Suicide is the leading cause of death for men under 45. The ABC TV series Man Up explores whether a reluctance to express feelings is part of the problem - yet the show seems to teeter between celebrating male culture and asking it to change.
- Honorary Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne
Eight weeks of deadlines, debates, press releases, public appearances and handshaking. What should politicians and their teams do to stay healthy and sane?
Public figures sharing private information is the norm nowadays. Our thirst for information, combined with the wonders of the internet and lax approaches to privacy, is creating a perfect storm. News outlets…
We start laughing at around 3 months of age. Women laugh more than men, but blokes tell more jokes. As the Melbourne International Comedy Festival begins, here’s the latest on mirth.
A study published in JAMA Psychiatry this week sheds light on the influence of psychiatric disorders on relationships and mating.
People claim the great Australian dream is home ownership. Rubbish. It’s winning TattsLotto. Ever since I was a kid, one question has popped up around the kitchen table, at the pub, over coffee, and even…
Cosmetic procedures quite often receive bad press; they’re seen as unbridled vanity and something to be frowned upon (if you can still frown, that is). But the industry drivers are far more complex than…
It’s hard to remember life without social media. I saw my first computer in high school – it was the size of a fridge and didn’t have a keyboard. We had to use cards to enter data. We excitedly programmed…
We are in the midst of a wave of soul searching trying to understand the Lindt Café siege in Sydney. In a sense we’ve been collectively holding our breaths for years wondering if Australia would ever fall…
Anyone who’s worked in a big organisation will know about KPIs – key performance indicators. Numbers to measure how the organisation is functioning. We have dozens in hospitals – time from arrival to discharge…
It’s Grand Final season – it might seem that nothing else matters about now. Writing about the psychology of football is like writing about the psychology of love. A fool’s business. Nothing (so far) has…
Everyday life is full of mini-ethical moments. Do you own up to being under charged? Do you push in when the traffic is heavy and you’re running late? Do you hassle your kid’s teacher to get little Jimmie…
A patient screamed, “I’m not angry.” Another on finding out about their partners infidelity claimed “I’m not jealous, just disappointed.” And they believed it, at least in the heat of the moment. But were…
The coroner has now released preliminary findings confirming that Robin Williams died by suicide. Mixed with the eulogies and grief over the loss of such a talented comedian, his family, friends, fans…
Next week the 20th International AIDS Conference comes to Melbourne (starting July 20). This will be the biggest medical conference ever held in Australia. President Bill Clinton and Sir Bob Geldof are…
Lying has been in the news this week. Apparently some politicians, somewhere, made all sorts of claims prior to an election, and then did the opposite after the election. Go figure. Lying is ubiquitous…
It is illegal in Australia to aid or abet suicide. Despite this Dr Rodney Syme publicly announced this week that in 2005 he provided a lethal drug, Nembutal, and advice to a patient who two weeks later…
I recently saw the movie Her. Without giving too much away – it’s the story of a recently heart-broken guy who gets a new operating system (or OS) for his computer. The OS uses voice, not a keyboard and…
In my time as a public hospital psychiatrist, I’ve seen many suicides. It is the most common cause of death for those aged under 45. Despite this statistic and suicide’s undeniable presence in our society…
Vanity fascinates me - partly because I’m a victim myself. It’s mostly frowned upon but permeates so many aspects of our everyday life. Recently I brushed up against my own vanity, and it wasn’t completely…
Human behaviour is intriguing – from understanding what we do and why we do it to the bigger questions of human nature and our quest for meaning. It seems we are all amateur psychologists of sorts. There’s…
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