Vision for Revival I lived in a church for 2 years, playing & singing at night. God healed me & gave me a loud singing voice. God wants there to be 24 hour worship in churches, to bring revival. Musicians need to be free of all drugs, to be sanctified for this work. Musicians are called to be
prophets, to play & sing prayers to and from God. In the old testament, musicians were prophets. God wants the mental hospitals to be replaced by an empowered church that heals the sick.
Can we get that comment above deleted, it’s funny and everything but it’s so incredibly stupid (and wrong at every step) that it’s actually quite embarassing to have it on this site. Conspiracy theories and atheist-bashing, stylish.
@ DunKhan
Couldn’t agree more.
You all thought Labour Trolls are bad lol,
Mind you she maybe on to something here, tell everyone with mental illness to go away and pray quietly out of the way somewhere, it would save money and then we could also say there’s no mental illness in Britain, they are just possessed by the devil lol
😉
I’m a Christian, and I probably find the above comment even more embarrassing than you. It is full of assertions that would appall most Christians. But we shouldn’t get it deleted. It seems to be a genuinely expressed opinion, and it’s on topic. The site has a light touch policy on moderation, and I think, in the long run, that leads to a freer more interesting site.
To revert to the main topic. Let’s note that Left Foot Forward, an important Labour supporting blog, has headlined an article “Coalition’s new mental health strategy should be supported”.
As a time when many Lib Dems feel that Labour is engaging in opportunist tribalism, let’s acknowledge that. Well done, Will Straw!
I agree with @Mike, the problem could be GP Commissioning. Many Mental Health treatment services are tertiary services, and so historically GP engagement has been minimal.
Just to add – the abolition of PCTs will mean that a lot of knowledge acquired over many years by Commissioners will be lost – and this will be felt most keenly in the Mental Health sector, where “outcomes” (to use the Lansley-speak) are by nature, less tangible than in the acute sector.
please please please Mr Burstow
look at how mental health services will be commissioned in future
it cannot be 600 plus GP practices
two points…”judging by his words*…..since when do we judge politicians by their words rather than actions? Secondly, Cleggy’s commitment to mental health went as far as describing the Tories unsavoury partners in the European Parliament as nutters.
i dont think the goverment is doing enuff atall ive been waiting weeks i got diagnosed with BPD and then left on the back burner till the NHS gets round to getting me into theropy i dont even have a mental health nurse who i had down south now from when ive moved i had a letter the othere week form the hospital still waiting theres nothing been done ive read in posts about last year about labour going to help the mental health but no signs of this yet i kinda give up hope i want to be treated and i want to work there is also a big weekness there there is no support out there once you go back to work sory boss i went into crisis and i tryed to kill myself doesnt work in the real world we need better support when going back to work and then when in work also we need to be treated in the first pace why cant we have treatment why is there no support isnt this supposed to be a nice modrern country i want to see results where doing well getting people back to work so now lets try to help the mentaly ill it does help