Search

The feelings and hopes of young people around the world are often neglected in policymaking and research, with consequences for both their wellbeing and the effectiveness of humanity's response to the climate crisis. Many of them are distressed by climate change's impacts, the inaction of political and corporate leaders, the ways other people respond to their feelings, and the lack of support they have to share their feelings or get involved in meaningful climate-related work. This paper is written by a group of twenty-three concerned young people from fifteen countries. It provides a first-hand account of our deepest feelings, how these feelings affect our daily lives, the support we want to help us cope, and our hopes for a radically more compassionate future. The results are particularly relevant to policymakers, mental health professionals, journalists, educators, and people working with young people more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mental health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual (LGBTQI) individuals is significantly influenced by many factors such as difficulties in coming-out, poor acceptance, isolation and discrimination as well as minority-related stress. LGBTQI individuals, in fact, show a significant higher risk of mental health conditions, substance- use disorders and suicide. In addition, mental health services access may be difficult for personal and social barriers as well as a lack of adequate and specific mental health support. This review aims to assess and describe international policies, guidelines, position statements and recommendations regarding the promotion and protection of mental health rights for LGBTQI people. The search has been focussed on peer-reviewed papers, Governmental and Mental Health Association- Guidelines and Position Statements, Health Agencies - Guidelines and Position Statements (with a specific focus on mental health), LGBTQI Alliances and Foundations Publishing (with a specific focus on mental health). In addition, relevant international initiatives, and projects in the field of LGBTQI mental health will be described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identity is a complex concept that can be informed by various factors, involving biological, psychological, experiential, and social influences. Specifically, one's social identity refers to the ways in which individuals can adopt attributes from established collective categories, like cultural identities, ethnic identities, gender identities, and class identities, amongst others. Social identity can encompass unique and diverse interactions at an individual level, known as micro-identities, that may be selectively expressed, hidden, or downplayed, contingent on distinct sociocultural settings. However, the formation of social identity is recurrently defined in opposition to perceptions of the Other, which can entail adverse paradigms of marginalisation, stigma, and discrimination. Although this theory of Otherness has been developed across different fields, particularly sociology, it may be important in psychiatric contexts as it can engender inherent risk factors and mental health inequalities. Consequently, this paper seeks to bring attention towards these issues, exploring the construction of Otherness and its detrimental outcomes for psychiatry, such as systemic discrimination and disparities in therapeutic support, alongside recommended initiatives to mitigate against the effects of Otherness. This may require multifactorial approaches that include cultural competency training, interventions informed by micro-identities and intersectionality, patient advocacy, and structural changes to mental health policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an overview of the importance of mental health services for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the United Kingdom. It reviews what mental health support appears to be available in the United Kingdom following an on-line search which took place in Spring 2021 and using information gathered through 22 interviews and focus groups with stakeholders. The latter group are defined as people working with asylum-seeking children. The primary stakeholders were local authority staff, although interviews were also conducted with local government associations (London Councils, the Local Government Association), NHS bodies and the voluntary sector. Often, further relevant stakeholders were identified during interviews. The report details the aims, methodology and context, before the findings are presented which is followed by recommendations for improving mental and social care provision for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on the Substance use and use disorder in pregnancy and postpartum . The article discusses that the intersection of reproductive and behavioural health is littered with misperceptions, judgements, and particularly cruel ignorance; and this special issue is a response to the false and destructive narratives that are common in considerations of substance use in pregnancy.

Mental ill health is a universal phenomenon: that is, it is seen across all cultures and societies, even though the presentation may be culture-specific and affected by cultural norms and more. Governments have a moral and ethical duty to develop mental health services which are accessible, appropriate, and non-discriminatory. Equity in funding mental health services is critical. As globally services and their quality vary dramatically, one should be proposing and agreeing on minimum standards of care. In this paper the basic components and minimum standards of care are described. It is imperative that services are non-discriminatory. It is important that governments work with psychiatrists, other mental health professionals, and individuals with mental illness, their families, and carers to plan, develop, and deliver services with adequate funding. Employers and psychological first aid must also be remembered. Services must be geographically accessible. In this endeavour primary care services have a major role to play. Training and clinical decision-making must be part of the change in service delivery. It is imperative that every effort is made to keep the population mentally as well as physically healthy, and people who develop mental illness must have access to evidence-based treatment at the earliest possible opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coercion is common in mental health care settings in Germany. At the same time, considerable efforts are undertaken to reduce and ultimately abolish coercive interventions. Need adapted treatment, open door policies, and moving away from the biomedical model of mental illness can contribute to non-coercive care. WHO's QualityRights Training can be used to advance knowledge about and adherence to human rights standards in institutions, and to transform institutions to a non-coercive approach. Advance care decisions can make sure that will and preferences prevail in situations when capacity is questioned. However, a radical overhaul of legislation would be required to abolish coercive mental health care in Germany. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Compassion, Assertive action, Pragmatism and Evidence (CAPE) Vulnerability Index is a global foreign policy index which has been used to identify countries which require foreign aid and how that can be prioritized. The Index offers an evidenced, structured, and reasoned approach to using aid in bi-lateral agreements with mental health as a foundation. This study used 26 internationally available and validated indicators to explore and perform the analysis leading to the development of the Index. As with many summary statistics used to describe matters across the globe there has to be a fundamental reliance on national reporting or gathering of the underlying information used in their derivation, although their reliability may be in question and, in addition, such an exercise can be refined and repeated every year. It is concluded that the countries which score worse on the Index are likely to be failed states or fragile states: countries where the governments do not have complete control or authority. Such governments can often be repressive and corrupt, may participate in serious human rights abuses, and are characterized by conflict of various forms. These governments are also likely to suffer disadvantage as a result of extremes of climate changes, extreme poverty, inequality, social and ethnic divisions, the inability to provide basic services, and suffer from pockets of insurgency in the form of terrorism, which are often violent and brutal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legalization of medical and recreational cannabis use has occurred ahead of science. The current evidence base has poor utility for determining if cannabis products can meet the standards of safety, efficacy, and quality intrinsic to modern medicine, and for informing regulation of cannabis as a legal intoxicant. Individual jurisdictions that pass cannabis reforms may not have adequate resources to support the level of new scientific research needed to inform regulatory actions; this could make it difficult to keep a rapidly growing multi-billion-dollar cannabis industry in check. Further, the present lack of evidence-based regulatory oversight for cannabis parallels the climates that gave rise to the tobacco and prescription opioid epidemics, suggesting that continued omission may result in negative public health consequences. However, translating a methodological framework developed through research on these compounds may promote rapid advances in cannabis science germane to regulatory knowledge gaps. The present review highlights specific advancements in these areas, as well as in alcohol regulation, that are prime for informing policy-relevant cannabis science, and also offers some recommendations for evidence-based regulatory policy. Resulting progress may directly inform both regulation of cannabis in both medical and licit recreational drug frameworks, and new cannabis-related public health initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legislative reforms have legalized use of cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Efforts to evaluate the public health impact of these changes have predominantly focused on determining whether liberalizing cannabis policies has increased cannabis use patterns. Co-use of cannabis and other licit substances, namely tobacco and alcohol, is common during the developmental period of adolescence, which is generally characterized by an increase in risk-taking and novelty-seeking. However, limited research has sought to evaluate the potential implications of reforms to medical and recreational cannabis laws on concurrent and simultaneous use of cannabis, tobacco, and alcohol during adolescence. The current report reviews the extant literature detailing the prevalence and outcomes associated with concurrent and simultaneous cannabis--tobacco and cannabis--alcohol use, including recent work that has examined how concurrent and simultaneous use may be influenced by cannabis reform. This review details how the cannabis landscape and cannabis retail marketplace have evolved and briefly summarizes the corresponding policy and regulatory challenges that have emerged. The report concludes with a focused cannabis co-use research agenda that adopts different strategies including behavioural economic, self-administration, and survey research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]