A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Focusing on Sydney teen Matthew, who has struggled with an addiction to computer games, this article examines how Australia is doing at treating gaming disorder following its official classification as a disorder by the World Health Organisation. We hear from Andrew Kinch, founder of Game Aware and former problem gamer, whose mission is to put [...]
Australia has invested an extraordinary amount of time and effort into putting in place bullying prevention programs – especially across schools. But what happens when your bully is your own flesh and blood, and lives with you, so you have no escape? Sibling bullying tends to fly under the radar, in large part because many bullies [...]
You glance at your teen’s smartphone and see a text message light up the screen. Was that a sext you just saw? Questions flood your mind. Is this what kids are doing nowadays? Does this mean my child is having sex too? Sexting — the exchange of sexual messages, photographs or videos via technological devices [...]
Nearly any symptom can have multiple causes. This is difficult enough to deal with in medicine, but in mental health there are few to no physical symptoms, only behaviour and a patient's self-reporting of their thoughts and emotions. Add to this a child's limited ability to express themselves, and it's no mystery why many childhood [...]
There has been increasing awareness recently that many girls on the autism spectrum are overlooked until much later in life, which can be the source of confusion and distress for the girls themselves and those who care for them. The reason behind this has been rightfully attributed to girls with autism presenting differently to a [...]
If your child spends long hours playing video games, you might be worried they’re addicted. “Gaming disorder” is real, and has now been classified as a disease in the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD). The new ICD will be adopted in 2022. If you are worried about your [...]
Both in Europe and the US, more than 90% of adolescents have their faces buried in screens before bed. Often, this comes at a cost to sleep. Frequent screen users are much more likely to report falling asleep later, sleeping less, and waking during the night. Such difficulties are linked not only to poorer academic [...]
It's never been easier to seek out instant gratification and to stave off boredom almost indefinitely. So it's not surprising that many young people are struggling with the repetitive, often boring practice and study required to master skills and cement new knowledge. Anyone can be taught the value and the how-to of deliberate practice, however. [...]
Despite all the progress made, our society still puts women through the wringer emotionally. From impossible body standards, to victim blaming, to the pressure to always put others before themselves, there is a whole lot for women to deal with from their teens and beyond. Although parents and caregivers can't shield girls from the world, [...]
The young man sitting in the waiting room of our neuroimaging facility wearing skinny jeans and trainers looked like a typical Spanish 20-year-old of Moroccan origin. Yassine* was bouncy, chatting up the research assistants, and generally in good spirits. He was like so many other Barcelona youths, except he openly expressed a desire to engage [...]
