A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Fat shaming does more harm to overweight people than any good it may provide, according to a new study. This contradicts some ideas that ridicule may encourage people to lose weight. People who are criticized about their size are more likely to become obese than those who receive positive encouragement. Researchers believe this effect was [...]
An article last week in the Sunday Telegraph attempted to shine a light on the number of student in NSW who are self-harming. According to the article, two students every week are self harming as a result of bullying or mental health issues. I’m of the opinion that this is grossly underestimating the real number. [...]
Generation after generation, one thing parents can count on is being baffled or confused by their children’s behavior. While new generations of teenagers have access to things their parents did not--Google Glass and Apple’s newly announced iWatch could be the smartphones of tomorrow--this does not explain why teenagers, regardless of generation, continue to behave in [...]
Anyone who has ever experienced depression truly understands its devastating effects. For some people, depression is a debilitating illness. It robs a person of their energy, concentration and pleasure. People who are in a state of depression cannot find enjoyment in whatever they do. In some severe cases, people are known to lose their will [...]
Following the tragic death of Robin Williams, Lifeline Australia saw a 25% increase in calls. When faced with someone in crisis, many people don’t know what to do, or how to help. Some are concerned about making things worse. This means many people don’t approach the person at all. The person in crisis may feel [...]
Can you remember watching Jamie’s School Dinners and being horrified at what UK and US schools were serving up to kids on a daily basis? Can you remember shaking your head in disbelief as school principals, canteen supervisors and local administrators continually argued that healthy food wasn’t financially viable in a school setting? I mean, [...]
The United Nations hosted a "High Level Meeting on Happiness and Well-being" in New York this week. The confab's point was that judging the success of societies solely by material measures such as Gross National Product fails to capture everything that goes into a life well-lived. True enough, but I do wonder how accurate a [...]
The risk posed by some popular antidepressants in early pregnancy is not worth taking for women with mild to moderate depression, an expert has warned. Professor Stephen Pilling says evidence suggests SSRIs can double the risk of a child being born with a heart defect. The drugs have been used by up to one in [...]
On Friday 30 May, NSW Mental Health Commissioner, John Feneley addressed teachers, nurses, social workers, police and mental health professionals as he officially opened the Sydney Generation Next seminar. Held at the Sydney Town Hall, the Generation Next seminar saw more than 1000 professionals from across multiple disciplines come together to learn how to support [...]
Our brains might be adapting to an emoticon-filled world by processing them differently. Today emoticons are so pervasive that behavioral science has taken an active interest in how people use them. Among the evidence (recently surveyedby Roni Jacobson at the great new Science of Usblog), we find that women use more emoticons than men, that using [...]
