Editorial
| Published date | 20 April 2009 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200800016 |
| Pages | 2-3 |
| Date | 20 April 2009 |
| Author | Woody Caan |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
2journal of public mental health
vol 7 • issue 3
© Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd
editorial
EDITORIAL
Woody Caan
Woody.caan@anglia.ac.uk
What New Year thoughts of ‘should
auld acquaintance be forgot’?
We all need a supportive
network of good friends and
neighbours – especially happy
ones (Bond, 2009). Observations that arose from
the social interactions of participants in the
Framingham Heart Study (Fowler & Christakis,
2008) have recently stimulated theories around
the mutual benefits of well-being shared around
all those people who regularly interact, even
individuals who never meet face-to-face but share
the same supportive environment. A key skill
in public health is anticipating potential mental
health problems and planning timely interventions
to prevent long-term harms. At the beginning of
January 2009, the estimate for redundancies in
Britain is 1,600 people every day (Robbins, 2009).
Robbins quotes advice from the organisational
psychologist Cary Cooper:
‘The best way to manage stress is to talk to loved
ones and friends. If you have nobody you’re close
to, there are always counsellors.’
In this issue, Ward (2009) describes pioneering
work on planning and prioritising for mental
health needs, with joint assessment across
health and social care and the voluntary sector.
Cohen (2009) raises the theoretical issue of
the ‘common good’ that unites the formal and
informal, clinical and social resources for well-
being. A key psychoanalytic insight is the need
to integrate ‘good’ and ‘bad’ caricatures both of
ourselves and our world into a more complex
but realistic picture. This process is ‘aided in
a developmental context by a helpful external
environment supporting and providing conditions for
development to proceed’. Ferriter (2009) describes
the use by individuals of a ‘virtual environment for
computerised psychotherapy’, while Wilson’s team
(2009) describe the use of the natural, ‘green’
environment for group ‘ecotherapy’. During last
year’s relative prosperity, while looking at the
workforce for the mental health National Service
Framework, Boardman and Parsonage (2009)
estimated 2,750,000 new cases of depression
and anxiety presented to general practice each
year. We should consider all potential resources
in promoting resilience during this present time
of national adversity. Broome’s book review
of Essential Psychiatry is an example of such a
resource for all those working in the mental
health sector.
It is not surprising that there is a forthcoming
policy debate entitled Whose Business are
Psychological Therapies in a Recession? (King’s
Fund: 10 February 2009). Unemployment
does not just affect the mental well-being of
working age adults. The health of children
growing up in workless households is also at
risk (Coleman & Brooks, 2009). Specialist,
clinical services for young people can appear
particularly daunting: ‘The stigma of child and
adolescent mental health problems can deter young
people from getting help’ (Walker, 2008). At
times of wider social breakdown, antisocial
behaviour in young people is likely to become
more prevalent. Chance2Change (Gould, 2008)
uses a psychotherapeutic model for ‘unemployed,
uneducated’ teenagers ‘in trouble’ but in a non-
clinical, community approach: ‘They don’t want
to know that it’s a “therapy”. Nobody wants to admit
that they need psychological or psychiatric help.’
For all ages, one of the Health Education
Authority’s practical Positive Steps for Mental
Health applies:
‘Asking for Help’
No woman is an island
And even strong men cry:
Accept we need each other,
A friend, as time goes by.
As firemen train to douse fires
Or postmen carry mail,
The doctor trains to guide us
Should mental Sat Nav fail.
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