Mental health

Economic and ideological

A response to the book review by Todd Hamer of 'The Inner Level' by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett To challenge the notion that economic inequalities causing status anxiety are the only drivers of mental health problems within capitalism I would like to use a personal example and then broaden that out to include a more generalised view of psychotic disorders that go beyond the more common mental health conditions of anxiety and depression. From late teens onwards I suffered a mental health condition that left me for many years in a fearfully withdrawn state. Later out of curiosity when I...

Inequality makes us mentally ill

One of the most ubiquitous products of advanced capitalism is mental illness. Despite our relative comfort, our god-like technology and our unprecedented freedom, something about the world we live in makes us miserable and anxious. Depression, anxiety, addiction and psychotic disorders are on the rise at an alarming rate. The most comprehensive survey from the USA found that 46% of 18-75 year olds report a history of mental illness. World Health Organisation research puts the figure at 55%. Suicide is now the most common way to die for men aged 18-30. Depression is the leading cause of...

Alcohol is harmful. Dry January will not help

Alcohol [see Martin Thomas’s article in Solidarity 494 , and Stephen Wood’s letter in 495 ] is the most harmful psychoactive substance we know in terms of overall mental and physical damage, addiction, crime and costs to the economy and communities. It ranks just below heroin and cocaine for the physical and mental damage it does to the individual user. According to the WHO alcohol is a component cause of over 200 diseases. In 2012 3.3 million (5.9%) of deaths were related to alcohol use. Alcohol is responsible for 5.1% of the global burden of disease and injury. Alcohol is a depressant that...

What should Labour do about policing?

Carrie Evans spoke at Socialism makes Sense: Ideas for Freedom 2018 on 23-24 June about Labour, crime, and policing. Labour have positioned themselves as the party of law and order. Most notably they are calling for police funding to go back to pre-2010 levels, and promising 25,000 extra police on the streets. In London, Sadiq Khan has promised police significant powers to ramp up stop and search, and backed something called the “Al Capone”-style task force, arresting and prosecuting suspected gang members for any crime whether gang related or not, in order to get them off the streets. There...

Psychedelic drugs as therapy

On 19 April 1943, Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann ingested a small dose of a chemical he had synthesised and experienced the world’s first LSD trip. His experience ushered in two decades of experimentation and clinical research into psychedelic drugs until it was cut short by prohibition in 1970. 75 years on, the USA seems poised to start licensing psychedelics for the treatment of mental illness. This may not only lead to a huge breakthrough in psychiatry but may also mean that we are approaching a time when human beings are once again free to take whatever mind-altering substances they fancy...

Stop Lewisham CAMHS cuts

Lewisham council is planning to cut funding to children’s mental health services (CAMHS) by £150,000 over the next two years. This follows a £94,000 cut last year, and is on top of NHS “efficiency savings”. These cuts follow a pattern around the country. More than one in five local authorities has either frozen or cut its CAMHS budgets every year since 2010. £85m has gone from those budgets in six years. A recent report by the Care Quality Commission shows that in some areas children and young people are waiting for up to 18 months to start treatment with the specialist service. Lewisham is an...

Take the stress out of studying!

I’m a 15-year-old socialist from the London Borough of Hackney. I’m currently in my final year at secondary school at an academy in Hackney Downs called the Mossbourne Federation. My school is a pressurising experience: students are giving at least two pieces of long homework a day, the examination structure is 100% just exams, students get long detentions just for standing up without permission, students have to wear spotless black socks, school opens at 8.17am, and so it continues. It’s even pressurising for teachers and other members of staff. Some work from 7.40am to 6.30pm, teachers spend...

Letter: More than sympathetic listening

It is right that Daisy Thomas highlights the mental health epidemic sweeping through the advanced capitalist world, especially among young people ( Solidarity 452). It is also good that she highlights possible social causes for this epidemic and suggests a role for smart phones and social media. However, I think it is important to note Marxists are not technological determinists. We do not think Facebook causes anxiety any more than we think heroin causes heroin addiction. It is our psychologically toxic world, not the communications technologies we use, that cause such harm. Perhaps a more...

Self-harm among girls aged 13-16 up by 68%

Youth mental health, particularly among young teenage girls, has been in the media recently as reports and statistics surrounding the rates of self-harm and rate of delay in treatment for mental health issues have emerged. Mental health has been gaining an increasing profile as a topic of importance as schools, health care systems, parents, communities, and politicians are all calling for higher degree of support, care, and responsive treatment. While some of the issue lies with understaffed health systems which are under enormous pressure, other contributing factors can be found closer to...

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