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Psychological and Behavioural Medicine - Monash Medical Centre
Research
The following describes our areas of work and interest. Opportunities exist for postgraduate students to undertake doctoral studies in any of these or related fields.
- Instrument Development
- Brief Case-find for Depression (BCD)
- Monash Interview for Liaison Psychiatry (MILP)
- Demoralisation Scale (DS)
Demoralisation, characterised by feelings of hopelessness, helplessness and existential despair, can be differentiated from anhedonia characterised by loss of ability to experience pleasure.
- References
- 24-item self report version of the Demoralisation Scale
- Population norms are being measured in 2004
- Measurement of levels of psychiatric morbidity in the medically ill
This has particularly been in the general medical and surgical inpatient setting, and in women with breast cancer.
- Evaluation of screening instruments in the medically ill
This has involved the use and comparison of commonly used instruments, such as the GHQ, BDI and HADS, and the development of a 4-item depression case-finding instrument (Brief Case-find for Depression - see above).
- Statistics
This has been particularly in relation to measurement and screening
- Application of a clinical database to consultation-liaison psychiatry and evaluation of patients referred to a consultation-liaison service
The MICROCARES clinical database has been used routinely at Monash Medical Centre in the consultation-liaison service and has allowed a number of descriptive studies to occur that serve as benchmarks for consultation-liaison psychiatry.
- A fresh examination of psychopathology in the medically ill
This project sought to examine, without the constraint of standard psychiatric classifications such as DSM or ICD, the nature of distress in the medically ill - particularly depression, anxiety and somatization. The work involved the development and validation of a structured clinical interview (MILP), the examination of consecutive admissions to hospital, and the follow-up 3 months after discharge. The result of this research has been the elucidation of demoralisation, anhedonia and grief as distinct depressive subtypes.
- Psychotherapy in the medically ill
This work has involved collaboration with Professor David Kissane (now at the Memorial SDloan-Kettering Cancer centre, New York) and colleagues at the University of Melbourne Centre for Palliative Care. Two trials of group psychotherapy for women with breast cancer have been completed.
An exciting new study just piloted is an individual brief psychotherapy for medically ill patients suffering demoralisation.
- Psychological medicine and general practice
This work has been done in collaboration with the Department of General Practice at Monash University and has focussed on the development and effectiveness of education in up-skilling general practitioners to better recognize and treat patients with psychological disturbance.
- Other areas
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