Have Scientists Found the Breakthrough Cure for Depression? | 60 Minutes Australia

Jul 14, 2022 | It's the hardest thing in the world for a man to do. To admit he's scared - that he needs help. All the more reason to admire the courage of the men in this story - among them, footballer Mat Rogers, who lost his father Steve to depression earlier this year. And the Rogers family isn't alone. One in four Australians will suffer from depression - five Australian men take their own lives every day. Five suicides a day. But there is good news. Scientists now say they've isolated the gene that actually causes depression. And there's a bold new prevention programme aimed where it can do the most good - at the most vulnerable, our teenage kids.

Analysis: Greeks Count Mental Health Cost of a Country in Crisis
REUTERS.COM: Behind every suicide in crisis-stricken countries such as Greece there are up to 20 more people desperate enough to have tried to end their own lives.

And behind those attempted suicides, experts say there are thousands of hidden cases of mental illness, like depression, alcohol abuse and anxiety disorder, that never make the news, but have large and potentially long-lasting human costs.

The risk, according to some public health experts, is that if and when Greece's economic woes are over, a legacy of mental illness could remain in a generation of young people damaged by too many years of life without hope.

"Austerity can turn a crisis into an epidemic," said David Stuckler, a sociologist at Britain's Cambridge University who has been studying the health impacts of biting budget cuts in Europe as the euro crisis lurches on.

"Job loss can lead to an accumulation of risks that can tip people into depression and severe mental illness which can be difficult to reverse - especially if people are not getting appropriate care," Stuckler said.

"Untreated mental illness, just like other forms of illness, can escalate and develop into a problem that is much more difficult to treat later on." » | Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent | Reuters | LONDON | Thursday, May 31, 2012

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UK Economy Shrinks 0.5pc
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain's economy shrank unexpectedly in the final three months of last year as heavy snow compounded a slowdown in growth.

Gross domestic product fell 0.5pc in the fourth quarter, the most in more than a year, the Office for National Statistics reported on Tuesday. The decline compared with growth of 0.7pc in the third quarter.

George Osborne insisted that the Government will press ahead with planned cuts to public spending, despite warnings from forecasters that the economy may be too weak to withstand the package.

Blaming the growth figures on the cold weather, Mr Osborne maintained that a weakening in efforts to tackle the deficit would pose a greater bigger threat to the nation's future prosperity.

"There is no question of changing a fiscal plan that has established international credibility on the back of one very cold month. That would plunge Britain back into a financial crisis," the Chancellor said.

"We will not be blown off course by bad weather." Read on and comment >>> | Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Aisha’d 'ave Known!
MAIL ONLINE: A barrister claiming £33million compensation from her sex-scandal legal firm today warned she could 'lose the will to live' unless she wins.

Aisha Bijlani broke down in tears at the employment tribunal into race discrimination and victimisation which she claims she suffered at prestigious legal chambers Four New Square.

She told the hearing she may never recover from her ordeal at the hands of her bosses.

She has already accused the senior clerk, Lizzie Wiseman, of having extra-marital affairs with two former heads of chambers, Justin Fenwick QC, a Deputy High Court judge, and Roger Stewart QC, a part-time judge.

Dr Bijlani said they had driven her to clinical depression and left her £7million out of pocket in lost earnings to date. In total, she is demanding £33million, plus interest.

Today, she told Central London Employment Tribunal: 'Unless I win my case and am vindicated, I have no doubt I will not be able to work again and I may lose the will to live. What [the] chambers and Roger have done to me should not have been allowed to occur.'

She continued: 'Roger Stewart made my life a misery and exacerbated my condition as much as he could. From being a very hard-working professional who took great pride in her work and her home, I feel I have lost my identity and my life has fallen apart.'

Mr Stewart, 46, a married father of three, was not in the tribunal yesterday. But 44-year-old Mrs Wiseman, a mother-of-four who now lives with him, sat listening to the evidence.

Several times, Dr Bijlani wept in the witness box, and at one point the hearing was halted after she ran from the room crying.

Dr Bijlani accuses the firm of hiring racist legal clerks who regarded her as an 'educated wog' and constantly undermined her, the tribunal has heard.

When in February 2006 she complained to Mrs Wiseman and Mr Stewart, then head of chambers, she says he branded her a 'failure at the Bar'.

She told the hearing: 'I had done him no harm and found it difficult to understand why he could be so cruel for no reason. I have always tried to help people and still can't rationalise his cruelty.'

Indian-born Dr Bijlani, who is in her early forties and trained as a doctor before switching to a career at the Bar, said she was subsequently victimised by Mr Stewart and Mrs Wiseman and now suffered from depression.

She said: 'I still have difficulty getting to sleep and often toss and turn for hours or just cry. Tearful barrister claiming £33m for victimisation says she may 'lose the will to live' if her case fails >>> Sam Greenhill | Friday, October 16, 2009

Spain Tips into Depression
THE TELEGRAPH: Spain is sliding into a full-blown economic depression with unemployment approaching levels not seen since the Second Republic of the 1930s and little chance of recovery until well into the next decade, according to a clutch of reports over recent days.

The Madrid research group RR de Acuña & Asociados said the collapse of Spain's building industry will cause the economy to contract for the next three years, with a peak to trough loss of over 11pc of GDP. The grim forecast is starkly at odds with claims by premier Jose Luis Zapatero, who still says Spain's recession will be milder than elsewhere in Europe.

RR de Acuña said the overhang of unsold properties on the market, or still being built, has reached 1,623,000 . This dwarfs annual demand of 218,000, and will take six or seven years to clear. The group said Spain's unemployment will peak at around 25pc, comparable to the worst chapter of the Great Depression.

Spanish workers typically receive 50pc to 60pc of their former pay for eighteen months after losing their job. Then the guillotine falls. Spain's parliament has rushed through a law guaranteeing €420 a month for long-term unemployed, but this will not prevent a social crisis if the slump drags on.

Separately, UBS said unemployment will reach 4.8m and may go as high as 5.4m if the job purge in the service sector gathers pace. There is the growing risk of a "Lost Decade" akin to Japan's malaise after the Nikkei bubble.

Roberto Ruiz, the bank's Spain strategist, said salaries must fall by 10pc in real terms to regain lost competitiveness, replicating the sort of wage squeeze seen in Germany after reunification.

There is no sign yet that either Spanish trade unions or the Zapatero government are ready for such draconian measures. Talks between the unions and Spain's industry federation (CEOE) broke down in acrimony in July.

Mr Ruiz said the construction sector will shrink from 18pc of GDP at the peak of the boom to around 5pc, making it unlikely that there will be any significant recovery before 2012. Even then growth will be "slow, weak, and fragile".

The Spanish government can do little to cushion the downturn. "The room for manouvre in fiscal policy has been exhausted," said Mr Ruiz. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Thursday, September 24, 2009

The Dark Side of Martha's Vineyard
THE TELEGRAPH: Beneath its idyllic exterior, Martha's Vineyard – beloved holiday destination of America's well-heeled – is rife with depression, alcoholism, drug abuse and domestic violence.

President Barack Obama enjoying a bike ride with his family and friends while on vacation on Martha's Vineyard. Photo: The Telegraph
America's First Family will wave goodbye to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow after a week's holiday on an island whose name is rarely uttered without the epithet "idyllic".

As President Obama flies his family back home to Washington, they will rapidly be followed by an armada of private jets from the tiny local airport. After next weekend's Labour Day holiday, the exodus of billionaire businessmen, media tycoons and Hollywood stars who summer on the island will be complete. From Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce to Valerie Jarrett and the Clintons, they'll all be gone. In a matter of days, the island's population withers from 100,000 to just 15,000.

More than a few of the quitters must feel a twinge of jealousy for those lucky few left behind on the 23-mile island. They shouldn't. The reality of out-of-season – and that in holiday-starved America means any month outside July and August – is anything but a paradise for most of those left behind.

Martha's Vineyard's dark little secret is one of desperately high levels of depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence and even suicide attempts among a population that struggles to make ends meet in a billionaire's playground when the billionaires have all left.

The last time the island's social problems were publicly totted up – in 2005 - the number of cases of patients treated each year in hospital for alcohol or drug abuse had soared from almost 200 in 2002 to just over 750 three years later. The caseload of patients struggling with depression had grown from 40 in 2002 to 92 in 2005. Suicide attempts climbed almost tenfold, from three in 2002 to 29 in 2005.

Some local experts believe the situation has not got any better. "It's the shadow side of Martha's Vineyard – all the things you don't expect to exist on a luxury island," said Dr Gail Gordon, its former community services senior psychologist. "And it's the seasonal nature of the island that makes our social problems worse. Everyone works so hard over the summer and then there's this let down when all the others go." >>> Tom Leonard | Friday, August 28, 2009

Germany Contracts 6pc as Eurozone Bank Deposits Fall at Fastest Rate Since Depression
THE TELEGRAPH: Germany has slashed its growth forecast, admitting in an embarrassing volte-face that the economy will contract by 6pc this year in the worst recession of any major country in the Western world.

Economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the slump was almost entirely due to the collapse of exports, insisting that a "global revival" will restore growth next year.

Even this may be too optimistic. The International Monetary Fund expects a further 1pc contraction in 2010. Left Party leader Oskar Lafontaine said Berlin seemed to be hoping and praying that other countries would "pull the German economy out of the mud", sitting on its hands as unemployment reaches 4.6m next year.

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said company bank deposits in the eurozone have begun to contract at rates not seen since the early 1930s, threatening severe damage in coming months unless the European Central Bank shifts gears fast.

"It's a catastrophe. Company bank deposits have been falling at 1pc a month since December. It is what happened in the US during the Great Depression, and it is why we are seeing such a horrific recession in Europe now," he said. >>> By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Simon Heffer: President Barack Obama: Perhaps He Can't Fix It...

THE TELEGRAPH: President Obama has been in power for just over 50 days, but already critics believe his plans to save America from disaster are doomed

Photo by Reuters courtesy of The Telegraph
Even in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, New York knows how to throw a party. For most of yesterday hundreds of thousands of people made a sea of green that paraded up Fifth Avenue to mark St Patrick’s Day. Tens of thousands lined the street to watch them. The all-day party, fuelled by imports of Guinness and whiskey, seemed the more intensely engaged upon as an escape from omnipresent financial gloom.

Away from the party, the mood in America’s cultural and business capital is more firmly anchored in stark reality, and quite different from the euphoria that pervaded it when I was last here, on election day. President Obama still enjoys the popularity that comes with not being George Bush, especially in a city top-heavy with Democrats. But his initial response to the global calamity that he found on entering the Oval Office has not inspired popularity’s more sober elder brother, confidence. Large constituencies, notably business, are voicing their scepticism openly. The President’s much-vaunted $787 billion stimulus package is being widely interpreted, even by some of those (such as Warren Buffett, America’s second-richest man) who openly supported Mr Obama for the presidency, as a serious failure. And we are only just past the first 50 days.

Mr Obama is lucky that his Republican opponents in Congress are disorganised, incoherent and without ideas of their own. The White House branded Rush Limbaugh, the populist talk radio host, leader of the opposition, following an assault Limbaugh had made on the President’s neo-socialist policies. This remark was designed not just to humiliate elected Republicans for their impotence, but also to attempt to terrify the American public at the thought of a man widely seen as a demagogue and an extremist leading a main political movement. It should worry Mr Obama that while the former part of the strategy has hit home, the latter hasn’t. >>> Simon Heffer | Wednesday, March 18, 2009

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Mail Comment: The Sheer Folly of Mass Immigration
MAIL Online: If anything serves as a symbol of how completely and utterly Britain has lost control of her borders, it is the saga of Sangatte.

Between 1999 and 2002, some 60,000 migrants from across the world flocked to the infamous reception centre outside Calais before making a determined assault on Britain's frontiers - via cross-Channel freight trains, underneath the Eurostar, even inside refrigerated container trucks.

The French finally agreed to close it down, but now, in an astonishing U-turn, with more migrants than ever gathering around Calais, Sangatte, it seems, is set to rise again.

Not only has the French immigration minister sanctioned the erection of a network of 'light buildings' to provide food and showers, migrants will also get advice on how to claim asylum once in Britain.

Could there be a more transparent and cynical ploy for France to rid itself of its own immigration problems?

Under the 1951 Geneva Convention, refugees are supposed to claim asylum in the first safe country they land in.

But as the world plunges deeper into recession, Britain becomes more than ever the promised land.

It speaks volumes for our generous welfare payments and lax policing of immigration that migrants are prepared to ignore the 'hospitality' of Spain, Italy and France in their desperation to come here.

The rebirth of Sangatte comes as a survey predicts that by 2050, Britain will have the largest immigrant population of any country outside North America and our population will be greater than Germany['s].

This is no longer an issue about race, or the rights and wrongs of asylum.

With Britain hurtling into depression and mass unemployment, it is nothing less than criminally irresponsible for the Government to allow this level of unchecked mass immigration.

We are heading for a nightmare of our own making. >>> | Thursday, March 12, 2009

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Feeling Sorry for Yourself as the World Depression Begins to Bite? Don’t! Spare a Thought for the World’s Poor Billionaires!
THE TELEGRAPH: The number of billionaires across the globe slumped by almost a third in the last 12 months as many of the world's richest men and women fell victim to the economic recession.

Photo of Bill Gates courtesy of The Telegraph
Those worth over £1billion fell from 1,125 in 2008 to just 793, as a combined $2.4 trillion (£1.74 trillion) was wiped off the value of their collective 2008 $4.4 trillion fortune.

As a result, the average billionaire saw their net worth fall from $3.9bn to $3bn in the year, as the value of investments, property and other assets all plunged.

The annual survey of who's who and who's worth what in the upper echelons of the world's entrepreneurial classes, the just-released Forbes 2009 World Billionaires list reveals the damage that has been wreaked on the fortunes of many.

Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world last year with a fortune of $62bn, lost $25bn as a result of declines in the value of his investments, many of which are in the insurance and financial sectors which have been hardest hit by the global recession.

Taking his crown is Bill Gates, who, in spite of reclaiming the top spot in the annual Forbes survey after a year's absence, still saw his Microsoft fortune fall by almost a third, down $18bn to $40bn. Number of World Billionaires Slumps by a Third >>> By James Quinn in New York | Wednesday, March 11, 2009

leJDD.fr:
Galerie de photos: Les riches deviennent moins riches: Comme chaque année, le magazine Forbes publie son classement annuel des grandes fortunes mondiales. Le crû 2008 a un petit air de crise. >>> | Jeudi 12 Mars 2009

BBC:
Watch BBC video: Billionaires Drop Off Rich List: The financial crisis is taking its toll on the world's richest people, wiping 332 names off the Forbes Magazine's 'rich list' of world billionaires. >>> Caroline Hepker | Wednesday, March 11, 2009

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Ed Balls: Minister Fears Rise of Fascism Amid Economic Gloom
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
The economic crisis could spark a resurgence in the Far Right, a close ally of Gordon Brown has suggested.

Ed Balls, the Children's and Schools Secretary, said the downturn was likely to be the most serious for 100 years, and his comments appeared to raise the prospect of a return to the Far Right politics of the 1930s and the rise of Facism.

His warning, in a speech to activists at the weekend, came after a trade union baron warned that far right parties were trying to hijack the campaign for "British jobs for British workers".

The row over foreign workers has gathered momentum in recent weeks and Mr Balls seemed to suggest the recession could trigger a return to the Far Right politics that prospered in the Great Depression of the 1930s.

He told Labour's Yorkshire conference: "The economy is going to define our politics in this region and in Britain in the next year, the next five years, the next 10 and even the next 15 years.

"I think that this is a financial crisis more extreme and more serious than that of the 1930s and we all remember how the politics of that era were shaped by the economy."

The remarks are significant because Mr Balls was a key adviser to Mr Brown during his decade at the Treasury as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr Balls said that he believed this to be "the most serious global recession for over 100 years".

He said: "We now are seeing the realities of globalisation, though at a speed, pace and ferocity which none of us have seen before. The reality is that this is becoming the most serious global recession for, I'm sure, over 100 years as it will turn out."

Last week Derek Simpson, the general secretary of Unite, gave warning that far right elements were hijacking a campaign against foreign firms bringing in non-British workers.

He said: "We are deeply concerned that other organisations like the BNP are latching onto the movement for their own racist agenda." >>> By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor | Tuesday, February 10, 2009

THE INDEPENDENT: 'This Is the Worst Recession for Over 100 Years'

Ed Balls, the PM's closest ally, warns that downturn is ferocious and says impact will last 15 years

Britain is facing its worst financial crisis for more than a century, surpassing even the Great Depression of the 1930s, one of Gordon Brown's most senior ministers and confidants has admitted.

In an extraordinary admission about the severity of the economic downturn, Ed Balls even predicted that its effects would still be felt 15 years from now. The Schools Secretary's comments carry added weight because he is a former chief economic adviser to the Treasury and regarded as one of the Prime Ministers's closest allies.

Mr Balls said yesterday: "The reality is that this is becoming the most serious global recession for, I'm sure, over 100 years, as it will turn out."

He warned that events worldwide were moving at a "speed, pace and ferocity which none of us have seen before" and banks were losing cash on a "scale that nobody believed possible".

The minister stunned his audience at a Labour conference in Yorkshire by forecasting that times could be tougher than in the depression of the 1930s, when male unemployment in some cities reached 70 per cent. He also appeared to hint that the recession could play into the hands of the far right. >>> By Nigel Morris, Deputy Political Editor, and Sean O'Grady, Economics Editor | Tuesday, February 10, 2009

BNP: And What Does the ‘Far-right’ Have to Say about the Financial Crisis?


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