Repeat child removals: structural inequality and iatrogenic harm
One in four birth mothers who have a child taken into care in England will re-appear in care proceedings within seven years. Women in this situation have experienced structural disadvantage in multiple domains including socio-economic deprivation, histories of trauma and...
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Un-care-able
Stories of self-harm and the impossibility of care In 1987 renowned psychiatrist Armando Favazza, in his field-defining book on self-injury Bodies Under Siege, declared (with remarkable confidence) that “no one loves self-mutilators” (244). In fairness to Favazza, he makes the...
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Help-seeking: where’s the help?
Please note: This piece contains mentions of self-harm and suicide When I [Veronica] present my work, I often begin with statistics highlighting the disparity between the prevalence of self-harm and rates of help-seeking. It often feels that this disparity communicates...
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Obesity: Who are you calling diseased?
In Britain and elsewhere the so-called ‘obesity crisis’ is regularly headline news. Media coverage focuses on the health risks associated with higher BMIs and the financial implications of this for the National Health Service (NHS). People are encouraged to act...
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Anti-stigma campaigns in mental health: what gets left out?
Over the past two decades, stigma for people with mental health problems has become an increasing concern for researchers, practitioners, service users and politicians. This has led to several international government funded campaigns to increase public awareness of the realities...
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Promoting health without promoting stigma?
Cancer Research UK (CRUK) is again under fire for its campaigning on obesity. There was a lot wrong with their most recent posters, which equated obesity with smoking as a cause of cancer. The debates that followed highlighted the vital...
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Hygiene for all?
The Guardian this week reported on new kinds of outreach work for homeless people, with mobile laundries and shower units, reported in Australia, New Zealand and Greece as well as my own city of Brighton, England. A Christian charity in...
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The ADHD chronicles: Squeezing through the bars of the iron cage
My first two attempts to get evaluated for ADHD only resulted in promises that the psychologist would call me back. This never happened, and the only official indication that I was ever in contact with him/her was the invoices I...
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Do mental health anti-stigma campaigns work? #IAMWHOLE
To mark World Mental Health day 2016, the NHS, working in partnership with YMCA, has launched a new campaign #IAMWHOLE . This is designed to challenge stigma about mental health and specifically targets young people. It is the first time that...
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Weight stigma, neoliberalism and questions of blame
Blame and assertions of bad lifestyle choice are key components of weight stigma that people experience.
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The Paradox of Stigma in Mental Health: Germanwings Flight 9525
On the 24th March 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps killing all 150 passengers and flight staff. Amidst the shock of this tragedy French Police and Air Crash Investigators began to piece together the details of the...
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The fragile worker: stigma, illness and disability in the contemporary workplace