This post is by Dominique Mulhane.It’s understandable that people are uncertain and anxious about the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. Our health and in many cases our livelihood are at risk, and so many of the things that we have taken for granted in the past - the structure and routines of our lives - have been snatched away.We may no longer...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Increasing fears about the spread of Coronavirus (or COVID-19 as it's now designated), can have a dual effect. As I discovered this morning, when I went to the local pharmacy to pick up a prescription, in some cases it causes significant anxiety that manifests in different ways. One effect was evident from a casual inspection of the pharmacy shelves: hand...
By Natalie-Mai Holmes,
As Australia counts the toll from the bushfires that have seared so much of the country this summer, one insidious consequence is likely to evade our attention. The loss of life, destruction of houses, schools, farm buildings, entire streets of shops and business premises are starkly obvious, but those cultural and economic losses are only one part of the story.Most...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Having lived for many years with a young family in isolated bushland on the NSW South Coast near Cobargo, and with members of my family still living around Bermagui and Eden, even now at a distance from the events I've been deeply affected by the ongoing bushfire emergency. Several friends and acquaintances have lost their homes in this most recent...
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; min-height: 14.0px} Radio National's Life Matters hosts Hilary Harper and Michael Mackenzie had an interesting talk-back session last week on what these days is an increasingly common phenomenon: feeling overwhelmed. As bushfires swept the northern States, and The Age assured us...
Edited by Jill Wright,
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} span.s1 {text-decoration: underline ; color: #dca10d} To a psychologist in Melbourne tracking developments in mental health around the world, there seems to be an all but unbroken stream of mass media reports highlighting the dangers of depression and stories of its victims. In the past week, for instance, we've learned...
The latest All in the Mind program on ABC Radio National is an interview the ABC's Lynne Malcolm conducted with two clinical psychologists, Professor Gillian Straker and Dr Jacqui Winship, co-authors of the recently published The Talking Cure. It's definitely worth listening to. The link also provides a transcript.That title was the description one of Sigmund Freud's early patients applied to the process...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Patrisse Cullors, founder of Black Lives Matter, has some good advice for those of us who live in what The Guardian calls "impossible political times": get professional help from a mental health therapist.She is one of 17 activists the newspaper interviewed for an article on strategies activists use to say motivated, and dare one say it - sane - in...
Edited by Jill Wright,
Last week, British psychiatrists acknowledged that they had been too optimistic about the dangers of withdrawal from antidepressants. Having told patients for years that most people would be able to withdraw safely from the drugs within four weeks, they now acknowledge that some patients taking the pills long-term can experience serious side effects that can last much longer. The Royal College...
Edited by Jill Wright,
I am becoming ever more fond of the New York Times' Smarter Living section, which bills itself as offering "stories that help you understand the world - and make the most of it".Recently, for instance, its contribution to increasing its readers' understanding of the world extended to an article advocating doing nothing. A couple of years ago, it recommended an even...