Around 350 million people worldwide have depression. Antidepressant medications are often prescribed to treat the condition, alongside talking therapies and lifestyle changes such as regular exercise…
Five years on, the bush and people are recovering well from the Black Saturday fires.
AAP Image/Joe Castro
Five years on from the devastating Black Saturday fires that swept through central Victoria in February 2009, research shows that people and communities are largely recovering well. In the first major…
A growing body of research suggests placebos may be as good as real drugs for treating depression.
Victor/Flickr
Seventeenth-century Oxford scholar Robert Burton’s lifework, The Anatomy of Melancholy, weighs in at a door-stopping 1,400 pages. But his cure for the “Black Choler” of depression came down to just six…
Masculinity plays an important role in dealing with problems such as depression. Men often don’t feel able to reach out for assistance because both the symptoms of depression and the act of seeking help…
Depression is a major, if not the major, cause of suicide. Every year, almost one million people die from suicide around the world. Depression is often seen as a disorder of the developed world; mental…
Robin Williams died at the age of 63.
Claudio Onorati/EPA
Robin Williams’s suicide has led many to open up about depression in an effort to raise awareness about how many people are living in misery. One of the most common themes in this public discussion has…
Rates of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders are particularly high among marginalised groups such as homeless people.
glowcake Berlin/Flickr
Robin Williams’ death earlier this week has unleashed an outpouring of grief. It’s undeniable that Williams brought much joy and laughter to the world, but he also talked openly about his depression and…
People seeking therapy should always talk to a practitioner who provides good quality treatment that’s appropriate to their needs. Because research shows that even the innocuous-sounding “talking therapies…
Antidepressants might actually be underprescribed.
Charles Williams/Flickr
There is a persistent media hype surrounding the notion that the prescription of antidepressants is “at record levels”, and “on the rise”. Yet numerous studies have shown that most people with depression…
Supermodel Kate Moss’ quip that “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” captured the sense in society that being thin is the recipe for happiness. Obesity causes a range of health problems, including…
Over the last half century, the global food industry has profoundly changed the way we eat. While we understand how these dietary changes have impacted physical health, their effect on mental well-being…
The use of anabolic steroids has been associated primarily with men. But over the past few decades, we’ve been discovering more about different groups who use these drugs – including women and younger…
People who attribute mental illness to brain disease or genes tend to blame affected people less, but see them as more hopeless and dangerous.
lauren rushing/Flickr
Depression, schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions are increasingly linked to abnormalities in the brain and in our genes. Many professionals believe these developments hold the key to better treatments…
Dejected South Korean fans after their team lost against Algeria.
EPA/Kim Chul-Soo
Several studies appear to show quite noticeable associations between hosting and performance at World Cups and suicide rates. When France hosted (and won) the football World Cup in 1998, the suicide rate…
Hormones are one of many factors that can trigger or perpetuate mental ill health.
Sascha Kohlmann/Flickr
Political controversies often use the suffix “gate” to embellish their significance. In pop psychology, the equivalent is the made-up “syndrome”, which involves a combination of symptoms and circumstances…
Good things happen as we get older. We start to have grandchildren and great grandchildren. We celebrate our 80th birthdays and 60th wedding anniversaries. Growing old doesn’t mean inevitable depression…