First Beehiiv Newsletter

Lionesses Roared!

The Lionesses' victory last Sunday was fantastic. The whole country was in raptures & the goals? They were incredible! Toone made victory a possibility and Kelly thumped it home.

Even this Scot (living in England) was right behind them. The whole tournament had been joyous & we'd had none of the relentless oppressive pressure we get with the men's game every night on TV. It was open & positive & joyous.

That back-heel goal in the Semi-final against France for Russo was life-changing for her (even though we know now she does it ALL the time in practice!). It changed the country too. Anything was possible.

Chloe Kelly scoring that final goal was clearly a star. They all were. That video of Chloe on stage at Trafalgar Square dancing out of pure happiness was beautiful. She had presence & charisma - & literally had the moves!

It was sort of inevitable that there would be sponsorships & photo shoots. They all deserved it all (in spades!). Some of it can feel a bit exploitative & the picture of Chloe on the front of the Daily Mail yesterday was beautiful as well as somehow disappointing.

I can't wait to see what these young women do next. Go girls - you are Magnificent!

Be.Real - an App for humanising professionals?

BeReal is a relatively new App & is being positioned as the antidote to Instagram. Instead of pictures endlessly photoshopped & posed (& posed again), you take a simultaneous Front & Back Camera photo at a random time each day. The time is random & the same for everyone. You get two minutes to take it, or everyone knows you were delayed.

In my work in Medicine & Therapy, I wholeheartedly support this. It doesn't need to show anything special or competitive & is more accessible to all.

It has enormous potential to show professionals in a friendly way, making us 3-dimensional. Shame we can only share reels with friends & not link them to our website feeds. Please BeReal (or collaborator look into this as an idea.

People love us as we are, so let's share that!

Two weeks ago, a new study said to 'debunk' the theory that low Serotonin causes depression was described in the Guardian. It made headlines but is it true?

Indeed, depression is complicated & the current medications were discovered back in the '40s, and '50s, looking for new antihistamines. As this article mentions, we might treat headaches with paracetamol. That doesn't mean that we think we are low in paracetamol! The premise around serotonin certainly made sense. The worst possible outcome, however, would be that people stopped taking antidepressants suddenly, with terrible effects.

What the study does do is prompt us to question the underlying assumptions & progress our knowledge.

Another article discusses the implications in more detail & I think this approaches things sensibly in the context of the entire history of serotonin & its' effects. It also looks at the stigma of depression & the simplicity of this model to understand & communicate. So let's note the study, not act too quickly & look forward to further exploring the real basis for depression.

CAMHS Pressure & Antidepressants News

CAMHS was under significant pressure even before the Pandemic. However, it has been overtaken by a Tsunami of demand since. One marker of this is this article on GPs being pressurised to prescribe antidepressants for teens before they can access Psychiatric support, as the NICE Guideline sets out. Is this the canary in the coal mine, or are we too late for that already?

Sign-Off

So that's a wrap for the first newsletter! A little news & commentary.

Please reach out to me with any ideas or comments.

Reach me also for individual help.

Kindest Regards