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Secretary-General On World Mental Health Day: We Must Invest In Mental Health

U N I T E D   N A T I O N S

THE SECRETARY-GENERALMESSAGE ON WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY: 10 October 2011
There is no health without mental health.  Mental disorders are major contributors to illness and premature death, and are responsible for 13 percent of the global disease burden.  With the global economic downturn – and associated austerity measures – the risks for mental ill-health are rising around the globe.

Poverty, unemployment, conflict and war all adversely affect mental health.  In addition, the chronic, disabling nature of mental disorders often places a debilitating financial burden on individuals and households.  Furthermore, individuals with mental health problems – and their families – endure stigma, discrimination and victimization, depriving them of their political and civil rights and constraining their ability to participate in the public life of their societies.

Resources allocated for mental health by governments and civil society are Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*

Narcissism: No Longer A Personality Disorder?

Via an article in The New York Times entitled “Narcissism No Longer a Psychiatric Disorder”:

Narcissistic personality disorder, characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance and the need for constant attention, has been eliminated from the upcoming manual of mental disorders, which psychiatrists use to diagnose mental illness.

As Charles Zanor reports in today’s Science Times, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — due out in 2013 and known as D.S.M.-5 — has eliminated five of the 10 personality disorders that are listed in the current edition. The best known of these is narcissistic personality disorder.

So, blogging is normal then? Kinda takes the fun out of it…

*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*

Mental Illness On Sesame Street

ZDoggMD, a hospitalist in California, gives us Diagnosis: Sesame Street a “cluster of mental illness, all on one urban inner-city avenue.” Enjoy.

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

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