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Words by Michelle Sparkes More than just feeling down, clinical depression is a serious mental health condition that affects the way people feel, think, and react to general daily activities, such as eating, sleeping, or working. In Australia one-in-seven people will experience clinical depression in their lifetime and globally the number is one-in-five. Predicted to…

Former Australian NRL player, Dan Hunt, 30, Sydney, played 150 games for the St George Illawarra Dragons during his prestigious nine-year-long career that concluded in July, 2015.   Dan has continued to partner with the NRL in retirement, as its State of Mind community and mental health ambassador. In April 2016 Dan founded the Mental…

The host of Channel 10’s The Bachelor and member of Brisbane’s HIT 105 breakfast radio team, Osher Günsberg is no stranger to mental illness. He currently battles social anxiety, has been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and has lived with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Osher has first-hand experience of the heavy stigma surrounding complex…

Geneticist and Head of the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute and Lead Investigator of the Australian Genetics of Depression Study, Prof Nick Martin, Brisbane, has this week thrown his support behind the human-led, human-grown ‘Heart On Your Sleeve’ Movement. The social media movement, ‘Heart on Your Sleeve’, is the brainchild of 27…

Aerial fitness and gardening enthusiast, Darcy, 24, Melbourne, has been living with clinical depression for the past 10 years. Since her diagnosis with clinical depression at the tender age of 14, Darcy has continued to combat negative feelings every day. “For me, clinical depression is like a long, slow slog through feelings of hopelessness, guilt,…

The nation’s largest, proactive mental health check report card released this week revealed traditional approaches to managing mental health are costly, time-consuming and incorrect. ‘Australia’s Biggest Mental Health Check-in’ – a digital public health initiative designed to measure, educate and drive change in the mental health arena – involved over 3,000 Australian adults over the…

Reading the news lately, it seems many of our elite athletes are living with clinical depression. Just this week, AFL star, and Western Bulldogs key forward, 21-year-old Tom Boyd was granted a leave of absence while undergoing treatment for clinical depression. Throughout 2017, we’ve heard from athletes including Ian Thorpe, who has been open about…

On Sunday, June 25, 2017, Australian Genetics of Depression Study researchers, Prof Nick Martin from the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, and Prof Ian Hickie from the Sydney Brain and Mind Centre, joined Study participants, Anna, 29, and Jodie, 45, to chat with radio host, Lynne Malcolm for the popular ABC Radio National program, All in the Mind. The…