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The Sydney Morning Herald has recently reported that according to U.S studies, the modern diet may be to blame for the increase in violent behaviour in Western society. The Black Dog Institute's own studies indicate that a diet deficient in omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may have a higher than previously recognised role in increasing the risk to people suffering mood disorders, cardiac conditions and other general health problems. Also, the Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute, Professor Gordon Parker, has highlighted the importance of understanding family history in order to identify and lessen the impact of mental illness.
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article on omega-3 [Provided with kind permission of SMH]
Read the Sydney Morning Herald focusing on family medical history [Provided with kind permission of SMH]
The Black Dog Institute is conducting a follow-up study of individuals seen at the Mood Disorders Unit Depression Clinic (Prince Henry Hospital) between 1985 and 1995. The study aims to look at long-term outcomes. While the Institute has been in touch with some of these people, it is still looking for others that may have changed their contact details. Perhaps a friend or relative of someone who attended the clinic in this period could also help in locating these people by telling them about the study. The goal of the study is to understand better the long-term outcomes and the impact of depression and factors that might influence its course.
Read the full ad [PDF, 83KB]
Professor Philip Mitchell, Head of the School of Psychiatry at the University of NSW and Consultant Psychiatrist to the Black Dog Institute, has been awarded a prestigious Medical/Media Award for commentary on a range of mental health issues. Professor Mitchell is one of four NSW medical researchers to receive the awards from Research Australia. The Awards recognise researchers who have demonstrated effective public communications expertise on difficult public health issues.
Read the Research Australia news release [PDF, 32KB]
The Black Dog Institute is conducting a series of professional development workshops for psychologists to better identify and manage depression and Bipolar Disorder amongst people in rural New South Wales. The workshops are an opportunity for the Institute to detail new information based on current advances in the diagnosis of mood disorders and explore ways of managing depressive episodes and preventing relapse. Pictured to the right is the Institute's Professional Education team for psychologists.
Read the news release for the Newcastle workshop [PDF, 35KB]
Read the news release for the Wollongong workshop [PDF, 35KB]
Read the news release for the Wagga Wagga workshop [PDF, 35KB]
Read the news release for the Orange workshop [PDF, 35KB]
The Black Dog Institute plans to pilot a ground-breaking attack on rural mental health early next year. The Institute, with funding of $1 million from the New South Wales Government, is developing the Mood Assessment Program (the MAP) which will help General Practitioners and Health workers with the know-how of highly skilled mood disorder specialists.
Read the news release [PDF, 45KB]
Last week, the Black Dog Insitute hosted a Community Interest Forum to celebrate Mental Health Week. The event attracted a large crowd who enjoyed a range of relaxation activities including tai chi, yoga and music therapy. In addition, it was an opportunity for the Institute to showcase some of its recent research initiatives.
Read the flyer [PDF, 193KB]
A group of central western NSW farming families hosted a special event on Sunday 8th October near Trangie to raise awareness about depression among farmers and their rural families. Nearly 500 people attended the Depression Awareness Day which featured a series of guest speakers, including Matthew Johnstone, representing the Black Dog Institute.
Read the flyer [PDF, 48KB]
Read an article about the forum by Lucy Skuthorp courtesy of "The Land" [PDF, 21KB]
The Black Dog Institute today launched its third Writing Competition in as many years with the focus this time on Bipolar Disorder. In its inaugural year (2004/2005), the Writing Competition looked at the origins of the term Black Dog to describe Depression. Contributions from the many entries subsequently formed the basis of a book titled Tracking the Black Dog. The last Writing Competition attracted 634 entries - nearly triple the number in the first year- and targeted inspirational stories to help sufferers of the Black Dog to be better equipped.
Read more about the competition
See the ad that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald [PDF, 115KB]
A group of farming families have joined forces to host a function to raise awareness about depression amongst farmers and their rural communities. The function will be held on Sunday, October 8, on a property near Trangie, and will feature a series of guest speakers on the subject of depression, including Matthew Johnstone (pictured right), author of "I Had a Black Dog" who will be representing Black Dog Institute.
Read the flyer [PDF, 48KB]
Read an article about the forum by Lucy Skuthorp courtesy of "The Land" [PDF, 21KB]
Professor Sir David Goldberg delivered the second Black Dog Institute International Lecture on Friday 22 September. Now retired, Professor Goldberg is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry at the Maudsley, King’s College London. The title of his address was Common Mental Disorders from Genesis to Revelations.
Read the news release [PDF, 28KB]
The topic of youth mood disorders has been in the spotlight with widely publicised reports about the side effects of antidepressants as well as controversy concerning the nature and diagnosis of depression and Bipolar Disorder. On September 8th, the Black Dog Institute, in association with the University of Sydney and Northern Sydney Central Coast Health, hosted a one day conference on the subject. The aim of the conference was to inform professionals working with children and adolescents about the latest research concerning diagnosis and treatment, to enhance therapeutic skills, and to optimize the use of empirical evidence in clinical practice. The conference proved to be an outstanding success, especially considering the high standard set by the presenters.
See a photo of the speakers [PDF, 115KB]
The Black Dog Institute and the University of NSW are trialing an alternative treatment for depression in young people (aged 15-18) called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). TMS uses strong magnetic fields to stimulate the brain through an electromagnetic coil held to the head. The stimulation is non-invasive and is given while the person is fully awake and alert.
Read the news release [PDF, 33KB]
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article [PDF, 141KB] (Linked with permission of Alex Wilde)
Congratulations to Black Dog Institute Researcher, Dr Michael Valenzuela - winner of an Australian Museum 2006 Eureka Prize for his influential research to determine whether mental exercises in the elderly can help prevent dementia. The prestigious Eureka Prizes, sponsored by the NSW Office of Science and Medical Research, are regarded as "the Oscars" of scientific research awards. They are Australia's largest single national award scheme for research and recognise leadership, innovation, teaching and communication about critical environmental and sustainability issues facing Australia. The citation referring to Dr Valenzuela reads: "For a series of studies which have shed light on the role of mental activity in the development of Alzheimer's Disease at both the basic-science and community level. Michael's integration of epidemiological reports across more than 29,000 individuals was the first in the field and found that complex mental activity across the lifespan is associated with an almost 50% reduction in dementia risk. By combining these results with innovative neuroimaging research, his work has been influential in current discussion of a large-scale clinical trial to determine whether mental exercises in the elderly can help prevent dementia."
Read a UNSW story regarding the Eureka Prize (Linked with permission)
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article (Linked with permission)
A group of Year 11 drama students from Rutherford High Technology High School have been applauded by a packed house for an outstanding Sydney performance of their play on Bipolar Disorder. The play Taking Control was performed before an audience that included some of Australia’s leading authorities on the issue including Professor Gordon Parker, Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute, Associate Professor Neil Cole, Researcher at the Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre in Victoria and Professor Philip Hazell, a Psychiatrist at the Rivendell Unit for young people at Concord in Sydney.
Read the news release [PDF, 40KB]
See more photos from the event [Flashpaper]
The Channel 9 health program 'What's Good For You' recently looked at the benefits of St John's Wort for treating depression. Pictured is television personality and former test cricketer, Michael Slater, interviewing the Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute, Professor Gordon Parker. A Black Dog Institute Fact sheet about St John's Wort is featured on our website.
Read the Fact sheet about St John's Wort
A Black Dog Institute group is part of a multi-disciplinary team that has been awarded one of only three multimillion dollar grants under the Federal Government's Thinking Systems initiative. The Australian Research Council (ARC) and the National Health and Medical Health Research Council (NHMRC) has awarded the team $3.3 million over the next five years. The team includes mathematicians, engineers, robotics experts, neuroscientists and psychologists and its chief investigator is Dr Michael Breakspear, a senior research fellow at the Black Dog Institute. Dr Breakspear and three other Black Dog Institute scientists - Dr Gin Malhi, Dr Stuart Knock, Dr Jim Lagopoulos - will focus primarily on the neuroscientific aspects of the proposal. Their work on this project underscores Institute's commitment towards better understanding the basic tenants of human neuroscience.
Read the UNSW news release
A groundbreaking study by the Black Dog Institute, published by the Journal of Affective Disorders, has found a new strategy that reduces the severity of depression for Bipolar II sufferers. With increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with Bipolar II - estimated to be as high as one in 20 Australians over their lifetime - the results of the study have been described as “potentially signalling one of the most significant medical advances in many years in the treatment of a mental illness”
Read the news release [PDF, 42KB]
Read the AAP story [PDF, 30KB]
Read the full academic article
The latest Black Dog Institute book release, 'Tracking the Black Dog', has received a favourable review in The Canberra Times. A study of the history of the term 'Black Dog' to describe depression, the book contains excepts from many of the entries of the Institute's inaugural writing competition in 2004/5.
Read the review [Flashpaper] (Linked with kind permission of The Canberra Times)
The Black Dog Institute, in conjunction with the University of NSW, is trialing an alternative treatment for depression - known as Mild Brain Stimulation (MBS). The new treatment stimulates the brain with a mild electrical current, a thousand times weaker than electro-convulsive therapy (ECT). Unlike ECT, which requires the patient to be anaesthetised and results in a seizure, the new treatment is painless with no known serious side effects. There is no anaesthetic or seizure and people participating in the MBS trial are fully awake and alert during the 20 minute treatment.
Read the news release [PDF, 47KB]
Listen to the director of the study answer some FAQs [2 minute Macromedia Breeze Presentation - best with broadband internet connection]
A diet deficient of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may have a higher than previously recognised role in increasing the risk to people suffering mood disorders, cardiac conditions and other general health problems. The findings are contained in a paper from the Black Dog Institute, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.The paper is based on a review of omega-3 and its role as a cause and natural treatment of mood disorders.
Read the news release [PDF, 92KB]
Read a summary of the paper [PDF, 51KB]
Read the full version of the paper
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article (Linked with kind permission of the Sydney Morning Herald)
Stories on how people live with the Black Dog (mood disorders) will provide new inspiration to help thousands of sufferers to be better equipped and informed to deal with a mental illness that strikes at one in five Australians. The NSW Assistant Minister for Health (Mental Health), Cherie Burton, said today she had been deeply moved by the large number of inspirational stories to emerge from the 2005/2006 Black Dog Institute Writing Competition. The Minister today presented prizes to the winners of the competition which attracted 634 entries from Australia and overseas. Three independent judges - Anne Deveson AO, writer, broadcaster and documentary film-maker; Margret Meagher, Managing Director of I'Media Asia Pacific - publishers of Arts + Medicine; and Leanne Pethick, former CEO of DepressioNet - selected the first, second and third place getters as well as 12 Highly Commended Award winners.
Pictured on the right (from left to right) are Judith Fleming (3rd place), Robert Stephenson (1st place) and Siobhan Walsh (2nd place).
Read the full news release [PDF, 104KB]
See the photos from the awards ceremony [Flashpaper]
Hear some of the winners talk about their stories [3min 03sec Macromedia Breeze Presentation - best with broadband internet connection]
"Tracking the Black Dog" is a new book, the product of the Black Dog Institute's inaugural writing competition - drawing from the highlights of the hundreds of entries. Comical, poignant and learned, these excerpts range from Anubis and faithful Argos, beautiful early myths and legends, through werewolves to darker medieval superstitions, witch hunts, alchemy, astrology and Knights errant, touch on Boswell and Johnson and arrive at mesmerism and ouija boards of Victorian times. Churchill's courage in the face of his illness, and references to black dog from our own times are also uncovered, links in a chain stretching back to our forebears. All served with a dollop of black humour. Anyone who has ever experienced depression, or who wants to know more about this illness, will find the black dog's trail through history a fascinating read.
Kerrie Eyers, editor of "Tracking the Black Dog", is pictured on the right.
Dr Barrett is a clinician at the Black Dog Institute Depression Clinic. In this role, Dr Barrett undertakes the clinical assessment of patients referred to the Institute as well as the consensus meeting with a Senior Consultant. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) first awarded the Maddision medallion in 1970 to recognise and encourage excellence in the study of psychiatry. It is awarded for meritorious performance during training and in the examinations leading to fellowship of the RANZCP.
Dr Barrett is pictured on the right.
Australian artist, Margaret Olley, today launched a unique web based educational program to help people suffering from Bipolar Disorder.The program was developed by the Black Dog Institute and provides expert, factual and consumer oriented advice to people who suffer from Bipolar Disorder as well as their families and friends. The new program is believed to be the first of its kind anywhere in the world.
Pictured with Margaret Olley is former Rugby International, Enrique "Topo"Rodriguez and Olympic swimming legend, John Konrads.
Read the news release [PDF, 93KB]
The Premier of NSW, Morris Iemma, has announced a multi-million dollar package for mental health reseach and infrastructure. The funding package includes $1 million for the Black Dog Institute to develop the MAP ( Mood Assessment Program). The MAP is a world first and set to revolutionise the way in which people sufffering mood disorders can obtain treatment - particularly in rural and remote areas of NSW.
Read the full story [PDF, 83KB]
An opinion piece written by Black Dog Institute Executive Director, Professor Gordon Parker, was published in The Sydney Morning Herald yesterday. He writes that the state of mental health in NSW will be under even closer public scrutiny as the Commonwealth mental health funding enhancements flow. Depressingly, however, for those who might expect a 10-point plan involving the Commonwealth and the states in advancing mental-health care, plans risk being more interposed than interlocked.
Read the Sydney Morning Herald Article (Linked with kind permission of the Sydney Morning Herald)
When Sydney mother Paige Nelson was six months' pregnant with her son, she fell into such a severe depression she no longer wanted to live. Her feelings were so overwhelming, she was unable to get out of bed and look after her young daughter, a toddler at the time. While much has been written about the 'baby blues' - or depression once a child is born - psychiatrists are starting to realise mood disorders during pregnancy are just as common.
Read the AAP article [PDF, 48KB]
Some people are more than twice as likely to become depressed as others, given similar circumstances, according to landmark research from Brain Sciences UNSW. The paper, which has just been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, has found more than a fifth of the population has a genetic predisposition to depression, in response to a series of stressful life events.
Read the news release [PDF, 207KB]
Read an article about the study [PDF, 114KB] (article written by Susi Hamilton, reproduced with kind permission of Uniken, the UNSW magazine)
Direct Current Stimulation (DCS) or 'mild brain stimulation' is the new therapy being trialled by Dr Colleen Loo (pictured right) at the Black Dog Institute. Repeated sessions of extremely low levels of electrical currents being directed to the frontal lobe of the brain may induce responses in the brain that relieve symptoms of depression.
Read the Sydney Morning Herald Article (Linked with kind permission of the Sydney Morning Herald)
Launched in October last year, the second Black Dog Institute Writing Competition has been a resounding success. More than 600 entries – inspirational stories about how people live with the black dog (depression) - were received before the closing date on 31 January 2006. Judges have now started the mammoth task of reading the large number of entries and we will update this page with details as the judging timetable progresses. Thank you to everyone who submitted entries into this competition.
Still smiling after sorting the many entries for our judges is Community Liaison Officer, Tessa Wigney (pictured).
Professor Philip Mitchell, psychiatrist at the Black Dog Institute and Head of Psychiatry at the UNSW, has welcomed a proposal by the NSW government to overhaul health services. The plan, which will be tabled at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra, is spearheaded by changes to mental health care.
Read more (Linked with kind permission of UNSW)
A key contributor to the work of the Black Dog Institute, Associate Professor Kay Wilhelm, received the award – Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on Australia Day 2006.
Kay was recognised for her service to medicine in the field of psychiatry, particularly through clinical, educational and research contributions to improving mental health.
CONGRATULATIONS from everyone associated with the Black Dog Institute.
Professor Philip Mitchell, psychiatrist with the Black Dog Institute, is among a group of researchers from the UNSW and Garvan Institute of Medical Research who have shown for the first time a risk gene for Bipolar Disorder.
Read more (Linked with kind permission of UNSW)
Dr Karen Baikie, clinicial research psychologist at the Black Dog Institute and the School of Psychiatry at UNSW, has recently completed research into the health benefits of expressive writing to heal past trauma and internal stress. In a recent Sydney Morning Herald interview (SMH, Nov 10, 2005), Dr Baikie said that there is a growing body of evidence that expressive writing has clear physical and psychological benefits. "Our emotions and our physiology are intimately linked, people who are stressed tend to get more sick." Dr Baikie explained. "The writing seems to relieve internal stress."
Dr Baikie recently presented a seminar, 'Expressive Writing and Mindfulness Techniques', for the Community Christmas Event at the Black Dog Institute premises in Randwick.
Read Dr Baikie's biography [Flashpaper]
Read the Sydney Morning Herald article (Linked with kind permission of the Sydney Morning Herald)
Page last updated: 25-Sep-2008
Depression and Bipolar Disorder Information Australia - Black Dog Institute.
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