Antidepressant Medications for Children: Information for Parents and Caregivers
This is the latest information about antidepressant medications for children from the US National Institute of Mental Health.

Mental Health Services in Australia 2001-02
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a new report looking at mental health services in Australia.

"Mental Health Services in Australia 2001-02 describes the characteristics and activity of Australia's mental health services including ambulatory and residential mental health-related care provided by hospitals, community-based services, general practitioners, private psychiatrists and some disability support services. Information on the broad trends in mental health care is presented in an easy-to-use summary. Detailed statistics show the hospital care of patients admitted with a mental health-related diagnosis, the services, beds, staffing and expenditure in psychiatric hospitals and community-based services, and mental health-related medications prescribed by general practitioners and private psychiatrists. A special theme chapter has been included for the first time, presenting an overview of the available data on the mental health care of people with depression. "

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in childhood depression: systematic review of published versus unpublished data
This article was published in the latest edition of The Lancet. Free registration is required to access the abstract and subscription is required to access the full text. Contact your library for assistance in accessing the full text.

"Published data suggest a favourable risk-benefit profile for some SSRIs; however, addition of unpublished data indicates that risks could outweigh benefits of these drugs (except fluoxetine) to treat depression in children and young people. Clinical guideline development and clinical decisions about treatment are largely dependent on an evidence base published in peer-reviewed journals. Non-publication of trials, for whatever reason, or the omission of important data from published trials, can lead to erroneous recommendations for treatment. Greater openness and transparency with respect to all intervention studies is needed."

Full citation: Craig J Whittington, Tim Kendall, Peter Fonagy, David Cottrell, Andrew Cotgrove, Boddington E. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in childhood depression: systematic review of published versus unpublished data. The Lancet 2004;363(9418):1341-1345.

Tracking Tragedy: A systemic look at suicides and homicides amongst mental health inpatients.
This report was released by the NSW government in December 2003. From the report:

"There is a common perception that any suicide death or homicide by a person in contact with public mental health services represents a failure on the part of mental health services. This is not always so, as will be discussed later in the report. Mental health services in general do a very effective job of managing people with severe mental illness, as detailed below, and in all likelihood prevent many incidents of minor and major self-harm, and violence towards others. Indicative data from NSW Health shows that of 22,061 admitted patients’ episodes of care in public psychiatric hospitals and mental health units of general public hospitals in 2002-3, there were 8 possible suicide deaths of patients who were in care as inpatients at the time of their death. In the 3-year period from 2000-1 to 2002-3, there were almost 62,000 admitted patient episodes of care. During this time there were 8 homicides perpetrated by patients in contact with mental health services. While the incidence of death might be extremely low, it is not, as would be preferred, zero."

Using the Internet for Suicide Prevention: A Guide

The Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention is pleased to announce the release of its latest research publication Using the Internet for Suicide Prevention: A Guide.

From the introduction:

"The rapid development and use of the Internet in delivering information and fostering interactions has created new forms of communication. This guide has been developed to assist consumers and professionals in accessing suicide prevention information, counselling and chat rooms on the Internet.

It provides practical, easy steps that will assist users to assess and select the most appropriate, sound website that best meets their needs. It also provides a useful resource for organisations developing a suicide prevention website. Although other organisations have developed guidelines for information sites and ethical standards for Internet counselling, this resource incorporates the specific issues for users in the context of suicide prevention."

The publication is available in pdf format from the Ministerial Council's website or print copies can be ordered. Order forms are available on the website.