Last week whilst driving to see my Mum I heard a short but powerful piece on Radio 4 Woman's Hour about the growing incidence of self-harm amongst younger people.
"Feeling on the edge, helping you get through it", is a leaflet produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists which provides information to people who are self-harming and their carers. It describes what happens to people who are provided specialist mental health support, and gives contact details for other agencies such as The Samaritans, Papyrus and The National Self-Harm Network. And many more too.
What a week! I shall keep heroically quiet in the face of Olympic fever, only to say what a wonderful distraction Danny Boyle provided us with in times of swingeing austerity. Bravo, you volunteer dancing nurses. Was that art and health - was that Big Society in action, and do you have jobs to waltz back to? I had a funny feeling watching the opening ceremony - near emotional...in fact, it reminded me of how I was almost washed along in something similar after the people’s princess died: a rare coming together of people, in that case through a media-induced shared pseudo-grief, in this case, through a desperate clinging on to our fractured identity. Come to think of it, hasn’t D who shall not be named, been conspicuous in her absence from all things jubilant and olympic? All hail the puppet master - all hail our transient moments of civic delusion.
With the very generous contribution of our NHS staff entertaining us in mind, it is with thanks to a friend in New York, that I can share news of an event in Kingston (just north of NYC) in October. The O+ Festival brings health workers and artists together to exchange practice - bartering the art of medicine for the medicine of art. Admittedly this is from a country where many people can’t afford health care insurance, but the premiss is excellent and well worth exploring.
Did you know that across the NHS at the moment, there are over 100 different tools for monitoring your vital signs? In other words, the ways in which vital signs such as blood pressure and temperature are monitored in hospitals needs to be standardised across the NHS. Lack of a standardised process is causing confusion and sometimes delays in patients getting help. To find out more about this, click on the happy and valued nurse below. The excellent writer and surgeon, Dr Atul Gawande has written extensively on this in his fascinating book, The Checklist Manifesto. Just imagine for a moment, if airline pilots didn’t rigorously follow a systematic safety checklist before they took you off on your summer holidays! Well, imagine too, if the team preparing you for surgery hadn’t gathered your health information in a systematic and universally understood manner.
And following on from the opening ceremony of our ultimate national wellbeing campaign, it was with great honour, that I accepted the invitation to speak alongside Dr Malcolm Rigler at the Faculty of Public Health’s Annual Conference, rather suitably held at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Dr Rigler isn’t one to blow his own trumpet, but without hesitation, he can safely be described as one of the founding fathers of this thing we call arts and health. As a GP, he has never been shy in coming forward to expound the potential of the arts, and artists to influence both medical practice and civic society. He’s been supporting the ideas of the Peckham Experiment for many years and commissioned some of the arts/health greats from his GP Practice at Withymoor Village Surgery. Think Ali Jones (now Clough), John Angus and Mike White. Rigler ploughed this furrow, before others were brave enough to question the way in which medicine is delivered. The conference was packed to the roof with delegates, and although our hour session was very much quieter than the other parallels which focused on leadership, we were proud to have had the input and enthusiastic support from real innovators and giants from the field of medicine and public health. I extend my thanks to all of you that attended and particularly to John Wyn Owen, Prof John Ashton and the very inspirational Mark Gamsu. Dr Rigler and I will be writing an article that takes our thoughts further, entitled Imagination in 21st Century Public Health.
‘PUTIN IS SCARED OF US, CAN YOU IMAGINE? SCARED OF GIRLS.’
It seems that since we first broadcast the plight of Pussy Riot in February 2012, the band have gained much in the way of celebrity support. Lets hope that the growing media attention puts pressure on the Russian authorities, to release them, and listen to their voices. For an exclusive interview with three members of the collective, click on the video below.
It would be easy to smirk at Pussy Riot from a safe distance, but performing songs like, Putin Pissed Himself in front of the Kremlin is both courageous and dangerous. Ekaterina Degot, Russian art critic comments,"What you were doing was incredible. That it's going to change Russian history. That there is no question that what you are doing is art and that no Russian artist has brought about this much change, ever." Powerful stuff.
CHRIS AGNEW
Finally, another pioneer of arts in health in Manchester: Chris Agnew, has died on 3 July after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Chris established puppetry and performance at Manchester's St Mary's Hospital in 1979, helped initiate arts activities at the Christie cancer hospital, developed performance work with elderly patients at Withington Hospital and, with textile artist Adrienne Brown, was joint coordinator of Stockport Arts and Health (SAH). For a fuller appreciation of Chris Agnew by her friend and colleague Langley Brown, please click on the image below.
‘To create a healthier nation we must start by encouraging inclusive and harmonious relationships in a society where so many find themselves socially excluded. The principal killers are not cancer and heart disease but lack of social support, poor education and stagnant economies.’Dr Malcolm Rigler
You have probably heard of schizophrenia - in newspapers, books, movies, and TV shows; you or somebody you know may be affected with this mental illness. Nonetheless, confusion about schizophrenia is common. This post provides some basic facts about schizophrenia, including common symptoms and available treatments. Schizophrenia is a chronic, treatable brain disease that affects an individual’s thought patterns, behavior, and perceptions of reality.
Some general facts about schizophrenia:
Affects more than 1% of the population with similar rates around the world
Affects men and women with similar frequency
Symptoms usually start between ages 16-30
Most people with schizophrenia are not dangerous or violent
The symptoms of schizophrenia vary greatly between individuals. They can also change and get better or worse over time. Some of the most common symptoms are listed below:
Hallucinations – hearing voices is common
Delusions – fixed belief in something untrue or impossible
Paranoia – unhealthy or unfounded suspicion
Disorganized thoughts – may go on tangents or not make sense when speaking
Loss of interest or motivation – may not enjoy daily activities or social interaction
Schizophrenia is a serious chronic disease, but treatment is available to help people get back to thinking clearly and leading full lives. The most important treatment elements include:
Medications (‘antipsychotics’) – help restore and maintain normal, healthy thought patterns
Therapy and rehabilitation – help cope with stress and return to work, school, independent living, and social interaction
If you are concerned that somebody you know might be suffering from schizophrenia, encourage them to see a doctor for evaluation.
So, how happy is Powys? Not quite as happy as the neighbouring counties of Ceredigion and Shropshire, it seems, but nearly. Prime Minister David Cameron is keen to find out how happy we all are, and this Office of National Statistics' survey got round to asking 200,000 people this time.
The question is, have Powys residents become slightly unhappier over the last 4 years? I recall a different survey done in 2008, (by the universities of Manchester and Sheffield), which announced that Powys was the happiest place to live in the UK.
But only 500 people were surveyed that time round…maybe just the happy ones… statistics are funny things after all. But, the important thing about today’s survey, I think, is that it is part of the UK Government’s “wellbeing agenda”.Each local authority can consider the results, compare and contrast, and perhaps look at policy accordingly. That’s the idea anyway.
First ONS Annual Experimental Subjective Well-being Results
David Cameron's attempts to chart the nation's happiness alongside economic data gas been published today by the Office of National Statistics. The data, gathered between April 2011 and March 2012, compares happiness and anxiety levels by sex, age, ethnicity and other demographic factors. It reveals that people aged 16-19 and 65-79 recorded satisfaction levels considerably higher than the British average of 7.4 out of 10. Analysis of responses according to ethnicity, revealed the Indian population recorded the highest levels of satisfaction – 7.5 out of 10 – and the black population the lowest, at just 6.7. Anxiety ratings were highest among the Arab population, among whom the average response was 3.7, compared with a national average of 3.1. When asked about day-to-day emotions, 10.9 per cent of people in the UK rated their ‘happiness yesterday’ as less than 5 out of 10 (indicating lower happiness). For the ‘anxious yesterday’ question, 21.8 per cent reported a rating of more than 5 (indicating higher anxiety) To go directly to the report, just click on our happy first minister above.
Across history and cultures, if you are seen as ‘different’ or perhaps question the status quo, the prescribed method of the state has been to tell you to shut up, or else lock you up. Religion has played no small part in this too. Just think witchcraft - think sexuality - think gender. Incarceration and execution. Homosexuality as a mortal sin: and then post-enlightenment, as a diagnosable illness that only this year, the psychiatrist Dr Robert Spitzer recanted his theory that if you were gay, you could be ‘cured’. Widely seen as one of the architects of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which is the ‘bible’ of the the American Psychiatric Association, and in which for years homosexuality was categorised as a disease, the DSM isn’t without it’s detractors, who argue it perpetuates the beliefs of a small number of powerful psychiatrists and by proxy, the pharmaceutical industry.
Psychotherapists like Gary Greenberg in his book Manufacturing Depression, suggest that the pathologising of human nature is pernicious, and it could be that ‘the depression epidemic is not so much the discovery of a long unrecognised disease, but a reconstitution of a broad swath of human experience as illness.’
It was with Greenberg’s comments in mind, around the pathologising of human discontent as disease, that I read with some disquiet, economist Lord Layard’s comments that, ‘If you go back 30 or 40 years, people said you couldn't measure depression. But eventually the measurement of depression became uncontroversial.’
With the first set of results on happiness for the governments national happiness/wellbeing index due this week from the Office for National Statistics - and with Layard something of a happiness tzar: the assertion that depression is all neat, measurable and uncontroversial is divorced from reality. Yes, we all know that treatments have, by and large improved, as has general understanding of mental ill health, but the assumption that human nature can be weighed out, compared and categorised still dominates, and in turn the relationship between those manufacturing the ‘cures’ and those diagnosing the ‘disease’ still exists. Earlier this month, I shared the story of the GlaxoSmithKline $3billion payout for ‘bribing doctors and encouraging the prescription of unsuitable antidepressants (Paxil) for children’, and having ‘paid for articles on its drugs to appear in medical journals...’ Therefore, it’s relevant that of the ‘authors who were selected and who defined the DSM-IV psychiatric disorders, roughly half had had financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry at one time.’
So no, the measurement of depression is not clear cut Lord Layard and subjective happiness - on a scale of 1 to 10? I’m a sceptic, a cynic - no a pessimist, and I’m told that this is unhealthy, after all, our government aspires to be the next Bhutan! Happiness by government target? Well judging by our ranking in all the global measurements of wellbeing, we’re not doing too well. Still with the right medication, we can passively laugh our way through our double-dip recession.
Greenberg again, gets it right: ‘To think of pessimism as the symptom of an illness and then turn our discontents over to the medical industry is to surrender perhaps the most important portion of our autonomy: the ability to look around and say, This is outrageous. Something must be done.’
PUSSY RIOT
Talking of being incarcerated for expressing dissent or opinion in the face of an oppressive state/church, lets remind ourselves of the non-violent protest of Pussy Riot back in February 2012. The Independent reports that, the three members of a feminist punk band arrested for singing a protest song in Moscow's main Orthodox church must remain in custody.
The trio, part of a collective called Pussy Riot, were told they would be kept in detention for a further six months, until at least 12 January. The case involving Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Ekaterina Samutsevich, 29, has split Russian society. The women have been in prison since they were arrested in February for performing an impromptu rendition of a song "Blessed Virgin, Mother Mary, Drive Putin Out!". They sang the "punk prayer" at the altar of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour two weeks before the presidential election that returned Mr Putin to the Kremlin. They could be jailed for seven years if they are convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred".
Five women took part in the prank, dressed in the trademark coloured balaclavas worn by the Pussy Riot collective. Ms Tolokonnikova, Ms Alekhina and Ms Samutsevich were arrested a fortnight later after a video of the stunt went viral on YouTube. On Thursday, a lawyer for one of the cathedral guards, who claims to have been a "victim" of the women's alleged hooliganism, accused Pussy Riot of being supported by the same "Satanic forces" that carried out the 11 September terrorist attack in New York in 2001. Read more by clicking on the very satanic image of the three incarcerated women who used music to comment on politics, below.
François Matarasso
Echoing many of my blog comments on worries about understanding the value of the arts in terms of reductionist methods, I hope you’ll find this new paper from François of great interest. A Different Heartbeat is an account of a residency by musician Patrick Dineen at the Kidney Dialysis Unit, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, in spring 2011, with drawings by Mik Godley. A Different Heartbeat describes an intimate, small scale arts in health project, and places it into a wider context of questions about chronic illness, well being and the nature of benefits. It is an essay by François Matarasso and is a reflection on particular experience, and so about as far from a randomized controlled trial as it could be. But perhaps in that difference is something of value also.
Clore Duffield Poetry awards
The Clore Poetry and Literature Awards fund poetry and literature initiatives for children and young people, under the age of 19, across the UK. The Foundation has created these Awards with the aim of providing children and young people with opportunities to experience poetry and literature in exciting and compelling ways, in and out of school. The Awards are worth a total of £1m over five years, 2011 to 2015, with individual awards ranging from £1,000 to £10,000.
For more information click on le ciel below...
Think you can run public services better than they are being run now?
The Government has announced a new £11.5m financial support scheme that will help voluntary organisations take over the running of public services in their communities. Communities with good ideas for how they can run local public services and want to use the Community Right to Challenge, can access advice and support to develop their skills to be able to bid for and run excellent local services.The grants programme will open in mid-July and more information on criteria and applications will be available then. Read more at: http://www.thesocialinvestmentbusiness.org/our-funds/communityrights/
Comic Relief UK Grants Programme (UK)
Comic Relief has announced that the final funding round as part of the current UK grants strategy will open for applications on the 13th August 2012. Under the UK grants programme voluntary and community groups can apply for funding for projects in the areas of:
Young people and mental health
Sexually exploited and trafficked young people
Domestic and sexual abuse
Mental health
Young people and alcohol
Refugee and asylum-seeking women
Comic Relief provides both capital and revenue and can pay for up to 100% of projects costs but they encourage applicants to get some of their funding from other sources. On average grants of between £25,000 and £40,000 are available. The closing date for applications will be 12 noon on the 19th October 2012. Read more at: http://www.comicrelief.com/apply-for-a-grant/apply-for-a-uk-grant
£2.6 Million to Help Disabled People Become MP's (UK)
The Government has announced a new £2.6 million fund designed to help disabled people overcome barriers to becoming councillors, police and crime commissioners or MPs. The money will help meet the additional costs a disabled candidate may face in standing for election. The fund will be open for applications until the end of March 2014. It will help disabled candidates meet the additional costs they may face compared to a non-disabled person whether these are related to transport, communication, technology or support. In addition to the fund, a new online training package went live today, tailored to disabled people who are interested in a political career. Grants available will range from £250 - £10,000. Read more by clicking on the anarchist symbol above.
The British Film Institute – Film Fund (UK)
The British Film Institute has announced that its Film Fund is open to applications. Through the fund a total of £18 million a year is available for filmmakers in the UK who are emerging or world class and capable of creating distinctive and entertaining work. The funding is available for the development, production and completion of feature films. The British Film Institute welcome applications for all kinds of film – from commercial mainstream to experimental, from genre movies to personal stories, from documentaries to animation to live-action fiction. Applications can be submitted at any time. Read more at: http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/lottery-funding-filmmaking
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing,
Fremantle 2012
4th Annual International Arts and Health Conference
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing 26 - 29 November 2012 The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle WA
SUBMIT YOUR ABSTRACT ONLINE NOW
The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing, 4th Annual International Arts and Health Conference, will present best practice and innovative arts and health programs, effective health promotion and prevention campaigns, methods of project evaluation and scientific research. Get full details of the conference by clicking on the image above.
"Feeling on the edge, helping you get through it", is a leaflet produced by the Royal College of Psychiatrists which provides information to people who are self-harming and their carers. It describes what happens to people who are provided specialist mental health support, and gives contact details for other agencies such as The Samaritans, Papyrus and The National Self-Harm Network. And many more too. 
