Psychiatry

When challenges arise we may feel confused, but there are five signs to help us understand when to seek mental health support

A unique ‘fingerprint’ for mental health shows promise for accelerating diagnosis and personalising treatment

Childhood maltreatment is a pervasive problem; new research sheds light on why brain development may be derailed by maltreatment during the ‘sensitive’ adolescent period

New research has created the most detailed subcortical atlas to date, mapping the most ancient part of our brain – the subcortex

Concerns that normality is being medicalised by the inflation of psychiatric diagnosis criteria appear overblown – but some conditions do need scrutiny

Physiologist Professor Scott Thompson studies how the brain changes in patients with major depression to identify more effective, faster acting antidepressants

Many people still think of electroconvulsive therapy as a barbaric treatment, often dramatised in movies, but modern ECT that includes patient’s families can help dispel the stigma

Victoria has some of the highest reported rates of restrictive practices in mental health in Australia, but the upcoming Victorian Royal Commission may not investigate them

Secluding, physically restraining or overmedicating people experiencing mental health crises still happens, but countries around the world are trialling successful alternatives

From a cup of tea behind the lines, to sophisticated psychological therapies, we are still working to improve treatments for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder