Therapists as Survivors of Suicide
During their career, therapists may face the death of a client by suicide - a potentially traumatic experience. This site, from the Clinician Survivor Task Force of the American Association of Suicidology provides a variety of resources including an extensive bibliography and personal accounts from clinicians.

Paracetomal and suicide
An interview by ABC's Stateline program in Queensland about the incidence of paracetamol overdoses, and possible action that may reduce it. It includes an interview with Diego De Leo, and a discussion of the effects of the Heron paracetamol recall in 2000.

beyondblue: the national depression initiative - Australia's media joins the fight against stigma and ignorance
Beyone Blue launched a national intitative to raise awareness about depression, and reduce the stigma associated with it. The site quotes:

Less than 5% of respondents identified depression as a major health problem (despite the fact depression is the leading cause of disability in Australia), citing cancer (47%) and heart disease (40%) as bigger health problems.

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

The latest issue of this report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a number of articles about suicide, including reports on suicide in China, and US school associated suicides.

Resilience in Mental Illness
All in the Mind - ABC Radio National 15 May

Margaret Cook and Pauline Miles are well known figures in West Australia’s mental health advocacy community. Born as identical twins in Wales, they grew up in the UK with a mother with major mental illness and a shared history of abuse. Now themselves parents of adult children, they join Natasha Mitchell this week to reflect on their own experiences of hospitalization in psychiatric wards, the search for identity in suffering, and inspiration in healing, activism and awareness.

A systematic review of the incidence of schizophrenia: the distribution of rates
and the influence of sex, urbanicity, migrant status and methodology.
This new paper from a team at the University of Queensland looks at variations in the distribution of schizophrenia.

Help-seeking behaviour and the Internet: An investigation among Australian
adolescents
From the Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health (AeJAMH), Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2004:

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a brief school-based intervention on help-seeking behaviour among Australian adolescents. The aim of the intervention was to encourage adolescents to seek help, focusing on the use of the Reach Out! website (www.reachout.com.au) as a help-seeking source. Male and female adolescents were compared.

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.

Anti Depressants - Possible Side Effects
Dr Norman Swan on ABC's Health Report interviews Ian Hickie about possible side effects of anti-depressants in the light of the recent release by the US Food and Drug Administration.

FDA Public Health Advisory - Antidepressants

The United States Food and Drug Administration has issued a further warning about certain antidepressants:

"Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked manufacturers of the following antidepressant drugs to include in their labeling a Warning statement that recommends close observation of adult and pediatric patients treated with these agents for worsening depression or the emergence of suicidality. The drugs that are the focus of this new Warning are: Prozac (fluoxetine); Zoloft (sertraline); Paxil (paroxetine); Luvox (fluvoxamine); Celexa (citalopram); Lexapro (escitalopram); Wellbutrin (bupropion); Effexor (venlafaxine); Serzone (nefazodone); and Remeron mirtazapine)."

Further information including the full text of the public health advisory is available here.

The latest information from the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration is available here, released 11 March 2004.

World Health Organization: Mental Health
This site has been featured previously, but there are a number of new publications that may be of interest:

Investing in Mental Health

"Mental health has been hidden behind a curtain of stigma and discrimination for too long. It is time to bring it out into the open. The magnitude, suffering and burden in terms of disability and costs for individuals, families and societies are staggering. In the last few years, the world has become more aware of this enormous burden and the potential for mental health gains. We can make a difference using existing knowledge ready to be applied. We need to enhance our investment in mental health substantially and we need to do it now."

The Mental Health Context : Mental Health Policy and Service Guidance Package.
This is part of a series of modules on developing mental health policies. The rest of the series is available here.

Caring for Children and Adolescents with Mental Health Disorders : Setting WHO Directions

"The lack of attention to the mental health of children and adolescents may lead to mental disorders with lifelong consequences, undermines compliance with health regimens, and reduces the capacity of societies to be safe and productive. Contemporary recognition of child and adolescent mental disorders and advances in the care of children and adolescents with mental disorders provide an incentive to synthesize current knowledge, identify issues for future exploration, and consider appropriate policies."

Worried, Tired and Alone... A Report of Mental Health Carers' Issues in WA.

"This research into the issues affecting carers of people with mental illness in Western Australia was commissioned by Carers WA in July 2003 as part of their ongoing commitment to identify carer needs and to advocate on their behalf. The research was undertaken in partnership with the Mental Health Carers Issues Network which works collaboratively to identify, promote and address mental health carers’ issues in WA.
The aim of this research was to identify the current needs of carers and the issues impacting on their lives. The research also aimed to establish if there were any new issues emerging that have not previously been identified."

Delivering interventions for depression by using the internet: randomised controlled trial

This article looks at the effectiveness of delivering cognitive behaviour therapy and psycho-education interventions via the internet. Helen Christensen was interviewed on the ABC Radio Health Report recently about this project.

The programs Helen speaks about are Moodgym and Bluepages.

The 3rd World Conference: The Promotion of Mental Health and Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders From Research to Effective Practice

The main theme of the Conference is how to develop effective practice that is based on sound research and as such will continue the work begun at the first two world conferences in Atlanta in 2000 and London in 2002.
The New Zealand Conference will once again be an international working meeting designed to move forward the prevention and promotion field, by organising and mobilising influential individuals and organisations. Collaborative relationships will be the vehicle of the movement and the Conference is designed to strengthen these relationships during and through its proceedings.
The 2004 Conference will thus build upon the organisation and aims developed in the previous world conferences. It will evaluate the progress made since London, develop new and/or updated strategies and action plans and seek to broaden the support for prevention and promotion in mental health across countries, regions, cultures, social class, disciplines and amongst the different stakeholders.

The Science of Public Messages for Suicide Prevention [Powerpoint presentation]

NIMH, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), part of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), convened a workshop on “The Science of Public Messages for Suicide Prevention,” in October 2003. Suicide prevention advocates in the field, evaluation specialists, and experts in suicide contagion, public health message development, mental health literacy, stigma, and marketing were brought together to discuss research on public messaging campaigns, and address specific issues in suicide prevention. The purpose of the workshop was to consider safe and effective ways of raising public awareness that suicide is a preventable public health problem. In breakout sessions, participants were asked to discuss three examples of current public awareness campaigns from state and regional efforts, and to consider ways of testing assumed “active ingredients,” market penetration, and proposed outcomes.

Also of interest may be other papers from the same conference. These papers are on the US Suicide Prevention Resource Center site, which has a wealth of material including a library catalogue, providing access to online information.

Resilience - by Anne Deveson

How is it that some people can be resilient in adversity while others become overwhelmed?

Anne Deveson’s long and distinguished career with the media and social justice organisations have granted her rare insight into people who have faced suffering – ordeals of family breakdown, mental illness, human rights abuse, disaster or war. What is it, she wonders, that enables individuals or communities to arise from despair?

Her exploration of the nature of resilience weaves together research, reflection and memoir in an intellectual and personal story, made all the more vivid by the fact that, as she embarked upon it, she became an intimate witness to the struggle for resilience of someone she loved.

In this series of programs from ABC Radio National she reads from her book Resilience.
NOTE: Transcripts of this program are not available, but it is possible to listen to the audio files.