The Care Services Minister Phil Hope is chairing a group of experts who will be striving to stimulate more research into dementia. It aims to generate more funding and more public support for research. The group is comprised of scientists, researchers, charity leaders and government officials.
A report by Laing and Buisson analysts states that severely mentally ill prisoners are not getting the NHS care they need despite the savings in reoffending costs this treatment would generate. It is estimated that severely ill offenders make up 1.5% of the 80, 000 prison population. The government has said that measures are in hand to rectify the problem.
Ofsted have published a report on the inconsistent provision of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for young people in care. Young people over the age of 16 from twenty seven homes in eight local authorities were assessed and the barriers to accessing services were highlighted.
Scientists have warned that benzodiazepines such as Valium (diazepam) that are well known treatments for anxiety are as addictive as Class A drugs such as heroin. The Swiss study in Nature journal said benzodiazepines use the same "reward pathways" in the brain. It is hoped that the findings of this research will lead to the next generation of non-addictive treatments for anxiety.
People suffering from depression in the UK is a staggering one in four. A survey has further shown that only a third of sufferers will seek help. Reasons for depression vary according to gender and sufferers appear to be ignorant of the range of treatments available to them.
British researchers have identified Ecstasy as being more lethal than Speed or Crystal Meth for fit and healthy young people who are not drug addicts. A study published in the journal Neuropsychobiology analysed data of stimulant deaths from 1997 - 2007. There were 832 deaths for Speed and Crystal Meth combined and 605 related to Ecstasy.
