By Lucette Davies
Every so often we get a shocking story of atrocious mental health provision within our society. We may feel horrified and shocked and some may watch the news reports with a sense of morbid curiosity. But psychiatric care has been miles behind general medicine since its first beginnings. And the public have never had much understanding of its true nature.
Continue reading “Mental illness – the elephant in the room”
By Lucette Davies
The film, The Soloist, tells the true story of the journalist, Steve Lopez who tries to understand why a gifted musician is living on the streets in Los Angeles.
It is a beautiful story of complex emotions and relationships, the acting is superb and the story uplifting.
The film presents the difficult choices people have to make when confronted with mental illness.
It also highlights the importance of respecting a person’s right to make their own decisions even when they are seriously ill.
Continue reading “The Soloist portrays the beauty of human emotions”
By Lucette Davies
As some American states are now relaxing the legislation that prohibits the uses and sale of cannabis people are starting to predict that this will be a trend that is reflected in other countries.
It seems that there are many people who have very strong views on this subject, but it has been hard to find anyone who can give an analysis of both the pros and cons of this change in legislation.
Continue reading “The arguments for and against the decriminalisation of cannabis”
By Lucette Davies
Many times I have had somebody say to me that they feel prison is something of a cushy option when it comes to punishment. For some a prison sentence does not appear to be an adequate punishment for the crimes that have been committed.
I would like to argue that the loss of freedom is a quite dreadful experience for many. Losing the right to do the simple things in life that most of us take for granted can have an enormous impact on a person.
By Lucette Davies
A full recovery from a period of mental illness requires far more than the necessary clinical interventions. Many aspects of life for a person who has been treated for their mental illness, may serve to hamper any chance they had of recovery.
This post will look at the issues a person may face following treatment and question whether enough is being done to support the psychiatric services.
By Lucette Davies
The fact that mental health services remain as the poor relation to all other NHS services cannot be denied. This post will look at jut how poor a relation they are, and what the consequences of this inequality are.
Continue reading “Mental Health services – the poor relation within the NHS”
Lucette Davies - journalist 