Before 2013, Asperger’s syndrome and autism were considered separate neurodevelopmental conditions. Today, they form part of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to the latest diagnostic manual, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5)....
One in five Australian citizens experiences a mental or behavioral condition every year. According to findings from a recent national survey of mental health from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 20% of Australians in the younger age groups (between the age of 16-34) experienced varying high levels of mental distress, almost doubling that of elderly people aged 65-85. The findings also demonstrated that over most age groups, more women experience high...
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder where an individual finds it challenging to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or may wake up too early and not have the ability to go back to sleep. Our understanding of insomnia is that worry and stress disrupts sleep, creating acute episodes of insomnia particularly difficulty in initiating, and returning to sleep after waking. The individual may develop increased concern around sleep itself...
Sleep apnoea is a sleep disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may suffer from sleep apnoea if you snore loudly and feel tired when you wake up after a full night’s sleep. Constantly waking up tired starts to add the strain on our mood, and changes our ability to tolerate daily stresses. Sleep apnoea is linked with trouble concentrating, memory problems, poor decision making, depression and stress....
Determining the percentage of people with depression in Australia is a difficult task. Experiencing a certain level of sadness is considered normal, although some casually call this depression. Even professionals may have different thresholds for discriminating between normal sadness and depression. Most diagnostic guidelines have set criteria for clarification. However, given there is no biomarker or other hard evidence for making a diagnosis, it can depend on the view of...