Psychiatric care

New measures to support young carers of people with mental problems could have wider implications, says Tim Turner.

Shame is a complex set of attitudes, feelings and behaviours that tend to motivate hiding and, if provoked, can lead to conflict with others. It is also related to the exercise of power within the relationship of care and therefore may be a relevant factor if older adults are forced to accept increased dependency. There are no systematic enquiries into shame processes and older psychiatric patients. The experience of trait and situational shame and psychopathology was explored with 50 older psychiatric patients, using a range of questionnaire measures.

There has been much debate about the most appropriate site for in‐patient psychiatric care for people with learning disabilities. The evidence base for service delivery for this group is very scant. Even less is known about the experiences of service users and their carers, as their voices have been largely absent from this debate among service providers and policy makers. This article summarises results from a study into the experiences of adults with learning disabilities who were admitted for in‐patient psychiatric care. Their carers' views were also investigated.

Behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are common and problematic in clinical practice and represent a significant part of the day-to-day workload of the old age psychiatry team in hospital, institution and community settings. Improving recognition and management of BPSD can have a positive impact on the quality of life of patients and their carers and potentially delay the transition from home to institutional care.