The TGA is currently evaluating a proposal to legalise MDMA and psilocybin for the treatment of mental illness. But there are a few reasons Australia isn’t quite ready to take this step.
Drugs like ketamine can relieve depression symptoms, including suicidal thoughts, within hours, but they also carry risks that patients need to understand.
While seemingly an alternative to solitary confinement, Structured Intervention Units have been a catastrophic failure, especially for imprisoned people with mental illness.
Poor mental health costs the Australian economy up to A$220 billion a year, according to the Productivity Commission. It will take more than piecemeal ‘announceables’ to fix the situation.
Terminally ill research participants wanted to have the option of assisted dying if they needed it, and felt they knew best when the time was right for them to die.
Parents of young children are reporting alarming increases in anxiety and depression during COVID-19. This is not only a risk to parents’ mental health, but also to children’s long-term well-being.
Nina Papalia, Swinburne University of Technology and James Ogloff, Swinburne University of Technology
New research has found child sex abuse survivors are far more likely to be the victims of a range of crimes as adults. The reasons why – and who is most vulnerable – are complex.
With most therapy sessions now online, a psychologist explores whether more self-disclosure by therapists – sharing more about their own lives – might help their patients.
Australia has managed to house the homeless in hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic. We now have an opportunity to be thinking about longer-term solutions.
Mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness. Positive mental health involves feeling good and functioning well, and there are ways to improve even if you don’t have a mental illness.