Men as Superheroes, And Other Myths

30 Monday Sep 2013

We live in a world where men are, sometimes explicitly, expected to be tough and strong all of the time, and sadly women now too, are expected to be nothing short of superhuman, but the reality for both sexes has always rested somewhere in between immortal and not, and now research has confirmed what most of us knew already: humans are, well, human after all.

According to a recent article in Journal of Men’s Health, a new publication which focuses on improving the health of men around the world, divorced men have higher rates of mortality, substance abuse, depression, and lack of social support, all related to psychological and behavioural disorders which can be brought on in men as a result of divorce.

Previous research also highlights the fact that men find it harder to adjust after divorce, although typically they are often better off financially, but it will be interesting to see if that turns on its head in the next twenty years or so, as more and more women take on the role of joint or main breadwinner.

It’s a tough old world out there, but we can have our superheroes and heroines: after all, we need them so; we just need to let their skin breathe under the latex from time to time.

The Buzz

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in The Buzz

≈ 12 Comments

As government goes into Busy Bee overdrive, more statistics are revealed, which show the sharp rise in adoptions for 2012, and the very positive spin that’s being put on the thing. We’ll make not comment on that for now, but the stats are interesting and very much worth a read. The Fostering Network too has lots of great comment on how the government is doing in relation to children in foster care and care leavers, too:

Latest Stats on Children in Care, Adoptions and More, from the Department of Education (why can’t we have a Department for Child Welfare – we’d like that. Maybe one day, if we become civil servants…)
51,000 children living with foster families in England – and rising…
Government fails care leavers re Housing – just 330 young people in England were still living with their foster carers by the age of 19.

Children’s Mental Health in the 21st Century – a Barometer We Can’t Ignore

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Children, Research

≈ 7 Comments

We are supposed to be a First World Country, whatever that means, with all its offensive undertones, and yet our children continue to suffer the consequences. The UK is still woefully poor when it comes to meeting child welfare standards across the board (think UN targets and embarrassing results in the tackling of child poverty) and it seems that our children’s mental health is now taking a whack.

The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) estimates that 80,000 children in the UK are now suffering with depression, and that children as young as five are suffering with the condition.

Hop on over to Young Minds, and their stats on Mental Health and kids is just as depressing:

1 in 10 children and young people aged 5 – 16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder – that is around three children in every class (1).
Between 1 in every 12 and 1 in 15 children and young people deliberately self-harm (2)
There has been a big increase in the number of young people being admitted to hospital because of self harm. Over the last ten years this figure has increased by 68% (3).
More than half of all adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in childhood. Less than half were treated appropriately at the time (4).
Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression (5).
Over 8,000 children aged under 10 years old suffer from severe depression (6).
72% of children in care have behavioural or emotional problems – these are some of the most vulnerable people in our society (7).
95% of imprisoned young offenders have a mental health disorder. Many of them are struggling with more than one disorder (8).
The number of young people aged 15-16 with depression nearly doubled between the 1980s and the 2000s (9).
The proportion of young people aged 15-16 with a conduct disorder more than doubled between 1974 and 1999 (10).

(Their website offers a more detailed breakdown of the stats, unfortunate pun not intended).

But the 80,000 figure stat is nothing new – check Young Minds’ source for their figure of the same and you can see it comes from a 2005 report entitled Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain 2004. So what gives?

If we are going to assume that depression in children on this scale has been known to our government since 2005, that’s eight years, it really begs the question, why on Earth is this not being addressed immediately?

Question It!

30 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by Natasha in Question It

≈ 10 Comments

This morning’s question comes from a highly unusual set of events, which stem around the notion of what is deemed appropriate territory when it comes to probing families in matters of divorce.

A dispute over contact in New York recently led one lawyer in court to make an inference about the mother involved, in a rather controversial way. The lawyer, who was acting for the father, was asked to investigate the mother’s medical records to confirm an abortion she had, had in fact taken place. The father then instructed the lawyer to bring the abortion to the attention of the court. The lawyer for the mother objected, but she was overruled by the judge overseeing the hearing.

Women’s groups were outraged by the court’s questioning in this case, with some taking the view it took women’s rights a step back and that it inferred women who had abortions were not good mothers and were viewed as unfit to parent. But some research suggests that abortion can cause depression and affect women after the procedure.

So, what do you think – Should the court be allowed to make inferences from an abortion or should some things remain out of bounds?

Over to you….