Professor Cynthia Stuhlmiller from the University of New England’s School of Health will draw on her pioneering work with Vietnam veterans, and on individual and collective responses to psychological trauma and disaster, when she gives a public lecture in Armidale on “the importance of human connections” in mental health.

Titled “Health Disorder and the Psychiatric Enterprise: The Importance of Human Connections”, this will be Cynthia Stuhlmiller’s “inaugural lecture” to the Armidale community as a newly-appointed Professor at UNE. She will discuss the importance of human connectedness in preserving the sense of dignity and self-worth that is necessary for health and healing.

Her lecture, aimed at a general audience, will trace concepts of health and disorder that have shaped our understanding of psychological experiences. It will be in the Armidale Town Hall at 6.30 pm on Wednesday 17 August.

Professor Stuhlmiller will use diagnoses of post-traumatic stress disorder, seasonal affective disorder and schizophrenia to illustrate the dangers of classification systems generally. “While diagnoses can bring meaning to experiences and join individuals in suffering, they can also serve to disconnect individuals and communities when the meanings are based on a ‘deficit’ view of the person or persons,” she said. “This view undermines personal and collective strength and cultural resilience and coping practices.”

Cynthia Stuhlmiller (pictured here) has held leading clinical and academic positions in the United States, New Zealand, Norway, Australia and the UK – including those of Professor of Mental Health Nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney, and Professor of Mental Health Nursing at Flinders University, South Australia.

Her position on mental health is critical of narrow, decontextualised views of what constitutes disorder, and honours the experiences of individuals and communities who confront and live through challenges. She will argue that interventions derived from an interpretative approach pave the way to restoring human connections that can preserve the sense of dignity and self-worth, and that the “salutogenic” model (i.e. one that focuses on factors that support human health and wellbeing) holds the most promise for promoting mental health in a global society.

Professor Stuhlmiller will conclude her presentation by talking about her current education and research focus, which aims to increase accessibility to health information and help, while reducing the costs associated with suffering.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free lecture, which will be the third in UNE’s 2011 Inaugural Lecture Series.  The Director of the UNE Foundation, Dr Geoffrey Fox, will – on behalf of the Chancellor – welcome guests to the lecture, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jim Barber, will propose a vote of thanks, and the event will include the traditional academic procession.

Drinks and canapés in the Town Hall foyer will follow the lecture. RSVP (for catering purposes) by Friday 12 August to Susan Delpratt on 6773 2960, or e-mail events.pr@une.edu.au.

Research at the University of New England could help people suffering from bipolar disorder to control the debilitating mood swings associated with the illness.

Alex Kary, who is studying for a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at UNE, believes that people with bipolar disorder could learn to dampen the brain activity that causes their massive mood swings by mentally manipulating a visual representation of that brain activity – as it’s actually occurring – on a computer screen.

People with epilepsy have benefited from this kind of “neurofeedback” technique, and it has also been used successfully in the treatment of problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and alcohol abuse in adults. Mr Kary pointed out that epilepsy and bipolar disorder both involved periodic episodes triggered by instability in the brain, and that they could often be treated with the same medication. “We’re arguing that the two conditions could involve similar brain processes,” he said, “and that the neurofeedback techniques used by patients with epilepsy could also be useful for those with bipolar disorder.”

The visual display of electrical activity in the brain is derived from signals detected by an array of electrodes placed against the scalp and organised as a meaningful “graph” by an electroencephalograph (EEG) instrument. Purpose-built software then transforms the “graph” into a display in the form of a computer game: patients observe the movement of characters on the screen as their mood changes, and practise controlling those movements by the voluntary control of their mood. “By playing the game they learn to control their brain activity,” Mr Kary said.

Mr Kary and his supervisors in the project at UNE, Dr Graham Jamieson and Dr Tanya Hanstock, are now recruiting subjects for the study – people between the ages of 18 and 65 who have bipolar disorder and who would be interested in helping with this search for an alternative treatment. It would involve a weekly session of about one hour for 10-15 weeks.

This is the first trial of the efficacy of neurofeedback for managing bipolar disorder. “An adjunct to conventional treatment such as this would be welcomed by people who don’t like taking medication for various reasons – including the development of side-effects such as weight gain and tremors,” Mr Kary said.

People interested in participating in the trial should contact Mr Kary on 0407 243 851 (e-mail: akary@une.edu.au) or Dr Jamieson on (02) 6773 4279 (e-mail: gjamieso@une.edu.au).

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Alex Kary and Dr Tanya Hanstock demonstrating the attachment of EEG electrodes.

Researchers at the University of New England want to put the excitement back into your love life — and they’re not necessarily talking about the bedroom.

Dr John Malouff and his colleagues at UNE’s School of Psychology are seeking more than 100 couples for two studies that will attempt to make their relationships more exciting and more caring respectively.

The couples don’t have to be married or even living together — they just have to be in a romantic relationship. Same-sex couples are welcome. And since the interventions will be conducted online, the couples can come from anywhere, according to Dr Malouff.

Both of the studies draw on previous UNE research that found romantic relationships can be described in terms of four fundamental characteristics: how exciting, caring, secure, and difficult the partners perceive the relationship to be. That research was presented in San Francisco last year at the Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies.

“Our research shows that all four factors are related to relationship satisfaction,” Dr Malouff said, “and this in turn is related to life satisfaction. After all, how happy we are in our primary relationship has a big effect on happiness generally.”

“Of the four, there are two we think we may be able to influence: how exciting and how caring a couple perceives their relationship to be.”

Couples can participate in either study, and participation is completely confidential, with all interaction with the researchers to be conducted via e-mail.

“All we need the participants to do is answer a few questions, and then complete some activities over the course of a few weeks. Afterwards, we’ll ask some more questions to examine the effects of the intervention.”

Besides being over 18, Dr Malouff said there were no limits on the age of the participants.  There was one requirement, however: both partners in a couple must be willing to participate.

“Improving your relationship is not something you can do solo,” Dr Malouff said. “Both partners need to be involved if the intervention is to be effective.”

People interested in participating in the study on increasing excitement levels in a relationship should contact co-researcher Kimberley Coulter at kcoulter@une.edu.au.  Those interested in participating in the study on increasing the level of caring in their relationship should contact co-researcher Sandra Gilbert at sgilber3@une.edu.au.