Bulimia has its origins in the same mind-set as anorexia and is not that uncommon particularly in young women. As with anorexia it is based on a fear of fatness but the affected person tends to be of normal weight. This is because the person alternates over-eating (sometimes called binge-eating) with a method of shedding… Read more »
Posts Categorised: All
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
We go about our everyday lives in two domains: the emotional and the logical. So, for example, we fall in love (emotional) and then decide to live with or marry the perosn (logical). When a relative dies we feel many emotions but manage to cope with this by allowing ourselves gradually to accept it. Logically… Read more »
I keep checking I’ve turned the gas off – can I be helped?
Some people develop a condition where they feel compelled to check and recheck things many times over – sometimes to the extent where they are unable to get on with normal daily activities. Sufferers may have long and complex rituals which they feel compelled to carry out and if they deviate even marginally they feel… Read more »
Can I get help for my relative if they don’t want it?
There is a common myth about mental illness, which goes something like this: ‘unless a person wants to change they cannot be helped’. Like all myths there is a grain of truth in it but it is primarily true only for personal and psychological problems, drug and alcohol related problems and mild degrees of mental… Read more »
Are people who suffer from schizophrenia dangerous?
The short answer is that the vast majority of people who suffer from schizophrenia pose absolutely no danger to anyone. However, as we all know from reading the papers, the very few who do harm people get huge amounts of publicity. So why do people with schizophrenia sometimes harm others (or indeed themselves)? Very often… Read more »
Choosing your psychiatrist
On the face of it, the government’s announcement on 13th December 2012, about giving patients a choice of consultant psychiatrist is a great idea, some may say long overdue. However my prediction is that for many Trusts, up and down the country this will cause enormous headaches and they will struggle to comply. Why? Simply… Read more »
Psychiatrist or Psychologist?
One of the most frequent reasons we have to get back to solicitors is because we are uncertain if they truly understand the difference between psychiatric and psychological – psychiatrist and psychologist. We know there is uncertainty because we often see the words used interchangeably within a single letter of instruction. This makes us nervous!… Read more »
Why Your Client Needs a Testamentary Capacity Report
My Practice receives a lot of enquiries about Mental Capacity Reports but less instructions. Clients do not seem to understand their value and perhaps the same is true for some solicitors. Yet, on a regular basis, my elderly psychiatrist colleagues charge many thousands of pounds to sift through the medical records of deceased people, whose… Read more »