A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Flickr Images Do your work responsibilities and recreational choices involve a lot of computer use? Are you in the habit of updating social media through the day? Are you finding it weirdly difficult to concentrate on this paragraph? If the answer to all three questions was in the affirmative, this might not be [...]
Pixabay Images For children on the autism spectrum, very early social skills training, preferably before school age, can have a major impact on later development. But a lot of kids are missing that crucial intervention. For many, it’s not because they’re not getting diagnosed—it’s because they’re getting a different diagnosis first. Often, it’s [...]
Have you ever been to Enfield? I had never even heard of it until I was 23 and living in London for graduate school. One afternoon, I received notification that a package whose arrival I had been anticipating for days had been bogged down in customs and was now in a FedEx warehouse in Enfield, [...]
Flikr Images Children with attention problems in early childhood were 40 percent less likely to graduate from high school, says a new study from Duke University that examines how early childhood characteristics affect academic performance. The results highlight the need to develop effective early interventions to help those with attention problems stay on [...]
When university student Jen* faced a seven-hour shift at work after a night of socialising, she turned away from coffee to help her stay awake and picked up a little white pill. The Charles Sturt University student took a Ritalin pill just before midnight and when she got home, she was able to study, tidy [...]
"This is a major concern. Antipsychotics are strong drugs with serious side effects such as obesity, diabetes and sedation, and these tend to be worse in young people. Despite this, these drugs are increasingly used in situations where other treatments may be safer and more appropriate," said Karanges. Use of the main ADHD medication Ritalin [...]
Sociology influences medicine more than we like to admit. One only needs to look at the history of psychiatric disorders – a term used broadly here to incorporate developmental disorders – to see how “normal” in one era is often deemed “abnormal” in another. And how the dividing line between these two ends is often [...]
Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at the University of Kent, warned that "society has become increasingly drawn towards using medication as a substitute for authoritative teaching and child-rearing". He added that he believes that we are going through a "cultural redefinition of some of the normal problems of childhood." So when does being a naughty [...]
Chicago doctor Richard Saul argues in his deliberately controversial book ADHD Does Not Exist, which has just been published in Australia. ''Not a single individual - not even the person who finds it close to impossible to pay attention or sit still - is afflicted by the disorder called ADHD,'' Saul says. Yet he sees [...]
Everyday chemicals are damaging the brains of unborn and young children, leading to conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and lost IQ points, according to two prominent doctors. In an article published Friday in the journal Lancet Neurology, the two argue that chemicals should be better tested before being allowed on the market, and called for [...]
