Charities hail progress in mental health attitudes

Nearly 90,000 people have backed the Time to Change initiative run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was joined by celebrities who have battled mental illness including cricketer Marcus Trescothick, TV presenter Trisha Goddard and spin doctor Alastair Campbell at a London reception.

Mr Clegg said the campaign had been instrumental in changing attitudes to mental health.

“This success has only come about because of those who have put so much energy into backing the campaign and been so brave in coming forward with their own very personal and sometimes harrowing stories. Challenging attitudes and behaviour is essential if we are to ensure that people with mental health problems feel able to talk openly about their illness, just like other physical illnesses,” he said.

The programme is now moving to tackling stigma among children and young people with mental health problems.

Leeds University researchers are to try to pinpoint genetic defects in affecting schizophrenia within families.

A £400,000 project, funded by the Medical Research Council, will examine genetic mutations that may cause an inherited form of the illness.

Biologist Steve Clapcote said: “If we can confirm which specific genes and processes are at fault, we can start to develop new treatments to target them. Our study is important because medicines currently used to treat schizophrenia aren’t effective in about a third of patients and can also cause severe side effects.”

The team will initially work with families from the Pakistani community in West Yorkshire to try to narrow the search for potential defects from among a smaller range of genetic mutations that occur when people marry in close-knit communities.