Last month, I was quite shocked to hear about the French psychiatrist, Dr Daniele Canarelli, who was given a one-year suspended sentence and a £7,000 fine because one of her patients with paranoid schizophrenia, Mr Gaillard, killed somebody.

I've been reading various blogs surrounding this issue with...

What's in a name?

I have read with interest the recent report published by the Schizophrenia Commission, sponsored by 'Rethink Mental Illness', which analysed the current state of the treatment of schizophrenia in the UK.

Below is an interesting extract, relating to the term 'schizophrenia' and...

Against my better judgement, I've been reading about Tom Cruise and his connubial breakdown. I was interested to find out that a major contributing factor was supposedly Scientology. I generally avoid any celebrity news, and so was a bit disappointed in myself when I started digging deeper. I was quite...

I recently watched a film - a terrible film - which had an archaic, grotesque depiction of life in a psychiatric ward. I won't tell you what film, as I do not wish to promulgate my disdain for it. After I recovered from the boredom, I woke up, wiped dribble...

The other day, I was discussing the new TV advert by MIND / Rethink, called "It's time to talk. It's time to change", with my colleagues at the psychiatric inpatient unit where I work. You know the one - where Dave (from accounts) has come back to work...

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed." - Carl Jung

Know somebody that you just cannot get on with? Does their behaviour irritate and confuse you? Are they generally a massive pain in the distal digestive...

The mass hysteria... streets crowded with wailing women... explosions of emotions.

No, not the Boxing Day sales. I'm talking about the mass grieving of the people of North Korea, for their recently deceased, supposedly exalted leader, Kim Jong Il. I noted some performances that may contend for the 2012...

"What's the difference between Andres Breivik and the Yorkshire Ripper?"

I know this sounds like the setup of a scurrilous, distasteful joke from Sikipedia, but bear with me; there is a point to this.

I was very interested to hear about Breivik's diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and the suggestion from...

I was really interested to read a Huffington Post story published a week ago, "Woman Spends £4000 on 100 Lip Injections to Look Like Jessica Rabbit". My first thought was "Sorry love, you don't look like Jessica Rabbit". Perhaps a healthier choice would be a role model that...

I recently went through what I presumed would be the pedestrian task of changing my internet provider to Sky. It involved much more frustrating, mundane drudgery than I expected. Forget 'Believe in better' - I was left not even believing in mediocre. The catalogue of errors included Love...

Have you ever thought about how unpopular traffic wardens are? Imagine how much grief they must have to put up with on a daily basis. Well, I think I can top that...

I worked in a prison earlier this year, as a detox doctor, prescribing methadone to heroin addicts, and...

I'd Like to Talk About Kevin

I've just seen that film, We Need to Talk About Kevin. Wow!

I really enjoyed it. The acting was outstanding and I was especially impressed with how effortlessly sinister and chillingly-vile the small child was. Even if I was the biggest bully at...

People are stupid. No offence.

I've lost count of the number of times that I've been met with the phrase "Can you read my mind?", when I've told people what I do for a living. Recently in a phone shop I replied, "Yes, I can. It seems to me...you're an...