Warehouse employees frequently lack control over their own schedules. Andres Oliveira/E+ via Getty Images When employees don’t have control over their work schedules, it’s not just morale that suffers – mental health takes a hit too. That’s what my colleagues and I discovered in a study recently published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. As a public health expert, I know that the way our jobs are designed can affect our well-being. Research has shown that flexibility, security and autonomy in the workplace are strong determinants of health. To understand how powerful they are, my coll ..read more

szefei/Shutterstock As a clinical psychologist, I often have clients say they are having trouble with thoughts “on a loop” in their head, which they find difficult to manage. While rumination and overthinking are often considered the same thing, they are slightly different (though linked). Rumination is having thoughts on repeat in our minds. This can lead to overthinking – analysing those thoughts without finding solutions or solving the problem. It’s like a vinyl record playing the same part of the song over and over. With a record, this is usually because of a scratch. Why we overthink is a ..read more

Wax figures of the Beatles in Madame Tussauds Berlin represent the pop stars in their youth — the two surviving members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, are in their 80s. (Shutterstock) In 2011, pop music scholar Simon Reynolds was already observing pop culture’s fascination with its own past, noting that “we live in a pop age gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration.” For Reynolds, this obsession with the past has the potential to bring about the end of pop music culture: “Could it be,” he asks, “that the greatest danger to the future of our music culture is … its past?” The situation ..read more

We can be unduly hard on ourselves as we grapple with the implications of declining an invitation. Yifei Fang/Moment via Getty Images Everyone has been there. You get invited to something that you absolutely do not want to attend – a holiday party, a family cookout, an expensive trip. But doubts and anxieties creep into your head as you weigh whether to decline. You might wonder if you’ll upset the person who invited you. Maybe it’ll harm the friendship, or they won’t extend an invite to the next get-together. Should you just grit your teeth and go? Or are you worrying more than you should abo ..read more

We can be unduly hard on ourselves as we grapple with the implications of declining an invitation. Yifei Fang/Moment via Getty Images Everyone has been there. You get invited to something that you absolutely do not want to attend – a holiday party, a family cookout, an expensive trip. But doubts and anxieties creep into your head as you weigh whether to decline. You might wonder if you’ll upset the person who invited you. Maybe it’ll harm the friendship, or they won’t extend an invite to the next get-together. Should you just grit your teeth and go? Or are you worrying more than you should abo ..read more

Daisy Daisy/Shutterstock Around one in seven Australians take antidepressants; more than 3.5 million of us had them dispensed in 2021–22. This is one of the highest antidepressant prescribing rates in the world. Guidelines mostly recommend antidepressants for more severe depression and anxiety but not as first-line treatment for less severe depression. Less commonly, antidepressants may be prescribed for conditions such as chronic pain and migraine. Yet prescription rates continue to increase. Between 2013 and 2021, the antidepressant prescription rate in Australia steadily increased by 4.5% p ..read more

A bad feeling can trigger behavior that leads to something better. Rawpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus Remember the sadness that came with the last time you failed miserably at something? Or the last time you were so anxious about an upcoming event that you couldn’t concentrate for days? These types of emotions are unpleasant to experience and can even feel overwhelming. People often try to avoid them, suppress them or ignore them. In fact, in psychology experiments, people will pay money to not feel many negative emotions. But recent research is revealing that emotions can be useful, and ev ..read more

Kat von Wood/Unsplash More than 20 million Australians have at least one long-term health condition, 63% of whom are in the workforce. The causes of chronic illness are complex and are often unconnected to a person’s work. But at times, the continued exposure to work stressors can lead to or exacerbate chronic health conditions including musculoskeletal disorders, heart disease, anxiety and depression. Our research found 73% of people believed their chronic illness was at least partially caused or worsened by their job. Almost one in five people believed work entirely caused or worsened their ..read more

Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, can have effects on the brain. (Shutterstock) Oral contraceptives, also known as birth control pills, are used by more than 150 million women worldwide. Approximately one-third of teenagers in North America and Europe use them, making them the most prescribed drug for teenagers. It is well known that oral contraceptives have the power to alter a woman’s menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they can also have an effect on the brain, particularly in the regi ..read more

wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock Recent data shows that around 20% of children and young people aged from eight to 25 years have a probable mental disorder. This is an increase from the 10% recorded in 2017, when the UK government declared the prevalence of mental ill health in children and young people to be “one of the burning injustices of our time”. Lack of investment in mental health services, coupled with growing demand, has left many children and young people with limited or no support. The effects are being felt in schools. Ofsted’s 2023 annual report includes concern about the rising use o ..read more