If you’ve been looking for a reason to begin an exercise program or get back into working out regularly, the results of two new studies may give you the inspiration you need. Researchers found that people who participated in moderate physical activity in midlife or later had a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and a six-month high-intensity aerobic exercise program improved the cognitive function of individuals who already had the condition.

Less severe than dementia, MCI is defined as cognitive defects that are evident but do not interfere with daily living, such as slower thinking, reduced ability to learn, and impaired memory. Each year, about 10 to 15 percent of people with MCI progress to dementia, compared with 1 to 2 percent of the general population. As the average life span continues to lengthen, it becomes even more important to find ways to minimize age-related mental decline. Previous research has suggested that exercise may improve cognitive function.

In one of the recent studies, Dr. Yonas E. Geda and colleagues at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota analyzed data on 1,324 individuals without dementia who completed a questionnaire about physical activity between 2006 and 2008 as part of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. The participants had an average age of 80 and were classified as having normal cognition (1,126) or MCI (198).

Those who reported performing moderate exercise such as yoga, aerobics, strength training, swimming or brisk walking during midlife were 39 percent less likely to develop MCI, while moderate exercise later in life was associated with a 32 percent reduction. The findings were consistent among men and women. However, light exercise, such as bowling, golfing with a cart or slow dancing, or vigorous exercise, including jogging, racquetball and skiing, were not associated with reduced risk for MCI. “Our findings contribute to the growing body of literature that indicates the potentially beneficial relationship between physical exercise and cognition,” the authors conclude.

The Mayo team says exercise may protect against MCI through production of nerve-protecting compounds, increased blood flow to the brain, improved development and survival of neurons, and decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases, but that it may be that physical exercise is simply a marker for a healthy lifestyle. “A subject who engages in regular physical exercise may also show the same type of discipline in dietary habits, accident prevention, adherence to preventive intervention, compliance with medical care and similar health-promoting behaviors.” The researchers conclude that future study is needed to confirm the association between exercise and the decreased risk of MCI and provide additional information on cause and effect relationships.
In another study, Dr. Laura D. Baker, of the University of Washington and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, and colleagues conducted a six-month clinical trial involving 33 adults with MCI (17 women, 16 men, and aged 55 to 85). Twenty-three of the participants were randomly assigned to a supervised aerobic exercise group and performed high-intensity workouts for 45-60 minutes per day, four days per week. The remaining 10 participants served as the control group, having the same workout schedule but did supervised stretching exercises and kept their heart rate low. Fitness testing, body fat analysis, blood tests of metabolic markers and cognitive functions were assessed before, during and after the trial.

A total of 29 participants completed the trial. Overall, those in the aerobic exercise group experienced improved cognitive function compared to those in the control group. The effects were more pronounced in women than in men, which the researchers say could be because the metabolic effects of exercise, such as changes to the body’s use and production of insulin, glucose and the stress hormone cortisol, differed in men and women. “Aerobic exercise is a cost-effective practice that is associated with numerous physical benefits. The results of this study suggest that exercise also provides a cognitive benefit for some adults with mild cognitive impairment,” the authors conclude. “Six months of a behavioral intervention involving regular intervals of increased heart rate was sufficient to improve cognitive performance for an at-risk group without the cost and adverse effects associated with most pharmaceutical therapies.”

However, the exercise regimen in the trail proved too intensive for four of the participants who dropped out because of problems like joint or chest pain. Therefore, it might be that not all seniors would be able to participate in this type of program. But we know that regular exercise and physical activity are extremely important and provide long-term health benefits, so it makes sense to stay as active as your health allows. The National Academy of Sciences has recommended that everyone strive for a total of an hour per day of physical activity. This may sound like a lot, but the hour can be made up of several shorter bursts of activity like walking, gardening or even heavy housecleaning done throughout the day.

Wives of soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health conditions than women whose husbands are not deployed, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

The study, published Jan. 14, 2010, in The New England Journal of Medicine, examined medical records of the wives of active duty U.S. Army personnel, comparing those whose husbands were serving abroad with those whose husbands were not deployed.

“This study confirms what many people have long suspected,” said Alyssa Mansfield, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, who conducted the research as a doctoral student at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and is now a research epidemiologist at RTI International. “It provides compelling evidence that Army spouses are feeling the impact of recent deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. The result is more depression, more stress, more sleepless nights.”

Understanding the scope of the problem can help the U.S. military better plan mental health prevention and treatment programs for the families of active duty personnel, she said. The study also may provide insight into families’ long-term medical needs.

The researchers examined medical records of more than 250,000 female spouses of active duty Army personnel for outpatient care received between 2003 and 2006. About 31 percent of the wives’ husbands were not deployed during that period, while about 34 percent were overseas for between one and 11 months and 35 percent were deployed for longer.

Although the three groups were similar in size, the study found almost 3,500 more diagnoses of mental health conditions among wives of soldiers deployed for less than a year, compared to the group of wives of non-deployed soldiers. Also, there were more than 5,300 additional diagnoses among wives of soldiers deployed for a year or longer.

Depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and acute stress reaction and adjustment disorders were the most commonly diagnosed conditions among both groups.

Spouses of deployed military personal naturally fear for their loved ones’ safety, Mansfield said. But they also often face challenges maintaining a household, coping as a single parent and dealing with the marital strain that comes with being apart for an uncertain amount of time.

“The majority of active duty soldiers are married, so we need to pay attention to the needs of their families, both short and long term,” Mansfield said. “These findings should help the military medical system better plan mental health programs not only for treatment, but also for support and prevention.”

Adolescents and parents need help recognizing that suicide is a problem in their own communities, as well as help identifying teens who are suicidal, according to the study, “Attitudes and Beliefs of Adolescents and Parents Regarding Adolescent Suicide,” published in the February issue of Pediatrics (appearing online Jan. 11). In the United States in 2006, 1,771 children and adolescents ages 10 to 19 committed suicide, making suicide the third leading cause of death in this age group.

To design a better suicide prevention program, researchers set out to understand what interventions would be most effective. In focus groups in Chicago and Kansas City, both teenagers and their parents correctly identified many of the known risk factors for suicide, including mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, relational or social loss, and hopelessness. However, study authors said it was concerning that some of the parents reported regular drug and alcohol use as being a normal part of adolescent development, rather than problem behavior.

Parents and teens suggested guns should be removed if an adolescent is known to be suicidal, but parents acknowledged they may not be able to identify a suicidal teen. Parents and teens didn’t think suicide was a problem in their communities. All groups were interested in learning how to identify and intervene with a suicidal adolescent. Study authors conclude pediatricians should regularly screen all adolescents in their offices and encourage families to be open to discussing depression and suicide.

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Now, new research led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that perturbing this gene during prenatal periods, postnatal periods or both may have different effects in mice, leading to separate types of brain alterations and behaviors with resemblance to schizophrenia or mood disorders.

The findings, reported online Jan. 5 in Molecular Psychiatry, could eventually help researchers treat mental illness in people or even prevent it.

To manipulate DISC1 expression during different periods, the researchers, led by Associate Professor Mikhail Pletnikov, M.D., Ph.D., crafted a novel mouse model in which a mutant form of the gene could be turned off by feeding the animals small amounts of the antibiotic doxycycline in their chow.

The animals could get the drug directly by eating it or through their mothers during gestation. Withdrawing doxycycline turned this gene on. (All the animals also carried the normal DISC1 gene, which wasn’t affected by the drug.)

Using this model, Pletnikov’s team generated four groups of mice: those that expressed mutant DISC1 prenatally (Pre), those that expressed mutant DISC1 postnatally (Post), those that expressed it during both periods (Pre+Post), and those that never expressed it (NO).

When the mice were about 2 months old, the researchers put the animals through a battery of behavioral tests designed to measure characteristics similar to schizophrenia and depression in humans, such as abnormal social interactions and heightened aggression under stress, comparing these animals with “control” animals that didn’t express the mutant gene.

Because previous studies have shown that male mice with mutant DISC1 have such altered traits, the researchers tested male mice in each of the groups by placing them in a cage with a normal male mouse and allowing them to mingle for 10 minutes. They counted various social behaviors, including sniffing, following and attacks. Pletnikov and his colleagues found that the Pre+Post and Post groups spent significantly less time in non-aggressive social interaction with their partners than the mice of the NO group. Those in the Pre+Post group also demonstrated significantly more aggressive attacks on their partners than control mice that did not express mutant DISC1.

To look for behaviors reflecting depression, the researchers gave animals of both sexes in all the groups a forced swim test and a tail suspension test. In both tests, the animals participated in unpleasant activities – being made to swim in a pool, or being lifted by their tails – and were timed for how long they struggled. Mice thought to exhibit depression-like behavior spend more time immobile than non-depressed mice.

Pletnikov’s team found that only female mice of the Post group spent significantly more time immobile in the forced swim test than mice that did not express mutant DISC1. Female mice in the Pre+Post group spent significantly more time immobile in the tail suspension test than control mice . Male mice in each of the groups displayed similar behavior in these tests.

Finally, when the researchers examined the brains of the mice, they found significant differences between animals in different groups. Those in the Pre group had significantly smaller brain volume than the other mice. Mice in the Post and Pre+Post groups had significantly larger lateral ventricles and decreased content of dopamine, a pleasure-producing brain chemical, in the frontal cortex. Both female and male mice in the Pre, Post and Pre+Post groups had fewer neurons that produce GABA, a brain chemical that regulates nerve cell firing, than mice in the NO group.

The researchers say both the behavioral and physiological findings suggest that expressing mutant DISC1 at different time points during fetal or early childhood development can lead to different outcomes. While selective prenatal expression led to smaller brain volumes but mild behavioral effects, pre- and postnatal expression led to behaviors and brain alterations in male mice similar to schizophrenic humans, and postnatal expression produced abnormalities in female mice similar to depression.

The researchers aren’t sure why the animals varied according to sex. However, Pletnikov notes, schizophrenia and depression also vary between the sexes in humans, with schizophrenia more prevalent in males and depression more prevalent in females. He and his team plan to study these sex-related differences in future studies.

The team also plans to try to narrow the time periods in which mutant DISC1 is turned on in their model to study particular stages, such as early postnatal development, sexual maturity, adulthood and aging, since triggers at each of these stages might bring on mental illness.

The goal, says Pletnikov, is to use these findings to develop new therapies to treat psychiatric disorders.

“Right now,” he says, “we cannot treat or reverse all the abnormalities associated with schizophrenia or major mood disorders, but our research gives us hope that we can eventually target some of these abnormalities that are currently considered incurable. If we catch these problems early enough, we may someday be able to prevent schizophrenia or depression from developing.”

A team of researchers from University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology have discovered that the common painkiller acetaminophen eases emotional pain as well as physical pain. The findings come from a study of 62 healthy volunteers took 1,000 milligrams daily of either acetaminophen or a placebo. Surprisingly, feelings of being hurt declined over time in the group taking the common painkiller.

According to psychologist C. Nathan DeWall who led the study, “The idea—that a drug designed to alleviate physical pain should reduce the pain of social rejection—seemed simple and straightforward based on what we know about neural overlap between social and physical pain systems. To my surprise, I couldn’t find anyone who had ever tested this idea.”

The scientists believe acetaminophen helps social pain and hurt feelings because the same mechanisms in the brain that produce physical pain also lead to psychological pain.

For the study, researchers used the “Hurt Feelings Scale” – a measurement tool accepted for wide use by psychologists, seen as a valid measure of social pain. Individuals in the study who took placebo did not experience the same diminished feelings of social pain, indicating that acetaminophen, over time, was effective for reducing feelings of social rejection and hurt.

Next, the scientists needed to find the reasons acetaminophen reduced social pain. For the second part of the study, 25 healthy volunteers took 2,000 milligrams daily of either acetaminophen or a placebo, followed by a computer game rigged to create feelings of social rejection, after three weeks.

Using Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the computer game, the researchers found that the group treated with acetaminophen had less activity in the area of the brain that produces physical pain in response to rejection, compared to the placebo group.

According to the study, the “findings suggest that at least temporary mitigation of social pain-related distress may be achieved by means of an over-the-counter painkiller that is normally used for physical aches and pains. Furthermore, many studies have shown that being rejected can trigger aggressive and antisocial behavior, which could lead to further complications in social life…If acetaminophen reduces the distress of rejection, the antisocial behavioral consequences of rejection may be reduced as well.”

Professional first responders are prepared, equipped and trained to handle various emergency situations, from car accidents to terrorist attacks and other major disasters. Today, however, this great responsibility can be particularly burdensome on one’s emotions.

“As first responders, part of our job is to run towards a bad or challenging situation to help out, while everyone else runs away,” says Officer Dan Ennenbach, a Kirkwood police officer. “However, the psychological repercussions of what we may experience in those situations can be overwhelming and, in some cases, even life-changing. In a sense, we also can become victims, simply because we’re affected by what’s happened. ”

According to Miggie Greenberg, MD, assistant professor of neurology and psychiatry at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, different people react to traumatic situations differently. It’s not uncommon to experience a broad range of emotions – it’s actually quite normal and healthy. The challenge with first responders is that they are trained to deal with high-intensity situations without emotionally reacting. Therefore, the aftermath can be that much more devastating. Additionally, those who have experienced some type of trauma in the past are more likely to react adversely to a traumatic event.

Like most first responders, Officer Ennenbach has wrestled with the emotional aftermath of the tragic incidents he has witnessed. He has learned a lot during his nine years on the force, and now uses his experience and knowledge to help other first responders better cope with the emotional challenges of the job. Ennenbach is a crisis intervention team specialist, who has been trained to recognize the symptoms of psychological distress, including lack of sleep, unexplained weight loss, lack of focus and irritability, to name a few.

“Following a traumatic incident, you have to step back and evaluate things, both personally and professionally,” advises Ennenbach. “Of course, in our line of work, it can be that much more difficult. It’s important to recognize the difference between a normal, healthy reaction and an unhealthy one.”

Some normal reactions include being in shock, feeling sad, acting more emotional, having intrusive thoughts about the incident, and behaving in a hyper-vigilant manner. These should fade over time. However, when one’s day-to-day routine is frequently sidetracked by such reactions, then this may be evidence of major distress. Some signs of psychological distress include constant anxiety, inexplicable crying, erratic behavior, isolation, and the increase use of drugs and/or alcohol. This distress can be characterized as one of the following and may require professional treatment:

- Critical Incident Stress Reactions (CISR), which occurs during or within six to 12 weeks following the critical incident, and
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can last for months or years following the incident unless proper treatment is received.

It generally takes some time to recover from the emotional wounds following a traumatic event. In the meantime, there are several points that can help offset the effects. “First, having a reliable support network in place is key – from your friends and family to your workplace and faith-based community,” says Dr. Greenberg. She also recommends regularly practicing the following preventative measures:

- Taking a break from situations where you have no control. In other words, don’t go back to work immediately after such an event;
- Connecting with other people in your life, including your family, friends and colleagues;
- Exercising regularly can help relieve your stress.

If you or your colleague is emotionally distressed following a traumatic event, ask for help. There are numerous resources available to help navigate through these difficult times. Research local support groups in your area. Consult with your general physician. Request a referral for a counselor or psychologist.

“I often remind my colleagues that emotional injuries are just like physical injuries,” says Ennenbach. “We rely on medical professionals to properly treat our physical injuries; therefore, we should also rely on them for our emotional injuries.”

Students who watch as their peers endure the verbal or physical abuses of another student could become as psychologically distressed, if not more so, by the events than the victims themselves, new research suggests.

Bullies and bystanders may also be more likely to take drugs and drink alcohol, according to the findings, which are reported in the December issue of School Psychology Quarterly, published by the American Psychological Association.

“It’s well documented that children and adolescents who are exposed to violence within their families or outside of school are at a greater risk for mental health problems than those children who are not exposed to any violence,” said the study’s lead author, Ian Rivers, PhD. “It should not be a surprise that violence at school will pose the same kind of risk.”

Researchers surveyed 2,002 students ages 12 to 16 at 14 public schools in England. The students were presented with a list of numerous bullying behaviors, such as name-calling, kicking, hitting, spreading rumors and threatening violence. The students indicated whether they had committed, witnessed or been the victim of any of these behaviors during the previous nine-week school term and, if so, how often. The majority, 63 percent, said they witnessed peers being bullied. 34 percent of respondents said they had been victims and 20 percent said they had been perpetrators. Approximately 28 percent said they were completely uninvolved in any bullying episodes. Girls reported seeing bullying more than boys.

The students also answered whether they experienced certain symptoms of psychological distress, such as feelings of depression, anxiety, hostility and inferiority. They also were asked if they had ever tried or used cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs.

Students who witnessed acts of bullying were more likely to report greater psychological distress than those students who were bullies or victims, according to the results. This was the case even for students who had not been victims themselves, although being both a witness and a victim did also significantly predict mental health problems.

“It is possible that those students who had been victimized at different times may be experiencing it all over again psychologically,” said Rivers. “Meanwhile, those who are witnesses may worry that they, too, will be the bully’s target sometime in the future and that causes great distress and anxiety.”

Previous research has shown that students who witness acts of bullying, but are not directly involved, feel guilty for not interceding on the victim’s behalf, which may help explain the higher levels of mental distress.

Rivers, along with his co-author Paul Poteat, PhD, of Boston College, hope this study will encourage schools to be more aware of the possible impact simply witnessing acts of bullying can have upon the mental health of their students. “School psychologists can help students realize that they don’t have to be a bystander. They can be a defender,” added Rivers.

Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. Roughly eight to 12 percent of marijuana users are considered “dependent” and, just like alcohol, the severity of symptoms increases with heavier use. A new study has found that use and misuse of alcohol and marijuana are influenced by a common set of genes.

Results will be published in the March 2010 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.

“Results from a large annual survey of high-school students show that in 2008, 41.8 percent of 12th graders reported having used marijuana,” explained Carolyn E. Sartor, a research instructor at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author for the study. “Although many may have used the drug on only a few occasions, 5.4 percent of 12th graders reported using it daily within the preceding month.”

“The active ingredient in marijuana is THC, which mimics natural cannabinoids that the brain produces,” added Christian Hopfer, associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “The cannabinoid system is critical for learning, memory, appetite, and pain perception. Most users of marijuana will not develop an ‘addiction’ to it, but perhaps one in 12 will. What is not commonly appreciated about marijuana use is that strong evidence has emerged that it increases the risk of developing mental illnesses and possibly exacerbates pre-existing mental illnesses.”

“Like any drug, marijuana can be used in a way that negatively impacts quality of life, interfering with functioning at school or work or leading to problems with family and friends,” said Sartor. “Although at least three of six symptoms listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) are needed to meet full criteria for cannabis (marijuana) dependence … the presence of even one or two of these symptoms could create distress or interfere with day-to-day functioning. There is strong evidence for a genetic component to use and dependence on marijuana as well as alcohol, and the use (and misuse) of these substances frequently occur together.”

Researchers examined 6,257 individuals (2,761 complete twin pairs and 735 singletons) listed in the Australian Twin Registry, 24 to 36 years of age. Alcohol and marijuana use histories were gathered in telephone diagnostic interviews and used to derive levels of alcohol consumption, frequency of marijuana use, and DSM-IV alcohol and cannabis dependence symptoms.

“Our findings indicate that … many of the same genetic factors that contribute to alcohol use also contribute to marijuana use,” said Sartor. “Likewise, alcohol dependence symptoms and cannabis dependence symptoms can be traced to some of the same genetic influences. For both alcohol and marijuana, the majority of genetic factors that contribute to use also contribute to dependence symptoms.”

“In other words,” said Hopfer, “the genetic influences on drug use are not specific to individual drugs, but seem to influence a general tendency to engage in drug use. This is important to note because there is a tendency to study drugs in isolation – alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, etc. These findings add support to the notion of common mechanisms underlying all addictions.”

“The fact that very little of the environmental influences on alcohol and marijuana use, or on alcohol and cannabis dependence symptoms, could be traced to common sources indicates that there may be important distinctions between those environmental factors that influence alcohol-related outcomes and those that influence marijuana-related outcomes,” said Sartor. “Identifying alcohol- and marijuana-specific risk factors is an important next step in this line of research.”

“Marijuana research is relatively sparse compared to alcohol or nicotine research,” added Hopfer. “However, if you look at reports of at least adolescents and young people using, it becomes clear that marijuana use, including daily marijuana use, is quite common and the effects of this are not well understood. The mental illness/marijuana connection has not received much press, although I think the evidence has grown substantially that marijuana is a causal risk factor for the development of mental illness.”

A new US study of social networks found that a person’s loneliness can spread to others, in that when they become lonely they move to the edge of the network and transmit feelings of loneliness to their few remaining friends who also become lonely, leading to an effect that the researchers described as an unravelling at the edges of our social fabric.

The study, which was sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, is the work of John T Cacciopo of the University of Chicago, James H Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, and Nicholas A Christakis of Harvard University and is about to be published in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Cacciopo, a social neuroscientist and lead investigator on the study, is Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor in Psychology at Chicago. He told the press that:

“We detected an extraordinary pattern of contagion that leads people to be moved to the edge of the social network when they become lonely.”

“On the periphery people have fewer friends, yet their loneliness leads them to losing the few ties they have left,” he added.

Loneliness is often associated with mental and physical diseases that can shorten life, said Cacioppo, so it is important for us to recognize it and help people reconnect with their social group before they move to the edges.

He and his co-authors wrote that while previous studies have already shown that a person’s loneliness and the number of people they are connected to in a network are linked, we don’t know much about “the placement of loneliness within, or the spread of loneliness through, social networks”.

Using longitudinal data from a large-scale study, they found that loneliness, like a bad cold, spreads in groups: people share their loneliness with others.

Cacioppo and colleagues used data on 5,124 people in the second generation of participants from the Framingham Heart Study, which has been tracking the health of individuals and their descendants for more than 60 years. The data set included information taken every two to four years on participants’ friends and social contacts.

For the study, Cacioppo and colleagues charted the friendship histories of participants and linked them to their reports of loneliness. This showed a pattern of loneliness that spread as people reported fewer close friends, and that lonely people appeared to transmit loneliness to others, and then moved to the edges of their social networks.

“Loneliness is disproportionately represented at the periphery of social networks and spreads through a contagious process,” wrote the researchers.

For example, one pattern might start when a participant reports one extra day a week of loneliness. This is followed by similar reports among his or her next-door neighbours who are also close friends. The pattern of loneliness then spreads as the neighbours spend less time together.

“These reinforcing effects mean that our social fabric can fray at the edges, like a yarn that comes loose at the end of a crocheted sweater,” explained Cacioppo.

The researchers also found that:

* Women were more likely to report “catching loneliness from others” than men (perhaps reinforcing findings from studies that suggest women rely more on emotional support than men).

* Loneliness occurred in clusters and extended up to three degrees of separation.

* ,A person’s chances of reporting increased loneliness were more likely to be linked to changes in friendship networks than changes in family networks.

The authors concluded that the study helps us better understand the social forces that drive loneliness.

Society may benefit by “aggressively targeting the people in the periphery to help repair their social networks and to create a protective barrier against loneliness that can keep the whole network from unraveling,” they added.

Other studies suggest that as people become lonely they trust other people less and less, and this leads to a cycle of less trusting and more loneliness, which leads to less trusting, and so on, and as time goes by it becomes harder and harder to make friends.

Cacioppo said researchers have seen this social tendency reflected in monkey colonies that drive out members who have been removed and then reintroduced.

He said such a pattern makes it all the more important for us to recognize and offset loneliness before it spreads.

“Alone in the Crowd: The Structure and Spread of Loneliness in a Large Social Network.”

Today hundreds of people with mental health problems will attend Mind’s annual conference in Brighton to help the charity launch a fresh debate around ‘wellbeing’ and discuss how we can improve the mental health of the nation.

As public awareness grows for the idea that everyone can do something to improve their mental health, conference delegates will be challenging the experts on how the wellbeing agenda will shape our lives and change the face of mental health care in the future.

Over the last decade the government’s plan for mental health care has been set out in the National Service Framework, and this winter the 10-year strategy has come to a close leaving the door open for a rethink on mental health care.

Wellbeing will be at the heart of the Government’s New Horizons strategy, due to be published shortly, and will look not just at mental health services but at how wellbeing can be made a priority in other areas of our lives. At this pivotal moment, the Mind conference is calling on delegates to air their views and concerns on how mental health services will be affected, and to help inform Mind’s work.

Expert speakers will include Dr Liz Miller, mental health specialist and author whose new book Mood Mapping on managing mood and mental health is quickly becoming a bestseller. Dr Miller’s expertise on wellbeing helps her to manage bipolar disorder medication-free. Other speakers include wellbeing advocate and headmaster of Wellington College Dr Anthony Seldon, along with some of his students who will talk about how the school instils young people with wellbeing skills and positive psychology, and author Dr Richard Bentall who is renowned for his work on clinical psychology.

Mind’s Chief Executive Paul Farmer will be speaking and chairing at the conference, he said:

Wellbeing is a popular term at the moment that is cropping up in all kinds of places, and we’re looking to dig beneath the buzzword and discuss what it means for people with mental distress, and how wellbeing should be integrated into the future mental health agenda.

Mental health issues cost £77 billion a year and investing in mental wellbeing has the potential to not only transform the experiences of millions of people with mental health problems, but to bring wide-ranging benefits to the economy and society as a whole.

We hope to see a shift in focus towards the promotion of wellbeing as a way of preventing mental distress and these conferences will be a great way to inform Mind’s future work in this area.