A Day in the Life

Anders Behring Breivik, the man who murdered 77 people in a twin bomb and gun attack on 22nd July, 2011 in Norway is currently standing trial for his shocking crimes. What has held the media's attention is not only the scale and barbarity of this attack, but also Breivik's motivations for committing the murders. A holder of extreme right-wing opinions, Brevik has stated that he acted to defend Europe against a Muslim "invasion", which was being enabled by what he called "cultural Marxists" in Norway's Labour Party and the EU. In November of last year, Brevik was, not surprisingly, assessed by psychiatrists to determine whether these were the acts of a sane or "criminally insane" man. The conclusion then was that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, and that he was in a psychotic state both before and after the attacks took place. The two psychiatrists who interviewed him on 13 occasions concluded that he lived in his "own delusio...

At the Pathways Group on 10th April, we were asked to give our views of what was good and what could be improved in our local mental health services. This was done because, with the government's impetus to "decentralise" in the name of David Cameron's nebulous "big society", services are facing some radical changes. Staff wanted to know, then, what we had found helpful and what not, perhaps in a bid to show those in charge just how valued some aspects of our local services are, as they are facing the possibility of some enormous cuts in spending. It seems that the coalition want to devolve power from central government and put it in the hands of citizens. But, is this really just a positive sounding spin to detract from the fact that services are going to be cut? Indeed, as nurse Jane Lord put it in our meeting on Tuesday, "in other words, you're going to have to do it yourselves". Phil (a member of our group and also chair of our local North...

After a series of candid posts from my good pal Gary at his site klahanie , I thought that I would dedicate this particular posting to him. It seems to me that Gary is having a particularly difficult time at the moment, due to a number of trying circumstances. As if this were not enough, those of you who read Gary's blog will know that he also lives with a debilitating illness. I say "lives with" because Gary always says that himself. He does not like to say that he "suffers" from depression, as he is, despite this condition, always trying to find the positives in his situation. By doing this I'm sure he offers inspiration and solace to the many who read his blog. So, Gary, this one's for you, my hairy, hippy friend. And, as dismantling the stigma around mental ill health is a large part of what both our blogs are about, I thought I would give some consideration to what it is like for those who do not live with a mental illness, but perhaps know someone...