New money for mental health : will it make things better for rural and remote Australia?

New Australian government funding for the Better Outcomes in Mental Health Care initiative is a significant step forward for mental health, with general practitioners now able to offer direct referrals to psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and Aboriginal health workers. Incentives for better teamwork between GPs and other mental health professionals have been introduced, but may have unintended consequences, including an exacerbation of workforce shortages in rural and remote areas. Possible solutions to these shortages include rural scholarships for students in the mental health professions; recruitment and retention of students coordinated by university departments of rural health; better access to continuing professional development; and federally funded rural positions and additional financial incentives for rural mental health practitioners.

Catholic social thought and labouring ideals in Australia's new industrial context

This article sets out the principles of Catholic social doctrine as they pertain to the rights of employees, the duties of the employers and the obligations of the state. It relates these to the historical development of industrial work and employment in Australia, noting the close proximity of the principles to the social and political arrangements that emerged over the period of the Australian Settlement. It goes on to identify the more recent demise of Catholic activism, which, in combination with the pursuit of neo-liberal policy solutions and market reforms, has purged previous arrangements of their former notions of `fairness' and equity. It concludes that those opposing such solutions and reforms should think beyond simply framing arguments in terms of the economic or the instrumental, and might usefully draw on the labouring ideals set out in Catholic social doctrine to develop a more thorough set of moral and ethical principles to support their cause.

Nutrition and mental health research in Australia and New Zealand: A review of progress and directions for the future

This review summarises nutrition and mental health research in Australia and New Zealand between 1986 and 2006. The method used to identify papers for inclusion was a search of computerised databases: Medline, Cinahl and Meditext 1986–2006, with subsequent bibliographical review. Key search words were nutrition, diet, mental disorder, mental illness, weight, physical health, Australia and New Zealand. Inclusion criteria included: English language, original data in peer reviewed journals, and examination of some component of nutrition in people with a mental illness. The review of thirteen papers found that the evidence base for dietetic practice in mental health has developed through small assessment and interventional research, often with multidisciplinary collaboration. Future research should include quality and outcome measures with intersectoral partnerships. Dietitians are well positioned to lead and participate in mental health research and to implement research findings to improve the nutritional status of this vulnerable group.

Associations between diet quality and mental health in socially disadvantaged New Zealand adolescents

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between diet quality and mental health in an ethnically diverse adolescent population in New Zealand.

In dialogue with A.D. Hope: dialogue two: theatre of thought and creation of `being`

[Dialogue Two focuses on the main philosophical threads in Hope’s work and attitude in which he detaches himself from all beliefs, engaging with them only when he thinks such an engagement might open up a new way of seeing. Hope is adamant that there are no existing theories that provide an answer to life’s questions. His way of living in this world of uncertainties and shifting faiths and ideologies is to create ‘being’ poetically. This acceptance of knowledge’s provisionality does not however mean that he is not intensely interested in each theory that emerges in the theatre of thought.
See Dialogue One for details of the following exchange.]

Cultural diversity and mental health : the relationship between leisure experiences and wellbeing in an ageing Italian community in Australia

One of the population health implications for Australia’s ageing population is that a larger proportion of the Australian community will be retired and have more time for leisure pursuits. Meaningful leisure activities for this group are thought to be a factor in promoting positive mental health. However, a search of health literature revealed a paucity of research on how older adults make use of their leisure time, what meaning these pursuits have to them, and whether their chosen leisure activities are health enhancing and promote wellbeing. Australia’s population is diverse with many cultures represented. As the population ages, mental health workers will be called upon to provide culturally-appropriate mental health services to clients from a range of ethnic groups. Literature on how people of culturally diverse backgrounds understand leisure activities is also limited. This paper reports on a study carried out in an Italian community in a large regional centre. The participants were selected based on the following criteria; aged 65 years and over, born in Italy, independently living in the community, ambulant, and retired from paid workforce. This study explored how a well-elderly group from an ethnic community derived meaning from their leisure activities and how this impacted on their mental health. Establishing the relationship between leisure and mental health in an ageing ethnic community is important because it sheds light on potential intervention strategies that can be used to maintain the mental health of people living independently in the community. Participants were interviewed using semi-structured questions about their perceptions of leisure, the meanings they derived from these activities, and their perceived impact of these activities on their health. Participant observation was also used to add trustworthiness to the data. Themes arising from the interviews and participant observation will be related to the participants’ sense of health. Results also revealed how older Italians engaged in leisure activities. Implications of the research findings will be directed towards mental health practice with older ethnic clients in community settings. The promotion of healthy lifestyles and positive mental health for Australia’s ageing population will also be discussed.

Educational and mental health implications of the multidimensional model of the self-concept for adolescent girls : comparison of clinical and non-clinical samples

The importance of a positive self-concept as an educational outcome and a facilitator of other desirable outcomes are well established within the education research field. Although the multidimensional and hierarchical model of the self-concept is widely accepted within the educational psychology, this perspective is not widely used within the mental health research. Hence, the purpose of the present investigation is to compare the psychometric properties of the short version of the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQII-S) based on responses by a large sample of female adolescent high school students (N= 829) and a clinical sample of adolescent girls who have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (N= 75). The well-established psychometric properties of the longer version of the SDQII generalise well to both samples of adolescent girls, and analyses provided good support for the invariance of the factor structure across the two samples. Furthermore, analyses employing new structural equation modelling approaches to comparing the latent mean differences indicated that there were differences (although surprisingly small) between the two groups that were generally consistent with a priori predictions. The important educational and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

The arts and mental wellbeing : opportunities and challenges

Strategies to combat the many effects of mental illness on individuals and families need to go beyond psychopharmacology and institutional care. Evidence has been mounting for the healing and treatment role of art in clinical and health care settings. Art, in its many forms, has also been suggested as one valuable tool in addressing social exclusion in people with many forms of disability including mental illness.
This paper draws on Masters Research findings to present a discussion of the historical and the current landscape of Art for Health Programs with special emphasis on art programs targeting people with chronic mental illness. Recent studies in the UK and Scotland indicate that participation in the arts can enhance recovery, social connectedness and cultural inclusivity.

Thought and feeling in Giedion's mechanization takes command

An internal crisis within architecture and the way historiography both presents and conceals it, can be seen most strikingly in the contrast between two publications by the architectural historian Sigfried Giedion, Space Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, published in 1941, and Mechanization Takes Command: A Contribution to Anonymous History, published in 1948. These two publications take us back to the scene of World War Two, the former during the war and after Giedion's affair with America, and the latter after the war. At the time of publication Giedion's former book, Space, Time and Architecture, was seen as a "blockbuster" by the architectural community (especially in the USA). The latter publication, Mechanization, did not receive a favourable response by the same professional community. Their contrasting historiography suggests that the internal crisis of architecture is in a constant struggle with architecture's exterior, in this case, war. Giedion's Mechanization can be seen as the shadow text of the progressive myth of the former. With a focus on Mechanization, the paper aims to open its discursive approach to history. The post-war city is where Giedion's publications and my studies on "a gap of history" coincide and intersect. Giedion is fascinated with psychic factors shown in the recurring theme of the split between thought and feeling and exemplified in the dialectic between image and text. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory I argue that this functions as a mirror-stage in relation to a discourse on architecture and to architecture's disciplinary boundaries where the subject of architecture lacks the ideality and unity that is represented in the former publication.

China’s foundational thought and ancient philosophers

China's Spring and Autumn (770 BC-403 BC) and Warring States (403 BC-221 BC) periods, though marked by disunity and constant wars, witnessed an unprecedented era of cultural prosperity and intellectual activities. This paper takes this political context and intellectual background into consideration when examining the main schools of thought in that era, and argues that the atmosphere of reform and new ideas was attributed to the struggle for survival among warring regional lords, who needed an ever-increasing number of well-educated officials.

The microbiome and mental health: looking back, moving forward with lessons from allergic diseases

Relationships between gastrointestinal viscera and human emotions have been documented by virtually all medical traditions known to date. The focus on this relationship has waxed and waned through the centuries, with noted surges in interest driven by cultural forces. Here we explore some of this history and the emerging trends in experimental and clinical research. In particular, we pay specific attention to how the hygiene hypothesis and emerging research on traditional dietary patterns has helped re-ignite interest in the use of microbes to support mental health. At present, the application of microbes and their structural parts as a means to positively influence mental health is an area filled with promise. However, there are many limitations within this new paradigm shift in neuropsychiatry. Impediments that could block translation of encouraging experimental studies include environmental forces that work toward dysbiosis, perhaps none more important than westernized dietary patterns. On the other hand, it is likely that specific dietary choices may amplify the value of future microbial-based therapeutics. Pre-clinical and clinical research involving microbiota and allergic disorders has predated recent work in psychiatry, an early start that provides valuable lessons. The microbiome is intimately connected to diet, nutrition, and other lifestyle variables; microbial-based psychopharmacology will need to consider this contextual application, otherwise the ceiling of clinical expectations will likely need to be lowered.

Observations on ponticocythereis tricristata (Brady, 1880) from the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea and comments on quaternary ostracod evolution within the sw Pacific Ocean

The ostracod species originally described as Cythere tricristata Brady, 1880 from the Admiralty Islands, Papua New Guinea, appears to belong to the SW Pacific and Australasian genus Ponticocythereis McKenzie, 1967 (sensu Warne & Whatley 1996). This interpretation is based on the presence of some posterior pointing scale-like spines on the carapace surface of this species. SEM images of the type material for Ponticocythereis tricristara n. comb., which are presented here for the first time, enable the clear differentiation of this species from the very similar Ponticocythereis ichthyoderma (Brady, 1890), Ponticocythereis quadriserialis (Brady, 1890) and Ponticocythereis laingensis (Wouters, 1981). As a consequence of the subdued manifestation of scale-like or blade-like spines on adult specimens of P. tricristata, this species closely resembles juvenile rather than adult specimens of some other Ponticocythereis species. This ontogenetic/phylogenetic relationship suggests that paedomorphic processes were significant in the Quaternary evolutionary radiation of Ponticocythereis species within tropical SW Pacific and Australasian regions.