"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." Lewis Carroll Stress is not a mental illness. Until the 1950s the term ‘stress’ was rarely used to refer to psychological issues or pressures that could lead to mental illness. In 1956 Hans Selye published "The Stress of Life” [1]. He set out to describe what
Human experience is multifactorial. We have bodies and minds. We have aspects that are seen and unseen, conscious and unconscious, events occur around us and inside our minds. There is an interaction between memory, present experience and future expectation. Our interpretation of overlapping subjective and objective meanings of events, relationships and situations will vary from time to time. There is an interaction between our bodies, minds and society around us
... and mixed in with the professional and social aspects of the ill health is the huge problem of stigma. If anything, this is probably the most significant hindrance to thinking about and actually addressing the problem of mental illness in the profession. Although a current motto for mental health awareness is "no health without mental health", much of the time little more than lip service is paid into this
Now, let's take a breather. Statistics, data, percentages, have a way of inducing yawns and causing the eyes to glaze over. Stats can also be like a ventriloquist’s dummy or case law – you can get them to say anything you like, as long as they agree with you. However, you may care to skim over them again. One can reasonably be sceptical about one stat in isolation. When so
and a few more stats ... ... The Judiciary The ‘2014 UK Judicial Attitude Survey’ reported on findings covering salaried judges in England and Wales courts and UK tribunals [1]. The report reveals that the judiciary is experiencing an erosion of social respect and feel undervalued by government and media, and that the working conditions have deteriorated over the last five years with caseloads growing significantly in recent years. Almost
This post sets out some rather gloomy stats about where the legal profession in the UK, USA and Australia was at in around 2015. From more recent discussions with lawyers, it's clear things have become far more pressured since early 2020. LawCare's stats for 2020 make sombre reading. Maybe unsurprisingly, there was a sharp rise in the number of lawyers calling their helpline seeking help with anxiety. Some extracts from
