Thursday 31 March 2011

"No Health Without Mental Health" ... or, "no debate without product placement"

I recently received an invite to a conference around mental health , entitled (something like) 'the implementation of the mental heath strategy'. The invite makes particular reference to the "No health without mental health", the UK government's mental health strategy.
It also goes on to say that "Central to these plans is to improve access to psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)..."

Sadly, this is another example of how the wide range of therapies is being artificially distilled down according to its 'evidence base' (or perhaps its percieved cost-benefit to the state?).
On TV and radio, as well as from political sources, the covert advertising of CBT over other therapies is still going on. Try the examples below, and see what effect you notice.....

"Soft drinks like Coca-Cola (Coke)"

"Fast food chains such as Burger King"

"Popular phrases, for example 'evidence-based'..."

In much of the debate around mental health and IAPT, it seems you never hear the phrase "talking therapies" without the adjunct "such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy".

How about calling this by its name? Product Placement.

Fortunately the UKCP is still asking for a wider view, claiming that the current approach denies patients a fair choice.
http://www.ukcp.org.uk/ukcps_reaction_to_no_health_without_mental_health.html .

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Victor Frankl

A nice quote from the author who told us so much about the resilience of the human spirit:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves."

.