Why do France Telecom employees keep killing themselves?24 employees of France’s largest telephone operator, France Telecom, have committed suicide in less than two years. Is the company to blame, or is it all just a freak coincidence?
Mental health
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Mungo McCallum killed Michael Jackson?
Crikey readers weigh in on East Timor and if Kevin Rudd saved the economy with the stimulus package, then did Mungo McCallum kill Michael Jackson?
Tired? Eat too much? Irritable? Congrats, you’re depressed.
In 1994 the American Psychiatric Association published its fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for mental disorders (DSM). Here, you’ll find the worryingly popular one-size-fits-most measure for Depressive Disorder.
The black dog: sometimes it’s impossible to get out of bed
It’s almost impossible to get out of bed when the Black Dog, as Winston Churchill called depression, visits. It’s when nights become about paranoia and obsessing, writes Greg Barns.
Grech interview raises an ethical red flag
If you have to write “… speaking from a psychiatric ward in Canberra last night…”, there may be an ethical concern, proposes Tobias Ziegler. Is Godwin Grech capable of giving informed consent to an interview?
Make mental health part of the prevention debate
In all the debate about the effectiveness of preventative healthcare in Australia, please don’t forget about the often overlooked issue of mental health, says epidemiologist Dr Brian O’Toole.
Mothers killing children: a cautionary tale
Last week’s ‘Cannibal Mom’ was perfect tabloid flodder. But the case says a lot more about young mothers and mental health than catchy headlines.
Mother calls for increase to mental health care
A mother has called for greater care for the mentally ill in Tasmania, following an incident where her 35 year old mentally ill daughter pulled her eye out of its socket using her own fingers.
Crackdown on ads making fun of mental illness
The Advertising Standards Bureau are cracking down on ads that make light of people with mental health problems, finding Rivers clothing and car insurance company Youi both guilty of breaching their code of ethics. What will happen to poor Ken Bruce?
40 pages of mental health policy clichés
Australian Doctor’s political editor Paul Smith laments the latest National Mental Health Policy, endorsed in March, saying it offers “no real clue as to what will be done”.
Burnout
Web professionals are often expected to be “always on”. But that can be debilitating.
The soul-destroying lives of boys in the bush
While gender roles have changed considerably, the male ego remains more dependent upon occupation, writes Tanveer Ahmed.This is surely more pronounced in country areas.
Questions for the legal system following Gassy case
Something is surely amiss when a defendant, whom many experts believe to have a serious psychiatric disorder, is allowed to appear and represent himself before the country’s highest court.
D’Arcy and Dajka parallels cannot be ignored
Two men and two similar stories should give every sporting administrator in this country pause for thought — and especially those at Swimming Australia.
Portrait of a paranoid: An insider’s account of the Latham years
As chief of staff to Mark Latham, Mike Richards had a front row seat from which to observe the Labor leader’s behavior first hand. Here, in full for the first time, he paints a portrait of a narcissistic and self destructive loner.
Web doctoring: improving access to treatment
Therapy over the web, when supervised by an expert clinician, is surprisingly effective, writes Gavin Andrews.
Sounding the alarm on the legal takeover of mental health
If the laws of a community reflect its values, what do the recent modifications of the NSW Mental Health Act say about the value we place on liberty? Michael Robertson and Ian Kerridge write.
Prosecutors have never had it so good
The legal system now in Victoria and in every other state of Australia is heavily weighted in favour of prosecutors, writes Greg Barns.
Suicide risk: why knee-jerk reactions to antidepressants help no-one
The evidence in Australia indicates that increased treatment of depression (not just use of medicines) was a key factor in the fall in suicide rates, writes Professor Ian Hickie.
Are antidepressants the answer for depression?
A recent paper showing that drug trials do not support the effectiveness of antidepressants in all but the most severe cases of depression has surprised many psychiatrists, writes Dr Jon Jureidini.
Mental health a casualty in Long Bay hospital’s lockdown
Patients in the jail hospital will soon get only seven hours of freedom, writes Greg Barns.
How think tanks are misleading us on Aboriginal children’s health
The recent Commonwealth intervention in the Northern Territory includes a raft of components which appear to have little connection with protecting children, writes Dr David Scrimgeour.
