Kat Dyke -Relationship dynamics and depression
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
 [gallery ids="2078,2079,2032" type="rectangular"] The 16-22th May 2016 has not been like any other week. It has been Mental Health Awareness Week; a much needed occasion designed to raise awareness and tackle the stigma still attached to mental health. This is something I’ve always been passionate about, but in all honesty I am not always as
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Christina Ralph-Nearman -A consideration of the 'Thin ideal'
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Eliminating eating disorders and investigating the roots of these issues is a passion of mine. While I have never struggled with an eating disorder myself, I have personally experienced dear friends both die from and overcome these disorders.  It is a serious issue that impacts many.  As a scientist investigating eating disorders, I hesitate to sha
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Josephine NwaAmaka Bardi -Giving higher education students a voice about their mental health
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Recent research I carried out has brought home to me how difficult it is for students to be honest about their mental health. I am a mental health nurse currently doing a PhD in mental health and wellbeing. A couple of months ago, I decided to conduct participatory action research on mental health, to give students a voice and opportunity to partic
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Robert Nisbet - The Supreme Court’s Decisions on the Cheshire West and Surrey Cases. Should Local Authorities have been Better Prepared?
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The recent decision by the Supreme Court in Cheshire West and Chester Council v P (2014) UKSC 19  reconsidered the definition of ‘deprivation of liberty’, construing it much more widely than previously understood, and bringing many more people within the scope of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS).  The implications of this decision is cu
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Rupal Patel - Mental Health and the Gujarati Communities: Exploring the Reasons Behind Low Rates of Mental Illness Prevalence
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
 Today we relaunch the IMH Blog, and are thrilled to do so with a fantastic piece from Rupal Patel, a PhD student in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham.  Rupal's doctoral research has explored the reasons behind low rates of mental illness within the Gujarati community in Britain, and below she discusses
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Jo Higman - Selling mindfulness: applying multimodal critical discourse analysis to a meditation website
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
A post today by Jo Higman, who is a Research Nurse.  You can contact Jo if you'd like to discuss her research at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..I’ve recently completed an MA in Health Communication at the University of Nottingham. When casting around for a topic for my dissertation, I was struck by the pervasiveness of mindfulness, in both popular cultur
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Kat Dyke - Brain stimulation beyond the lab
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
What if there was a way to improve your memory, enhance your focus and change your mood using a technique which claimed to be safe, simple and effective. Would you be tempted, and if so what should you know?Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive stimulation technique known to be able to temporarily alter states within the
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David Kelly - Origins of the misrepresentation of the term ‘schizophrenia’ in the general media
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Like my colleague, Jo Higman, I recently completed an M.A. in Health Communication at the University of Nottingham. Many thanks to the support from Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, the Clinical Research Network: East Midlands, and Learning Beyond Registration (LBR) funding.The topic I chose for my dissertation was to closely examine
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Tony Devaney -Mental Health and Neoliberal Policy. Critical responses to government reforms
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
On 11th March 2015, The Green Party's Caroline Lucas presented a private members' bill to reverse key elements of the government's health reforms. The bill called for the purchaser-provider split within the NHS to be abolished and the role of private companies restricted. Caroline Lucas said: "Our NHS is being dismantled piece by piece. A fragmente
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Anne Goodwin - Three novelistic approaches to mental health issues that won’t set your teeth on edge
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The character in crisis is the bread-and-butter of fiction, so we shouldn’t be surprised to find mental health issues depicted on the page. But for those with insider knowledge – as service users, clinicians, academics and/or friends and family – the suspension of disbelief required to enter the world of the novel can be severely challenged when th
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Debbie Butler - Working with the CQC
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
A friend of mine recently made me smile, as we were discussing recent pieces of work I have done for the Care Quality Commission (CQC).  Her comment was ‘Blimey you’ve gone over to the dark side’.  This is the reputation the CQC has; however, although I have only been on three inspections I have learnt so much. My role has been to chat to service u
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Elizabeth Cotton - Precarious Work and Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Elizabeth Cotton has recently written on the Centre for Health and the Public Interest blog about precarious work and mental health.  The first paragraph is here, the full post can be found on the CHPI's website here."One of the hidden factors driving the UK’s mental health services to its current tipping point is the working conditions of the peop
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The IMH Blog Relaunch - Contributors Wanted!
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
You may have noticed that this blog has been quiet of late; as it frequently does, 'real life' got in the way.  However, we are back as of next month, and we need YOU!  If you would like to contribute an article to the blog, we would love to receive it.  Our remit is very open - we look for content from academics, service users, carers and clinicia
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Debbie Butler - Telling Stories, and Listening
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Deep in thought whilst on the way to see a show at Nottingham University Lakeside Theatre I couldn’t decide if I was looking forward to the show ahead or not. I had bought tickets to see The Mugenkyo drummers for my partner’s birthday in October. Andy (my partner) has played drums in a band for over 20 years and is one of those people who is consta
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Kat Dyke- Book review: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
As a PhD student in Psychology I have come across and read (or at least attempted to read) an array of books probing the human psyche and the complexity of the human brain. These prescribed texts have undoubtedly increased my knowledge and helped me throughout my studies, however I often feel that they are missing a critical human element. What I m
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Call for Content
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Dear reader,Do you have something to say about mental health, integrated health care or wellbeing? Are there any issues that you feel passionately about and would like to communicate to a wider audience? Well good news….we are looking for content and would love your input! We would welcome anything broadly related to mental health and health care,
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Ben Braud - Work experience at the Institute of Mental Health: Studying and researching Tourette Syndrome
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
17 year-old Benjamin Braud has Tourette Syndrome (known as ‘tics’ or ‘TS’). He chose to spend a week long work experience placement at the University of Nottingham, specifically with researchers from the division of Psychology, based at the Institute of Mental Health. After he’d finished his experience we asked him how he got on… How did you come t
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Victoria Tischler - Some Final Thoughts
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
This will be my last blog post as arts coordinator for the Institute. It is a time for reflection and anticipation as I prepare to leave the IMH, say my farewells, and prepare for my new position at University of the Arts-London College of Fashion. I thought I'd take the opportunity to share a few highlights. 1- 'My big baby'[caption id="attachment
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Clare Knighton - A transformative experience of peer support
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Picture the scene. Here I am on an acute psychiatric inpatient ward, sat telling the psychiatrist that I have no hope. Nothing to live for. Imagine then, being given a gentle nudge, and I look at him through my tears and he says “Clare, I think you would make a very good peer support worker.” The words flew over me, not quite knowing where to land,
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Alex Bradley - Journey with a PhD student to the land of Social Networks and Social Support
The Institute of Mental Health
The Institute of Mental Health
Over the past few weeks I have been puzzling, as PhD students do, for a ground breaking, cutting edge, innovative and (lest we forget) high impact study idea.  So far my puzzle contains two parts:Puzzle Piece 1: Social Networks[caption id="attachment_1403" align="alignright" width="240"] Sillouettes of tomorrow (see end of blog for attribution)For
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