Last week the UK Government’s Child Mental Health Taskforce published a report: Future In Mind – Promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. Continue reading
Teens are not so keen on porn, according to recent surveying of 500 18 year olds by think tank IPPR. Continue reading
Think tank Centreforum published a report last week on how mental health and wellbeing should be promoted by the government. Continue reading
Images produced in art psychotherapy sessions used to be kept under wraps, but there’s a growing movement to celebrate and exhibit the artworks that are produced in times of crisis. Continue reading
A little blog by me for the mental elf here on an interesting study that showed that concussion in teens is associated with a threefold increase in their likelihood of being depressed.
A friend stumbled across this poster in the Lake District at Halloween. It reminded me of a sign that used to be up in our local corner shop when I was at school, prohibiting more than two children in the shop at the same time, in case of shoplifting. Because of course ALL children shoplift. And of course ALL “young people” are only going to buy eggs and flour to throw at other, presumably “old” people. God forbid that any of them might actually be BAKING. Continue reading
Bring to mind something about yourself that you feel ashamed of, something you feel is a weakness: a character trait, something you said, something you did… Now imagine how you would feel if this thing were held up and talked about as if it were the worst possible thing: inhuman, scary, impossible to understand. Imagine a supermarket made a fancy dress costume based on how disgusting this thing was – turning it into a caricature. For the millions of people who have been to see a psychologist or psychiatrist because of deep distress of some kind, this is exactly what has happened. Continue reading
Valentine’s day is fairly lose-lose. If you’re single you imagine that everyone in couples is living out a romantic fantasy. If you’re in a couple the pressure of expectation can weigh upon you: not just whatever expectation you think your partner might have of you, but expectation of whatever you think your relationship should be like on this one day of the year. Continue reading
Grey matter changes over time (Gogtay et al, 2004)
This week I was shown fantastic moving images of the child brain developing over time.
This week I re-watched some footage from a classic experiment on attachment carried out by Harry Harlow.
Harlow built two fake ‘monkey mums’, one covered in soft terry towelling material, the other made only of wire. Continue reading
Psychology magpie 