A new Mind report relates a shocking catalogue of harassment, assault, victimisation and discrimination against those who suffer from mental health problems in England and Wales. This leads me to wonder about therapeutic treatment for people who are so discriminated against — when someone is factually being persecuted in their own home, where does paranoia begin?

Is postnatal depression a label slapped onto the discomfort caused by the sudden change in a woman’s life when she has a baby, or is it a useful diagnostic category covering many and varied experiences, all of which can be significantly helped by treatment?

A study which has been all over the press reports research findings from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, that children with one particular version of a particular gene scored higher in IQ tests, between the ages of five and thirteen, if they had been breastfed.

Warning signs of postpartum depression include constant fatigue, feelings of inadequacy as a parent, lack of joy in life, withdrawal from family and friends, excessive concern for the baby, or thoughts of hurting the infant. Is it impossible not to feel some of these things?

The American Medical Association decided this week not to press ahead with a recommendation to the American Psychiatric Association that video game addiction be labelled as a formal mental health disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The association also decided against urging parents to limit children to a total of two hours per day of playing video games, watching television and surfing the Internet.

Evidence that potential blockbuster weight loss drug Acomplia (rimonabant) causes neurological and psychiatric problems and increases the risk of suicide has led to a unanimous vote against the drug by a US FDA advisory panel. Although rimonabant is already being marketed in 37 countries, it is now unlikely the FDA will approve the weight loss drug, to have been sold in the United States under the name ‘Zimulti’, without more positive data on safety.

British MPs today begin debating what some have described as a truly draconian Mental Health Bill. Once hailed for its potential to pave the way for a more modern approach to mental health in the United Kingdom, the bill — some 9 years in the making — is now strongly opposed by the Mental Health Alliance, a coalition of 80 organisations representing doctors, nurses, social workers, people with mental illness and their families.