A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
What is wrong with our children today? According to a joint report from The Black Dog Institute and Mission Australia, around one in four teenagers have experienced a "probable mental illness", which means one in five have had depression or anxiety or both. According to the same report, teenage girls are twice as likely as [...]
Racing heart, tingling hands, sweating, dizziness – the all too common symptoms that anxious people experience on a daily basis. Bev Aisbett, anxiety expert, says that anxiety and depression are just a fact of life that we can work on managing. “It’s a part of how we learn because what we’re challenged by is often our [...]
It was a cry for help from a parent that made Menslink realise that a growing number of primary school boys were in need of mental health support. Now 10 to 12-year-old boys make up 12 per cent of the male support group’s client case, which CEO Martin Fisk said was not unusual and reflected the national [...]
When it comes to managing anxiety, science just lent more credibility to the advice to “stay busy.” Engaging the brain to stay busy with problem-solving appears to be an effective buffer against debilitating anxiety, especially in those prone to the worst of the condition, according to a new brain imaging study from Duke University researchers. The [...]
Social trends do not move in straight lines. They are somewhat like pendulums; when they go too far in one direction, gravity pulls them back in the other. The reverse swing has been bound to occur with antibullyism (which I consider a more fitting term for the “anti-bullying movement”). I see it already beginning and [...]
White children are more likely to suffer mental health issues than their peers, a major study has found. The rise of marital breakdown has been blamed for the higher instance of “emotional problems” among white children, with researchers pointing to “better family cohesion” in ethnic communities. A report published today [THURS] details findings from the [...]
A study has shown that encouraging children to take risks, be competitive and engage in rough and tumble play can help prevent childhood anxiety disorders. But, unfortunately, this type of play is more commonly experienced by young boys than girls. The study, which was undertaken by the Macquarie University's Centre for Emotional Health, the University of Amsterdam and the University of Reading, took [...]
It’s difficult not to get stressed in our fast-paced lives. Whether you’re working overtime, battling exams, or caring for a sick relative, chronic stress has become commonplace. When we’re acutely stressed, the fight-or-flight system jumps into action, sending a surge of adrenaline through the body. This product of evolution dramatically increases our reaction speed and [...]
Roughly one in five students drop out of university in Australia in their first year. Students with prior emotional difficulties, who are doing their degrees part-time, mature age at entry, or from a lower socioeconomic status background are most likely to be in this category. Not all of these factors can be changed. But there are ways parents and [...]
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and two other anxiety disorders - separation anxiety and social anxiety - are among the most commonly experienced psychiatric problems in youngsters. Similar to adult estimates, girls are about twice as likely as boys to have GAD. GAD symptoms are distressing and can be impairing not just for the child or teen; the family [...]
