Side-effects associated with ketamine use in depression: a systematic review.

This is the first systematic review of the safety of ketamine in the treatment of depression after single and repeated doses. We searched MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Databases and identified 288 articles, 60 of which met the inclusion criteria. After acute dosing, psychiatric, psychotomimetic, cardiovascular, neurological, and other side-effects were more frequently reported after ketamine treatment than after placebo in patients with depresssion.

"Halfway towards recovery": Rehabilitating the relational self in narratives of postnatal depression.

This article explores expositions of subjectivity in accounts of postnatal depression (PND). It examines the public narratives of 19 Australian women contributing to a health information website (healthtalkaustralia.org), collected across two Australian qualitative research studies conducted between 2011 and 2014.

A qualitative evaluation of leadership development workshops for mental health workers from four Pacific Island Countries.

Objective: This paper provides a qualitative evaluation of a series of leadership development workshops held at the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry (NSWIOP) for mental health workers from Papua New Guinea, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands, and Palau.

Method: Fourteen mental health workers attended the week-long training focused on project management and partnership development skills. In-depth interviews were conducted with participants at the commencement and conclusion of the training, and questionnaires were completed.

A qualitative investigation of adolescents' perceived mechanisms of change from a universal school-based depression prevention program.

A recent meta-analysis provides evidence supporting the universal application of school-based prevention programs for adolescent depression. The mechanisms underlying such successful interventions, however, are largely unknown. We report on a qualitative analysis of 109 Grade 9 students' beliefs about what they gained from an evidence-based depression prevention intervention, the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP-A).

What is the process of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment? Results from a qualitative study.

Background: It is a truism that nursing care must be informed by assessment, otherwise how can one know what care is required or that it has been successfully delivered? Yet, little is known about the process of comprehensive mental health nursing assessment in practice. If the education of mental health nurses is to be effective, it is essential that the key content of, and the processes involved in carrying out a mental health nursing assessment in practice are able to be articulated to learners.

Aim: To identify the processes of assessment that occur in mental health nursing practice based on interviews with mental health nurses working in clinical and management roles in clinical areas.

A comprehensive mental health nursing assessment: variability of content in practice.

Assessment is the foundation of mental health nursing practice, but little is known of how it is undertaken. This paper explores how mental health nurses describe the content of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment. Eighteen nurses who worked in inpatient and community settings either as clinicians or managers, ranging from new graduates to nurses with greater than 20 years of experience, were interviewed and asked to describe the content of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment.

The multiple uses of routine mental health outcome measures in Australia and New Zealand: experiences from the field.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to describe the way in which particular Australian and New Zealand mental health services are making use of routine outcome data to foster clinical improvements for consumers.

Method: We invited individuals who are responsible for implementing outcome data collection across the two countries to describe exemplary practices occurring within their own services, and present the resultant information in the form of case studies.

Results: Outcome measurement is being used to guide clinical decision-making, engage consumers in treatment, foster a collaborative approach to care planning and goal setting, review consumers' progress with treatment, inform questions about consumers' eligibility for given programs, assist with discharge planning, improve the evidence-base on which services are founded, and evaluate particular models of service delivery.

Benchmarking adult mental health organizations.

Objective: This paper describes the adult mental health forums that were conducted as part of the National Mental Health Benchmarking Project (NMHBP).

Method: Eight adult mental health forums were attended by staff from eight adult mental health services from around the country. The forums provided an avenue for these participants to document their organizations' performances against previously agreed key performance indicators (KPIs), and to compare this performance with that of their peers.

What is a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment? A review of the literature.

Assessment is the foundation on which nursing care is delivered. The aim of this paper is to better understand the content (what information nurses seek about consumers) and the process (how they go about gathering that information) of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment in practice. Using terms, such as 'nursing', 'mental health', and 'assessment', the CINAHL, Medline, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies that describe the content and process of a comprehensive mental health nursing assessment.

Perceived practice change in Australian doctors as a result of medicolegal concerns.

Objectives: To explore the perceived impact of medicolegal concerns on how Australian doctors practise medicine and to compare doctors who have experienced a medicolegal matter with those who have not.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional survey (posted in September 2007, with reminder 4 weeks later) of Australian doctors from all major specialty groups, trainees and a sample of general practitioners who were insured with a medical insurance company.

Participants: 2999 respondents of 8360 who were sent the survey.

Factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use in Australian doctors.

Objective: To identify factors associated with psychiatric morbidity and hazardous alcohol use in Australian doctors.

Design, Setting And Participants: Cross-sectional postal survey of 2999 doctors (including all major specialty groups, trainees and general practitioners) insured with an Australian medical insurance company. The potential for psychiatric morbidity was measured by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and the potential for hazardous alcohol use by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

Developing reflective skills in infant mental health postgraduate students: The Australian experience.

Postgraduate training in infant mental health (IMH) was offered by the New South Wales Institute of Psychiatry in Sydney, Australia for the first time in 1998. Since 2002, the program has been offered at the master's level by distance education to a multidisciplinary group of students across Australia and New Zealand. This article considers the various ways that the notion of reflective practice and reflective supervision is used in different disciplines and defines our understanding of its place in IMH training.

Australian doctors' involvement in medicolegal matters: a cross-sectional self-report study.

Objective: To investigate the frequency of, and factors associated with, Australian doctors' involvement in medicolegal matters.

Design, Setting And Participants: Cross-sectional survey of Australian doctors (specialists, trainees and general practitioners) insured with the medical insurance company Avant. A self-report questionnaire was mailed to Avant members in September 2007 to gather data on their involvement in medicolegal matters.

GPs' concerns about medicolegal issues - How it affects their practice.

Background: General practitioners' concerns about medicolegal issues have been shown to influence the practice of medicine. This research looks at GPs' beliefs about medicolegal issues and how medicolegal concerns affect their practice.

Methods: A descriptive comparative design was used.

Recent advances in the theories of and interventions with attachment disorders.

Purpose Of Review: The present review examines the available literature to consider recent advances in the theories of, and interventions with, disorders of attachment. We discuss the existing evidence to argue that the conceptualization of attachment disorders remains problematic despite their clinical significance.

Recent Findings: Research into clinical disorders of attachment is limited, but there is some recent evidence that a standardized approach to diagnosis may improve identification.

Psychiatric assessment of children and families in immigration detention--clinical, administrative and ethical issues.

Objective: This paper reports the clinical, practical and ethical issues arising in the assessment of 10 consecutive referrals from a remote Immigration Reception and Processing Centre to a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) between February and August 2002.

Method: The 16 adults and 20 children (age range 11 months to 17 years) were comprehensively assessed by allied health clinicians and child psychiatrists. All children were also assessed by the statutory child protection agency.

A cognitive remediation programme for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Objective: This is the first systematic examination of the efficacy of a cognitive remediation programme (CRP) for management of adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The CRP was designed to target problems commonly associated with adult ADHD, namely, attention problems, poor motivation, poor organizational skills, impulsivity, reduced anger control and low self-esteem.

Method: In a randomized, controlled trial, a representative sample of adults with ADHD (some medicated, some not) were assigned to either a CRP (n = 22) or a waiting list control (n = 21).

Functional enuresis: is desmopressin the answer?

Objective: The efficacy of desmopressin in the treatment of functional enuresis, known for 15 years, has received very little attention in the psychiatric literature. This review seeks to remedy this and to asses critically its effectiveness, risks and side effects, as well as the implications for the understanding and management of enuresis.

Method: Treatment trials, reports of unwanted effects, and literature on mechanisms of action were reviewed.

Using a socio-historical frame to analyse aboriginal self-destructive behaviour.

The last two decades have seen rapid changes in many facets of Aboriginal society, including morbidity and mortality. The same period has witnessed a dramatic increase in writing about and by Aborigines and this has necessitated a re-examination of the national "history" to include the indigenous people of Australia. Medical workers in Aboriginal Australia should be alert to the historical forces determining patterns of ill-health.