Here in Western Australia we have had the case of Andrew Mallard who was jailed for 12 years and who was said to be suffering from mental illness at the time of arrest. Yet the mental health authority has said nothing about this matter

Ashford, you wrote of the prevalence of mental illness in prisoners. Essentially, prisoners have ingrained habit patterns which are harmful to themselves and to society. To improve their lives, and their mental health, they need to change their self-destructive habit patterns. Not easy!

One technique which has proved very successful since it was introduced into Indian prisons in 1976 is Vipassana meditation. Vipassana is the only way I know to break down deep-seated habit patterns. It involves observation at deep levels of the workings of one's own mind and body, understanding the changing nature of existence at the experiential level. This experience weakens the process of reaction, craving and aversion, attachment, which forms our habits, and helps dissolve old habits.

Courses for up to 10,000 prisoners have been held in India, and successful prison courses have been held in many other countries, including the US and UK. In Australia, NSW agreed to the use of the technique in prisons about a decade ago, but it has not been implemented. At about the same time, I was involved in a presentation to Corrective Services officers in Queensland. They were deeply impressed, but nothing happened.

There are two excellent videos around - the award winning "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana" about the Indian experience and "Changing from inside," from a Seattle prison.

For further info on Vipassana, www.dhamma.org. I'm not sure if that discusses its use in prisons, I'll look for a link.

My own experience of prison is only one night on remand, but I do have extensive experience of depression. Alchemist, I'm sure that diet wasn't a significant factor in my case, and my first suicidal episode preceded drug use. I understand many of the causes, the intellectual understanding didn't help but Vipassana has. While diet may be an influence, it is dealing with the deep-seated mental causes which is most important.

As a vipassana meditator I can only agree that it is a wonderful technique faustino but this thread is about mental illness and it is policy of the Vipassana Foundation not to put people with mental illness on their courses and they have their reasons for it. It is no solution for the mentally ill if they are not allowed to practice it.

Aziliz, there are certainly people with mental illness who would not cope with a Vipassana course. However, many of those sitting the prison courses would have mental illnesses. As an experienced student, I have sat courses when known to be mentally ill, and some years ago managed courses on which mentally ill people sat and benefitted.

I think that restrictions were imposed after a seriously mentally ill student in England concealed their illness prior to the course, and sued the organisers afterwards. The outcome was a costly settlement, not a good use of donated funds, and further checks and restrictions on prospective students were introduced.

As for prisoners, there have been outstanding results in India, and early outcomes at Seattle found a significant reduction in recividism among those who sat a course compared to those who didn't. (I've sought updated info.)

yes, Faustino but the point is this restriction is imposed now and the mentally ill are not accepted onto courses because of it. And this thread is about mental illness and only mentions prisons as many mentally ill wind up there.

I simply pointed out the fact because I thought it may be unfair to present Vipassana as a solution on a post about mental illness when if anyone tries to then contact the Vipassana Foundation to find out about a course for their mentally ill relative/friend or if they are themselves mentally ill they will be knocked back.

On the other hand it may be useful for carers.

Faustino - "I'm sure that diet wasn't a significant factor in my case."

How do you know for sure? Have you ever been tested to prove that your pancreatic function and blood sugar levels are normal? Is there a history of diabetes in your family? If so, then there's a high chance your pancreas is not functioning properly.

There is a proven link between experiencing depression and mental illness and having wildly fluctuating and low blood sugar or glucose levels. To function correctly the brain needs water, oxygen and glucose, and problems develop if the existence of any one of these elements is impaired. Glucose impairment can be corrected through diet and nutritional supplementation.

It has been estimated that 2/3 of prisoners are hypoglycemic.