BACK TO SCHOOL

Has our mental health deteriorated with this Brave New world that we live in or do we feel more comfortable showing our feelings?

A rising number of workers are said to be suffering stress

Mental illness is now the second largest reason for UK workers taking time off, a report suggests.

A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found an increasing amount of sickness leave is due to depression or stress.

Analysis of the records of 30,000 people found only muscle-related problems such as bad backs were cited as a greater cause of absenteeism.

Staff with depression were said to take an average 30 days off annually.

Those with stress were reported to be away for 21 days.

The CPID found public sector workers were more likely to take time off work because of mental illness and overall the problem was more prevalent among older staff.

Are we sicker than we used to be?
Or do we feel more comfortable discussing our feelings?
Or does Employment legislation make it easier for staff to take time off whenever they want to?

For example,many people believe there is an autism epidemic.
Wikipedia reports

The reported incidence of autism varies considerably between countries. Increases in reported incidence of autism in some countries have been attributed to a variety of causes including environmental factors and higher reporting of cases due to an increased medical and societal interest in autism.

Is this true?Maybe.
Many people believe that Heavy metal poisoning has a lot to do with the increase in symptoms of autism though others do not share this opinion.
Are we just more aware of what is going on in the world due to the internet and the global village that we live in?

Do people who who take time off with Mental Illness' really have these illness' or does employment legislation make it easy for these individuals to take time off whenever they feel like it? I personally am glad that people who really do have these illnesses have the opportunity to take time off work when they need to, as a Mental Health trained nurse I have always felt that more awareness was important. I have always tried to pass on to my children that Mental health, good or bad is something that all individuals experience in their life and so it is OK to feel sad one day, sadder the next and better the following day. I feel that Mental Health like Autism is a spectrum except that we as individuals move along the spectrum more rapidly than with Autism. Having friends who have worked as civil servants however I have heard of situations where employment legislation is seriously exploited to suit the needs of the individual but of course who is to say that the day an individual 'throws a sickie' that emotionally they didn't really need that time off.
Remember PAIN IS WHAT THE PATIENT SAYS IT IS or so I was taught during nurses training and something I agree with.

The report goes on to say

"This research shows how important it is for managers and HR practitioners to be aware of the signs of mental ill health so that they can take action early and provide support before the individual's condition deteriorates to the point they go off on long-term sick leave," said Ben Willmott, CIPD employee relations adviser.

He called on the government to provide tax incentives to encourage more firms to offer occupational health services.

and as I read this I thought OH REALLY!
Ariel has broken a toe and a finger in the last year, the toe in an accident at home and the finger in Army Cadet related incident(remember she is going to join the army as an officer after her Arabic and Middle Eastern studies degree)..........well her World Wide family friendly employer who she works part time for just a few hours a week has given her an official warning for taking time off due to her injuries. The HR employee who gave her the warning also told her when Ariel said that due to her injuries she wasn't able to work that she should not engage in dangerous activities outside of work that may affect(I am never sure if I should write affect or effect-sorry) her ability to work. Ariel didn't tell me at the time that the interview was going to happen, remember she is only 17 and still a child and was interviewed without my knowledge, I was livid that she was spoken to this way. No matter how much HR in the civil service would LOVE to say something like that they have enough intelligence to know that it would get their asses sued if they did.
The moral of the story........ just because your employer uses renewable forests to make their furniture and makes really good meatballs doesn't necessarily make them good people.

Thoughts on BIG BROTHER
It was a choice last night between Big Brother and Supernatural, Fiona wanted Big Brother and I wanted Supernatural( who wouldn't want to just sit and watch Jensen Ackles?)and I won but Fiona got to flick during the adverts so we were able to see some of both shows.
Please Charley stop being so argumentative as it certainly is not making you very popular, Carol made a good point over the food debacle though. Charley was called to eat 3 times and by the time that she got there(much later) the food was all gone and so she called ALL the others 'greedy f--kers', (what a nice girl) for eating her food. Carol tried to explain the situation but Charley wouldn't listen and said that people who had nothing to do with the situation shouldn't get involved but Charley involved everyone by calling them all greedy. Carol told Charley that the fridge was full of food and that she should be grateful as they were better off than some people which of course did not impress Charley. I felt really sorry for the twins as they seemed to sit there in shock at what was going on. Having 6 girls I can tell you that these girls are not your average 18 year olds and they seem more like 15 or 16 year olds, from what I can see they seem to be very sweet, pleasant girls and I wonder how they are going to cope with the house as the individual house mates get to know each other better and more arguments occur. Remember Glyn last year? He too was a very young 18 year old.
He didn't cope very well with the arguments.
I still cannot comprehend why Lesley at 60 chose to go into the house, she doesn't seem to be coping very well. When I saw he arrive I immediately thought '3 days and she will be gone', well she is still there but she doesn't seem very happy. Carol is 53 and I can see how she would see it as a life experience and enjoy it, I love Carol........I think she is a star.

It has been a while since I have written this much on TV shows but I have to mention the 2 part Dr Who that finished showing this weekend THE FAMILY OF BLOOD. I thought it was brilliant. Doctor Who was hiding out in 1913 from The Family who needed a time lord to help them live forever(well I think that was the premise). We saw the Doctor fall in love and also a possible future of him with a family and growing old and dying.We also saw the boys at the school where he was hiding and we saw the boys in WW1, and we saw the boys grow old and issues such as loss of innocence and futility of war were also explored and it brought tears to my eyes. It was very well done. I found it as emotive as the final episode of Black Adder where they are in the trenches and they all go over the top of the trench. Definitely one of the best episodes so far.

It has arrived...........the Whitsun holiday is finally over and Beauty is back to school today.
It may have only been a week but it felt like a lot longer.And also my computer class resumes today, a little bit of normality for approximately 6 weeks until they break up for the summer holidays.