Kay Wilhelm

Kay Wilhelm has a longstanding interest in depression, especially gender issues and psychosocial risk factors, brief psychotherapy for depression and deliberate self harm, as well as primary care and general hospital psychiatry. She has been observing a cohort of adults over the past 25 years, with an interest in evolving rates of depression and anxiety, coping styles, gender differences and possible genetic factors. She has published on interactions between serotonin transporter gene, life events and depression onset.

She is currently investigating the effects of short term therapies for people in distress, especially following deliberate self harm and in the context of medical illness, including expressive writing, mindfulness and other strategies to promote coping and emotional regulation. She is evaluating the effects of the program and workshop (see below), in collaboration with Dr Karen Baikie. She has been involved in collaborative studies (with Prof Robyn Richmond, Dr Alex Wodak from UNSW, Dr Tony Butler from Curtin University) investigating smoking cessation in people with mental illness, and/or in prison. She is interested in predicting and early intervention for cognitive impairment, delirium and affective dysregulation in the transplant journey.