Author Archives: nbsl

Hearing voices

Posted on 17 January, 2014 by nbsl

The experience of hearing voices is potentially one of the most distressing that patients presenting to psychiatrists have. Of course hearing a voice does not equate to illness as most, if not all, people will hear a voice at least … Continue reading →

Posted in psychopathology, schizophrenia, video | Leave a comment

Stigma rears its ugly head

Posted on 23 October, 2013 by nbsl

So yet again people with mental illness find themselves subject to stigma. On Monday 7 October 2013 The Sun newspaper alleged in a full page headline that over a ten year period 1,200 people had been killed by “mental patients”. … Continue reading →

Posted in polemic, schizophrenia, stigma, violence | Leave a comment

British Science Festival

Posted on 11 September, 2013 by nbsl

The British Science Festival is in Newcastle this week (finishing tomorrow). I’ve just run a workshop called ‘Hearing Voices‘, which seemed to go down reasonably well. As I promised the participants they could access the slides I have no uploaded … Continue reading →

Posted in psychopathology, video | Leave a comment

You are now ill…

Posted on 31 May, 2013 by nbsl

You may well have seen much in the press about DSM-5, which was released last week. A previous post highlighted concerns voiced by Allen Frances about the path that DSM-5 was taking. Frances was the chair of the task force that … Continue reading →

Posted in classification, disorders | Leave a comment

Home movies of Sigmund Freud

Posted on 22 May, 2013 by nbsl

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQOcf9Y-Uc8 The founding father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud is shown here in an edited collection of clips from the Freud family’s home movies. The narration is by his daughter Anna Freud, a psychonanalyst herself who along with Melanie Klein was … Continue reading →

Posted in culture, psychotherapy, video | Leave a comment

Drug street names UK vs Malaysia

Posted on 22 May, 2013 by nbsl

As part of their SSC on of our NUMed Stage 4 students compared the drug street names and patterns of use in the UK and Malaysia. They have kindly made their presentation available to share. You can download the file … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Do No Harm: Why do some people want to cut off a perfectly healthy limb?

Posted on 17 April, 2013 by nbsl

Body dysmorphohobic disorder ( ICD 10 F45.2 ) can occur as a disorder on its own or as a symptom of other disorders e.g. depression. It’s defined as: A type of mental illness, a somatoform disorder, wherein the affected person … Continue reading →

Posted in disorders, somatoform disorders | Leave a comment

What is it like to be a psychiatrist?

Posted on 17 April, 2013 by nbsl

The Royal College of Psychiatrists has just produced a vide aiming to answer questions medical students (and presumably others) might have about becoming a psychiatrist. It’s on YouTube (and now below): httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB2opEiyk-g Another (animated) film dealing with the same topic … Continue reading →

Posted in career | Leave a comment

Watching The Lights Go Out: a blog about Alzheimer’s

Posted on 5 April, 2013 by nbsl

A Twitter feed I follow (@brainpicker) drew my attention to a blog written by a doctor with Alzheimer’s. I could try and explain what it’s about but the easiest and most eloquent way to do so is actually to quote the blog … Continue reading →

Posted in dementia | Leave a comment

The power of work

Posted on 20 March, 2013 by nbsl

One of the ways in which mental illness has such a negative impact on people’s lives is by driving them to withdraw from social contact,out of employment and in a downward spiral of self recrimination and loneliness. A potent way … Continue reading →

Posted in stigma | Leave a comment