:00:00. > :00:00.a fifth term as president of Uganda. -- Museveni. Now, it is time for
:00:00. > :00:26.Reporters. Welcome to a special edition of
:00:27. > :00:32.Reporters, examining a key area that affects all of us, our mental
:00:33. > :00:35.health. We will be finding out how the latest research is improving the
:00:36. > :00:38.understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, and hearing from
:00:39. > :00:47.people who have learned to live with their conditions. Fergus Walsh
:00:48. > :00:51.reports on the new revolution in neuroscience. I will be explaining
:00:52. > :00:58.how scientific understanding of mental illness are being advanced by
:00:59. > :01:03.these, miniature human brain is being grown in a laboratory. A shock
:01:04. > :01:06.to the system. Chris Buckler reports from Northern Ireland on how one of
:01:07. > :01:13.the most controversial treatments, electroconvulsive therapy, is on the
:01:14. > :01:20.rise. To think that this barbaric treatment still exists... Strapped
:01:21. > :01:25.down to a metal bed. Childhood and mental health. Fergal Keane
:01:26. > :01:35.investigates new study suggesting young victims of domestic violence
:01:36. > :01:41.can suffer from PTSD. It is costing society a great deal, and causing
:01:42. > :01:43.the children a huge amount of time. Talking about it and opening up
:01:44. > :01:48.about it is fairly helpful for breaking down stigma and telling
:01:49. > :01:52.people what it is really like to have it. And we will be hearing from
:01:53. > :02:00.the young campaign is taking on the taboos of mental illness.
:02:01. > :02:06.How does the brain work and wide does it go wrong? These are two of
:02:07. > :02:10.the fundamental questions behind treating mental illnesses. It
:02:11. > :02:13.involves our emotional, psychological and social well-being,
:02:14. > :02:18.and affect how we think, feel and act. Mental health problems are also
:02:19. > :02:23.one of the main causes of disease and sickness worldwide. According to
:02:24. > :02:27.the world's top neuroscientist, our understanding of the human brain is
:02:28. > :02:32.undergoing a revolution. Advances in genetics and brain imaging are
:02:33. > :02:36.labelling research is to discover more about mental illness. As Fergus
:02:37. > :02:39.Walsh explains, it opens up the possibilities of new forms of
:02:40. > :02:43.treatment. It is a privilege to be able to
:02:44. > :02:47.examine this, the right hemisphere of the human brain. One of hundreds
:02:48. > :02:51.of trains donated in the UK for medical research every year. This
:02:52. > :02:58.delicate structure is responsible for thought, memory, language,
:02:59. > :03:02.emotion, consciousness. The very things that make us human, yet
:03:03. > :03:06.despite all of our scientific knowledge there is still a huge
:03:07. > :03:13.amount to be discovered about how the brain works and why it goes
:03:14. > :03:17.wrong. But the brain is beginning to give up its secrets. Advances in
:03:18. > :03:20.biology mean many genes implicated in mental illness have been
:03:21. > :03:27.identified, and new scanning techniques are creating something
:03:28. > :03:30.extraordinary, a complete map of the brain's intricate network of
:03:31. > :03:37.connections. These coloured lines represent bundles of nerve fibres
:03:38. > :03:43.linking different parts of the brain through a number of highly connected
:03:44. > :03:47.hubs. There are parts of the brain that we can talk about as being hubs
:03:48. > :03:52.of the brain, in the same way that Heathrow was a hub in the global
:03:53. > :03:55.airline network. Researchers have discovered that people with
:03:56. > :03:58.schizophrenia tend to have fewer hubs so their brain networks are
:03:59. > :04:03.less well-connected and help individuals. Where the excitement is
:04:04. > :04:08.building at the moment is linking the network diagrams that we can get
:04:09. > :04:11.out of imaging to what we are learning about the genetics of
:04:12. > :04:14.schizophrenia. If we can bring those two things together we may be able
:04:15. > :04:22.to understand more clearly whether the genetic mechanisms that drive
:04:23. > :04:25.genetic development can go off on a different path that lead to
:04:26. > :04:29.schizophrenia. If we can understand mechanisms, then we can design new
:04:30. > :04:35.treatments. As well as deciphering the brain's networks of
:04:36. > :04:42.connections, scientists are also learning more about the early stages
:04:43. > :04:46.of development by growing miniature brains. Known as all annoyance, here
:04:47. > :04:51.they are in the hands of the scientist who prevented technique.
:04:52. > :04:56.Incubated in a research lab in Cambridge. These tiny balls of
:04:57. > :05:04.tissue many Government mimic what the infant brain is like as it grows
:05:05. > :05:09.in the womb. Among people with mental illness, many brains can help
:05:10. > :05:18.explore the origins of the disorder. We can then compare those
:05:19. > :05:24.brains and try to understand what caused some illnesses. I think it is
:05:25. > :05:29.an early step in some great breakthroughs in what has been a
:05:30. > :05:31.desert in the field of biomedicine. Mental health disorders have been
:05:32. > :05:36.incredibly lacking in terms of new medications to treat these really
:05:37. > :05:40.devastating disorders. So when will this research pay dividends? In
:05:41. > :05:47.delivering new medications for mental illness. In the next five or
:05:48. > :05:51.ten years you can expect to things with reasonable certainty. We will
:05:52. > :05:55.be able to use neuroscience in genetics to target treatments better
:05:56. > :05:59.for patients, and this could happen with schizophrenia. The second is
:06:00. > :06:03.that based on the knowledge we have now we can actually have new
:06:04. > :06:08.medications, not foreign an entire illness, but for a subset of it. Of
:06:09. > :06:14.course, mental health is determined by our life experiences as well as
:06:15. > :06:19.the genes we inherit. The more we discover about this masterpiece of
:06:20. > :06:24.evolution, the greater the chance we have of treating it when it goes
:06:25. > :06:28.wrong. We may be learning more about the
:06:29. > :06:33.brain itself, but much of mental health still remains a mystery. So
:06:34. > :06:38.how do we define mental health conditions? There are two broad
:06:39. > :06:43.categories. The erotic and psychotic. Neurotic conditions are
:06:44. > :06:48.extreme emotional experiences, such as depression and anxiety. Psychotic
:06:49. > :06:53.symptoms interfere with the perception of reality. Conditions
:06:54. > :06:57.include schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. How common are mental
:06:58. > :07:03.health issues? Global figures are hard to track down, but in the UK
:07:04. > :07:09.about 20% of people will become depressed at some point in their
:07:10. > :07:14.lives. Anxiety will affect 5% of the population at any one time. Other
:07:15. > :07:20.conditions, like bipolar disorder schizophrenia, affect about one
:07:21. > :07:25.person in every 100 people. The exact cause of most mental illnesses
:07:26. > :07:28.is not known. Many conditions, such as bipolar disorder, can run in
:07:29. > :07:35.families, which suggests a genetic link. Difficult life events can then
:07:36. > :07:40.trigger a mental illness. Stress, poverty, abuse, isolation, substance
:07:41. > :07:47.abuse, Boral thought be triggers. So, how are mental health problems
:07:48. > :07:51.treated? Talking treatments are often used to help, trying to break
:07:52. > :07:54.the cycle of negative thoughts. Other therapies might also delve
:07:55. > :08:00.into past experiences. Antidepressants usually ascribed for
:08:01. > :08:02.anxiety and depression, and antipsychotics, which affects
:08:03. > :08:07.chemicals in the brain, are the other key tools. But as with
:08:08. > :08:13.everything that involves the brain, much about mental health remains a
:08:14. > :08:16.mystery. The idea of treating psychiatric illness by passing a
:08:17. > :08:19.jolt of electricity through the brain was one of the most
:08:20. > :08:24.controversial in 20th-century medicine. The youth of
:08:25. > :08:29.electroconvulsive therapy has been condemned by critics as barbaric and
:08:30. > :08:39.ineffective, but as Chris Buckler reports, it is used often without
:08:40. > :08:43.consent, and is on the rise. Electroconvulsive area, therapy is
:08:44. > :08:46.often associated with a different era. But it is still used today and
:08:47. > :08:56.can be effective in tackling severe depression. The person will have had
:08:57. > :09:05.a muscle relaxing and an anaesthetic and be completely asleep. This
:09:06. > :09:12.helps, as an epileptic seizure is triggered. I have looked after many
:09:13. > :09:17.individuals who have been profoundly unwell, to the point of to kill
:09:18. > :09:24.themselves, not eating or or having florid delusions, who have responded
:09:25. > :09:28.completely and got completely well after ECT. It is accepted that ECT
:09:29. > :09:34.is not suitable for everyone who find themselves in a dark place.
:09:35. > :09:37.Michael is an artist who was given the treatment without his consent,
:09:38. > :09:42.and he says he is still having nightmares about the experience. To
:09:43. > :09:52.think that this barbaric treatment still exists. Being strapped down to
:09:53. > :10:03.a metal bed with a rubber sheet, getting an injection, and waking
:10:04. > :10:08.up, and you just... You didn't want to be in your own body, it was like
:10:09. > :10:15.this was not my own body. I came in he healthy, without my permission.
:10:16. > :10:21.Michael was given ECT without his consent, in the Republic of Ireland.
:10:22. > :10:27.In future that won't happen. The Irish government is in the process
:10:28. > :10:29.of introducing legislation to stop the treatment in cases where the
:10:30. > :10:33.patient is not give their permission. The idea of
:10:34. > :10:37.unwillingness is unsavoury and something that should not be
:10:38. > :10:41.involved. There should not be a situation where the state forces
:10:42. > :10:45.treatment on somebody. But just across the Irish border in Northern
:10:46. > :10:50.Ireland, as in the rest of the UK, consent is not always needed for a
:10:51. > :10:54.patient to be given ECT, although it happens only in extreme cases and
:10:55. > :10:58.with specific medical approval. Last year in Northern Ireland,
:10:59. > :11:03.psychiatrists made more than 50 requests for people to be treated
:11:04. > :11:06.without their consent. That is an increase of almost 50% on a few
:11:07. > :11:11.years before, although it is not known if some of those requests were
:11:12. > :11:15.refused. Those figures include both people who were unable to give
:11:16. > :11:20.consent, as well as patients who see the refused to. There are some
:11:21. > :11:29.psychiatrists wary of losing the option of ECT and all of those
:11:30. > :11:34.cases. You would be eliminating a treatment that could be
:11:35. > :11:40.life-saving. Scientists are still working to try to understand the
:11:41. > :11:43.brain, and drugs are constantly being developed to tackle
:11:44. > :11:47.depression. But until new, more effective treatments are found, that
:11:48. > :11:55.once known as electroshock therapy will still have a place in modern
:11:56. > :11:58.medicine. One of the most comprehensive
:11:59. > :12:03.studies of mental healthcare in England ever conduct that has
:12:04. > :12:06.severely criticised provision for men of African and Caribbean
:12:07. > :12:12.heritage. The mental health task force reports there is evidence of
:12:13. > :12:15.systemic failure, and that black men are nearly seven times more likely
:12:16. > :12:19.to be detained under the mental health act or admitted as
:12:20. > :12:21.inpatients, Ben Whiteman. Elaine Dunkley has been talking to some of
:12:22. > :12:29.those who witnessed the tragic consequences.
:12:30. > :12:34.We were devastated. Sean was just lying there, still, and I kissed him
:12:35. > :12:41.on his forehead, and left the print of my lips. We all put our hands
:12:42. > :12:49.together on top of one another over Sean and we said the Lord's prayer
:12:50. > :12:55.and said we would promise what would find -- promised we would find out
:12:56. > :12:59.what happened to him. Sean was a talented musician. In 2008, his
:13:00. > :13:03.death at Brixton police station exposed the disproportionate dangers
:13:04. > :13:09.faced by black men and people with mental health problems in police
:13:10. > :13:20.custody. That is where Sean took his last breath, that is where Sean died
:13:21. > :13:23.without his family, without his mother. There were systematic
:13:24. > :13:27.failures by the mental health team. Had they done their job properly at
:13:28. > :13:33.that time Sean would never have been in the hands of the police. By the
:13:34. > :13:40.time he became so psychotic that he hallucinated, and was in a world of
:13:41. > :13:42.his own. Sometimes I don't like to think about that, what could have
:13:43. > :13:46.been going on in his mind at that time, and we will never know,
:13:47. > :13:59.because he never lived to tell the tale. Devon Marston also believes
:14:00. > :14:03.that his treatment was profoundly affected by the colour of his skin.
:14:04. > :14:07.In the 1980s he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and says he
:14:08. > :14:17.was often heavily medicated and rarely given counselling. It was
:14:18. > :14:24.rife in the system when I got involved. I was so frightened, I was
:14:25. > :14:29.struggling, I had my hands behind my back. I thought these people were
:14:30. > :14:35.going to kill me. They would inject me with that medication, and I was a
:14:36. > :14:40.different person. I lost myself and I can't find myself again. I have
:14:41. > :14:46.lost my identity. The drugs they gave the affected me all through my
:14:47. > :14:49.life and they still do now. I look at drugs are something like a
:14:50. > :14:55.spiritual straitjacket to keep you within the system. A lack of trust
:14:56. > :14:58.in services and the stigma around mental health often means that
:14:59. > :15:04.people from black, Asian and minority ethnic grounds don't get
:15:05. > :15:08.help until it reaches crisis point. But critically, culture also plays a
:15:09. > :15:16.key role. Psychiatry are still very much a middle-class and quite white
:15:17. > :15:20.dominated profession. As a black person, I know that if I go into a
:15:21. > :15:24.shop, the likelihood is I will be followed around. But he find someone
:15:25. > :15:28.with a mental health problem and they say that to my psychiatrist, in
:15:29. > :15:34.all probability they will see that as paranoia, because they don't have
:15:35. > :15:39.the lived experience. Can then come together and have a conversation...
:15:40. > :15:44.In Birmingham, there is a simple solution in tackling anxiety through
:15:45. > :15:48.talking. It is like a weight was lifted off me the moment I set it.
:15:49. > :15:53.The recognition that those most in need of help are those hardest to
:15:54. > :15:59.reach. Because of how men have been socialised, and the added pressure
:16:00. > :16:05.of being a black man and society, this notion of showing emotion,
:16:06. > :16:08.showing fear, it is not seen. I would say you need to foster
:16:09. > :16:13.relationships and build relationships with people who
:16:14. > :16:17.understand the community. The mental health task force report is calling
:16:18. > :16:20.for a more targeted approach in treating people from minority ethnic
:16:21. > :16:22.backgrounds, recognition that there is a need for the change in the
:16:23. > :16:34.culture of mental health services. It is not only adults who experience
:16:35. > :16:39.mental illness, children suffer as well. There is growing awareness
:16:40. > :16:44.that infants of honourable to PTSD, especially if they have witnessed
:16:45. > :16:47.domestic violence or abuse. Research suggests children show similar
:16:48. > :16:52.changes in brain activity to soldiers who suffer PTSD in
:16:53. > :16:55.Wallsend. But with therapy and good care, they can recover.
:16:56. > :16:57.There are things seen in childhood we can spend
:16:58. > :17:01.This is the story of how British scientists and therapists are
:17:02. > :17:06.pioneering change in the treatment of childhood trauma.
:17:07. > :17:08.It's estimated that about 50% of mental health problems begin
:17:09. > :17:15.I'm reporting this story because I've seen the effects
:17:16. > :17:20.I've experienced it myself, not just in war,
:17:21. > :17:27.Back in the '60s, the only remedy offered to me was
:17:28. > :17:30.medication, society was a long way from accepting that
:17:31. > :17:36.children could be traumatised in the home as soldiers were at war.
:17:37. > :17:43.a therapeutic revolution is taking place.
:17:44. > :17:46.Eight-year-old Samuel witnessed extreme domestic violence.
:17:47. > :17:49.When he came to his new adoptive family, he was deeply traumatised.
:17:50. > :17:55.One day he said he's going to burn the house down.
:17:56. > :18:00.So he was generally quite aggressive.
:18:01. > :18:05.He couldn't see why life was the way it was.
:18:06. > :18:07.He wasn't really nice to be around, initially.
:18:08. > :18:17.We just knew he needed a second chance.
:18:18. > :18:19.That second chance came about because he had
:18:20. > :18:27.a new loving home but, critically, also through therapy.
:18:28. > :18:31.In war, children are often treated for PTSD using art and storytelling,
:18:32. > :18:38.as well as one-on-one therapy, like these in Syria.
:18:39. > :18:42.Such techniques have brought about real changes in Samuel.
:18:43. > :18:48.Less talking about the things that he'd witnessed
:18:49. > :18:56.In the science of trauma there have also been extraordinary advances.
:18:57. > :19:00.Researchers are studying the brains of traumatised soldiers and then
:19:01. > :19:05.comparing them with children who've witnessed disturbing events.
:19:06. > :19:08.Here, for example, we see changes in brain structure.
:19:09. > :19:13.They found that part of the frontal section of the brain, which deals
:19:14. > :19:16.with emotion, thins in the same way as soldiers traumatised in war.
:19:17. > :19:19.Children who have been exposed to domestic violence and maltreatment,
:19:20. > :19:23.we see that there is a thinner cortex in this region.
:19:24. > :19:25.Can the damage that we see be reversed?
:19:26. > :19:31.For many there's a long-term risk, but there is evidence of recovery
:19:32. > :19:37.So although we see changes in the brain, we know the brain is
:19:38. > :19:40.an incredibly plastic organ and is able to respond and adapt to
:19:41. > :19:46.new influences and to positive influences across development.
:19:47. > :19:48.If untreated, the trauma of childhood can haunt
:19:49. > :19:53.adult life, leading to addiction, broken relationships, depression.
:19:54. > :19:57.Psychotherapist Paul Barrett helps PTSD sufferers.
:19:58. > :20:01.He was only diagnosed with the condition himself in middle age.
:20:02. > :20:04.What really happened to me was, I was walking up
:20:05. > :20:08.the road one day and I started getting flashbacks from childhood.
:20:09. > :20:17.I didn't really know what was happening.
:20:18. > :20:20.I walked round with a constant feeling of fear, but
:20:21. > :20:30.According to one leading charity, 70% of children with mental health
:20:31. > :20:35.problems haven't been treated at a young enough age.
:20:36. > :20:38.Experts are calling for greater focus on and funding
:20:39. > :20:45.Damaged children can grow up into damaged adults?
:20:46. > :20:48.They very much do and of course a huge cost to society,
:20:49. > :20:50.whether it's young offenders or children causing all sorts
:20:51. > :21:01.That is costing society a great deal.
:21:02. > :21:04.Of course, it's causing those children a huge amount of harm.
:21:05. > :21:06.Samuel had the unluckiest of starts in life,
:21:07. > :21:16.There's a great child locked up in that body, and it's coming out.
:21:17. > :21:30.Would you tell your employer if you were diagnosed with a mental
:21:31. > :21:34.illness? We asked 1000 people across the UK, and more than two thirds
:21:35. > :21:37.said they would. A slightly higher proportion said they would tell
:21:38. > :21:41.their friends, and more than nine in ten said they were told their
:21:42. > :21:44.family. It is one snapshot of attitudes which appeared to show
:21:45. > :21:50.that the stigma of mental health may finally be disappearing. Two women
:21:51. > :21:52.have recorded their thoughts on taking on one of the last medical
:21:53. > :21:54.taboos. Having a mental illness is being
:21:55. > :21:56.like a puppet, controlled by a puppetmaster, because it is
:21:57. > :21:59.just like having your own brain taken out and someone else's brain
:22:00. > :22:05.being put in for a few months. I decided to blog about it because I
:22:06. > :22:08.couldn't find any videos about It's quite a big deal for me to
:22:09. > :22:14.come out and speak about this. It's like a snowflake - everyone has
:22:15. > :22:18.a different experience. The main part
:22:19. > :22:25.of it was my manic episode. Kind of like how you are normally,
:22:26. > :22:29.but on a more extreme level. So if you are really upset,
:22:30. > :22:32.then you are really upset, or if you are really happy then you're
:22:33. > :22:35.running around dancing and singing. It's kind of like all of your
:22:36. > :22:39.emotions being exaggerated. My memories from the psychiatric
:22:40. > :22:45.ward are very strange and surreal. When I got there I was very
:22:46. > :22:48.confused because I didn't I thought I was being watched
:22:49. > :22:56.and that I was on some sort of TV programme and someone was playing
:22:57. > :22:58.a joke on me. I was in a very delusional state
:22:59. > :23:01.of mind and I was imagining things were happening that weren't actually
:23:02. > :23:03.happening. I was imagining that I was
:23:04. > :23:06.someone that I wasn't. You've still got people dressing up
:23:07. > :23:09.for Halloween and using words like mental and psycho to describe
:23:10. > :23:13.really negative things. Talking about it and opening up
:23:14. > :23:16.about it is really helpful for breaking down stigmas
:23:17. > :23:33.and actually telling people what it I have been making YouTube videos on
:23:34. > :23:38.and off for about four years now. The reason I do it is to show the
:23:39. > :23:43.honest nature of my illness, into what my life with this illness is
:23:44. > :23:47.like. I have done some weird things, including harming myself quite
:23:48. > :23:53.severely, to a life-threatening point. If I was always to be well in
:23:54. > :23:59.my videos, it would be inaccurate. I make myself do it and try to as
:24:00. > :24:05.always. Schizoaffective disorder is being absolutely fine one day, and
:24:06. > :24:10.then a week later being just in the grips of psychosis, being so
:24:11. > :24:14.depressed that I'm contemplating suicide, to a week later being
:24:15. > :24:18.absolutely fine again. I can hear voices in my head, see things such
:24:19. > :24:24.as shadows or people. Sometimes animals. I no longer know who I am,
:24:25. > :24:30.where I am. I believe is a connection with reality is just
:24:31. > :24:34.shattered. Sectioning is not something that is widely talked
:24:35. > :24:41.about because of the stigma attached to it. Technology Internet and the
:24:42. > :24:45.way things are now has really helped the conversation about mental
:24:46. > :24:50.health, and people like me are able to upload a video to YouTube. It can
:24:51. > :24:55.help spread awareness, information. Hello, everyone. I have had people
:24:56. > :24:58.message to say my videos have prompted them to seek help from
:24:59. > :25:03.professionals. That makes me feel fantastic. That was the sole reason
:25:04. > :25:08.I set up my channel. Didn't even think I would achieve that so it
:25:09. > :25:14.just makes my day. Mental health campaigner Laura Nuttall. There is
:25:15. > :25:20.more on the mental health season on the BBC website. Including details
:25:21. > :25:21.of where you can find help if you have been
:25:22. > :25:24.of where you can find help if you have been affected, and you can
:25:25. > :25:28.follow coverage and social media as well. That is all from this special
:25:29. > :25:50.edition of bull reporters this week. Goodbye for now.
:25:51. > :25:56.It will remain quite unsettled, certainly on Sunday.
:25:57. > :25:59.Cloud and outbreaks of rain thanks to this ribbon