• The natural way to better mental health

    Open Forum     |      June 8, 2025

    Regular chats with friends, time spent in nature and mentally engaging activities are strongly linked to better mental health, according to new Curtin University research that highlights the power of simple, everyday behaviours to improve well-being.

  • The wait

    Open Forum     |      April 1, 2025

    The long wait for an initial treatment session for teenagers suffering from poor mental health could be undermining their prospects of recovery.

  • Paging Doctor Claude

    Open Forum     |      February 13, 2025

    US researchers say AI chatbots such as Claude and ChatGPT could be as good as, if not better, than psychotherapists in delivering mental health therapy.

  • Grow up?

    Nick Haslam     |      September 2, 2024

    What is behind the spiraling rates of ‘mental illness’ among the young? Several recent books take very different views on the issue.

  • Integrating wellbeing into mental health research

    Lilly Matson     |      July 8, 2024

    New research suggests mental wellbeing should be measured alongside standard tests for mental health conditions.

  • Happier children mean happier adults

    Lucy Grummitt     |      June 10, 2024

    A new study suggests it’s time the eradication of child maltreatment became a major public health priority to reduce the later toll of adult mental illness.

  • After the final whistle

    Open Forum     |      June 4, 2024

    Sporting careers are always relatively short, and people forced to retire from their chosen sport at an early age are at an even higher risk of feeling bereft when their days on the field are over.

  • Boosting belonging for school mental health

    Kelly-Ann Allen     |      May 2, 2024

    Initiatives to enhance a sense of school belonging can have positive and far-reaching effects on the mental health of young people.

  • Overthinking everything

    Kirsty Ross     |      March 9, 2024

    If you find overthinking everything is affecting your life, and your levels of anxiety are rising or your enjoyment of life is being negatively affected, it might be time to get some strategies to get your mind back on track.

  • Green mental health

    Alan Stevenson     |      January 24, 2024

    Getting out into nature helps people improve their mental health – and bringing nature back into our cities can reduce crime.

  • What ails Australia?

    Open Forum     |      December 14, 2023

    Mental health and substance use disorders are now the second largest group of diseases causing illness and premature death in Australia, according to a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

  • Mental health goes digital

    Jacinthe Flore     |      December 10, 2023

    The isolating effects of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were a springboard for fast-paced, data-driven, technologically delivered changes in mental health care, led by new firms taking advantage of sluggish progress by traditional services.