Unexplained, chronic pain known as fibromyalgia affects up to 5% of the population. Yet there are no effective treatment options for the millions for whom each day begins with persistent pain.
The government has acknowledged that just sending people off for a set number of psychology sessions is an inadequate response, particularly for people with more complex conditions.
LoloStock/Shutterstock
The reforms announced today have the potential to change this appalling situation. But ultimately they should be judged on the outcomes they achieve for patients.
Mental illness is about brain function, not individual weakness.
Denis Balibouse/Reuters Pics
Severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and dementia are disorders that are ultimately traced to brain function, and not the manifestations of individual weaknesses.
Sleep problems often occur just before an episode of mental illness.
Stokkete/shutterstock
Despite the many people with mental illness who go to prison, successful defences of mental impairment are rare. But this is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card and should be more accessible.
Early intervention and diversion away from the criminal justice system can enable Aboriginal people with mental and cognitive disabilities to live with dignity.
AAP/Richard Ashen
The predictable path into prison for Aboriginal people with disabilities is preventable. Here are some solutions.
Men are more likely to use cannabis because of external factors such as peer use, and women for internal factors such as anxiety.
Iriana Shiyan/Shutterstock
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug with more than 181 million consumers worldwide, three quarters of whom are men. Why do men and women use cannabis?
Australians are less likely to see a person with an anxiety disorder as warranting professional help.
David Goehring/Flickr
Australians have come a long way in understanding depression. Most recognise the symptoms and believe in the value of professional help. But anxiety disorders have been left behind.
So you’re depressed. You know this because a health profession has told you so, or because there is no mistaking the symptoms. Perhaps you’ve been depressed before. What now?
Professor Pat Dudgeon and Tony Jones, speaking on Q&A, October 5, 2015.
Q&A
Q&A presenter Tony Jones asked psychologist and research fellow Pat Dudgeon if Indigenous youth suicide rates across the top half of Australia are the highest in the world. We check the research evidence.
People who believe their problems have biogenetic causes tend to opt for biomedical treatments.
Tim Caynes/Flickr
Biological and genetic explanations of mental illness can weaken people’s sense of control and optimism, and create a bias against effective psychological interventions.
Some women are very sensitive to small shifts in hormones, others aren’t.
Petras Gagilas/flickr
In recent times, we have learnt more about the connections between the “reproductive” or gonadal hormones and the brain, and how they affect not only women but men as well.
The erection of barriers and nets at public sites with a high incidence of suicide results in far fewer deaths – at the site and nearby locations.
Jane Pirkis
On closing the asylums, Australia failed to invest in an alternative model of community mental health care. So there are few alternatives between the GP surgery and the hospital emergency department.
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions in the world.
from shutterstock.com
Graeme Jackson, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health
Saying someone has epilepsy is a little like saying they’re ill. Its cause can vary from a brain tumour to an inherited genetic condition, the consequence of injury or a disorder affecting the brain.
People with intellectual disabilities and either behavioural disturbance, autism or dementia are significantly more likely to be prescribed anti-psychotic drugs.
Sandra Bland’s body is removed from a Texas jail.
Waller County Sheriff's Office/via REUTERS
With the rate of suicide on the rise, it’s time to train law enforcement officials to recognize the signs of mental illness.
A diagnostic label such as borderline personality disorder, with its stigma and propensity to invalidate the person’s suffering, clearly has many negative impacts.
madamepsychosis/Flickr
Diagnostic labels usually describe symptoms, attempt to answer the question of what is wrong, and lead to a treatment plan. But “borderline personality disorder” fails on all three counts.
Parental responsibilities may motivate people with mental illnesses to remain in treatment.
Spirit-Fire