One thing that strikes me about the term “mental health” is that we often use it as a euphemism for mental illness. For example, many events around the country in mental health week are geared toward raising awareness about and de-stigmatizing mental illness. Whereas these are thoroughly worthwhile goals, there is more to mental health… Read more »
How important is your pet for your well-being? Do you consider your pet to be a part of your family? Would you mention your dog or cat if you were asked to list your most important social supports? Health professionals, including myself, have tended to underestimate the potential importance of pets in people’s lives. The… Read more »
What is the upper limit to the number of hours we might best work each week? This question relates to the issue of burnout, which occurs when the demands on us outstrip our resources. However resilient we are, we all have limits beyond which extra demands can lead to a range of stress-related symptoms. Such symptoms… Read more »
How can we improve health services across the board? A number of local health professionals in Geelong recently met to discuss this issue. The discussion was especially refreshing as we considered alternatives that wouldn’t require further funding or political support. This might be the way of the future given greatly rising health costs. A common… Read more »
We tend to think of physical activity as mainly affecting our physical as opposed to our mental health. However, the more we understand the close connection of mind and body, and the more research that is done exploring the relationship between mind and body, the more the topic of physical exercise comes to the fore…. Read more »