Schizophrenia: early detection study

This story from ABC radio discusses new research that uses a faulty sense of smell to the predict the onset of schizophrenia. The research was done by a team at the Unversity of Melbourne. The research was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. You can access the abstract here, but may need to contact your library to access the full article.

Australian Alcohol Indicators, 1990-2001: Patterns of alcohol use and related harms for Australian states and territories

"This report presents health, road safety, industry and survey data to describe trends in risky alcohol use and serious alcohol-related harms for all Australian states and territories. It has been guided by principles set out in the World Health Organization’s International Guide for Monitoring Alcohol Consumption and Related Harm (WHO, 2000).

Trends in alcohol-caused deaths and hospitalisations for all states and territories have not previously been reported using consistent and comparable methods. A comparison between levels of risky alcohol use reported in the 1998 and 2001 National Drug Strategy Household (NDSH) surveys is also presented for the first time.

The present report builds on and updates five earlier Statistical Bulletins from the National Alcohol Indicators Project (NAIP) concerning alcohol-caused deaths and hospitalisations, road crashes, alcohol-related violence and levels and patterns of drinking in Australia."

The latest edition of the Kids Helpline newsletter is now available. It includes articles on:

• Parental Separation - Implications for boys' help-seeking


• Online Counselling - Responding to young people's feedback


• Enhancing More Young People's Lives Through Peer Skills


• Protecting Children From Abuse - It is everybody's business and much more

Upcoming Events....
East Metropolitan Youth Suicide Prevention Network
Yorgum Aboriginal Counselling Service
Darrell Henry, Psychologist and Counsellor with Yorgum Aboriginal Counselling Service will share his experience of the impact of suicide on family, friends and community from a personal and professional perspective.
When: Tuesday 2nd December 2003
Where: Classroom B WASON Bldg.
151 Wellington Street
PERTH WA 6000
Time: 9- 10.30 presentation
10.30 – 11.00am Morning tea and networking
RSVP: Thursday 27th November
to Michaela on 9224 1339
or email – michaela.vardaro@health.wa.gov.au

Doodling away the blues - 10/11/2003
This story from ABC Science looks at the effectiveness of doodling as an alternative to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. The research is being undertake by a group at the University of Technology, Sydney. More information can be accessed here.

Identity formation, youth suicide and First Nations
The Culture and Congnition Lab at the University of Victoria (Canada) has a collection of publications available on the web. Some of these relate to the the issue of identity and suicide on indigenous youth in Canada. Some very interesting reading.

Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services in Australia 2001-02: Report on the National Minimum Data Set
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new report looking at drug and alcohol treatment services in Australia.

"Statistics in the report cover 121,000 treatment episodes across 505 agencies, focusing on clients using publicly funded treatment services, the types of drug problems for which treatment is sought, and the types of treatment they received. The report is part of the monitoring and evaluation components of the Australian Government's National Drug Strategy.

Two-thirds of alcohol and other drug treatment episodes involved male clients and most treatment episodes (61%) were for clients aged between 20 and 39 years of age.

Counselling was the most common form of main treatment received by clients (39% of treatment episodes), followed by withdrawal management (detoxification) (19%), assessment only (15%) and information and education only (10%)."

FDA Public Health Advisory - Reports of Suicidality in Pediatric Patients Being Treated with Antidepressant Medications for Major Depressive Disorder
This bulletin from the US Food and Drug Administration discusses concerns about the suicidality of patients being treated with certain anti-depressants. The FDA also have a Talk Paper and FAQ about Paxil (known as Aropax in Australia).

The World Today on ABC radio ran a story on Aropax in August.