A Mention on Vanessa Feltz' BBC London Radio Show re Mental Health Inequalities

[JimiSayo]

A client of mind made an emotion laden phone call to the Vanessa Feltz show this morning aout his 45 year experience with anxiety and depression and how this simply doesn't get the same priority as physical ailments, despite the huge personal societal cost.

For the part of the show that I got to listen to, his was the most hopeful of all the callers. The others made for pretty grim listening, including a lady who's mother was shouting expletives in the background.

The link to my client's testimonial is here:

And if you haven't watched the documentary by Professional Green and his father's suicide 7 years ago (his father was not the only adult male to choose to end his own life) then the link is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06mvx4j/professor-green-suicide-and-me#group=p02q33dg

Jimi

[Blah Blah]

There was also Panorama last week that highlighted the desperate shortage of resources for mental health treatment. 3000 beds have been lost in five years and trusts are now having to use private hospitals to house patients because there are not enough NHS beds, so much so that the private health sector is running out of beds in some areas. It's a national disgrace. Government doesn't even class depression as a disabling illness anymore.

[Otta]

Blah Blah Wrote:

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> It's a national disgrace. Government

> doesn't even class depression as a disabling

> illness anymore.

Depression IS a disabling illness to different extents. But I suspect they've removed this label in order to stop DLA claims from anyone that's been to the doctor saying they're feeling a bit blue.

[Blah Blah]

It is all about welfare reform, but they are making major errors of judgement. People with depressicve illness have been deliberately targetted and the consequences have been detrimental to the health and any hope of recovery of those people. So in my department we have less resources and more people to treat, who are more difficult to treat because of external factors like welfare reform. It makes no sense and saves absolutely no money.

[JimiSayo]

It's a horrendous false economy. An invisible illness that that has more form than those in charge care to admit.

[Blah Blah]

Even those who don't suffer from depressive illness are living under high levels of stress. So when looking at wellbeing I think there are broader queastions that go beyond just those who become ill. Prevention in mental health terms could save the country billions in lost working hours alone for example, and save lives too. We know ao much more now about the brain and physiology and there are some great advances in understanding how depression evolves and impacts on every part of the body. Yet the standard treatment is still anti-depressants, and patients are left languishing for years on them with no other treatment. Anti-depressants do not cure anything.

One neurological area that is of interest is the hypothalamus. It shrinks in people who are suffering from depression. The good news is that it can return back to normal if a patient recovers from that depressive period, but that takes time. If it doesn't recover from a depressive episode, it makes repeat and more severe episodes likely. That is just one clinical aspect of research but all the evidence is showing that treating depressive illness has to go beyond just controlling mood (which is what anti-depressants seek to do).

And I would also add that depression is a normal human emotion. We all experience bereavement for example. It only becomes a problem when it is prolonged and even then it's only a problem because we live in a society where there is constant pressure, to work, to be happy, to perform. That is what I think this government fails to understand most. That it takes time to help someone get well and that it will be different for everyone. By taking those most qualified to assess patients out of the welfare assessment process for example, they are simply condemning people to an abyss. The DWP have investigated 80 welfare reform suicides and refuse to publish their findings. The real figure is higher (especially in men). Hardship is killing people.

[JimiSayo]

At a recent event, I presented on the link between PTSD and chronic illness. The truth is that the state of our mind affects the body directly. Not only is a fortune being spent on anti-depressants (which do nothing but supress and not deal with the issues at heart) but the knock on effect in terms of chronic pain (and pain killer addictions), obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, to name a few (which adds to more time off work and a smaller work-force struggling to cover for long term sickness).

War veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have been found to have significant hypothalamus shrinkage, the hypothalamus being responsible for emotions. And yes, the good news is that hypnothalaums shrinkage can be reversed. I'm certified as a practictioner of a psycho-sensory therapy called havening which activates the delta state in the recipient and releases serotonins. The visible and emotional difference in veterans is tangible and a colleague of mine who has done a lot of work with war veterans has captured before and after photos of these veterans - before the havening and after the havening. A massive difference in the space of an hour and often less.

Holistic health care really is the best approach to health care, not just handing out prescriptions for pills as a placebo approach. The stats speak for themselves. Too many high functioning zombies being patched up.

Blah Blah Wrote:

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> Even those who don't suffer from depressive

> illness are living under high levels of stress. So

> when looking at wellbeing I think there are

> broader queastions that go beyond just those who

> become ill. Prevention in mental health terms

> could save the country billions in lost working

> hours alone for example, and save lives too. We

> know ao much more now about the brain and

> physiology and there are some great advances in

> understanding how depression evolves and impacts

> on every part of the body. Yet the standard

> treatment is still anti-depressants, and patients

> are left languishing for years on them with no

> other treatment. Anti-depressants do not cure

> anything.

>

> One neurological area that is of interest is the

> hypothalamus. It shrinks in people who are

> suffering from depression. The good news is that

> it can return back to normal if a patient recovers

> from that depressive period, but that takes time.

> If it doesn't recover from a depressive episode,

> it makes repeat and more severe episodes likely.

> That is just one clinical aspect of research but

> all the evidence is showing that treating

> depressive illness has to go beyond just

> controlling mood (which is what anti-depressants

> seek to do).

>

> And I would also add that depression is a normal

> human emotion. We all experience bereavement for

> example. It only becomes a problem when it is

> prolonged and even then it's only a problem

> because we live in a society where there is

> constant pressure, to work, to be happy, to

> perform. That is what I think this government

> fails to understand most. That it takes time to

> help someone get well and that it will be

> different for everyone. By taking those most

> qualified to assess patients out of the welfare

> assessment process for example, they are simply

> condemning people to an abyss. The DWP have

> investigated 80 welfare reform suicides and refuse

> to publish their findings. The real figure is

> higher (especially in men). Hardship is killing

> people.

[ianr]

JimiSayo Wrote:

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> War veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

> have been found to have significant hypothalamus

> shrinkage,

You mean hippocampus.

See also this paper, on lower hippocampal volume as a vulnerablity factor for PTSD. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2819093/

> And yes, the good news is that hypnothalaums shrinkage can be reversed.

> I'm certified as a practictioner of a psycho-sensory therapy called havening

> which activates the delta state in the recipient and releases serotonins.

Evidence please, given that you're within a hair's breadth of advertising.

[JimiSayo]

Thanks! Yes, I realised earlier this evening when watching a documenary about the brain of murderers that I'd mixed up my brain parts, particularly the H's (hippocampus and hypothalums). I was going to come and amend it but knew it was probably too late to amend the actual message but you beat me to it.

And the hyppocampus is responsible for memory.

I echoed what someone else had said about the shrinkage being reversible. If the pills being prescribed were capable of reversing the shrinking, people would be getting cured, not at best like zombies, or at worst, getting worse.

I didn't invent havening. I'm certified in it and that's a fact. www.havening.org gives all the science behind how and why it works. The other term for havening techniques is Amygdala Depotentiation Therapy. Paul McKenna demonstrates it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C1liEFCZm4

Only within a hair's breadth? I must try harder!

-------------------------------------------------------

> JimiSayo Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

>

> > War veterans with Post Traumatic Stress

> Disorder

> > have been found to have significant

> hypothalamus

> > shrinkage,

>

> You mean hippocampus.

>

> See also this paper, on lower hippocampal volume

> as a vulnerablity factor for PTSD.

> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC281909

> 3/

>

> > And yes, the good news is that hypnothalaums

> shrinkage can be reversed.

> > I'm certified as a practictioner of a

> psycho-sensory therapy called havening

> > which activates the delta state in the recipient

> and releases serotonins.

>

> Evidence please, given that you're within a hair's

> breadth of advertising.

[Blah Blah]

Yes the hippocampus and hypothalamus are different areas but they have a bearing on each other. The hypothalamus links between the endocrine and nervous systems and some thinking now suggests that imbalances in the endocrine system, brought on by stress, brings about the depressive neurology and not the other way round. That of course links into diet and lifestlye.

But the hippocampus also feeds into the autonomic nervous system and has a bigger role in our emotions. The reason why it figures so prominently in PTSD research is because it's also the centre for memory (and learning). That is where traumatic events will impact most.

My area is within a clinical environment, but even there, an open mind is to be found regarding holistic approaches. We know for example, that acupuncture works for some patients, if not always why. And some forms of Cognitive Behaviour therapy now incorporates meditation, because that too raises treatment success rates in some patients.

[JimiSayo]

Thanks. I loved the way you explained that. My background was English studies, public relations, anything but silence. It's been ironical how my choice of career has dragged me towards the sciences I shunned when sitting my O'Levels.

I once interviewed the mother of a young man who came to a tragic end for what she believed was undetected hypothalumus damage during a fall he suffered as a young boy while climbing a tree.

He'd battled depression and erectile dysfunction all his adult life (uknown to her but she learnt from his girlfriend during the inquest).

His mother only later, when trying to make sense of it all, remembered the accident as a child which seemed minor and was forgotten about as, like many head injury patients, he seemed alright after a few hours observation (where typically, a concusssion or bleed is what everyone is wary of).

She learnt about pituitary gland/hypothalums damage (post-traumatic hypopituitarism) and saw a possible connection. Which is why she now lobbies NICE (National Institute or Clinical Excellence) to make it mandatory for A&E departments to advise follow-up to head injury patients since once concussion is ruled out, the assumption is often that all is well. The term, he/she was never right after that knock to the head is sadly truer than observers realise.

She wants head injury patients to be aware that changes in appetite, sexual function, mood, etc, could be a result of the blow to the head that affects the pitutary gland. The hormone imbalance following such damage can apparently be addressed with periodic injections (but I am not a doctor so can't comment on that).

Just that, in addition to psychological reasons for depression, weight gain, and impaired sexual function, ruling out trauma to the head, even if you think it was so long ago that it can't matter, can save a life-time of anguish. It's never too late to ask your doctor to check for this, and if you know you've hit your head in the past, even if just while a little tipsy on a night out where you missed your footing, insist on this being taken into consideration to rule it out as a cause.

I was watching a programme about the drinking culture and a man was brought in to A&E after tripping and falling while drunk. He couldn't remember falling, and when asked if he'd banged his head, couldn't remember that either. That's worryig.