They get a bad wrap, but nursing homes are a better option than only having walls to talk to. – Sydney Morning Herald, March 2016 – 2UE Radio spot, 28th March 2016
An Easter Message
The Easter bunny’s origin has been thought to be related to an ancient motif of three hares found in sacred sites throughout Europe and the Middle East. Thought to be a symbol of the Trinity, it is an essential doctrine
Videogames – friend or foe?
Psychiatry has had an unusual relationship with videogames – and despite several hundred studies on the topic, it is still not clear how and to what extent they influence the mind. Do they encourage violence? And can they prevent dementia?
The Santa Clause in Mental Health
What does mental health literature have to say about talking to kids about Santa Claus? http://www.smh.com.au/comment/lying-to-the-kids-about-santa-claus-a-psychiatrists-view-20151217-glpn0z.html
Mental Health Resources
The Internet is rife with well-intentioned mental health advice, supposed resources, and many, many pitfalls. Much of the difficulty is the reality of psychiatry, in that the lack of objective evidence regarding psychiatric illness (save treatment responses and, in some
The Challenge of Ageing
On the 21st of July 2015 at a Swiss euthanasia clinic, Gill Pharaoh, a retired palliative care nurse, ended her life. She had been involved in the care of several terminally ill patients, and had had a long and successful
Internship: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
A little bit of advice to those newly starting their medical careers… (Published in the Australian Medical Association Newsletter May 2015.) I had no real interest in medicine when I first went into university. This ambivalence didn’t prepare me well
Asylum seekers and mental health – a resolvable social problem
It is difficult to maintain a consistent attitude, as a nation, to the issue of asylum-seekers. The extremes of “White Australia” are long gone since its final dissolution in 1973, however there is an ongoing fear regarding our vulnerability as
What the Germanwings crash says about mental health.
I was flying back home whilst reading about the loss of Germanwings flight 4U 9525. The plane I took had on board about as many people who were lost. Speculation regarding terrorist implications had by then rapidly given way to
Why Doctors Commit Suicide
This image – of an overwhelmed emergency physician dealing with the loss of a patient – went viral on the Internet. Trying to explain why leads to important considerations regarding how society behaves – and how doctors behave.