Pause for thought: Taking the lead in women’s mental health

Whether it’s debilitating periods or depression during menopause, women with mental health problems are told to grin and bear it as their crushing emotions are “simply nature taking its course”.

But what we now know, and science has told us, is that many women of all ages are living with mental illnesses that may be related to female hormones and/or other unique parts of their biology.

See Monash Lens story featuring Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, published 20 October.

HER Centre Australia takes the lead in women’s mental health

L-R: A/Prof Caroline Gurvich, Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, Ms
Mariska Meldrum and Ms Jo Stanley at the HER centre launch

Women’s mental illness will get the recognition it deserves at HER Centre Australia, the nation's most innovative centre that integrates health services, education and research in women's mental health.

HER Centre Australia conducts research, treats women and improves awareness about women’s mental health issues occurring at all ages. The centre was officially launched on 20 October at a free public lecture at the Melbourne Town Hall. 

New HER Australia Centre for women's mental health education and research

Prof Jayashri Kulkarni leading a team meeting

HER Centre Australia, established as a formal Monash University Centre in 2022 stands for Health, Education, and Research in Women's Mental Health. For more information about HER Centre Australia, visit the HER Centre Australia website - www.monash.edu/her-centre

Save the date (20 October) for Professor Jayashri's public lecture to launch the centre and focus on why women's mental health education and research is so important.

Review reinforces link between contraceptive pill and depression

Progestin based hormonal contraceptive pills can tip vulnerable
women into depression, review shows

by Anne Crawford

For some time, Monash Central Clinical School psychiatrist Professor Jayashri Kulkarni has treated women telling her they had developed depression since being prescribed certain oral contraception or that their existing depression had become out of control.

COVID and women's mental health: Professor Jayashri Kulkarni

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni's public lecture on COVID and
women's mental health. Video 1:02:38

Women's mental health needs looking after more than ever in the time of COVID, as Professor Jayashri Kulkarni explains in this public lecture. Professor Kulkarni is Director of Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) and Head of the Monash Department of Psychiatry in Central Clinical School. Find out more: www.maprc.org.au/
 
If you are interested in learning more about women's mental health, MAPrc have launched a short course with the first module focusing on "Adolescence". See 42:05 in the video or more detail and registration here: www.monash.edu/healthed-institute/short-courses/womens-mental-health

Women's Mental Health short course now open for registrations!

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni heads the research
team involved in developing the new Women's
Mental Health short course. Prof Kulkarni is also
giving a public lecture Wed 24 June on COVID
& Women's Mental Health. Register for lecture

Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre's Women's Mental Health Division is a world leader in the subject of women's mental health. The research team, headed by Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, has developed an online short course with four modules: Adolescence, Perinatal, Midlife and Aged. Each module will be released for purchase separately. Register here

The short course is designed for health professionals working with women across the lifespan, and is especially relevant to general practitioners, obstetricians/ gynaecologists and psychiatrists. The content draws on the latest in psychoneuroendocrine research.

Public Lecture: COVID and Women's Mental Health

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni
Photo: "Women" by
Sam Burke & Rebecca Umlauf

Women's mental health needs looking after more than ever in the time of COVID, as Professor Jayashri Kulkarni will explain in a forthcoming public lecture, on Wednesday 24 June. Jayashri is Director of Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) and Head of the Monash Department of Psychiatry in Central Clinical School. Register now or learn more below.

• Lecture Title: COVID and Women's Mental Health
• Date: Wed 24 June at 12.30pm
• Length of session:60 minutes including questions
• Cost: Free
• Link to register and receive Zoom link for event

Womens Minds Matter

Prof. Jayashri Kulkarni featured in the "Women" project.
Credit: Sam Burke & Rebecca Umlauf

Prof. Jayashri Kulkarni has been honoured with a 4-metre high banner currently displayed outside the Malvern Town Hall. Artists Sam Burke and Rebecca Umlauf captured eight influential and inspiring women as part of the Stonnington Council’s “Women” project. The black and white portraits celebrate women’s achievements as opposed to the objectified images we usually see in billboards. Professor Kulkarni, Director of the MAPrc (Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre), is pictured wearing a white t-shirt with the slogan “Women’s Minds Matter”, a fitting message for her extraordinary contribution to the mental health field. “I felt really chuffed to be in the company of famous business women, champion women's footballer, feminist activist, and other fabulous women”. Western Bulldog's ex-Vice President Susan Alberti, Boowurrung elder Carolyn Briggs and tram driver Lee Brown also feature in the month long installation.

Is previous trauma adequately documented for female psychiatric inpatients?

By Dr Jodie Abramovitch 

Traumatic events can lead to long-lasting psychological changes in an affected person. Patients presenting with serious mental health issues are more likely to have experienced emotional or physical trauma in the past than healthy individuals.

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni - Director of MAPrc
and senior author of this study

Researchers from the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (MAPrc) aimed to investigate the extent to which clinicians record previous trauma events. They then analysed this information to identify if it was incorporated into diagnosis and treatment of female psychiatric inpatients.

One hundred inpatients were selected for the study, with psychotic illnesses being the most prevalent primary diagnosis. For just over half these participants, there was no record of whether or not there was a history of trauma. Of the 49 patients asked about trauma history, 84% (41 patients) responded positively though only 3% of these documented cases had a specific description of the trauma. For 34 (of the 41 with trauma history) subjects, no mention was made of potentially trauma-associated psychiatric symptoms such as flashbacks or emotional numbing. This study also found that current drug use and/or a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder were associated with a higher likelihood of documented trauma.

As such, this study concluded that clinicians dealing with patients with mental illnesses need to be more proactive about documenting a comprehensive history of trauma to better inform patient management.

Reference: Xiao CL, Gavrilidis E, Lee S, Kulkarni J. Do mental health clinicians elicit a history of previous trauma in female psychiatric inpatients? J Ment Health. 2016 Feb (online)

doi:

10.3109/09638237.2016.1139074

Participants sought: Investigating the link between mental illness and endocrine function

Females aged 18-65 years with no diagnosis of mental illness are invited to participate as a healthy control group for our study investigating the link between mental illness and endocrine function. Identifying and understanding why different medical disorders co-occur provides important opportunities for prevention and potential treatment in the future. Participating in this study enables you to contribute to research aimed at improving treatment options for people with mental illness, which will translate directly to everyday benefits for these individuals. This will be a once-off, 2-hour visit. You will complete questionnaires and undergo a simple, standard physical examination and blood test. Participation will occur at the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (Level 4, 607 St Kilda Road).

Contact

Miss Raelene Tan

Email: raelene.tan@monash.edu

Contact phone number: (03) 9076 5031

Web: www.maprc.org.au/womens-mental-health-current-projects

Ethics Committee Project Number: 204/14

A new approach to treating women's mental health issues

Prof Jayashri Kulkarni giving CCS's
annual public lecture in 2015.

Compared to men, women are twice as likely to experience depression and four times as likely to experience anxiety, yet their mental health has not always been given precedence. Many factors mean that women experience mental illness differently, so shouldn't gender be considered when developing treatments?

See the article by Lynne Malcolm and Olivia Willis for "All in the Mind" or listen to the podcast of the interview with Prof Jayashri Kulkarni, Dr Emmy Gavrilidis and Dr Rosie Worsley, of Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre.

Link: ABC Radio National All in the Mind 25 Nov 2015.

Video of the Week "Women's mental health: It's getting tougher"

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni is Director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre (MAPrc) within the Central Clinical School (CCS) of Monash University. In 2015 she gave the annual public lecture hosted by CCS on "Women's mental health: It's getting tougher". The topic was of high public interest, and Prof Kulkarni announced the formation of the new Australian Consortium for Women's Mental Health. See more:

• Video link: youtu.be/jQTn_oDwwhY
• Photo gallery
• Powerpoint slide link: www.slideshare.net/ccsmonash/20151009-central-clinical-school-public-lecture-jayashri-kulkarni
• MAPrc www.maprc.org.au/ 
• CCS public lecture page: med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2015-public-lecture-kulkarni.html

'Mental As': the week that was, & what's to come

The media profile for mental health and illness for the 2015 awareness week has been high and the Mental Health Foundation of Australia lists over 100 events in Victoria alone for October. Yet structural reform through government funding and policy is not sufficient to power the twin engines of mental health treatment and care - that is, research into the causes of conditions, and provision of primary health care services. The result is inadequate and fragmented mental health care services for the 1 in 5 adults who will suffer from a mental disorder in any given year.

Photo of the Week: Women’s Mental Health Team (MAPrc)

March 2015 The Women's Mental Health team. L-R: Ms Lucinda Miller, Ms Vivian Monitto, Mr Gayan de Mel, Ms Marija Ugrcic, Dr Shainal Nathoo, Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Ms Caitlin Bleeker, Ms Heather Gilbert, Dr Jasmin Grigg, Dr Roisin Worsley, Ms Emmy Gavrilidis.

Mental illness has many gender-specific characteristics that clinical practice has historically overlooked. The Women’s Mental Health Team at MAPrc is evaluating several promising new treatment approaches with specific focus on the hormonal (endocrine) system, for mental illnesses in women.

Their world first study looking at how oestrogen can help treat schizophrenia in previously treatment-resistant women has recently been published in Molecular Psychiatry.

There are a number of new treatment trials currently underway for schizophrenia, postmenopausal depression, treatment-resistant depression, and borderline personality disorder.

• Enquiries: Team Leader Emmy Gavrilidis on (03) 9076 6913 or emmy.gavrilidis@monash.edu
• MAPrc Women's Mental Health www.maprc.org.au/womens-mental-health
• Reference: Kulkarni J, Gavrilidis E, Wang W, Worsley R, Fitzgerald PB, Gurvich C, Van Rheenen T, Berk M, Burger H. Estradiol for treatment-resistant schizophrenia: a large-scale randomized-controlled trial in women of child-bearing age. Mol Psychiatry. 2015 Jun;20(6):695-702. doi: 10.1038/mp.2014.33. Epub 2014 Apr 15.

CCS Public lecture on women's mental health fully subscribed!

Oct 2013: Professor Jayashri Kulkarni & then Governor-General

Dame Quentin Bryce, at the MAPrc launch.

Central Clinical School's public lecture is this year being given by Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre, and Dame Quentin Bryce, former Governor-General of Australia, who has had a longstanding interest in women's mental health.

The lecture is fully subscribed, but if you would like to receive notification of the video link for the lecture, which will be 2-3 weeks later, please register here.

See more about MAPrc's research.

Supporting pregnant women and new mothers with mental illness

Ms Heather Gilbert

Heather Gilbert co-ordinates The National Register of Antipsychotic Medication in Pregnancy (NRAMP), which is now in its 10th year.

She is undertaking a PhD at MAPrc, part time, supervised by Professor Jayashri Kulkarni and Dr Caroline Gurvich. Her PhD is embedded within NRAMP,  and is planned to add to this important work.

Heather's PhD topic is 'Developing a new model of support for pregnant women and new mothers with mental illness'. Her first paper has been published, and is about the special issues facing pregnant women with mental illnesses, increasing clinical awareness, encouraging risk assessment and promoting management planning, by using an integrated model of care in support of women during pregnancy and in early motherhood.

Reference: Gilbert H, Gurvich C, Kulkarni J (2015) Special Issues for Pregnant Women with Mental Illness. J Nurs Care 4:280. doi: 10.4172/2167-1168.1000280

Invitation to 9 Oct CCS public lecture on women's mental health

You are invited to attend Monash University Central Clinical School's public lecture - an annual event featuring our lead researcher-clinicians from across the medical spectrum. Professor Jayashri Kulkarni (pictured, above) is an internationally renowned expert in the field and a high profile advocate for women's mental health. Women to this day in the most developed economies in the world earn less money than men, do more unpaid carer work and experience more mental health problems. She will describe the major issues which impact on women and their mental wellbeing, and strategies for improving women's mental health. The event will be chaired by former Governor General, Dame Quentin Bryce, who will also speak on the issue of women's mental health. Time: 6.00-6.30pm refreshments; 6.30-7.30pm Lecture and Q&A; 7.30-8.00pm refreshments; 8 pm close Date: Friday 9 October 2015 Where: Alfred Medical Research and Education Precinct Lecture Theatre Cost: Free but registration essential for catering purposes Register now For more information on the event visit our website, email Julia Veitch or call 03 9903 0026.

Dame Quentin Bryce to chair CCS public lecture on Women's Mental Health, 9 October

Dame Quentin Bryce, former Governor-
General, will be speaking at the lecture

This year, mental health is in the news almost every day, and we are fortunate to have one of Australia's premier clinician-researchers and advocates of women's mental health, Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, to present on the topic of how women's mental health in particular is of concern. The public lecture will be chaired by former Governor-General, Dame Quentin Bryce, who has had a life-long interest in the subject. The event will have refreshments before and after the lecture, and there will be a Q&A session after the lecture.

To RSVP, please click here.
To find out more, see: http://med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2015-public-lecture-kulkarni.html

Publication: The unique symptom profile of perimenopausal depression

Perimenopause is associated with increased depression symptoms in women. Symptoms at this time are thought to be qualitatively different from those in childbearing years. This research investigated whether depressive symptoms during perimenopause can be distinguished from those in the childbearing years.

9 Oct: Save the Date! CCS Public lecture by Prof Jayashri Kulkarni on women's mental health

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni

Central Clinical School hosts an annual public lecture. This year, it's timed to be part of Mental Health Week, and is taking place on 9 October 2015. Our speaker will be Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry research centre in CCS and the Alfred. Her topic will be: "Women's mental health: It's getting tougher". See more:

• Web page: med.monash.edu.au/cecs/events/2015-public-lecture-kulkarni.html
• RSVP