NZ And Australian Perspectives On Depression

New Zealand And Australian Perspectives On Depression And Bipolar Disorders

More than 300 people attended a recent public lecture on depression at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago. Many more had to be turned away. This level of interest reflects a recent WHO report demonstrating that internationally, depression is one of the leading causes of disability and can affect anyone, including those who are ostensibly ‘successful’ and ‘happy’.

Professor Peter Joyce head of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who has a longstanding interest in depression and bipolar disorder, has now released a new book on the subject of mood disorders. This book has been edited in association with Professor Phillip Mitchell, a colleague from the University of New South Wales.

“Mood Disorders. Recognition and Treatment’ will be launched at the Christchurch Convention Centre at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) Congress on Tuesday May 11, 5pm.

The Congress will be attended by over 800 psychiatrists from Australia and New Zealand (May 10-13), and will feature a number of top international speakers.

Professor Joyce says that in recent years there have been major advances in understanding the causes of these disorders and effective treatments are being more widely utilised. Contributors to the new book are mainly clinicians from Australia and New Zealand, with two chapters being written by psychiatrists from the United States and the United Kingdom.

‘Mood Disorders’ will appeal not only to the wide range of health professionals who are managing and treating those with depression and bipolar disorder, but also to those who suffer from these debilitating disorders, their relatives and friends.

At the Congress Professor Joyce will also receive, for the second time in ten years, the RANZCP Organon Senior Research Award for his ongoing research into mood disorders carried out in the Mental Health Clinical Research Unit at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Professor Joyce will deliver two plenary papers at the Congress, one entitled ‘Perspectives on Depression’, and the other ‘A Search for Clinical Validity’, which will present data from recent psychotherapy trials in Christchurch.

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