Mental Health & Wellbeing

‘Like A Spider That Keeps Building Its Web’: Family of Sexual Abuse Survivor Speaks Out

Pixabay Images When Meg was 12, her mother, Annie, found herself unable to look at her. Seeing her daughter made Annie feel unsettled, at times almost angry. At first, she couldn’t figure out why. “And then, Meg turned 13 and suddenly, everything slid into place for me,” Annie says. “I found myself thinking, [...]

‘At First, She Just Missed Breakfast’: Living With My Sister’s Eating Disorder

Hugh Johnson for the Guardian The siblings of those with anorexia or other eating disorders are often overlooked. The UK’s leading eating disorder charity, Beat, has described siblings as the “forgotten victims”. In one report on the charity’s website, eight teenagers with anorexic sisters were interviewed about their experiences. All were negatively affected, [...]

Gambling Gallops On, Stats Reveal – But What Can Be Done To Curb Its Harms?

Pixabay Images Data released late last week reveal Australia’s gambling habit is growing as fast as ever. The Australian Gambling Statistics for 2014-15 show adult Australians, on average, lost A$1,242 a year on gambling. The amount varies dramatically by state: in New South Wales the average loss was $1,518; in Tasmania, $762. Most [...]

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 [...]

Don’t Try To Be Happy. We’re Programmed To Be Dissatisfied.

Flickr Images In the 1990s, a psychologist named Martin Seligman led the positive psychology movement, which placed the study of human happiness squarely at the centre of psychology research and theory. It continued a trend that began in the 1960s with humanistic and existential psychology, which emphasized the importance of reaching one’s innate [...]

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. [...]

Three Personality Traits Of Aggressive People

Pixabay Images Aggressive and confrontational people who become perpetrators of violence can be easily identified by a "red triad" of personality traits, a Texan researcher told a conference on reducing aggression on Saturday. William Ickes, a personality and social psychologist from the University of Texas, Arlington, told the 22nd world meeting of the [...]

Teaching Kids Empathy: In Danish Schools, It’s…Well, It’s A Piece Of Cake

Flikr Images We all know what a Danish pastry is — that delightful caloric bomb of glazed breakfast deliciousness. But what about a Danish classroom cake? And moreover, how can this help teach empathy? In the Danish education system empathy is considered as important as teaching math and literature, and it is woven [...]

The Benefits Of Mentoring

Flikr Images A key protective factor enabling young people to make a successful transition into adulthood has been identified as a relationship with a caring adult outside the young person’s immediate family.[1] In a study on resilience, Emily Werner and a team of professionals followed the development of children born in 1955 on [...]

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