By Lisa Esposito
Subtle problems with memory and thinking skills — known as mild cognitive impairment — often precede Alzheimer’s disease, and a new study finds that men are at higher risk for these troubles than women.
Lead researcher Rosebud Roberts and her colleagues looked at 1,450 people from Olmsted County, Minn., who were between 70 and 89 years old and free of dementia in October 2004. Some three and a half years later, 296 had become mildly impaired.
New cases of mild cognitive impairment were consistently higher among men, except in the 85 to 89 age group. Overall, the risk was 40 percent higher for men.
Having a high school or less education was also linked to greater risk, and the study found that the combination of being male without college education brought an “unexpectedly high risk” of impairment that did not involve memory loss.
Full story at USA Today
The Guardian
The issue of mental health is still being brushed under the carpet in too many workplaces, with many employees afraid to speak out before their mental health problems escalate and result in long-term absence or even unemployment.
Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development finds one in four of the UK workforce have experienced a mental health problem during employment. However, too few employers are taking positive steps to manage this increasingly business-critical issue.
Just 25% of the 2,000 employees surveyed say their organization encourages staff to talk openly about mental health issues. Only four in ten say they would feel confident saying if they had a problem.
This should be of concern to employers – besides their duty of care to staff – because stress is now the biggest cause of long-term absence from work.
But it is not just absence which hits business. The survey shows that most people with poor mental health continue to work, yet may struggle with concentration, making good decisions and providing effective customer service.
Full story at The Guardian
Reuters
One in five workers suffer from a mental illness such as depression or anxiety and these conditions increasingly affect productivity in the workplace as many struggle to cope, a report by the OECD said on Monday.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development found people with mental illness are often off sick from work, and between 30 and 50 percent of all new disability benefit claims in OECD nations are now due to poor mental health.
Policymakers need to find new ways to tackle the social and economic problem of mental illness, the report said, as trigger factors, such as stress at work, are likely to increase.
“Increasing job insecurity and pressure in today’s workplaces could drive a rise in mental health problems in the years ahead,” it said.
“The share of workers exposed to work-related stress, or job strain, has increased in the past decade all across the OECD. And in the current economic climate, more and more people are worried about their job security.”
Full story at Fox News
BBC News
Self-confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik is more likely to be detained in a mental institute rather than prison, after psychiatrists in Norway declared him psychotic. How is this kind of assessment carried out?
Breivik, who admits killing 77 people and injuring 151 others in July, has been declared a paranoid schizophrenic after months of assessment.
A report by two court-appointed psychiatrists says he was psychotic at the time of the shootings and in subsequent interviews. Their findings must now be reviewed by a panel from the Norwegian Board of Forensic Medicine.
If approved, it could mean he is detained indefinitely in a psychiatric hospital and will not stand trial.
So how are such assessments made? And how accurate can they really be?
Full story at BBC News
By Jerold Leblanc
The coolness of the onslaught of fall weather did not deter a special event designed to shine light on a problem that has been kept in the dark for far too long.
Just over a dozen people took part in the first ever candlelight vigil illuminating mental illness, held Oct. 7 at Jubliee Park in Wetaskiwin.
The sunset ceremony was hosted by officials of the local Touchstone Place Clubhouse, one of six such facilities in Alberta.
Director Colleen Angus said Mental Illness Week is a national initiative, which the group takes part in on an annual basis.
Vigil a bright idea
“This year, (it was) how can we reinvent the wheel each time, and do something different. Maybe we should start something annual, and we can make it grow, and people expect it every year and look forward to it.
Full story at The Wetaskiwin Times
Subtle problems with memory and thinking skills — known as mild cognitive impairment — often precede Alzheimer’s disease, and a new study finds that men are at higher risk for these troubles than women.
