Dr Philip Morris stands for election as President Elect of the RANZCP

Dr Philip Morris, the founder of the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association is standing for election as President Elect of the RANZCP.

Dr Morris is Professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Bond University, and Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Forensic Excellence, Faculty of Law, Bond University.  Dr Morris has held professor positions in psychiatry at the University of Melbourne and the University of Queensland, and at the School of Health Sciences at Bond University.

Read more here.

MENTAL HEALTH FRAMEWORK HIGHLIGHTS ROLE OF PHARMACISTS

NEWS RELEASE

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia – in partnership with mental health consumers, carers and care coordinators, mental health policy and practice experts and health professionals – has released a mental health framework which highlights and promotes the expertise of pharmacists and the roles they undertake as partners in mental health care.

National President of the PSA, Grant Kardachi, said the framework was intended to be used to articulate current and explore future pharmacist roles as partners to enhance mental health care service delivery to Australian consumers and carers.

“This framework will be used to engage with a variety of audiences including consumers, carers, mental health care organisations, health care practitioners and governments to promote the role of the pharmacist as a partner in the delivery of mental health care,” he said.

“While pharmacists recognise that medicines are not necessarily the primary or sole treatment option for mental illnesses, the 31.1 million mental health-related prescriptions in Australia in 2010-11, comprising 11% of all medicines subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, reflect that they are a significant modality of treatment.

“Of these, 86% of medicines were prescribed by general practitioners rather than psychiatrists. These figures emphasise the need and opportunity for pharmacist involvement in mental health care.”
Mr Kardachi said the framework focused on how pharmacists’ skills and experience could be used to improve quality use of medicines for consumers with a mental illness.

“Pharmacists have a strong primary health care role and, due to their accessibility, are often the first health professional contacted by a consumer with a health concern,” he said.

“Pharmacists are frequently consulted for advice on psychotropic medications and their accessibility and frequent contact with mental health consumers and carers means they are ideally placed to play a greater role in the management of mental illness or conditions.”

Mr Kardachi said the development of the framework was a collegiate effort and acknowledged the generous and collaborative contributions by individual experts and nominees of the following organisations: Australian College of Mental Health Nurses; Australian General Practice Network; Australian Psychological Society; Mental Health Council of Australia; Pharmaceutical Society of Australia; Pharmacy Board of Australia; The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists; The Pharmacy Guild of Australia; and The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia.

Download the Mental Health Framework www.psa.org.au/archives/21010

Mental Health and the Australian Population

In the E‐Mental Health Strategy for Australia, released by the Federal Government in 2012, the following statistics were provided;

"Approximately 17.2 per cent or 3.8 million Australians are estimated to be affected by mental illness in any one year – meaning that they experience symptoms at diagnostic levels, for either brief or extended periods.  This estimate excludes dementia and alcohol/drug-related disorders, except where these are concurrent with a mental disorder. The figure rises to about 20 per cent, or 4.4 million people, when alcohol and drug-related conditions are included.

A further 15 per cent of the population have experienced a mental disorder previously in their lives but not had symptoms over the past 12 months at a level that would warrant a formal diagnosis.  In total, approximately one in three (32 per cent) of Australians will experience a mental illness during their lives.  When alcohol and drug use disorders are included, this figure rises to 45 per cent of the population.

Anxiety disorders and depression are the most common disorders, affecting approximately 9 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, of the adult population each year.  Collectively referred to as ‘high prevalence’ illnesses, these disorders include diverse conditions (for example, post traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive disorder and depression), with differing treatment requirements and outcomes.

It is these disorders, in mild to moderate severity, that the evidence shows can be effectively treated through online programs.

Mental illness also includes other less common or ‘low prevalence’ conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  Together, these two disorders affect approximately 1 per cent of the adult population in any one year, and 2 per cent over the course of a lifetime.  Prevalence rates vary across the lifespan and are highest in the early adult years, the period during which people are usually completing education, establishing families and independent working lives."
 
The 14th International Mental Health Conference will focus on the complex mental health issues of Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dementia. It will be held at Outrigger, Surfers Paradise on Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th of August 2013.  Optional workshops will be held on Wednesday the 7th of August.

Lewy body dementia

Dr James Galvin

Source: New Your Times

Most people have not heard of Lewy body dementia, even many health care professionals remain unfamiliar with the disorder.

Yet, “this is not an uncommon disease,” said Dr. James Galvin, a neurologist at NYU Langone Medical Center who has published extensively on the subject. He and other researchers helped the Lewy Body Dementia Association extrapolate from epidemiological surveys and come up with an estimate: About 1.3 million people — considerably more men than women — have Lewy body dementia, named for the scientist who identified these protein deposits in the brain.

You would never wish an Alzheimer’s diagnosis on anyone — yet it might be easier on caregivers like if their “patients” had that far more common form of dementia. Everybody’s heard of Alzheimer’s; lots of people know someone who has it. Doctors better understand the symptoms. Family members can more easily find support groups and programs.

Read the full story by Paula Span on the New York Times Blog here

The 14th International Mental Health Conference will be held at Outrigger, Surfers Paradise, in Queensland on Monday the 5th and Tuesday the 6th of August 2013.  Optional workshops will be held on Wednesday the 7th of August. The conference will focus on the complex mental health issues of Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Dementia

Successful Mental Health Approach To Teenage Alcohol Prevention

Dr Patricia Conrod

Targeted psychological interventions aimed at teenagers at risk of emotional and behavioural problems significantly reduce their drinking behaviour, and that of their schoolmates, according to the results from a large randomised controlled trial published in JAMA Psychiatry. The authors argue that the intervention could be administered in schools throughout the UK to help prevent teenage alcohol abuse.

The 'Adventure Trial' is led by Dr Patricia Conrod, King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, in collaboration with the University of Montreal and Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center (Canada) and was commissioned by Action on Addiction.

Read the full article on Medical News Today

The Association to support Psychs on Bikes in 2013

The Big Ride in April 2013 will be from Bathurst to Sydney… via Queensland.


Psychs on Bikes is a Project involving mental health professionals riding motorbikes to raise money for charities.

Our motto is “Adventure before Dementia!”  The rides are open to any psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health nurse or bona fide mental health professional.

The object of the exercise will be to ride up one inland highway, visiting a number of towns as we go, then spend a full day in Maryborough on Queensland’s Fraser Coast hanging out at the Ulysses Club AGM, then head south down a different inland route stopping at a few more towns before ending up back in Sydney 9 days after leaving Bathurst... more details

Clear you diary NOW!

A Community led approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing

MindMatters, ‘Anangu Way’; A Community led approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing

The purpose of this paper is to share the MindMatters approach to working in Anangu communities in the Far North-West corner of South Australia and the Southern region of the Northern Territory.  (The term Anangu is a collective term that Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people use to refer to themselves.)

Remote Indigenous communities experience significant levels of incidences and ongoing issues with young people and their mental health and wellbeing. Mainstream programs in this field remain bound to the coastal fringe of the nation, or do not reinvent in order to build community capacity for understanding, engagement and agency for change in their families, schools and communities.

An innovative approach to these concerns has been taken in the implementation of MindMatters in Anangu schools in South Australia and the Northern Territory to enable community led mental health and wellbeing.

This article describes the work that has occurred. It exemplifies the value of a respectful, strength-based paradigm that focuses on a community development approach. The outcomes of this work include local capacity building; ongoing development of quality resources in Pitjantjatjara language, and the emergence of agency for change. A flexible process and framework facilitated the implementation of this work.

Reproducible principles include the value of respecting and privileging contextual knowledge and capacity.  In doing so, Anangu educators have taken ownership of the program and a passion for bringing others along the MindMatters journey…Anangu way.

Paper presented by Sam Osborne, Senior Research Fellow, University of South Australia
Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation at the 4th Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium, Adelaide (SA), 19-21 November 2012

• Download the full paper
• Submit an abstract for the 2013 Australian Rural and Remote Mental Health Symposium