{"title":"Mental health and psychiatry in Japan.","authors":"Kanna Sugiura, Yuhei Yamada, Naoyuki Kirihara, Tsuyoshi Akiyama","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.24","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mental health services in Japan are fully integrated into the broader healthcare system, and patients have access to a wide range of services and specialists. In addition, psychiatry services are part of comprehensive mental healthcare that provides social support to address the whole person's needs. However, there are still challenges in the mental health system in Japan, including overuse of hospital beds and coercive practices such as involuntary admission, restraint and seclusion. This article will explore the current state of mental health services, the challenges the country still faces and the efforts being made to address these challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"21 4","pages":"100-101"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12022877/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144052639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mental health services in rural India: a big challenge still to be met.","authors":"Rahul Mathur, Nishtha Chawla, Rakesh K Chadda","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.25","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>There has been a decline in the rural population of India from nearly 82% to about 65% over the past six decades. The National Mental Health Survey of India (2015-2016) reported a lower prevalence of mental disorders in rural areas compared with urban ones. Mental health services in the country are skewed towards the urban areas, and more families are pushed below the poverty line while getting treatment for a member with mental illness. India has expanded its District Mental Health Programme over the past two decades, and it now covers nearly all the districts in the country. Despite that, significant numbers of people with mental disorders, ranging from 70-90%, do not receive adequate treatment. This paper discusses the rural-urban divide in the mental health services, examining the problem and need, and the initiatives taken by the government of India in this direction.</p>","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"21 4","pages":"93-96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12022873/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144056928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reflections on the future of psychiatry.","authors":"Hussien Elkholy","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.17","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bji.2024.17","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The new Deputy Editor of <i>BJPsych International</i> introduces articles in the current issue on topics as diverse as metacommunity psychiatry, child and adolescent mental health services in Australia and the Philippines, the mental health of the UK's Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations, Indigenous mental health professionals in Bangladesh, and the relationship between spirituality and behavioural addictions.</p>","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"21 3","pages":"51-52"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12022880/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143989512","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Metacommunity: the current status of psychiatry and mental healthcare and implications for the future","authors":"George Ikkos, Nick Bouras","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.15","url":null,"abstract":"We review the origins and history of community psychiatry and the challenges posed to it by advancing technology and the neoliberal political economy and society that have prevailed since the 1990s. We summarise both achievements and shortcomings and argue that the term ‘community’ fails to acknowledge the gap between its original ambition and the outcomes of its implementation. We argue that, because of the changes that have taken place, the implementation of community psychiatry's objectives as conceived originally is likely to continue to fail. To sharpen current awareness and thinking and optimise future policy discourse and service strategies we revisit the concept of ‘metacommunity’. This is a historical descriptive label that aims to encapsulate the fundamental transformations that have taken place. These in turn demand of psychiatrists and other mental health providers both more socially critical thinking and mental health activism in the public sphere. Ultimately, beyond both community and metacommunity psychiatry, what is required is a democratic psychiatry.","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"30 23","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140966380","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Underrepresentation of Indigenous mental health professionals in Bangladesh","authors":"Md. Omar Faruk, Miguel R. Ramos, Umay Ching","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.13","url":null,"abstract":"Indigenous people worldwide are at increased risk of mental health problems compared with non-Indigenous people. Longstanding impacts of colonisation, systematic exclusion from rights and subsequent discrimination, and lack of access to quality education and healthcare, including mental healthcare, have been identified as contributory factors to these disproportionate mental health problems. With limited access, Indigenous people are less likely to seek healthcare, owing to the insufficient number of healthcare professionals representing Indigenous communities. In the face of growing numbers of mental health problems in Indigenous people in Bangladesh, this paper sheds light on the inadequate number of mental health professionals, particularly from Indigenous communities, and the potential impacts of this on the well-being of Indigenous people, and considers ways to increase representation of Indigenous mental health professionals. The aim is to ensure that the mental health system in Bangladesh is inclusive and embraces the country's diversity.","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"119 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140985592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The epistemic injustice of borderline personality disorder","authors":"Jay Watts","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.16","url":null,"abstract":"Borderline personality disorder (BPD) has been a controversial diagnosis for over 40 years. It was to be removed from the latest version of the ICD, only to be reintroduced as a trait qualifier as a result of last-minute lobbying. Retaining BPD as a de facto diagnosis keeps us stuck at a deadlock that undermines the voices of patients who have persistently told us this label adds ‘insult to injury’. Miranda Fricker's concept of epistemic injustice helps illuminate how this affects subjectivity and speech, hermeneutically sealing patients in ways of thinking that are not evidence-based, resulting in testimonial smothering (altering or withholding one's narratives) and testimonial quieting (dismissing a speaker's capacity to provide worthy testimony) that prevent more affirmative explanations.","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"57 18","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140983543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Kanabar, P. Kathiresan, H. Elkholy, Arash Khojasteh Zonoozi, L. Orsolini, Jiang Long, M. Farokhnia, R. Bhad, Jenna L. Butner, Francina Fonseca, Vicky Phan, Sophia Achab, M. Potenza
{"title":"Spirituality and behavioural addictions: narrative review","authors":"M. Kanabar, P. Kathiresan, H. Elkholy, Arash Khojasteh Zonoozi, L. Orsolini, Jiang Long, M. Farokhnia, R. Bhad, Jenna L. Butner, Francina Fonseca, Vicky Phan, Sophia Achab, M. Potenza","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.9","url":null,"abstract":"The relationship between spirituality and behavioural addictions is complex. Although some studies have suggested spirituality to be a protective factor helping in recovery from addictive behaviours, others have found spirituality to be a potential risk factor. To better understand the relationship between spirituality and various behavioural addictions, this review summarises the literature on the association between spirituality and the following behavioural addictions: gaming disorder, gambling disorder, problematic internet use, problematic smartphone use, compulsive sexual behaviour disorder and compulsive buying/shopping disorder. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"193 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141001821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations and mental health in the UK: a need for real working together and co-production of services","authors":"Radha Kothari, Amy Ward, Derek K Tracy","doi":"10.1192/bji.2024.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bji.2024.14","url":null,"abstract":"Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities have considerably worse mental health outcomes than the general population and many other ethnic minority groups. We argue that there is a dynamic, interplaying ‘accessibility mismatch’, resulting in a failure of healthcare services to adequately understand and work with GRT communities in a meaningful way. The consequences are limited engagement and poor health outcomes. Contact with services is often at crisis points, such as in forensic services, which reinforces existing prejudice. Research is limited, and therefore so is the evidence base. It is critical that the UK's National Health Service takes a culturally informed approach to co-produce services that are accessible and responsive to GRT communities. Here we offer practical actions that healthcare organisations can undertake to help redress imbalances and increase equity of healthcare outcomes for these overlooked populations.","PeriodicalId":36441,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych International","volume":"349 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141006877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}