mental illness

How Artificial Intelligence Could Help Diagnose Mental Disorders

Flickr Images People convey meaning by what they say as well as how they say it: Tone, word choice, and the length of a phrase are all crucial cues to understanding what’s going on in someone’s mind. When a psychiatrist or psychologist examines a person, they listen for these signals to get a [...]

Self-harm In Schools: The Need For More Collaboration

Pixabay Images As increasing numbers of young people suffer from mental health disorders, the capacity of mainstream schools to support and maintain these students is becoming an increasing challenge. Of particular concern is the number of young people engaging in self-harming behaviour. The 2015 Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and [...]

More US Teens May Be Facing Depression: Here’s Why

Pixabay Images Across the U.S., there's been an uptick in the percentage of teens who are having episodes of depression, a new report finds. Overall, the national percentage of teens who had major depressive episodes in the 2013-2014 report was 11 percent, up from 9.9 percent in the 2012-2013 report, the researchers found. [...]

Supporting A Young Person Who Has Been Injuring Themselves To Use Self-help Strategies

Flikr Images If a young person you care about has been injuring themselves, it’s important to seek the assistance of a mental health professional. Sometimes, there can be a waiting period to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, and even if you are able to access treatment quickly, it can take a little while [...]

From Ketamine To Cupboard Therapy: The Future Of Mental Health Treatment

Pixabay Images Once upon a time, the future of mental health treatment was drugs. The advent of Prozac and whole class of similar medication in the 1990s gave doctors an easy option and big pharma easy money. But 20 years on, the problems have not gone away. In fact, mental illness is much more [...]

Simple Blood Test May Detect Suicide Marker

Pixabay Images Australian scientists believe they have found evidence for a potential suicide marker they hope will lead to new tests and treatments for depression. “We have known for a long time that people who attempt suicide have markers of chronic inflammation in their blood and spinal fluid,” Professor Guillemin said. “Commonly used [...]

What Is Behaviour Activation For Depression?

Flikr Images A recent study from the United Kingdom found a simple form of therapy called behavioural activation (BA) is as effective in treating depression as more complex psychological treatments and even medication. So, how does BA work and what is the relationship between behaviour and emotions? What we do affects how we [...]

This Is What I Live With: How Anxiety Affects The Everyday Life of 1 In 4 Australians

Flikr Images For some it starts with chest pains and a shortage of breath. For others, worried thoughts and images repeatedly flood the brain. The symptoms of anxiety are profound and diverse but they each have a common theme -- the ability to interfere and stop a person from living a normal life. [...]

The Global Community Is Failing To Address Mental Health

Pixabay Images When it comes to mental health, the global health community has failed. Mental, neurological, and substance-use disorders are among the leading causes of the global burden of disease. By 2020, depression will be the second leading cause of disability. Suicide is a leading cause of death among adolescents. People with severe [...]

Anxiety And Aggression: When Anxiety In Children Looks Like Anger, Tantrums Or Meltdowns

Flikr Images Anxiety can be a masterful imposter. In children, it can sway away from the more typical avoidant, clingy behaviour and show itself as tantrums, meltdowns and aggression. As if anxiety wasn’t hard enough to deal with! When children are under the influence of an anxious brain, their behaviour has nothing to do [...]

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