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Heslop, Folkes and Roger's article about the knowledge and experiences of people with learning disabilities and their carers of psychiatric drugs, and Lim's audit of prescription regimes in a hospital for people with severe learning disabilities in Hong Kong, add weight and substance to a substantial body of evidence which suggests that people with learning disabilities are often prescribed inappropriate, and at times excessive, amounts of psychotropic medication and that many staff/carers lack sufficient knowledge and skills to monitor and manage such medications (Singh et al, 1996). A number of years ago we wrote a review of the use of psychotropic drugs for people with learning disabilities (Stenfert Kroese et al, 2001) which included a number of recommendations. The Heslop et al and Lim papers bring up many issues which were relevant to these recommendations.

This paper seeks to discuss recent research concerning the subjective experience of recovery from severe mental health difficulties, with the aim of appraising the extent to which this literature has attended to the role of environmental and social conditions.

Following an overview of research focusing on environmental and social conditions and mental health generally, a focused literature review was undertaken to analyse gaps within the recovery literature, specifically in relation to the importance of environmental or social contexts. Thematic analysis was used to derive salient themes from this literature. Research methodologies are appraised with regards to the extent to which they are congruent with an examination of the context of recovery.

A total of 11 papers relating to the impact of place or context on recovery were reviewed. Key themes identified were: the relationship between place, social context, and identity; safety and security; social connectedness; and contradictory impacts of the mental health system. The authors argue that recent qualitative research has over emphasised the subjective experience of recovery at the expense of a rich description of the place in which research is conducted. This approach dislocates recovery from its geographical location and the wider political and economic system in which it occurs.

A gap is identified within the current literature concerning recovery from severe mental health difficulties. In order to better understand the environmental factors that contribute to recovery, research needs to include rich descriptions of place, i.e. the physical and social environment as situated within the wider political and economic context.

A quarterly reflection on recent research into mental health and social inclusion issues.

Introducing a new regular page listing reports, publications and training materials of relevance to readers. If you come across new publications, training materials, websites or other resources that might be of interest to other readers, please send details to Tracey Austin e tracey.austin1@btopenworld.com

Purpose – This chapter examines the role of the media, guns, and violence in the social construction of masculinity in today's mediatized American culture.

Methodology – The chapter draws on critical theory and cultural studies to address crises of masculinity and school shootings. It applies and further develops Guy Debord's (1970) theory on spectacle in the contexts of contemporary violent media spectacles.

Findings – In the chapter it is argued that school shooters, and other indiscriminate gun killers, share male rage and attempts to resolve crises of masculinity through violent behavior; exhibit a fetishism of guns or weapons; and resolve their crises through violence orchestrated as a media spectacle. This demands growing awareness of mediatization of American gun culture, and calls for a need for more developed understanding of media pedagogy as a means to create cultural skills of media literacy, as well as arguing for more rational gun control and mental health care.

Originality/value of paper – The chapter contributes to the contemporary debate on mediatization of violence by discussing it within critical theory and cultural studies. The theoretical framework is applied to analysis of a range of different empirical cases ranging from school shootings to the Colorado movie theater massacre at the first night of the latest Batman movie in the summer of 2012.

Popular images in romantic comedies of the gallant knight and relationships that end with “Happily Ever After” affect women's expectations of what a relationship should be like and what a man should do in the relationship. This standard is mediated by both the women's interaction with the movie and its images, along with patriarchal notions of women wanting, and even needing a relationship. Using in-depth interviews from 18 heterosexual women, this study focuses on displaying how women are impacted by romantic movies and, using a Feminist Interactionist Cultural Studies perspective, how women interact with these movies to construct meaning in their own lives and relationships, while still maintaining the gendered status quo.

The purpose of this research is to examine ritualistic humor or joking that exists in a small, rural police department in Western New York.

Data were collected through participatory observations and interviews during the summer of 2014. Both authors worked in tandem to capitalize on individual expertise to maximize data collection and analyses.

Results suggest that humor is leveraged by officers to socialize, cope and demarcate authority. Depending on the circumstance, humor can be orchestrated or spontaneous, given the intentions of the officer.

Humor is an important lens through which to view police behavior. The current research underscores the importance of levity as a gauge of organizational and individual health.

Stephen Hodgetts read the e-mail over and over again and still could hardly believe what he had read. He had just come back from his vacation, well rested and refreshed, and this e-mail had dampened his high enthusiasm. It took time to absorb such bad news and for Hodgetts to get over his incredulity.Yet in the end Hodgetts accepted the truth‐a deep, dark terrible truth that would not go away. Robert Davis, his business partner’s son, had confirmed in an e-mail his worst fears about their newest business partner, David Russ.Many thoughts were running through his mind simultaneously yet each screamed to be heard.“How could he and his partner Richard Davis have been so blind, so trusting?” “How could Russ not have heeded the advice of his business partner, Richard Davis, Russ’s former English professor?” And most important, “What was now going to happen to their new business?” Yet the one thought that continued to echo among them all was surprisingly a quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved character, Sherlock Holmes: “But there are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them.”

The purpose of this paper is to examine recovery through lived experience. It is part of a series that explores candid accounts of addiction and recovery to identify important components in the recovery process.

The G-CHIME model comprises six elements important to addiction recovery (growth, connectedness, hope, identity, meaning in life and empowerment). It provides a standard to against which to consider addiction recovery, having been used in this series, as well as in the design of interventions that improve well-being and strengthen recovery. In this paper, a first-hand account is presented, followed by a semi-structured e-interview with the author of the account. Narrative analysis is used to explore the account and interview through the G-CHIME model.

This paper shows that addiction recovery is a remarkable process that can be effectively explained using the G-CHIME model. The significance of each component in the model is apparent from the account and e-interview presented.

Each account of recovery in this series is unique, and as yet, untold.

Buildings are a substantial contributor towards CO2 levels, and design methods to make buildings much more energy efficient are evolving. In the UK, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) has been in operation for over ten years. The scheme is intended to produce a label that distinguishes sustainable developments in the marketplace. This paper uses an in‐depth case study to examine the role of BREEAM in the design and marketing of a city centre office development. The influence of BREEAM in the design process and among the designers is seen as significant, but its influence in the property market is not explicit. The paper concludes that internal environmental conditions are increasingly important to occupiers, but evidence of sustainable development being led by the market is not observed in this case study.