Mental Health Awareness week

In the latest of this term’s ‘issue weeks,’ the Warwick Psychology Society in conjunction with the Department of Psychology and the Students’ Union, last week held a ‘Mental Health
Awareness Week’ (MHAW) which focused on raising awareness of several issues related to mental
illness.

The week featured talks covering various illnesses including depression, schizophrenia, and
anorexia, but also dealt with the social implications of mental health issues, with debates
about the issues surrounding employment of individuals suffering from mental health problems, a lecture from Dr. Rowena Dew of the Royal College of Psychiatrists about the sectioning of patients, and a discussion of the support of mentally ill patients in Coventry by John Pither, of the charity Crossfire.

One well-attended event was a talk on the health effects of cannabis, by Dr Philip Robson, a researcher at Oxford University and the director of the ‘Cannabinoid Research Unit’ at GW Pharmaceuticals.

Robson, a proponent of the medicinal use of the plant for Multiple Sclerosis sufferers, told the _Boar_ that “Personally, I think it should be legal to grow your own cannabis for medical purposes under government license… drug policy should be looked at with factual, evidence-based methods… [with the aim to] reduce the harms associated with criminals being in charge of drug distribution.”

Alex Ooi, MORSE undergraduate, an attendee at Dr Robson’s talk, was happy that “the issue is being brought to our attention from the perspective of the health effects; this is an issue for science rather than politics, and people such as Dr Robson, as the experts on the topic, should have greater influence over what it is and isn’t permissible.”

Another highlight of the week was a talk by Sarah Clayton, who on Wednesday gave a talk on her experiences of suffering from anorexia. In the talk Clayton discussed her personal experience of the illness, described the history of perceptions of the illness, and offered advice for coping with the condition.

The response to her talk was overwhelmingly positive, with many students appreciating the personal insights she provided into a disorder that few know much about, and especially praising what one postgraduate attendee described as a “complete honesty about the issue, providing incredible guidance for anyone in that position; I just hope that the Warwick students who are affected by eating disorders attended to see what she had to say.”

Overall, the week received a positive reception from many observers, but there were concerns that the majority of events were mainly attended by psychology students, with much publicity being directed towards members of the PsychSoc.

Georgie Male, a History student, claimed that “aside from the stall in the Piazza, it was pretty difficult to tell that there was something to do with mental health going on. It was probably a bad week for it to be held, what with the presence of Fairtrade Fortnight and the ‘Big 5’.”

In response to such criticism, the President of Psychology Society Anjulie Kalsia argued that “we’ve tried really hard to spread the word as wide as possible,” and cited the involvement of the Debating Society and Warwick Medical School as examples of how MHAW tried to reach students from other academic backgrounds.

Overall Kalsia believes that MHAW was a “real success,” with the wide range of talks helping interest a large number of students.

In line with a similar suggestion by the Depression Alliance at one of the student-run events,
the University Counselling Service is to set up a student-led support group for individuals suffering from depression, and it is hoped that more Warwick students will use the help available from Student Support Services, the counselling service and Nightline.