Women admitted to psychiatry wards experience high levels of violence and sexual assaults, according to a report released this week by the Victorian Mental Illness Alliance Council. Across the nine different…
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is due to hit psychiatrists’ and psychologists’ shelves next month. Produced by the American Psychiatric…
Fiona Mensah, Murdoch Children's Research Institute and George Patton, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Puberty has long been recognised as a transition point in which many emotional and behavioural problems emerge. These include depression and anxiety, substance use and abuse, self-harm and eating disorders…
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s recent announcement that barriers are to be erected on the Story Bridge in an effort to reduce suicides is very welcome. Studies consistently show that barriers have…
Bullies and their victims are at a higher risk of young adult psychiatric disorders, a new US study has found, with the worst effects seen in those who are both victims and perpetrators. In a study published…
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and intersex (LGBTI) people were recognised as being specific high-risk groups for suicide in a 2010 senate committee report. While every suicide may not be preventable…
People have probably always known about the psychological effects of experiencing life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, or violent assault. Literature through the ages – some…
Many people know what it’s like to feel sad or down from time to time. We can experience negative emotions due to many things – a bad day at work, a relationship break-up, a sad film, or just getting out…
Barely a week passes without media coverage of some aspect of the real or perceived impacts of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) and drive-in drive-out (DIDO) work, especially in the mining sector. We hear about the…
Serving on operational deployments in conflict zones carries not only the obvious physical threats, it also poses significant mental health risks. While depression and anxiety disorders are common among…
Radical circumstances (bushfires and natural disasters) flush out the mental illness in society. Whenever there’s a disaster, there’s a rush on hospital admissions for psychiatric problems. But on the…
We all do it from time to time – replay scenarios over and over in our minds. Problem is, these repetitive and, at times, uncontrollable thoughts inevitably leave us feeling worse and make us more prone…
The “prison-like” immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island are not appropriate for asylum seekers, and there has been a rise in the demand for mental health services at the facility, according…
The drug ketamine has been used for medical purposes since it was developed in the 1960s, but it is perhaps more widely known for its illicit use as a hallucinogenic tranquiliser. Now we’re beginning to…
Watching the second version of “offshore processing” on Nauru and Manus Island has been frustrating and painful – not least for those of us involved in immigration detention issues for the past decade…
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary