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…
The risk of PTSD is determined by the frequency and severity of the potentially traumatic events.
AAP
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…
Bushfire affected property at Sommers Bay in Tasmania, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Residents of the worst-hit town Dunalley in the Tasmanian bushfires returned on Friday to see the full extent of the devastation.
AAP/David Beniuk
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…
Some of life’s problems are just not solvable.
Sean Dreilinger
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…
Mental health experts say uncertainty is a major factor that contributes to the mental deterioration of asylum seekers in detention.
AAP
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…
Trials show ketamine acts more quickly than other antidepressants because it affects different parts of the brain.
JLM Photography
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…
Asylum seekers are at high risk of mental disorder.
Timo Kirkkala
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…
The roadmap was released after the COAG meeting on Friday December 7, 2012.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Patrick McGorry, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Melbourne Last year at COAG, Mental Health Council of Australia CEO Frank Quinlan, social inclusion advocate David Cappo and I discussed a blueprint…
Access to mental health facilities needs to be increased, the report card said.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canonsnapper
The Australian government should provide enough mental health facilities to allow 12% of the population to access help per year, up from the current 6-8%, a government report has found. The report, A Contributing…
Over seven million Australian adults have experienced a mental illness.
Image from shutterstock.com
Allan Fels, Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG)
The National Mental Health Commission (NMHC) today released its first annual report card on the state of mental health and suicide prevention services in Australia. Called A Contributing Life, the report…
Current immigration policies promote uncertainty, fear and disempowerment, which contribute to mental illness.
AAP
The recent overhaul of Australia’s immigration policies aims to protect the lives of asylum seekers by removing any advantage of arriving by boat. Whether this goal will be achieved remains unclear. But…
Those who know the identity of their donor from a young age are less likely to experience psychological problems.
Ron Wiecki
University of Tasmania academic Meredith Nash recently argued on The Conversation that women who donate their eggs for fertility treatments should be financially compensated. It’s a risky and time-consuming…
People who were abused as children are more likely to suffer mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Dawn Ashley
There is great support within the community for the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse. Many people have high hopes it will right the wrongs of the past and help us, as a nation, to eliminate future…
Exposure to stress in infancy can create changes in the brain that may predispose teenage girls to depression and anxiety, a US study has found. Previous studies have linked infant stress, which is measured…
Whatever the specific cause of ADHD-like behaviours for a particular child, it’s the people and institutions around them that define it as problematic.
Katy Stoddard
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most diagnosed childhood disorder in Australia. Most of us now know someone, or someone’s child, who has been diagnosed with ADHD. Reports on television…
Many of us feel that our internet use verges on problematic but this is different to addiction.
justingaynor
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. The term “addiction” is conspicuously…
The cosy relationship between the psychiatry and Big Pharma has come under increasing scrutiny.
Hannah Nicole Aspire
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. In Australia, antidepressant…
As an adolescent and child psychiatrist, I dispense all sorts of labels – but what do they mean?
emildom
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist…
Overall, there will be fewer symptoms and disorders listed in the new psychiatry manual.
Axel Buhrmann
MATTERS OF THE MIND – a series which examines the clinician’s bible for diagnosing mental disorders, the DSM, and the controversy surrounding the forthcoming fifth edition. For autistic people and their…
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary