“Attitudes towards mental health issues are finally beginning to move in the right direction. Deep-seated prejudices are starting to shift and it’s a further sign that we are heading towards a tipping point in England and that there is a real appetite for change.Nearly nine out of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by stigma and discrimination, with two thirds saying they have stopped doing things because of this.”
Posted by Lauren
Thank you to Product Designer Steph Fulke for sharing her mindapples space.
“Mindapples are trying to get people to identify their place in which they feel happy and relaxed. By appreciating a place helps you to be mindful. Here is mine. A window seat on either a train, buss or car. I drift… I daydream…Where is yours?”
Posted by Lauren
“Laura Liz Partoon is remarkable. While still at school (she’s just left and is hoping to go to Roehampton University), she set up her own campaign,The Stresses and Strains of School. Her aim, as you can see from her short video above is to promote and improve the mental health and wellbeing of students.”
“I’ve seen friends go through the pressures of school and drop out of courses because of stress,” she says. “I’ve seen other people stay on but suffer from depression because of the stress of all the work. I think there needs to be a system to help young people cope.” That’s why she does what she does…
Posted by Lauren
Curiosity means being open to the unfamiliar, and to whatever emotions may result, then arguably any strategy for achieving happiness – for guaranteeing happy feelings, rather than sad ones – is intrinsically incurious.
Train yourself to be curious and seek the unfamiliar.
Posted by Lauren
Studies from the University of Bristol indicate that simply touching “friendly bacteria” in soil may alter behaviour in a way similar to that of taking antidepressants.
Meanwhile, research by mental-health charity Mind found that 94% of those taking part in “green” activities, including gardening, felt it had benefited their mental health, lifting depression.
Visit http://www.carryongardening.org.uk/ to learn more and get gardening 
By Lauren
“The study began in the spirit of laying lives out on a microscope slide. But it turned out that the lives were too big, too weird, too full of subtleties and contradictions to fit any easy conception of “successful living.” Arlie Bock had gone looking for binary conclusions—yeses and nos, dos and don’ts. But the enduring lessons would be paradoxical, not only on the substance of the men’s lives (the most inspiring triumphs were often studies in hardship) but also with respect to method: if it was to come to life, this cleaver-sharp science project would need the rounding influence of storytelling.”
The article doesn’t just consider the research, but looks in the life of of George Vaillant, the study’s longtime director. Vaillant has been the chief investigator of the lives of these men for 42 years and has also been the chief analyst of their lessons – many of them viewed through the lens of psychiatry, an influence which is very apparent.
“Employing mature adaptations was one. The others were education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise, and healthy weight. Of the 106 Harvard men who had five or six of these factors in their favor at age 50, half ended up at 80 as what Vaillant called “happy-well” and only 7.5 percent as “sad-sick.” Meanwhile, of the men who had three or fewer of the health factors at age 50, none ended up “happy-well” at 80. Even if they had been in adequate physical shape at 50, the men who had three or fewer protective factors were three times as likely to be dead at 80 as those with four or more factors.
The study has yielded some additional subtle surprises. Regular exercise in college predicted late-life mental health better than it did physical health. And depression turned out to be a major drain on physical health: of the men who were diagnosed with depression by age 50, more than 70 percent had died or were chronically ill by 63. More broadly, pessimists seemed to suffer physically in comparison with optimists, perhaps because they’re less likely to connect with others or care for themselves.”
Vaillant’s other main interest is the power of relationships. “It is social aptitude,” he writes, “not intellectual brilliance or parental social class, that leads to successful aging.” Warm connections are necessary—and if not found in a mother or father, they can come from siblings, uncles, friends, mentors. The men’s relationships at age 47, he found, predicted late-life adjustment better than any other variable, except defenses.
In an interview in the March 2008 newsletter to the Grant Study subjects, Vaillant was asked, “What have you learned from the Grant Study men?” Vaillant’s response: “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.”
“The happiness books say, ‘Try happiness. You’ll like it a lot more than misery’—which is perfectly true,” he told them. But why, he asked, do people tell psychologists they’d cross the street to avoid someone who had given them a compliment the previous day?
In fact, Vaillant went on, positive emotions make us more vulnerable than negative ones. One reason is that they’re future-oriented. Fear and sadness have immediate payoffs—protecting us from attack or attracting resources at times of distress. Gratitude and joy, over time, will yield better health and deeper connections—but in the short term actually put us at risk. That’s because, while negative emotions tend to be insulating, positive emotions expose us to the common elements of rejection and heartbreak.”
How very wise, the sort of wise that studying the lives of people for 42 years can bring….
Posted by: Tessy Britton
Singing is not only fun, it offers an antitode to stress, illness and depression.
“When you sing, you breathe in a different way so you use more of your total lung volume. This means there’s a tendency to increase the airflow so your blood is more oxygenated. When that happens, you are more alert. Singing also exercises the cardio-vascular system, and gives you the kind of hormonal release that comes from being focused on a task and enjoying that task at the same time.”
“People who are very stressed or anxious tend to be ‘upper-rib breathers’, who are prone to problems of hyperventilating, and suffer from increased muscle tension in the body.” In such cases, singing can help patients use their diaphragms more, which allows for better function in the body, less tension and stress, and a general sense of wellbeing: “The tension in the body relaxes, creating better muscular tone and strengthening immunity.”
What was the last song you sang?
Posted by Lauren
Mind your head : It all starts here. You can start making a positive difference today, just by changing your own attitude to mental health issues. Mental health stigma has spread across society, in schools, in the media, amongst friends and families. But if we act together, we can make a difference.
Mind Your Head is about the small changes that everyone is capable of making in their own lives. It can be as simple as being there for a friend, showing understanding to people with mental ill health and challenging others to follow your lead.
“People shouldn’t feel ashamed for having a mental illness. We don’t feel ashamed for having a broken leg, so why a mental illness?” - Paul Merton, comedian
Posted by Lauren
The Capital’s LGBT health and wellbeing centre will run the series – called The Mind Matters programme.
It aims to address mental ill-health issues among LGBT people in an environment which helps to address the social exclusion, discrimination and isolation that can contribute to these problems.
The centre’s research has shown that 69 per cent of LGBT people had experienced poor mental health, including depression, anxiety and stress. Twenty-three per cent had attempted suicide, and 20 per cent had self-harmed.
The programme will include workshops on managing depression, anxiety and anger, and a workshop on healthy sleep, as well as an assertiveness course and a life coaching course for transsexual people, and work supporting LGBT people who are carers.
Posted by Lauren
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