FEMALE MYTHS:The Beacon Hospital will host a seminar dealing with myths about women's health next week. The myths covered in the seminar will include: that period pain must simply be tolerated and that heavy bleeding necessitates a hysterectomy.
"Gynaecology - from mythology to modern management" will take place on Wednesday, August 1st at 6.30pm.
The seminar, to mark the opening of the Beacon Hospital Women's Health Centre, will be given by two consultant gynaecologists, Dr Sharon Moss and Dr Kent Ayers. Admission is free, but anyone interested in attending is asked to register their interest by email at: procomm@indigo.ie
TREATMENT OPTIONS:To mark Lucia Week, the national schizophrenia awareness week, Schizophrenia Ireland will launch a new document: Your Choice: Lifestyle, Medication and Recovery.
John Saunders, director of Schizophrenia Ireland, said: "One of the most common issues for people who experience poor mental health is the absence of treatment options. Generally speaking, medication is the preferred option of most Irish psychiatrists, and in many areas, is the only real choice available to users of the public health services."
Your Choice aims to help people find the best arrangement within the mental healthcare services to allow recovery.
For further information on Lucia Week events around the country, tel: 01-860 1620 or see sirl.ie
SUICIDE STUDY:More professional support services should be provided to help save the lives of people considering suicide in the North, a University of Ulster study recommends.
The research also urges the establishment of a database on suicide incidence and for pressure to be applied to internet providers to control or ban sites that support and encourage suicide in vulnerable people. The study looked at 60 suicides in the Derry area between January 2000 and December 2005. A peak in the number of suicides was recorded in the month of July.