National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention

A Contributing Life: the 2012 National Report Card on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - National Mental Health Commission

This first Report Card casts an independent eye over how we as a nation support the estimated 3.2 million Australians each year who live with a mental health difficulty, their families and support people, and how we provide and co-ordinate the services they need.

You can download a copy here

The 14th International Mental Health Conference will be in Queensland on the 5th and  6th of August 2013. Optional workshops will be held on Wednesday the 7th of August. It will focus on a range of mental issues including Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dementia.

Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness -- from the inside

Positive Change – Investing in Mental Health

Mental health awareness and well being strategies are urgent public concerns. Mental illness has the third highest burden of disease in Australia with approximately 45% of adults experiencing a mental illness at some stage of their lives, including alcohol or substance abuse disorders.

The 13th International Mental Health Conference will focus on the complex mental issues affecting the elderly including depression, dementia, delirium, paranoid disorders and anxiety. It will also explore the mental health issues of young Australians (aged 18 – 24 years) struggling with schizophrenia, depression, suicidal thoughts, bipolar, anxiety disorders and drug use and drug induced psychosis. With 7% of Australian children and adolescents (aged 0 – 17 years) experiencing mental health problems and only one in four receiving professional health care, a positive change is long overdue.

The conference will examine state, federal, international and COAG initiatives, early intervention strategies, validated treatments, suicide prevention and the effectiveness of mental health preventive measures.

Featuring Australia and New Zealand's finest clinical practitioners, academics, and mental health experts the conference will motivate and inspire professionals (and future professionals) by sharing information about

• on-going research and findings, policies and organisational models
• development of new knowledge and the implementation of programs and strategies
• effective use of scarce resources

The conference will focus on:
• State, Federal and International initiatives addressing mental health needs.
• Planning and initiatives of the COAG task force.
• Research validation of early intervention strategies and treatments for drug induced psychosis, trauma and depression.
• Research validated treatments designed to facilitate recovery, particularly in the areas of depression and trauma.
• Initiatives and best practice in suicide prevention
• Examine and critically review the effectiveness of preventive approaches used in the field of mental health
Keynote addresses, submitted papers, workshops and case studies will examine how approaches and techniques can be incorporated into daily practise.

The conference streams will include:
• Multi-level Government initiatives and policies
• Early interventions
• Recovery treatments
• Prevention treatments (including suicide)
• Workforce re-integration – best practice? What treatments are most efficacious

Visit the conference website
The 13th International Mental Health Conference
6th to the 8th of August 2012
Outrigger Inn (formerly Holiday Inn) Gold Coast, Qld

Types of Bipolar | Hypomania and Depression | Healthline

Bipolar disorder (also called bipolar disease or manic depression) is a serious mental illness that is marked by extreme—and in some cases, rapid or abrupt—shifts in mood, from mania to depression.


Read more:  Information on Bipolar Types of Bipolar Hypomania and Depression Healthline

Second Opinion - Bipolar Diagnosis

As he struggled for decades with a depression that often left him despondent, Eric Wilson never thought to get a second opinion.

"This might be true of many of us," he said. "We feel we have more ownership of what we see as our body and physical health so, if a doctor gives me a diagnosis I don't like, I'm likely to get a second opinion. It just wasn't the same for mental health."

After decades of broken relationships, multiple flirtations with suicide, and manic highs and lows, he received his final and accurate diagnosis of bipolar II mixed. This form of bipolar disorder is difficult to diagnose because its sufferers often are highly functioning and extremely productive. The highs can masquerade as general happiness. The difficulty is when the mood swings drastically and uncontrollably.

Researchers have found that as many as 69 percent of initial diagnoses of people with bipolar disorder were incorrect, underlining the importance of seeking a second opinion. With bipolar, the wrong medication can have devastating effects, plunging a patient into a deeper depression or into rapid cycles of highs and lows.

Wilson describes his journey from a dangerously moody teen to happily married father in "The Mercy of Eternity." He credits the loving persistence of his wife and the wonder of his daughter for pushing him beyond that first incorrect diagnosis of his disease.

He is sure he would never have sought additional help on his own.

"The idea that I had mental illness scared me," he said. "So I felt that any therapist I was seeing had a mastery of this strange, mysterious world of mental health, and I'd do whatever this person told me to do. I struggled with medications for a long time that simply were not working.

"It was a very long process that required a lot of patience and a lot of flexibility, but it's paid off beautifully."

Source: Wake Forest University