This issue of Mental Health and Social Inclusion contains two papers by Dr AndrewVoyce (HC). The first presents an analysis of the classic 1975 film, “One Flew Overthe Cuckoo’s Nest”, which starred Jack Nicholson. For readers who have not seenthe film, it portrays an inpatient psychiatric ward run along authoritarian lines and presidedover by the intimidating and non-caring Nurse Ratched. Andrew compares the film to hisown experiences as an inpatient in the British psychiatric system at around the same timeas the film was made. This was a seminal film and joins others like “Girl Interrupted”, and“Silver Linings Playbook”. In a second paper Andrew asks the question, “Why Keynesianeconomics doesn’t work?” Andrew links his university days and subsequent life as a“revolving door patient” to changes in the British economy and the end of full employment.Both accounts show Andrew’s flair for autoethnography and also showcase his remarkablerecovery journey.
We have two papers on suicide. The first is by Professor David Lester who is probably the most prolifically published suicidologist in history. David highlights how so much research on suicide fails to advance our knowledge. He further adds that most of the research does not help us understand why people die by suicide. He offers five subtypes which may explain suicide. These are escape, confusion, aggression, alienation and depression. The last group accounted for the most suicides in an analysis of over 400 suicides. Syrahul Anuar Ali and colleagues from Malaysia summarised the findings from 15 studies of suicide, involving almost 14,000 suicides. They showed that 12 out of every 100 debtors had suicidal ideation. Some 13 out of 100 attempted suicides and 21 out of 100 individuals burdened by debt, died from suicide. There is no doubt that debt burden is a contributory factor for suicide risk.
There are two papers from the Philippines. The first looks at the concept of “utang na loob”, which is a “debt of gratitude”. The authors looked at how a debt of gratitude may lead to increased parental pressure and higher levels of anxiety in students. A second paper from Muamar Aldaleen and colleagues examined mental health law and policy in the Philippines. They note a shortage of mental health professionals, a lack of community facilities and hospitals and a lack of both access to care and equity of care. Stigma would appear to be as big as problem in the Philippines as it is in many places around the world.
Ben Gray and Matthew Sisto talk about the use of recovery houses as alternatives to care on acute wards. The authors acknowledge that recovery houses are seldom seen in UK mental health services. Yet according to Ben and Matthew recovery houses might “lead people out of the darkness, angst and despair of mental illness, having a say in their care and empowerment”. One of the factors that is important in recovery houses is peer support. Daryl Mahon looks at this issue in a review of peer support in substances abuse settings. Daryl presents evidence to show that peer support improves treatment engagement, reduces substance use and improves recovery.
Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky interviews Professor Grant Rich in another one of her excellent positive autoethnographic accounts. A real bonus of the series is the chance to learn about the background and upbringing of the featured researchers. Grant has been a leading proponent of the attempt to bring more qualitative approaches into positive psychology. He is also a leading advocate of peace psychology.
S. Raksithaa talks about the publish or perish culture in academia and the effects that this has on lecturers’ mental health. As this is an autoethnographic account, he shares the effects it has had on his mental health. A second paper from India by Neha Narula looks at the problems caused by an increasing elderly population. Family and social support can play an important role in reducing loneliness, anxiety and depression. Yet, just as in the West, greater urbanisation is weakening traditional support structures.
Researchers based at Loughborough University, led by Dr Dominic Willmott looked at intimate partner violence and childhood sexual abuse in a review of studies conducted in China. As in the West, there are similar psychological sequelae.
Bonnie Teague and fellow researchers at the University of East Anglia conducted public consultations with rural communities, asking what their priorities were for mental health research. Communities identified three main needs. First, they wanted better service provision. Second, they wanted researchers to better understand the impact of rural living on mental health. Finally, they wanted better engagement with researchers.
In a study of Taiwanese students, Yuan-Rung Li and Wan-Lin Lee collaborated with Cambridge-based Dr Robin Bailey to look at the link between metacognitions and health anxiety. In another correlational study, Lenia Carvalhais and colleagues from Portugal found that social support especially from the family, predicted lower levels of stress and depression in parents of young children.
Komal Dayani and other researchers from Pakistan reported on the work of a not-for-profit organisation and its role in improving mental health. They achieved this through heightening public awareness of mental health problems, providing support to sufferers and their families and by establishing an advocacy service.
A second paper from Ben Gray and colleagues presents an alternative perspective on psychosis. They argue that a diagnosis of psychosis is a way of limiting peoples’ freedom, coercing them and shows the power imbalances between staff and patients. They end by saying that people in mental health services “need care, fixing and giving them hope in their recovery”.
The final paper in this “bumper issue” is from Goran Lukic and Sharon Galliford. They report on service user and carer involvement in the University of Surry clinical psychology course. This course has pioneered service user involvement. The authors report a need for more meaningful engagement with service users and carers and avoiding tokenism.
Dr Julie Prescott and I are grateful to our publishers Jo Sharrock and Caitlin Murphy for allowing us to have an expanded issue with 18 papers and not our usual allocation of 10. We also want to thank our editorial production team of Vidhi Tyagi and Ruchita Chavan for all their dedicated work on MHSI.
Professor Jerome Carson Dr Julie Prescott Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor.
