Posts by Mark Henderson

Mitch Wallis, 27 – Mental health advocate & founder of the ‘Heart on My Sleeve’ Movement living with mental illness, SYDNEY

Mitch, 27, Sydney, has battled multiple mental health demons since childhood.   At nine years of age, Mitch was diagnosed with OCD. A decade later, he received yet another diagnosis of severe anxiety, combined with PTSD and clinical depression.  Last year, aged 26, having plunged even deeper into mental illness, Mitch was confronted by two…

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Help for depression with Prof Ian Hickie, AM

Words by Michelle Sparkes More than just feeling down, clinical depression is a serious mental health condition that affects the way people feel, think, and react to general daily activities, such as eating, sleeping, or working. In Australia one-in-seven people will experience clinical depression in their lifetime and globally the number is one-in-five. Predicted to…

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Osher Günsberg – TV & radio personality & Director of SANE Australia, who lives with mental illness, SYDNEY

The host of Channel 10’s The Bachelor and member of Brisbane’s HIT 105 breakfast radio team, Osher Günsberg is no stranger to mental illness. He currently battles social anxiety, has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and has lived with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Osher has first-hand experience of the heavy stigma surrounding complex…

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Cracking the genetic code of clinical depression – Scientists seeking 10,000 Aussie volunteers to complete recruitment for world’s largest genetics of depression study

More than two-thirds of Australian study participants have had to rely upon multiple antidepressants to treat their clinical depression – a trial and error approach that remains a major challenge in delivering more effective mental health care.1 This interim data from the Australian Genetics of Depression Study – the world’s largest genetic investigation into clinical…

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Cracking the genetic code of clinical depression

Next Monday, August 21, 2017 scientists will publish interim data in MJA InSight from the world’s largest genetic investigation into clinical depression.1 The data will reveal how thousands of Australians have been compelled to use guesswork in juggling multiple antidepressants to manage their illness, some of which carry severe side-effects.1 The alarming insights will see study…

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Aussie geneticist “wearing his heart on his sleeve” to end the stigma of mental illness

Geneticist and Head of the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and Lead Investigator of the Australian Genetics of Depression Study, Prof Nick Martin, Brisbane, has this week thrown his support behind the human-led, human-grown ‘Heart On Your Sleeve’ Movement. The social media movement, ‘Heart on Your Sleeve’, is the brainchild of 27…

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Darcy’s story

Aerial fitness and gardening enthusiast, Darcy, 24, Melbourne, has been living with clinical depression for the past 10 years. Since her diagnosis with clinical depression at the tender age of 14, Darcy has continued to combat negative feelings every day. “For me, clinical depression is like a long, slow slog through feelings of hopelessness, guilt,…

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Poor report card for nation’s mental health

The nation’s largest, proactive mental health check report card released this week revealed traditional approaches to managing mental health are costly, time-consuming and incorrect. ‘Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in’ – a digital public health initiative designed to measure, educate and drive change in the mental health arena – involved over 3,000 Australian adults over the…

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