A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Alex Wodak was the director of the alcohol and drug service at St Vincent's Hospital until last July, a position he held for more than 30 years. He has seen firsthand the shift towards seeking fast comfort, saying there was much more pressure on populations now compared with 20 years ago and people were turning [...]
The brain has evolved to respond in predictable ways to threats in the physical environment. Similarly, the brain is attuned to identify and reinforce behaviours that benefit our survival. These threat and reward-related circuits are well described. For example the amygdala, the most well studies threat-related brain region, responds to universally threatening stimuli such as [...]
“The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.” — Eric Hoffer As soon as an American baby is born, its parents enter into an implicit contractual obligation to answer any question about their hopes for their tiny offspring’s future with the words: “I don’t care, as long as he’s happy” (the [...]
The American Academy of Neurology released a comprehensive study last week, just before the 2012 NFL football season began, that confirms significant previously held beliefs that head injuries cause neurologic problems later in life. The study, published in the medical journal Neurology, followed approximately 3500 retired professional football players, and found that professional football players [...]
Dr Rebecca Huntley is a social researcher and author. She recently conducted the 2011 Ipsos Mackay Report, Being Australian, which explored perceptions of what it means to be 'Australian' in today's social, political and economic climate. The report involved talking to more than 100 men and women, from lower-middle to upper-middle socio-economic groups, participating in [...]
