What it says in the papers: an audit

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison O'Connor ◽  
Patricia Casey

AbstractObjectives: There have been concerns in the international literature that the manner in which psychiatry and psychiatric patients is portrayed in the print media is negative and sensational. If correct this has serious implications for the stigma and prejudice that our patients will suffer. This study was designed to evaluate the content and tone of articles relating to psychiatry. It was compared with a broadly similar study published in 1995 and will form the base from which to measure changes in psychiatric coverage over time.Method: All the daily broadsheets, one daily tabloid and three Sunday broadsheets were examined for a six month period in 1999 and all articles, letters or headlines incorporating psychiatry-related material were examined. Using specific definitions, articles and headlines were examined for tone and content as well as for the contribution of mental health professionals.Results: Overall 0.65 articles per newspaper per day were found. News items and feature predominated, with forensic issues receiving the greatest attention. The tone of the articles was either neutral or positive and the improvement in the tone of articles in the tabloids was particularly noticeable when compared with an earlier study. This is very different from the findings of international studies. However, the headlines were more sensational in tone than the contents of the articles themselves. Increasingly the opinion of health professionals was sought but contributions from psychiatrists remained low, writing just two articles and constituting 15% of health professionals whose opinions were sought. Nine per cent of items constituted misuse of terms.Conclusions: The Irish print media are not hostile to psychiatry and there has been an improvement in tone and type of article in the past five years. Greater involvement of psychiatrists in the media and particularly more direct engagement with editors is required if there is to be a shift from coverage of forensic matters in favour of informative articles as well as improvement in the headline tone.

Author(s):  
Beatriz Gómez ◽  
Shigeru Iwakabe ◽  
Alexandre Vaz

Interest in psychotherapy integration has steadily expanded over the past decades, reaching most continents of the world and more mental health professionals than ever. Nevertheless, a country’s cultural and historical background significantly influences the nurturance or hindrance of integrative endeavors. This chapter seeks to explicate the current climate of psychotherapy integration in different continents and specific countries. With the aid of local integrative scholars, brief descriptions are presented on integrative practice, training, and research, as well as on cultural and sociopolitical issues that have shaped this movement’s impact around the world.


2019 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 126-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Hendrikoff ◽  
Lana Kambeitz-Ilankovic ◽  
Rüdiger Pryss ◽  
Fanny Senner ◽  
Peter Falkai ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 175 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael King ◽  
Annie Bartlett

BackgroundOpposition to homosexuality in Europe reached a crescendo in the 19th century. What had earlier been regarded as a vice evolved as a perversion or psychological illness. Official reviews of homosexuality as both an illness and (for men) a crime led to discrimination, inhumane treatments and shame, guilt and fear for gay men and lesbians. Only recently has homosexuality been removed from all international diagnostic glossaries.AimsTo review how British psychiatry has regarded homosexuality over the past century.MethodReview of key publications on homosexuality in British psychiatry.ResultsThe literature on homosexuality reflects evolving theories on sexuality over the past century. The assumptions in psychoanalysis and the behavioural sciences that sexuality could be altered led to unscientific theory and practice.ConclusionsMental health professionals in Britain should be aware of the mistakes of the past. Only in that way can we prevent future excesses and heal the gulf between gay and lesbian patients and their psychiatrists.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos De las Cuevas ◽  
Amado Rivero-Santana ◽  
Lilisbeth Perestelo-Pérez ◽  
Jeanette Pérez-Ramos ◽  
Pedro Serrano-Aguilar

2005 ◽  
Vol 29 (9) ◽  
pp. 327-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tayyeb A. Tahir ◽  
Jonathan I. Bisson ◽  
Jodie Wilcox

Aims and MethodTo assess the views of patients and mental health professionals on the practice of copying clinical letters to patients. Patients and professionals from local community mental health teams were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding their views.ResultsThe questionnaires were completed by 51 patients and 40 mental health professionals. Significantly more patients (83%) than staff (37%) thought that copying letters to patients was a good idea (OR=14.56, 95% CI 4.674 –45.158). Many staff appeared concerned that copying letters to patients could result in breakdown of the therapeutic relationship, causing distress and anxiety.Clinical ImplicationsConsiderable work is needed for clinicians to feel comfortable in copying letters to patients. The creation of working groups, including users, carers, managers and clinicians working in the field of mental health, would facilitate the development of guidelines for this practice.


2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-102
Author(s):  
J. P. Tobin

We are painfully aware: Psychiatry in some states of the international community is often used to subvert the political and legal guarantees of the freedom of the individual and to violate seriously his human and legal rights (Daes,1986).ObjectiveIt can be politically convenient to incarcerate political opponents in a psychiatric hospital. It saves any potential political embarrassment that a judicial trial may present. It also undermines the credibility of opponents by labelling them with the stigma of being mentally insane. For this to occur, there has to be the acquiescence of mental health professionals and a subservient legal system.MethodThis article examines the abuse of psychiatry in two authoritarian systems, Russia and China.ResultNew diagnostic categories such as sluggish schizophrenia were created to facilitate the silencing of dissenters and were a source of self-deception for psychiatrist to placate their consciences as they operated as a tool of oppression on behalf of a political system.ConclusionIf we do not know the past, we will be condemned to repeat it.


2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-244
Author(s):  
Alan Rosen ◽  
Garry Walter

Objective: The depiction of David Helfgott's life presented in the movie Shine is at odds with other public accounts, notably one by his sister, Margaret. These significant discrepancies have sparked a prolonged media debate and provide the opportunity to examine cinema's apparent ground rules governing depictions of psychiatry in film, the media values and pressures which are claimed to limit the scope of these portrayals, and the implications for psychiatry. Method: Information was obtained from a number of sources, including Shine, books about the movie and Shine film paraphernalia, other films about mental illness, the psychiatric papers on cinema, media images of mental illness and media values, and through discussions with fellow mental health professionals, consumers, carers and media specialists. Results: David Helfgott emerges as an undoubtedly remarkable and resilient individual, who, together with his family, was vulnerable to, and may have experienced, exploitation and violation through the cinema. Conclusions: Filmmakers should reconcile media values and constraints with considerations of ethics and public accountability. Marrying these considerations is both possible and compatible with good filmmaking and audience appeal. There is the potential for a story about those who have mental illness to be told from multiple points of view without compromising dramatic power.


1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Coverdale ◽  
Ian Falloon ◽  
Sarah Turbott

Objective: We aimed to determine the attitudes and behaviours of mental health professionals (MHPs) including psychiatrists towards identifying and reducing their own patients' risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Method: 102 of all of the 162 mental health professionals serving predominantly chronically psychiatrically ill adult outpatients and inpatients in Waitemata district responded to an anonymous questionnaire (response rate = 63%), concerning their own attitudes and behaviours towards identifying and counselling patients on their risk for sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. Results: Mental health professionals reported that, on average, they had counselled 14% of their own male patients and 21% of their own female patients on sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS prevention, and that more of their own patients were at risk than were counselled. They also reported that they had counselled 5% of their own male patients and 17% of their own female patients about family planning. Forty-two per cent of mental health professionals indicated that they had insufficient knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases to educate patients, 72% indicated that when it came to risky sexual behaviours chronic psychiatric patients were much the same as other people, and 33% or more felt uncomfortable discussing topics of condom use and patients' sexual preferences. Conclusion: These results suggest that family planning and sexually transmitted diseases risk preventive interventions for psychiatric patients need to overcome mental health professionals' own barriers to risk prevention.


Author(s):  
Beth Broussard ◽  
Michael T. Compton

Understanding the various symptoms of psychosis, and the treatments that are most effective for them, is key to engaging in treatment and recovery. Symptoms of psychosis can be very scary for those experiencing them and for their families. Help is available. Symptoms, whether in the past or present, are important to discuss with your mental health professional. An individual’s early symptoms are important to remember because they usually are the same ones that occur before another episode and are therefore early warning signs. Family and friends can provide information to mental health professionals about symptoms and behaviors, as well as report how symptoms are changing over time, including when they are improving or getting worse. Sharing information and making shared treatment decisions are key to successful treatment.


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