A Randomised Trial Of The Augmentation Of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy With Fluoxetine For Anxious School Refusing Youth
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,191.00
Summary
School refusing youth consistently suffer from anxiety and sometimes depression. They become severely emotionally distressed when taken to school and experience social and academic difficulties in the short and long term as well as psychiatric illness in adulthood. Our program investigates whether treatment can be improved by enhancing psychotherapy (cognitive behaviour therapy) which helps over half of anxious school refusing children, with antidepressant-anxiety medication compared to placebo.
Posttraumatic Mental Health: Advancing Understanding Of Diagnosis, Treatment And Mechanisms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$7,590,920.00
Summary
Psychological disorders following exposure to trauma account for a significant proportion of the burden of disease in terms of personal suffering, decreased productivity, occupational dysfunction, and demands on health services. This project will enhance the nation's capacity to reduce psychological problems after trauma. This project will consolidate a critical mass of Australia's leading trauma researchers that will ensure that Australia retains its leading edge in posttraumatic research.
Posttraumatic Mental Health: Enhancing Resilience And Recovery
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$5,043,011.00
Summary
Psychological disorders following exposure to trauma account for a significant proportion of the burden of disease in terms of personal suffering, decreased productivity, occupational and social dysfunction, medical disorders, and demands on health services. The overall goal of this project is to enhance the nation’s capacity in research into the identification of risk factors for posttraumatic mental disorders, study of neurophysiological factors mediating these disorders, and evaluation of tre ....Psychological disorders following exposure to trauma account for a significant proportion of the burden of disease in terms of personal suffering, decreased productivity, occupational and social dysfunction, medical disorders, and demands on health services. The overall goal of this project is to enhance the nation’s capacity in research into the identification of risk factors for posttraumatic mental disorders, study of neurophysiological factors mediating these disorders, and evaluation of treatment strategies to reduce psychological morbidity after trauma. This project will develop a critical mass of Australia’s leading trauma researchers that will ensure that Australia retains its leading edge in posttraumatic research.Read moreRead less
THE EFFECTS OF TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION (TMS) ON RAT MODELS OF DEPRESSION
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$204,274.00
Summary
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is the direct stimulation of the brain by using high field magnetic pulses. It is a new technique that has been demonstrated to have some potential as a treatment of depressive illness and possibly other neuropsychiatric disorders. At this early stage of its investigation, the parameters of stimulation that are most likely to be therapeutic, and its mechanisms of action, are not known. Published studies vary in the frequency, duration and exten ....Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is the direct stimulation of the brain by using high field magnetic pulses. It is a new technique that has been demonstrated to have some potential as a treatment of depressive illness and possibly other neuropsychiatric disorders. At this early stage of its investigation, the parameters of stimulation that are most likely to be therapeutic, and its mechanisms of action, are not known. Published studies vary in the frequency, duration and extent of stimulation, with no firm guidelines about optimal parameters. Empirical study of the relative effects of stimulation at different frequencies, at different numbers of stimuli and for different durations is therefore important for the future development of this treatment. Such an investigation is best carried out in an animal model of depression for both ethical and practical reasons, as such studies in patients would possibly take many years and be extremely difficult to conduct. We propose such a study in rat models of depression which have demonstrated validity and utility in drug research. Rat models have a long track record in developing psychiatric treatments and are cost-effective and of proven value. We also plan to investigate the neuroanatomy of the immediate-early genes induced by TMS and compare it with electroconvulsive shock (ECS) and a tricyclic antidepressant, two established treatments of depression. The results will have implications for future human studies in guiding us toward the optimal parameters for therapeutic effects. They will also enhance our understanding of the mechanism of action of TMS in depression.Read moreRead less
Clinical Correlates Of The Wish To Hasten Death Among The Terminally Ill
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$131,360.00
Summary
There is little research that has directly examined the role of the health professional in a patient's wish to die and the implications of this for the support and development of services to provide care to a dying patient. The aim of this study is to examine factors in the health service, clinical care and social environment that influence the wish to hasten death among terminally ill patients. This is an issue of increasing importance in our community as legislative change is undertaken to ena ....There is little research that has directly examined the role of the health professional in a patient's wish to die and the implications of this for the support and development of services to provide care to a dying patient. The aim of this study is to examine factors in the health service, clinical care and social environment that influence the wish to hasten death among terminally ill patients. This is an issue of increasing importance in our community as legislative change is undertaken to enable assisted suicide in the terminally ill. In particular, there is very limited published research on these issues which have accessed a subject pool of patients who are based in services that specifically provide care for the terminally ill. A specific focus of this study is to examine the factors within the doctor-patient relationship that may influence a patient's wish to hasten death. The doctor's experience of subjective burden in caring for a dying patient, level of confidence in patient management and features of the doctor-patient relationhip will be assessed. This will essentially be an exploratory study which will attempt to establish methodologies that will help to increase an understanding of why some patients request euthanasia, thus leading to the establishment of sound management strategies, as well as contribute empirical data to the euthanasia debate.Read moreRead less
Brain And Skin Blood Flow: New Animal Model For Understanding Psychiatric Disorders And Evaluating Psychotropic Agents
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$874,840.00
Summary
We suddenly become pale when we get a fright; cutaneous blood vessels are linked to psychological function. The skin vessel constriction response occurs because special neurochemical pathways in the brain send messages to the spinal cord, and from there messages traverse peripheral sympathetic nerves to constrict the blood vessels in the skin. By measuring skin blood flow in the rabbit ear and the rat tail we have been able to discover the major brain pathway by which the constrict-the-skin-bloo ....We suddenly become pale when we get a fright; cutaneous blood vessels are linked to psychological function. The skin vessel constriction response occurs because special neurochemical pathways in the brain send messages to the spinal cord, and from there messages traverse peripheral sympathetic nerves to constrict the blood vessels in the skin. By measuring skin blood flow in the rabbit ear and the rat tail we have been able to discover the major brain pathway by which the constrict-the-skin-blood-vessels message reaches the spinal cord. The pathway involves the amygdala, a forebrain region important in emotional expression and the raphe nuclei in the medulla oblongata. Drugs which affect psychological function also effect skin blood flow. Ecstasy, the street drug used to induce euphoria also constricts the skin vessels, and, sadly, the body temperature may increase so much that death ensues. Ecstasy vigorously constricts the skin blood vessels in rabbits, and temperature increases. Ecstasy is thought to act on serotonin-containing nerve cells in the brain, releasing serotonin (5-HT) onto special 5-HT2A receptors. Activation of these receptors affects both psychological function and skin blood flow. Modern drugs used to treat schizophrenia, so called atypical antipsychotics like clozapine and olanzapine, are thought to act as antagonists at 5-HT2A receptors in the brain. We were thus very excited when we discovered in our rabbit model that clozapine reverses the skin vasoconstriction induced by ecstasy. This means that we have specific hypotheses concerning the actual brain pathways and neurotransmitters whereby ecstasy and clozapine exert their effects on skin blood flow. Elucidating these pathways in rabbits and rats will provide solid knowledge concerning the mechanism of action of the atypical antipsychotics, and it may well prove possible to use our animal model to predict whether proposed new antipsychotic agents will be therapeutically effective.Read moreRead less