Police suicide callouts are increasing by about 9 per cent every year
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/99735922/a-growing-emergency-why-are-cops-looking-after-mental-health-patients-in-crisis The statistics are clear. Police suicide callouts are increasing by about 9 per cent every year, while 111 calls for the next tier of mental distress rose by 77 per cent between 2009 and 2016. Canterbury experienced the lowest call increase, at 29 per cent, while in the Tasman region the number of mentally…
Meditation does not make you a better person
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/02/05/meditation-does-not-make-better-person-study-finds/ “We did not find that meditation had any negative effects, however the good impacts can be compared to a placebo effect. “A person may have the expectation of becoming a better person through meditating, and may believe that to be the case – but in fact this has not been proven.” Initial analysis carried…
Identifying linguistic markers specific to depression
https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/how-to-know-if-youre-depressed-text-messages-language/ Depression is a far-reaching condition that can be hard to pinpoint: Like, are you feeling depressed, just anxious, or both? And how do you know if you’re just going through a rough patch or if your mood is symptomatic of something bigger? Although mental health is not an exact science, new studies are providing…
Cognitive bias modification
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ritual-and-the-brain/201802/dealing-anxiety-cutting-the-cognitive-core For anxious people, the ingrained habit of selectively attending to only those things that are possibly dangerous leads to a vicious cycle in which an ambiguous world is seen and experienced as threatening(link is external)—even when it’s not. Cognitive bias modification (CBM) training is an innovative intervention that’s been shown to break individuals out of…
UK: Reported sex offences tripled in 10 years
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-42906980 Andy Connolly, from Survivors UK, said victims were beginning to feel they would be believed but there was still a “massive wall of silence”. A 2015 survey estimated about 96% of offences against males go unreported. Mr Connolly, chief executive of male rape and sexual abuse charity Survivors UK, said: “We do know of…
Building a capacity to tolerate discomfort and uncertainty is key to change
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-clarity/201802/the-courage-show 5. Building a capacity to tolerate discomfort and uncertainty is key to change. Uncertainty is difficult to tolerate so we have a natural tendency to create stories that help us feel certain and feel safe. It’s important to realize that these narratives aren’t necessarily correct. Scarcity, fear, and vulnerability motivate us to find certainty,…
NZ 4th most democratic country
By Kamalthebest – Own work, derived from File:BlankMap-World-Microstates.svg, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link Democracy Index by country (2016)[edit] Listing by country is available on The Economist website.[1] Democracy Index 2016 Rank Country Score Electoral process and pluralism Functioning of government Political participation Political culture Civil liberties Category 1 Norway 9.93 10.00 9.64 10.00 10.00 10.00 Full democracy…
Royal commission: 100,000 NZ’rs in state institutions 1950 – 1990
“We must aspire to a higher quality of care for all of our children … we must do all we can to ensure that these sad circumstances can never be repeated. As the lessons emerge, they need to be applied to the changes that are already underway in our statutory care and protection system.” At…