Despite growing literature on psychotic experiences, no nationally representative study has reported on the prevalence of both hallucinatory experiences and delusional experiences in Australian adolescents. Also, while many studies have examined the association between psychotic experiences and certain demographic and clinical correlates, there are more variables of interest to be investigated,...
While mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is effective in reducing depressive relapse/recurrence, relatively little is known about its health economic properties. We describe the health economic properties of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in relation to its impact on depressive relapse/recurrence over 2 years of follow-up. Non-depressed adults with a history of three or more major...
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 50(11) A recent review in Pharmacological Reviews highlights that over the last decade, a renaissance has occurred in psychedelic drug research in North America and Europe as investigators at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), New York University and Imperial College London have embarked on studies that...
In clinical settings, there is substantial evidence both clinically and empirically to suggest that approximately 50% of individuals with borderline personality disorder experience auditory verbal hallucinations. However, there is limited research investigating the phenomenology of these voices. The aim of this study was to review and compare our current understanding of auditory verbal...
OBJECTIVE: Despite its long and auspicious place in the history of psychiatry, dissociative identity disorder (DID) has been associated with controversy. This paper aims to examine the empirical data related to DID and outline the contextual challenges to its scientific investigation. METHODS: The overview is limited to DID-specific research in which one or more of the following conditions are...
OBJECTIVE: While mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has demonstrated efficacy in reducing depressive relapse/recurrence over 12-18 months, questions remain around effectiveness, longer-term outcomes, and suitability in combination with medication. The aim of this study was to investigate within a pragmatic study design the effectiveness of MBCT on depressive relapse/recurrence over 2...
Consensus on the parameters of trauma-related dreams required to meet criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critical when: (i) the diagnosis requires a single re-experiencing symptom; and (ii) trauma dreams are prevalent in survivors without PTSD. This study investigated the phenomenology of PTSD dreams in 40 veterans, using structured interview and self-report measures. Dream...
OVERVIEW: Kava (Piper methysticum) is a South Pacific psychotropic plant medicine that has anxiolytic activity. This effect is achieved from modulation of GABA activity via alteration of lipid membrane structure and sodium channel function, monoamine oxidase B inhibition, and noradrenaline and dopamine re-uptake inhibition. Kava is available over the counter in jurisdictions such as the USA,...
A 39-year-old male presented on 14 December to the emergency department with a history of five suicide attempts in the previous week. He had three previous admissions to psychiatric wards with vary...
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to gain more insight into the positive and negative effects of cannabis in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia and in the ultra-high-risk (UHR) state for psychosis. METHOD: A theory-driven questionnaire was used to examine subjective effects in the prodromal phase in male subjects with a recent onset of schizophrenia or related disorder (n = 52) and...
The functional structure of self-aware consciousness in human beings is described based on the evolution of human brain functions. Prior work on heritable temperament and character traits is extended to account for the quantum-like and holographic properties (i.e. parts elicit wholes) of self-aware consciousness. Cladistic analysis is used to identify the succession of ancestors leading to...
The purpose of the present paper was to explore the concept and experience of God in relation to recovery from drug addiction from a scientific perspective. Examination of a diverse literature was undertaken, including five key threads: the universality of the experience of God; the induction of spiritual experiences of God through hallucinogenic drugs; the nature of drug addiction from an...
Growth of the antidepressant market and widespread use of the illicit drug ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine; MDMA) creates a need to delineate the potential harms associated with the concomitant use of ecstasy and serotonergic pharmaceutical drugs. One such harm is serotonin syndrome. The study aimed to synthesize the risk of serotonin syndrome associated with the concomitant use of...
When we meditate for the first time, we may be surprised by the nature of our background thoughts, feelings and sensations and in particular by the mind’s incessant chatter as we attempt to perceive the space between thoughts and the nature of mind itself, which is the essence of meditation. In this experiential session, we will introduce the participants to some simple meditation techniques....
This paper, composed by an interest group of clinicians and researchers based in Melbourne, presents some background to the practice of mindfulness-based therapies as relevant to the general professional reader. We address the empirical evidence for these therapies, the principles through which they might operate, some practical questions facing those wishing to commence practice in this area...
This paper evaluates evidence for two hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis: (i) that heavy cannabis use causes a 'cannabis psychosis', i.e. a psychotic disorder that would not have occurred in the absence of cannabis use and which can be recognised by its pattern of symptoms and their relationship to cannabis use; and (ii) that cannabis use may precipitate...
Interest in the work of Pierre Janet is presently undergoing a scholarly revival and, in the process, his contribution to dynamic psychiatry is increasingly being recognised. This article compares and contrasts Pierre Janet's early studies on hysteria and the neuroses with those of Freud. The study surveys original works by Janet and Freud and contemporary scholarly exegeses. It particularly...
The case of a patient who developed catatonia one week following Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) ingestion is presented. The psychosis developed two days after the intake. The catatonic syndrome resolved dramatically following one treatment of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). This is perhaps the first case report of catatonia following the use of LSD. The need for a diagnostic category of...
The theme of the RANZCP 28th Conference questioned the science of clinical practice. This question is explored in the light of prevailing paradigms of 20th century psychiatry and recent claims by scientism, especially biologism, that assumes an organic causation for all abnormal behaviour. It is argued that a paradigm of objective science is necessary to understanding many aspects of mental...
Hallucinations can persist for many years after childhood sexual abuse. If we recognise this, we will not mis-diagnose psychosis and we may treat with psychotherapy (talk). The hallucinations are distinct from hallucinations in schizophrenia though patients have frequently been given that diagnosis. They would generally be classified as pseudo-hallucinations. They are generally...
This paper examines the classical functions of the psyche--cognition, affection and conation--from a phenomenological viewpoint and finds them to be defined each in terms of the other. It is held that this circularity of definition reflects the fundamental unity of conscious experience and, as a consequence, that the search for the biological substrate underlying individual functions too...
Successful psychiatric treatment for rural Africans should incorporate their traditional belief that illness should be viewed in terms of magical, social, physical and religious parameters. Traditional healers divide illness into those of natural causation and those of traditional cultural aetiology which are peculiar to African people. Natural illness includes epilepsy, familial/genetic...
Before white man brought his alcohol to the South Pacific, the indigenes were using many wild plants possessing psychoactive properties. The most prominent were betel in much of Melanesia, kava in much of Polynesia, and pituri in much of Australia. The use of each of these three drugs was widespread, institutionalised as a ritual and the occasion for extensive trade. Each was valued for its...