The brain is even more than a veritable soup of chemicals mixed with a spaghetti junction of endless combinations of nerve connections. How do our nerves remain healthy? They need Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) to grow and maintain their function. However, in stressful situations there is a reduction in BDNF in key brain areas, especially the hippocampus….

In the UK, we are lucky that our government gives £717,000,000 a year for the funding of child and adolescent mental health services. However this is £50,000,000 less than in 2010 under the previous government. Even after seven years as a NHS Consultant, I cannot get severely depressed teenagers into therapeutic work promptly because we…

In the UK, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) produced Guideline CR192 to focus on the clinical management of antenatal and postnatal mental health. The focus of this document is the wide range of mental illnesses such as depression, psychosis, anxiety, eating disorders, drug and alcohol use disorders. 2.9 in 100 girls in the…

Happy New Year for 2015! 3% of all young people from the teenage years to young adulthood experience severe depression but only a quarter of individuals receive any kind of treatment. In my NHS practice in the UK I have been able to assess young people promptly when they have been referred in by their…