A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
There is a scene in James Redford’s new film, Resilience, in which a paediatrician cites a parental misdeed so outmoded as to seem bizarre. “Parents used to smoke in the car with kids in the back and the windows rolled up,” she says, incredulous. How long ago those days now seem; how wise today’s parents [...]
An Australian suicide study has shown a worrying failure in communication between family members and health professionals. Professor Brian Draper, lead researcher from UNSW, said the study identified a gap in the medical guideline about health professionals sharing information with relatives. The research team examined 74 suicide cases in New South Wales and Queensland, and [...]
Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) listed depression as the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. Not lung cancer, obesity or heart disease (on their own, individual fronts), but depression -- a common and serious mood disorder that, today, will reach one in seven Australians alone at some point in their [...]
You’re always tired, but not sleepy. You find yourself breaking down for no apparent reason while getting ready in the morning. Simple tasks like grocery shopping can suddenly become overwhelming. If you are a person who suffers from anxiety, insomnia or depression, chances are that one of those statements, or maybe all three, resonate with [...]
Depression is a devastating disorder. Once you have had an episode of depression your susceptibility to having further periods of depression increases. Resilient Youth’s research on 160,000 young people shows the rates of students who are at risk of depression increases across the years of school. Years Girls Boys [...]
Having depression is like wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. It starts to color your worldview and suddenly everything can feel very hollow and hopeless. You might find that things which used to bring you joy, now are met with a deep sense of numbness. Your thoughts may begin to get increasingly negative. You might [...]
Schools are struggling to access support to deal with a surge in the number of children and young people suffering from mental health issues. Evidence given from teachers across the country suggests children as young as four are suffering from mental health problems such as panic attacks, eating disorders, anxiety and depression. Responding to a [...]
It’s difficult for parents to know if their teen is a victim of cyberbullying. Many teens choose not to tell, worried their device will be taken away. Instead, your daughter might complain of “drama at school.” Or maybe your son feels embarrassed or ashamed. Bullying makes most people feel weak and powerless. According to Bark, [...]
Nearly 1 in 4 Australian teenagers meet the criteria for having a "probable serious mental illness", a joint report from Mission Australia and the Black Dog Institute has found. The Five Year Mental Health Youth Report presented findings from the past five Mission Australia youth surveys, during which thousands of adolescents answered questions on several [...]
Mental disorders are currently defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which includes hundreds of distinct diagnostic categories, but a new study we worked on suggests we could do better. Each category in the DSM has a checklist of criteria. If you meet “enough” (often, just over half) of these criteria, [...]
