Key Issues in Mental Health
Why is your research important? To answer this question you need to include statistics about the state of mental health in Australia at the moment. These sites will help you state the importance of your IRP:
Your next task is to define Mental health - what do you mean by it? how does the government define it? are there other definitions you should consider? what about people with mental health issues which are well managed? Are you including things like eating disorders? What about people who simply view the world differently because their brain works differently (eg people with Aspurgers Syndrome)? How useful are these definitions? Do we need different definitions in different contexts?
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1. Myths
Relationships Australia have an interesting report with simple graphs about people's attitudes to suicide. How do these charts compare with the real statistcs? What might lead to these assumptions?
Mindframe: http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-mental-health-and-suicide-prevention/talking-to-media-about-mental-illness/facts-and-stats ] stats are old but myths are still very relevant
2. What causes mental health issues? Genetics, environment, traumatic experiences? do different causes create differnet issues?
Medicine.net seems to be reliable, but check the info elsewhere as I'm not sure who wrote it [http://www.medicinenet.com/mental_illness/article.htm ]
Patient.co (a Uk site I've included because it has very useful info about other risk factors) [http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Poverty-and-Mental-Health.htm]
3. Genetics and mental health - be very clear how genetics works before you start - it's not just BB, Bb, bb genes, there are lots of combinations. You can have a gene for something but it doesn't matter until it is "switched on". What kinds of triggers switch on problematic genes (eg lots of research on marijuana and schizophrenia)? what kinds of mental health behaviours are "learned behaviours" from parents?
Schizophrenia.com [http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/hereditygen.htm]
Encyclopaedia of Mental Disorders http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Genetic-factors-and-mental-disorders.html
Time Magazine [http://healthland.time.com/2013/08/12/common-genetic-ground-found-for-depression-schizophrenia-autism/]
Medical Journal of Australia [https://www.mja.com.au/open/2012/1/1/children-whose-parents-have-mental-illness-prevalence-need-and-treatment]
Cannabis and Mental Health Report [https://ncpic.org.au/static/pdfs/young-people-training-package/cannabis-and-mental-health-put-into-context.pdf]
4. Does early diagnosis help manage hereditary mental health issues?
5. Do creative therapies such as art, music and writing help mental health problems?
Links between fitness and decreased depression
Effects of physical excerciseson depressionhttp://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/2/179.short Suggests positive effects of excercise
Relationships Australia have an interesting report with simple graphs about people's attitudes to suicide. How do these charts compare with the real statistcs? What might lead to these assumptions?
Mindframe: http://www.mindframe-media.info/for-mental-health-and-suicide-prevention/talking-to-media-about-mental-illness/facts-and-stats ] stats are old but myths are still very relevant
2. What causes mental health issues? Genetics, environment, traumatic experiences? do different causes create differnet issues?
Medicine.net seems to be reliable, but check the info elsewhere as I'm not sure who wrote it [http://www.medicinenet.com/mental_illness/article.htm ]
Patient.co (a Uk site I've included because it has very useful info about other risk factors) [http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Poverty-and-Mental-Health.htm]
3. Genetics and mental health - be very clear how genetics works before you start - it's not just BB, Bb, bb genes, there are lots of combinations. You can have a gene for something but it doesn't matter until it is "switched on". What kinds of triggers switch on problematic genes (eg lots of research on marijuana and schizophrenia)? what kinds of mental health behaviours are "learned behaviours" from parents?
Schizophrenia.com [http://www.schizophrenia.com/research/hereditygen.htm]
Encyclopaedia of Mental Disorders http://www.minddisorders.com/Flu-Inv/Genetic-factors-and-mental-disorders.html
Time Magazine [http://healthland.time.com/2013/08/12/common-genetic-ground-found-for-depression-schizophrenia-autism/]
Medical Journal of Australia [https://www.mja.com.au/open/2012/1/1/children-whose-parents-have-mental-illness-prevalence-need-and-treatment]
Cannabis and Mental Health Report [https://ncpic.org.au/static/pdfs/young-people-training-package/cannabis-and-mental-health-put-into-context.pdf]
4. Does early diagnosis help manage hereditary mental health issues?
5. Do creative therapies such as art, music and writing help mental health problems?
- https://www.youthbeyondblue.com/footer/stats-and-facts
- https://www.beyondblue.org.au/resources/family-and-friends/parents-and-guardians/family-guide-to-youth-suicide-prevention/youth-suicide-risk-factors
Links between fitness and decreased depression
Effects of physical excerciseson depressionhttp://eurpub.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/2/179.short Suggests positive effects of excercise
Physical Exercise and Mental Health
It is now accepted that physical activity benefits people suffering from mental illnesses, especially depression. This idea is explored in Exercise for Mental Health: A no-brainer?, the Heart Foundation's Physical Activity and Depression, and One hour of exercise can prevent depression. The Mental Health Benefits Of Strength Training explains how transferring techniques learned in weightlifting in other everyday life helped her overcome some aspects of living with depression. Current evidence and use of physical activity in the treatment of mental illness: A literature review summarises many important studies on exercise and mental health, with an excellent bibliography (Read their article here) and A call to action: exercise as treatment for patients with mental illness focuses on the best ways for doctors and therapists to "prescribe" physical activity for patients with mental illnesses.
However, it's not just any exercise that counts. Sweaty Smiles: The benefits of exercise for mental health outlines some of the key exercise choices that limit or enhance the benefits of exercise. These are explored in a more specific example in Role of physical exercise in reducing depression and improving mental health in cancer survivors Makes some interesting points about he exercise choices in cancer survivors suffering depression (re. need for organised exercise and presence of trainers) that might be worth investigating for other people with depression.(Is it the exercise or the social support that's important?). Mind Matters: Benefits of Outdoor play on Mental Health suggests that outdoor activities are more beneficial than indoor activities. This is how often you should be exercising for optimum mental health cites a study suggesting that moderate exercise is beneficial but overdoing it could be detrimental to your mental health.
In contrast, Mental health and physical activity among adolescents did not find links between physical exercise and reduced depression; it linked depression in girls to 2+ extra hours of TV viewing! (would this today, include other sedentary activities such as social media use?) Sedentary activites might also be worth exploring in your IRP/PIP. This seems to be backed up in In Associations Between Media Use, Mental Health, and Risky Sexual Behaviors in Adolescence, where "social media use was associated with significantly poorer mental health, while hours spent watching television was linked with significantly higher sexual risks".
sleep
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/the-sleepdeprivation-epidemic-affecting-our-teenagers-is-not-all-about-screen-time-20170315-guyldw.html