大象传媒

INTOXICATION OF POWER
Power is a heady drug when exercised in the political arena, and it appears that not every political leader has the necessary character to counteract its effects. The Greeks called it hubris, where the hero wins power and glory but then becomes puffed up with pride and self confidence.

Dr David Owen was a neurologist before he became a politician and has long been interested in the effect of ill health on heads of government. In his new book entitled The Hubris Syndrome, Lord Owen reveals and explores a pattern of hubristic behaviour manifest in some political leaders; he argues that it could legitimately be deemed to constitute a medically recognised syndrome.

NEW BOARD GAME
Thirteen projects up and down the country are competing for a share of half a million pounds of prize money. NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts is putting up the money in an attempt to boost innovative grassroots projects in the field of mental health.

Carol Anne Bristow鈥檚 project at the Lonsdale Unit in Lancaster is one of the schemes on the shortlist. Carol developed a simple board game, based on Monopoly, which gave in-patients an equal say in the way their building and environment was designed. Winning the prize could secure a manufacturer and turn the prototype into an actual board game. Jill Hopkins went to meet Carol Anne Bristow and Dave, a service user who鈥檚 been very involved in transforming the Lonsdale Unit using the board game.

STATUTORY REGULATION
Psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, many titles, all with very different qualifications and approaches. So how can the public get to see the right professional, properly trained and regulated? The government is introducing statutory regulation across this field and one of the first professions in line for regulation is psychology.

Members of The British Psychological Society - the representative body for psychologists and psychology in the United Kingdom - already have a strict code of ethics and a powerful disciplinary procedure. While they agree with the government鈥檚 intention to regulate, they鈥檙e not at all happy about the body that the government has chosen to oversee them. The BPS鈥檚 president, Professor Pam Maras, discusses their concerns.