Patient resources
On this page:
- Suicide and Suicide Prevention in Australia
- Youth Mental Health
- Understanding Depression
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
- Early Warning Signs
- Employment Success: Strategies to Help
- Exercise & your mood
- Family & Carer Support: Stress vulnerability model
- Maximizing Memory: Strategies to help your memory
- Mental Health: Relapse & Recovery
- Relapse Prevention Plan: Strategies to help
- Stress: Strategies to help manage
- Why is taking anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication so important?
- Managing Pain
- CARES: Centre for Autism Research Evaluation Service
Breaking the Silence - Suicide and Suicide Prevention in Australia
Every day at least 7 Australians die by suicide and 178 attempt suicide, half of whom require hospitalisation as a result. This report has been prepared to highlight the state of suicide and suicide prevention in Australia with a view to developing a more effective national response. The Report has been prepared by a group of leading national organisations involved in every aspect of suicide prevention: policy, advocacy, research, front line prevention, intervention and bereavement services.
Youth Mental Health
The Brain & Mind Research Institute (BMRI) is the lead agency for headspace Central Sydney and headspace Campbelltown.
headspace is the National Youth Mental Health Foundation and offers support and Information for young people aged 12-25 who have general health, mental health, alcohol and other drug worries.
You can make an appointment to see a GP, Psychologist or Social Worker by calling (02) 9114 4100 (Central Sydney) or (02) 4627 9089 (Campbelltown).
Understanding Depression
Depression and anxiety commonly occur together. Often people first experience anxiety in their teens or early twenties, and then go on to have depression in their late twenties to early thirties. The identification and provision of effective treatment in young people can help to prevent a lifetime of anxiety and depression.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Most of us attribute our feelings to events and situations. What we often do not realize is that it is not the event as such, but our interpretation of the event that affects how we feel. In saying this, we cannot change the situation or event. What we can change however, is our interpretation of it. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been used successfully in the treatment of a number of psychological difficulties such as depression, social anxiety, panic disorder and psychosis.
Early Warning Signs
Employment Success: Strategies to Help
Exercise & your mood
It is a commonly held belief that exercise is good for people's health. Family doctors have long recommended exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle and it is one way of maintaining fitness and avoiding obesity. What about mental health? Does regular exercise help people manage their troubles?
Family & Carer Support: Stress vulnerability model
Stress is a normal human experience that occurs every day of our lives. In some situations it can help us by motivating us to do things, however when this stress becomes too great it begins to inhibit our ability to manage our lives effectively, and promote the recovery process.
Maximizing Memory: Strategies to help your memory
Memory is a little like a filing system. Information has been filed somewhere but it may be difficult for you to find it unless you know which drawer to look in. If you are given a clue or prompt, it will help you to find it.
Mental Health: Relapse & Recovery
Targeted interventions and education programs aim to enable the young person to recognise their early signs of relapse so as to gain control over an event they may fear and not feel at the 'mercy of their illness'.
Relapse Prevention Plan: Strategies to help
Relapse is a subsequent episode of mental illness. It is a recurrence of symptoms of mental illness similar to those that have previously been experienced.
Stress: Strategies to help manage
We all experience stress in our lives from time to time. The good news; this is not a bad thing, in fact it is normal. It's how we react to stress that makes all the difference.
Why is taking anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medication so important?
Taking your anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medication regularly each day helps to stimulate BDNF in the brain. It is neuroprotective - that is it helps support the survival of existing neurons in the brain, and encourages the growth and differentiation of new neurons and synapses. All this helps to improve your brain function.
Managing Pain
Pain is something we all experience. Usually it serves us well as a warning alarm that something might be wrong, and pushes us to take action to put it right again. However, there are many medical conditions that are associated with persistent pain. There are also some situations where the pain system goes wrong, and the warning alarm of pain does not switch itself off even when the problem that set it off has been solved. Similarly in these situations, ongoing pain can cause a lot of problems - poor sleep, difficulties with activities such as household chores, working or enjoyable activities, or feeling anxious or depressed about the pain and the future.
Research over the past twenty years has shown that there are a number of strategies that you can use to better manage your pain, and reduce the effect that it has on your life. Here are a few to get you started.