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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Saudi Arabia: High Suicide Rate Linked to Mental Illnesses
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH: Psychiatrists, sociologists and other experts have expressed alarm over rising suicide rates and called for increased efforts to raise awareness about mental illnesses and how they can be treated.

They called on families, workplaces and schools to accept mentally ill people and never think of them as lunatics.

Suicide cases in the Kingdom reached 787 in 2010, an increase of 39 percent over the previous year, according to the Jeddah General Psychiatrist Hospital.

An official source at the hospital told Arab News Friday that between 100 and 120 patients come to the hospital every day seeking treatment for various psychological disorders. “At least five of these cases need to be admitted,” he added.

The hospital has 120 beds, of which 20 have been set aside for women. “These figures are enough proof that mental illnesses are on the rise throughout the Kingdom,” the source said on condition of anonymity.

He added many mentally ill Saudis shy away from psychiatric hospitals and prefer to go to faith healers and magicians for treatment. “Some of the patients do not know that they are psychologically unwell and hence will keep silent until their conditions have deteriorated,” he said. » | MD Humaidan | ARAB NEWS | Sunday, April 03, 2011

Fat, Unfit NHS Staff Top the Sick League
TIMES ONLINE: More than 45,000 NHS workers call in sick each day — one and a half times the rate of absence seen in the private sector.

The first national audit of staff habits has found that high rates of obesity, smoking, absenteeism and poor mental health are having a direct impact on the quality of patient care.

Dr Steve Boorman, a leading occupational health expert, was asked by the Government to assess links between staff habits and NHS productivity. He will present his interim review today. His findings are drawn from six months of staff surveys, workshops, data reviews and responses from trusts and experts.

— More than 45,000 NHS workers are calling in sick every day, one and a half times the rate of absence in the private sector. Reducing the 10.3 million working days lost per year by a third would save the NHS £555 million annually.

— More than one in five staff smoke, the same proportion as in the adult population. About 40,000 NHS workers smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.

— More than a third of the workforce are in moderate to very poor mental health, with many expressing concern about intimidation from patients and their relatives[.]

— Hospitals with worse staff health are less productive and have higher rates of superbug infection, unnecessary use of agency workers and higher patient mortality rates. More than three-quarters of staff believe that the state of their health affects patient care.

— About 40 per cent undertake exercise less than the Government’s three recommended occasions a week. >>> Sam Lister, Health Editor | Wednesday, August 19, 2009

This Stupid, Stupid Government!
Cannabis: Not banning the drug is contributing to a growing mental health threat for the British population. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: The great puzzle of our time is why some pleasures are official sins, while others are smirkingly condoned by authority.

Understand why and you will know what is wrong with our degenerate ruling class.

In theory, the idea is that we all have a stern national duty to take lots of care of ourselves so that we do not become a burden on the holy, wonderful NHS.

We guard ourselves from self-inflicted illness or injury for the sake of others.

Since my childhood I have been ceaselessly lectured about how to stay safe and healthy, with varying degrees of success.

The simple slogans of the TV campaigns still echo in my memory, and no doubt in millions of others.

'Don't ask a man to drink and drive', 'One for the road? None for the road!', 'Clunk Click every trip'.
Propaganda isn't enough on its own. Law and fear are needed too.

Listen to an Englishman whinge when his driving licence is taken away, and you will see that there is still such a thing as punishment in our society, and it works.

I can remember the measurable change in the national atmosphere when the police began serious breathalysing.

Similar determination made us all wear seat belts. If only they'd do the same about the arrogant, murderous cretins who use mobile phones while driving.

The authorities also quite clearly know that advertising and the behaviour of actors and presenters on TV and in films affect behaviour.

That is why they have banned tobacco commercials and why it now seems astonishing that Joan Bakewell used to smoke while presenting the BBC's Late Night Line-Up in the Sixties. They Rave about the Peril of Sunbeds... Then Let Us Fry Our Brains on Cannabis >>> Peter Hitchens | Saturday, April 25, 2009