Wellbeing

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, over 2 million Australians are living with osteoarthritis — a condition that results from the degeneration of joint cartilage and underlying bone, leading to pain, stiffness, and reduced mobility, particularly in the knees, hips, hands, and feet. But is osteoarthritis simply a result of 'wear and tear'? And more importantly, what can be done about it? On this edition, we'll explore not only what causes knee osteoarthritis, but also hear about a range of treatment and management options available — that can help people maintain their mobility and quality of life. Associate Professor Christina Abdel Shaheed is a National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellow at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Public Health, University of Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this edition, Professor David Durrheim chats with Graham Wilson about Influenza. Professor David Durrheim is a Conjoint Professor of Public Health Medicine, University of Newcastle and Director of Health Protection, Hunter New England Health. David answers some of the big questions surrounding the impending flu season, such as why some people still get the flu after vaccination, how influenza is different from the common cold, what age people should start getting vaccinated and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Which Way? is dedicated to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on their journey toward improved health, with a strong focus on smoking and vaping cessation. Led by Associate Professor Michelle Kennedy, a proud Wiradjuri woman, the team generated the first Indigenous-led primary research designed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. This groundbreaking work aims to inform and shape culturally appropriate policy and practice in cessation care.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re constantly hearing conflicting advice about diets — one day something is good for you, the next day a new study says it’s not. With so much information, it’s no wonder many of us feel confused about what we should be eating to stay healthy. The reality is, there may not be a one-size-fits-all answer. What works well for one person might not work for another, and Dr Erin Clarke is a researcher with the Food and Nutrition Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute, and she's is exploring how our genetic and metabolic differences can influence the way our bodies respond to food.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Recent measles cases in Australia underscore the need for high vaccination rates to prevent outbreaks.Professor Joshua Davis, Senior Staff Specialist in Infectious Disease at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital, and Deputy Director of the Hunter Medical Research Institute’s Infection Research Program, discusses what measles is, why it is so contagious, why there is an increase in cases despite Australia reaching herd immunity in 2014, and why vaccinations are so effective in controlling the disease.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For many Australians, alcohol feels as much a part of our culture and barbecues and weekend sports. But even occasional drinks can affect us more than we realise. On this edition of Wellbeing, a Beyond Blue psychologist looks at the issues around alcohol and mental health.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Wellbeing we are taking with Phoebe Sanders, a student counsellor at The University of Newcastle's Wollotuka Institute. The Wollotuka Institute supports indigenous students with academic, cultural and emotional well-being needs in a culturally safe way. Phoebe describes herself as an Indigenous alley who lives, works and plays on Awabakal and Worimi country.  In this episode Phoebe talks about her role at The Wollotuka Institute, the support that Wollotuka provides, it's importance to the university journey for indigenous students, its innovative programs it has available to indigenous students, some of the mental health journeys she sees in indigenous students as a student counsellor and how she would like to see university's all over Australia embrace similar models to The Wollotuka Institute.  "Having a culturally safe space for our students is really important. Many students  may not have felt comfortable going to the main student counselling service so The Wollotuka Institute is a culturally safe space"   Phoebe Sanders on this episode of Wellbeing  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing is the last episode in our six part series on depression. We are joined by Dr. Drew Ramsey discussing depression recovery through diet. Drew Ramsey, M.D. is a psychiatrist and is a leader in Nutritional Psychiatry having authored Eat To Beat Depression and Anxiety in 2021. He is also an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.  He is pioneer in the Nutritional Psychiatry field having, along with his team, offered the first Nutritional Psychiatry Clinician Training program to mental health clinicians whereby they learn evidence and clinical methods to effectively use nutrition in their work. Other books he has authored concerning food and mental health include the award-winning cookbook Eat Complete: The 21 Nutrients that Fuel Brain Power and the bestseller 50 Shades of Kale. He has done TedTalks on the subject and been featured in CBS, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and now The Wellbeing Podcast. In this episode, Dr Ramsey talks about his book, how the food we eat impacts our mental health, how the western diet doesn't promote good mental health, the similar impact better diet has to that of antidepressants, steps in how to change your diet over time, how gut health and the brain interact, the types of foods that promote good mental health and the impact processed foods have on mental health. "What happens with foods is that over time, if you're missing certain nutrients you're going to have a lot more inflammation, but you're also just not going to be able to make some of these basic building blocks you need for mental health." - Dr Drew Ramsey on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in the new year for more Wellbeing We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we talk with Dr. Dan Tomasulo about depression recovery though positive psychology. This is the fifth instalment in our series on depression. Dr Tomasulo is a counselling psychologist, writer, and professor. He holds a PhD in psychology and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. His most recent book Learned Hopefulness, The Power of Positivity To Overcome Depression was released in 2020. The book focuses on the idea of hope and positivity, and how those two concepts can play a part in recovery from depression. Dan's passion is Positive Psychology. Positive Psychology focuses on how our strengths and cultivating our best selves can lead to meaningful and fulfilling lives. In this episode, Dr Tomasulo talks about his book, what hope is, how hope can help one overcome depression, in a fast moving world how powerful time just stopping is, what is happening in the brain pathways when both depression and positivity are occurring and how they differ, how people of different ages interact with hope and positivity, and the use of positivity psychology in recovery programs. "Psychology has pretty much followed the medical model where we try to eliminate what's problematic in the hopes that that'll make you feel better, but really, not being depressed is not the same as being happy. If I take away all your depression, that doesn't guarantee you'll be happy. You've got to do you things that bring happiness to you." - Dr. Dan Tomasulo on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk Dr. Drew Ramsey about depression recovery through diet We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we are talking with a person who has journeyed with depression, Katie. This is the fourth instalment in our series on depression. Katie has been suffering with depression since early in life and today she shares how it has impacted her life and now in the present where she is at in that journey. In this episode, Katie talks about how depression impacted her as a young person, how it affected her relationships with school friends, how it impacted her life and caused a lot of isolation, the quality of services available to help those with depression, the stigma around depression, how peers can help those going through depression, and her strategies in managing her depression. "It was very isolating really because my friends, they were all going off and doing things and  started going out to parties, stuff like that, I just didn't feel able to." - Katie on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with Dr. Dan Tomasulo about depression recovery through positive psychology We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with John Brogden AM about his journey with depression. This is the third instalment in our series on depression. John is best known for being the Leader of the Opposition in New South Wales from 2002 to 2005. He entered politics in 1996 when he was just 27 years of age and quickly became leader of his party in NSW at the age of just 32, the youngest ever leader of a state or federal Australian Liberal Party. Despite his success, John had been hiding another massive part of his life, his depression. It looked like John would lead his party to victory in the 2007 election, however this was not to be, and due to certain events John would resign from his position in August 2005. The day after his resignation, John slit his wrist in a suicide attempt. John thankfully survived that attempt and has since become a mental health advocate, and was the chairman of Lifeline. He is here today to share his journey with depression and how today he manages it. In this episode John talks about his entry into politics, when depression started becoming a part of his life, the way mental health was viewed in politics while John was in office, what was going on with him mentally when he attempted to take his own life, how to talk to people going through suicidal thoughts about those thoughts, how going to rock bottom mentally has allowed John to appreciate his life more, and a bit about lifeline.  "In a game like politics you're looking for hundreds, thousands, millions of people to vote for you, so you're out there proposition all the time only to stuff up and only to let people down and feel so ashamed, which is how I felt. I then got to this position and I got there incredibly quickly and that position was that there is a way out of this problem, I've got this problem, my way out is to kill myself." - John Brogden AM talking about his struggle with depression on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with another person about their depression journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Week on Wellbeing we are joined by Betty Kitchener and Prof. Anthony Jorm. This is the second instalment in our series on depression. Betty is a former nurse and now internationally recognised mental health educator, having held appointments at Australian Nation University, University Melbourne and Deakin University. She received an order of Australia medal in 2008. Tony is an Emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne's School of Population and Global Health. They are husband and wife and in 2000, together developed the teaching program called Mental Health First Aid. The training teaches people how to offer initial support until appropriate professional help is received, or until the crisis resolves. Since its formation, Mental Health First Aid has become an international teaching tool used in the mental health field. They are both here today to share their perspectives on depression, Tony from his clinical perspective as a professor and Betty from her personal perspective having gone through depression herself. In this episode Tony and Betty talk about what depression is, the types of depression, how it feels in the people who have it, the prevalence of depression, how to approach talking about depression and self-harm with those going though like thoughts, and the formation of mental health first aid. "At the milder end of the continuum, people use self-help methods, and these can be very helpful; for many people that will be enough to bring their mood back to a more usual level."  - Prof. Anthony Jorm on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with someone who has gone through a depression journey  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Week on Wellbeing we are beginning a 6-part series on depression. It is estimated by the WHO that 5% of adults stuffer from depression, making it a common issue in society. In our first instalment, we are talking with Conjoint Professor Kay Wilhelm from UNSW. Prof. Wilhelm has published work on the relationship between the serotonin transporter gene, life events and depression onset. She has been part of the UNSW's School of Psychiatry since 2012. In this episode Prof. Wilhelm talks about what depression is, the types of depression, the onset of depression, why depression is more common in women than in men, how the COVID era has impacted depression rates, the connection between anxiety and depression, self-medication in those with depression, and the supports available.  "There is a later peak of depression which is sort of a later onset which is around sixties, and whereas the younger group (of people with depression) have more to do with genes and their childhood experience and developmental stages but people who get depression for the first time, which I say in capital letters, in the fifties, sixties, and seventies, there often is a medical cause underlying that." - Prof. Kay Wilhelm on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a week when we talk with Prof. Tony Jorm and Betty Kitchener about depression  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we talk with school students about student wellbeing. This is a topic we regularly talk about on Wellbeing, but it usually from an educator's perspective and not the students themselves. In this episode, the students discuss what student wellbeing is, what it means to them, the importance of good mental health, what a teacher's role is ensuring student wellbeing is met, how well schools are doing in approaching student wellbeing, common struggles students go through during their schooling life, and the power of positive impacts a teacher can have on a student's life. "Mental health is basically what gets you though everything in life and if you have bad mental health then its like what can you really do?" - A student on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a months time when we start a six part series on depression We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are discussing Lipoedema with Kristin Osborn. Lipoedema is a condition mostly found in women that results in enlargement of the fat cells in the legs. It is estimated that 20% of the female population have the condition. Despite this, it is often misdiagnosed as obesity, leading to constrained mental health in those with the condition. Kristin has the condition herself and has specialised in the field for almost two decades through her Newcastle Lymphoedema & Lipoedema Clinic. She is set to be the Australian Patient & Therapist Representative at the Lipoedema World Congress in Germany in October 2023. Along with her clinical work, Kristin has authored a book called The Lymphatic-Friendly Diet. In this book Kristen aims to assist others battling a lymphatic condition, and she shares the recipes that have helped her become healthier and happier and allowed her to manage her Lipoedema. In this episode, Kristin talks about what Lipeodema is, why it starts, how it impacts people's mental health, its onset, how family can help those with Lipoedema, the difficulty in non-specialists detecting the condition, her 2023 trip to Germany as the  Australian Patient & Therapist Representative at the Lipoedema World Congress, Lipoedema in males, how those with Lipoedema can manage the condition, and surgery for Lipoedema. Tune in next week when we talk with two students about student wellbeing in schools. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr Heather Murray from the University of Newcastle about Leukaemia. Leukaemia is a blood cancer that most often occurs in those over 55, with estimates suggesting that 5,200 new cases in Australia were diagnosed in 2022. Dr Murray has established herself as a competent researcher, having discovered components of acute myeloid leukaemia that could lead to more effective treatments.  In this episode, Dr Murray talks about what leukaemia is, its symptoms, how and why it occurs, the impact chemotherapy has on the body, the emerging treatments for leukaemia, the age groups affected, the cancer research sector, the economic benefits of cancer research, and the biological underpinnings of leukaemia.  "We can cure some leukaemias, there are some subtypes of leukaemia that are mostly curable." - Dr Heather Murray on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next month when we talk with Two Students about Student Wellbeing We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr Michelle Brown from the University of Newcastle about ovarian cancer. It is the 8th most common cancer to occur in women, with 1,800 new cases diagnosed in Australia in 2022. Dr Brown is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Newcastle and her research explores DNA repair post chemotherapy, and alternative treatments for those with ovarian cancer.  In this episode, Dr Brown talks about what ovarian cancer is, how and why it occurs, the emotional toll ovarian cancer can have on women, the early symptoms of ovarian cancer, the age group of women commonly being impacted by ovarian cancer, the genetic underpinnings of ovarian cancer, the different types of ovarian cancer, and the ovarian cancer research field.  "(Ovarian cancer) is not often diagnosed at early stages. So in the early stages, when it is confined to the ovaries, you can get some symptoms, but they are quite nondescript and they're often symptoms that affect women at the time of the month."  - Dr Michelle Brown on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk about Leukaemia with Dr Heather Murray We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on wellbeing we are talking with Dr Kirrilly Pursey from the University of Newcastle about food addiction. The concept of food addiction is still a field in development as it has not been yet classified as an official medical condition. Despite this, evidence is growing in supporting that this proposed condition is a very real occurrence. Dr Pursey is an expert in this emerging field having done her PhD on attitudes and behaviours around food using the Yale Food Addiction Scale and the Australian Eating Survey. Now as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Newcastle she is working towards food addiction becoming medically definable so that treating the condition can be made better. In this episode, Dr Pursey talks about the symptoms of food addiction, the impacts it has on peoples lives, the brain pathways affected by food addiction, how food manufacturers could possibly be causing food addictions, the evidence in support of food addiction being a stand-alone condition, the differences between food addition and bingo eating disorder, the connection between food addiction rates and rising obesity rates, and the support available to those going through a food addiction.  "As we see in another types of addictions, say for example illicit drugs, what we see is an dopamine release so that the feel good chemical in the brain and we really want that when we are eating food as it really is a physiological mechanism to drive us to eat food but what has happened with our food nowadays that food manufacturers have really capitalised on this." - Dr. Kirrilly Pursey on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Dr Michelle Brown about Ovarian Cancer We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Associate Professor Lisa Lampe from the University of Newcastle about anxiety disorders. It is estimated by the WHO that 264 million adults worldwide have an anxiety disorder, making it a common condition amongst the population. Prof. Lampe has been in the medical field for three decades and it was early on in her career she found an interest in the phycological components  of medicine. She has recently been supported to develop an an anxiety treatment clinic within Hunter New England Mental Health which will have a key focus on teaching, and in 2021 she was made Deputy Head of the School of Medicine and Public Health within the College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle.  In this episode, Prof. Lampe talks about the symptoms of anxiety disorders, the types of anxiety disorders, the prevalence of anxiety disorders, the rates of anxiety in younger demographics, humans and anxiety through history, the genetic underpinnings of anxiety disorders, the biological reasons why anxiety exists in the human experience, the impact on daily life anxiety disorder can have, and the support available for those with anxiety disorders.    "Anxiety that the individual experiences as being out of proportion to the actual threat and as persistent and unshakable and as distressing and potentially impairing. If that has become a persistent problem, you know it is their most days of the week and its been their for weeks or more then it certainly may be an anxiety disorder." - Associate Professor Lisa Lampe on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Dr. Kirrilly Pursey about Food Addiction We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on wellbeing we are talking with about bipolar disorder recovery with Susana Bluwol the founder and executive director of Bipolar Australia. This is the 12th and last episode in our series on bipolar disorder. Founded in 2014, Bipolar Australia is a national not-for-profit organisation representing everyone affected by bipolar disorder, including people with the condition, carers, friends and professionals who help them. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1996, Susana has gone through her own bipolar recovery journey, and shares her perspective on bipolar recovery. In this episode, Susana talks about a GP's role in a person's bipolar journey, how treatments look different between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2, the role talk therapy plays in a person's bipolar recovery, where the health system could improve to help this with bipolar to recovery, what Bipolar Australia is and its role, and the support systems available to those with bipolar. "What I would really like to tell everybody that has been touched by bipolar disorder, and when I say touched I mean not only the person with the condition but everyone around that person...this condition is not an unusual condition, there are many people with this illness, it is severe and complex to treat, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a treatment."                   - Susana Bluwol on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Prof. Lisa Lampe about anxiety disorders. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on wellbeing we are talking with Seattle based cartoonist an author Ellen Forney about her journey with Bipolar disorder. This is our 11th instant in our bipolar series. Ellen was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 Disorder in 1998 just before her 30th birthday. She wrote about her journey with bipolar in her graphic memoir "Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me" which came out in 2012. It was from this book Ellen started writing a book focused on how somebody can manage their bipolar. The said book came out in 2018 and is called "Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice From My Bipolar Life". Now a wellbeing couch helping those with bipolar, her book Rock Steady covers Ellens SMEDMERTS method, a mental health philosophy that can be used in the managing of ones bipolar. Developed by Ellen, smedmerts is an acronym for Sleep, Meds, Eat, Doctor, Mindfullness, Excerise, Routine, Tools, and Support System. In this interview we take a deep look into SMEDMERTS and how it can help someone on a bipolar journey.  In this episode, Ellen talks about her early expresses with bipolar, her bipolar diagnoses, the faults in the med driven medical field, how her book Rock Steady came to be, SMEDMERTS, the impotence of sleep to those with bipolar, the struggles those with bipolar can have in find the right medications douses, the lack of new research into the gold standard bipolar mediation lithium, and her couching services available to those with bipolar.  "(Rock Steady) is kinda an expansion of the last chapter in Marbles, chapter nine, where I have stabilised and then I have come to a variety of conclusions about my path and how bipolar and creativity and my art are connected and I also mention the things I do to take care of myself" - Ellen Forney on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Susana Bluwol about Bipolar Disorder Recovery  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we talk with New York based author Jaime Lowe about her journey with bipolar and experiences with the lithium medication she took. This is the tenth instalment in our series on bipolar. Jaime is known for her 2017 bipolar memoir Mental: Lithium, Love, and Losing My Mind. Her book gives an in-depth look into lithium, the gold standard medication used to treat bipolar disorder. In 1993 Jaime was diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 16 and thus was soon prescribed lithium which offered her stability in her condition. However, years later due to the negative side effects of the medication she had to go on alternative medication. In this interview, Jaime talks about lithium, her journey with bipolar and the struggles she had in having to change medications after years of stability. Jaime also talks about her book Mental, how her bipolar diagnosis impacted her, how teenagers can help friends going through bipolar, what lithium's role is in bipolar treatment, lithium's under utilisation, what she liked about lithium, and her journey in having to go on alternative medication after coming off lithium. "The other beautiful part of lithium is that its on the periodic table of elements and so . . . in America you can't patent it. So, it is one of the cheapest medications and often for that reason its not prescribed because you don't have pharmaceutical companies lobbying on its behalf." - Jaime Lowe on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Ellen Forney about her bipolar journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Melody Moezzi about her journey with bipolar and experiences with the bipolar recovery sector. This is the 9th instalment in our series on bipolar. Melody is an author, attorney, activist, and visiting professor of creative nonfiction at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. She authored a bipolar memoir in 2013 called Haldol and Hyacinths: A Bipolar Life in which she covers her experiences with the condition. In this interview we cover her perspective on the bipolar recovery sector and its faults but also the solutions to fix those faults. In this episode Melody talks about her journey with bipolar, the impact mania had on her daily life, the criminalisation of mental health, the challenged ability of law enforcement to manage and identify mental health, the racism that may be present in the public recovery sector, how depressive episodes impact daily life, and the brilliance those who are not not neurotypical can bring to the world around them. "One of the things for me to talk about is I am very lucky that I was hospitalised and not put in jail. Where I live, and in a whole lotta of other places in the US at least, we have criminalised mental illness to the point that the largest mental health facilities are actually and jails and prisons." - Melody Moezzi on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when talk with Jaime Lowe about her bipolar journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Lizzie Simon about her journey with bipolar. This is the 8th instalment in our series on bipolar disorder. Lizzie has worked in the creative industries since graduation from her ivy league school, but in her life was also bipolar disorder. As a theatre producer by the age of twenty-three she left this position to travel in search of finding people with similar mental conditions to learn what she could from their ways of managing their conditions. The trip she took resulted in her 2003 bipolar memoir: Detour: My Bipolar Road Trip in 4-D. Today Lizzie is is married with daughters and has been stable with her bipolar for years and today she shares her journey in reaching that stability. In this episode Lizzie talks about her journey with bipolar disorder, how a manic episode feels, how mania impacts daily life, how her bipolar diagnosis impacted her as an 18 year old, how bipolar impacts friendships for young people, how family can support those with bipolar, why she took the journey she describes in her book, the understanding society has of bipolar disorder, and the role of medication in Lizzie's recovery.  "I was diagnosed when I was 18 years old. I'm 46 years old now and I've been healthy now . . . for more of my life then when I wasn't." - Lizzie Simon on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Melody Moezzi about her bipolar journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dave about his journey with bipolar. This is the 7th instalment in our series on bipolar. Dave wasn't diagnosed with bipolar until he was 48 years of age, having gone through his entire life prior to this with bipolar one disorder. Dave worked for the bulk of his working life in the creative industry of advertising, but now at 65 years of age Dave, though the Black Dog Institute, is a presenter on mental health, an area he has been involved with for the last ten years.  In this episode Dave talks about his journey in finding stability and the time prior to his formal diagnosis of bipolar.  Dave talks about his journey with bipolar disorder, how a manic episode feels, how mania impacts daily life, his journey in finally getting diagnosed at the age of 48, how depressive episodes feel and impact daily life, society's understanding of mental health, what made Dave get help with his bipolar, how bipolar impacted him working in his creative industry and that people should get help if they know they need it. "The thing with physical illnesses is often they like knock on your door. Like if you think about when you got the flu, you know, for a day or two before you're going 'I don't have much energy - feeling achey'  and then its almost like a day later it knocks on your front door and smacks you in the face became you go 'Oh my god, I can't out of bed. I'm so sick' whereas mental illness may creep up on you." - Dave on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Lizzie Simon about her bipolar journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Natasha Tracy about her journey with bipolar type two disorder. This is our sixth instalment in our series on bipolar disorder meaning we are half way though our 12 part series. Natasha is a mental health thought leader and author on the subject of bipolar. She released her bipolar memoir Lost Marbles: Insights Into My Life with Depression & Bipolar in 2016 and she runs the podcast Snap Out of It! The Mental Illness in the Workplace Podcast. In this episode I discuss with Natasha her journey in living with bipolar type two disorder. In this episode Natasha talks about her book "Lost Marbles", how bipolar impacted her while as a young person, why those with bipolar self-harm, how family members can best support those going though self-harm, the different type of mania those with bipolar type two go through, how well the medical field is doing with bipolar, the difficulty in finding the right medication, and how finding stability has improved her life.  "The cornerstone of anyone starting to recover or in getting to a place of wholeness and balance, that cornerstone is medication for people. However, people with bipolar disorder all need to take different medication and so its very difficult to know what medication to put a person on initially."  - Natasha Tracy on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Dave about his bipolar journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with LA-based author Terri Cheney about her journey with bipolar. We have covered bipolar disorder from an academic perspective for the last month but now we begin talking with those with the condition. This the fifth instalment in our bipolar series. Before becoming a writer, Terri Cheney was a successful entertainment lawyer representing the likes of Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. However, she hid a big secret that she had been going through since childhood. Her Bipolar.  She stopped being an entertainment lawyer in 1999 to become a writer with her first bipolar memoir book coming out in 2008 called “Manic: A Memoir” which quickly become a New York Times Best Seller. She has written two other books on her bipolar story one focusing on her childhood “The Dark Side of Innocence: Growing Up Bipolar” in 2012 and her most recent publication “Modern Madness: An Owner's Manual” came out in 2020. Terri has been stable with her bipolar one disorder for years and is here today to share a bit about her journey and work as an author writing about the condition.  In this episode Terri talks about her bipolar growing up, how her parents approached her undiagnosed bipolar when she was young, how depressive episodes feel and impact daily life, stories from her life in how mania impacted her, how her bipolar impacted her during her time as an entertainment lawyer, the experiencing of mania and depression at the same time, the writing process of some of her writing, and where she is at today in her bipolar journey.  "When I practising law and I was at a big firm, I was quite successful, I would literally hide under my desk during my depressions, I wouldn't let anybody see me, I'd do a lot of work from home which wasn't really done in those days - that was pretty unusual. But I think there is something about me having been in the entertainment industry that made it easier to have eccentric behaviour" - Terri Cheney on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Natasha Tracy about her bipolar journey  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr Candia Fink about bipolar disorder. This is our fourth instalment in our series on bipolar disorder. Dr FInk is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who specializes in several areas including mood and anxiety disorders. She co-authored "Bipolar disorders for Dummies”, which will soon be going to a fourth addition and she is regularly corresponding with the media on bipolar and other mood disorders. She has held a diverse range of academic appointments including her positions at the New York Medical College and the Cornell University School of Medicine; and a clinical fellowship at the Harvard University School of Medicine. In this episode Dr. Fink talks about what bipolar is, the different type of bipolar, why bipolar type two I harder to diagnose, why antidepressants don't work as well for this with bipolar one, the brain pathways in those with bipolar disorder, the onset of bipolar, what manic and depressive episodes are, why bipolar two need to still be taken seriously despite being less severe, medications role in reaching stability, and how bipolar if left untreated can change the Brian over time.   "The more active episodes someone has, those episodes hurt the brain and those changes we can see even on imaging" - Dr Fink on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with Terri Cheney about her bipolar journey  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr. Noreen Reilly-Harrington form Harvard University about bipolar disorder. This is the third instalment in our series. Dr Harrington is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School and an internationally-recognized expert in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of bipolar disorder. She has co-authored several books on the subject including the well-known 2014 book The Bipolar II Disorder Workbook: Managing Recurring Depression, Hypomania, and Anxiety"  In this episode Dr Reilly-Harrington talks about what bipolar is, why bipolar can take up to eight years to get a diagnosis, how manic episodes differentiate bipolar from standalone depression, how antidepressants alone can cause manic episodes, bipolar in children, how bipolar can impact on a person's relationships with friends and family, the importance of a strong support system for those with bipolar, and how well society understands bipolar. "Often people with bipolar disorder spend much of their time depressed, so when a person is depressed they may have a very poor recollection of an elevated mood in the past, and so often people who are truly suffering from a bipolar mood disorder might be treated as somebody who has just unipolar depression." - Dr Reilly-Harrington on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with bipolar expert Dr Candida Fink. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Prof. Ian Hickie from the University of Sydney about bipolar disorder. This is the second instalment in our series. Professor Ian Hickie is the Co-Director of Health and Policy at The University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre. He is an internationally renowned researcher in clinical psychiatry, with a particular interest in mood disorders such as bipolar. In this episode we get an overview of bipolar disorder, but also a deep look into how the body's internal clock (sleep-wake cycle) connects with bipolar. "Our sleep-wake cycle is built-in, and therefore its been very important to our survival and circadian systems - or on-off 24-hour cycles. To exist on the earth we exist on, you have to have your clock going into synchronicity with the normal rotation of the earth; and across all species, plants and animals have these systems to some degree." - Prof. Ian Hickie on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with bipolar expert Dr. Noreen Reilly-Harrington. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are beginning a 12-part series on bipolar disorder. Formerly called manic depression, bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that is characterised by extreme mood swings of emotional highs, manic episodes, and emotional lows or depressive episodes. In our first instalment in this series we are talking with Scientia Professor Phillip Mitchell from UNSW. Prof. Mitchell's research and clinical interests are in bipolar disorder and he has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers, books and book chapters on the subject. He is renowned for his work in the field and in the 2010 Australia Day honours list he was awarded an Order of Australia for service to medical education in the area of treatment and prevention of mental illnesses. In this episode Prof. Mitchell talks about what bipolar is, the types of bipolar disorder, the prevalence of bipolar disorder, the genetic underpinnings of bipolar disorder, what brain networks are being impacted by bipolar, what manic and depressive episodes are, the differences in bipolar depression to standalone normal depression, and the role of talk therapy in a person's bipolar journey. "We know that inherited factors account for roughly about 70% of the cause of (bipolar); now some of that other 30% are stresses in people's lives, there have been studies showing that you see higher rates of childhood abuse and trauma in many people with bipolar." -  Prof. Phillip Mitchell AM on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with bipolar expert Prof. Ian Hickie. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Bonita Norris about her journey with bulimia. In 2010, at the age of 22, Bonita was the youngest British woman to have climbed Mount Everest, but it is her bulimia that she suffered through her teen years that we will be talking about today. She touches on her bulimia in her 2017 book "The Girl Who Climbed Everest" and as we will talk about in this episode, her bulimia was a mountain in itself. Bonita talks about her journey climbing Mount Everest, her book "The Girl Who Climbed Everest", her teenage years when she went through bulimia, how mental health is impacted by bulimia, how Mount Everest played a role in her finding her self again, what brings on bulimia, how the media in the 2010s approached Bonita's eating disorder, how family and friends talk to those with bulimia about bulimia, what made Bonita get help with her bulimia, and her strategies in making sure doesn't relapse. "I think I met myself on the top of some of the mountains I have climbed in the sense there is so much shame when you have an eating disorder and your going through it and you can't tell anyone...I think the mountains are just such a great teacher and they do strip everything back." - Bonita Norris on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we begin a 12-part series on bipolar disorder. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are presenting a double episode on Anorexia. We recently finished doing a 13-part series on anorexia and this episode is the all of those parts condensed into a short documentary. Anorexia is a condition whereby people restrict their intake of food in order to achieve weight loss. As we dive into in this series, we discover anorexia is much deeper than just weight loss. It has deep psychological underpinnings and environmental factors that can lead to it developing. We will hear from leading experts in the anorexia field: we hear the academic perspective, we will also hear from those with condition, the family members of those with condition and also hear about the recovery process.  In this episode we hear from Dr Judith Brisman, Prof. Isabel Krug, Cherry Boone, Kelsey Osgood, Britney Burgunder, Christine Jap, David Chanwer, and Carolyn Costin. Tune in next week when we talk about Bonita Noriss about her journey with bulimia. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing is the last in our 13-part series on anorexia and focusses on anorexia recovery with internationally renowned anorexia recovery expert and author Carolyn Costin. Having gone through her own anorexia journey, Carolyn became a psychotherapist in 1979. She is considered a pioneer in the field. In 1996, she founded the first licensed eating disorder treatment centre in a residential home setting. Her recovery program is unique as it involves the staff and clients shopping, eating, and cooking together, attempting to evoke skills for long-term recovery from anorexia. More recently, Carolyn opened The Carolyn Costin Institute in 2017 which offers training for clinicians in the eating disorders field. In this episode Carolyn talks about when people should seek help with anorexia, why people may find it difficult to ask for help, the history of the anorexia recovery sector, the recovery process step by step, how the psychological underpinnings of anorexia are taken into account in the recovery process, the importance of self-exploration in anorexia recovery, the affordability of recovery services, and how recovery can differ from person to person. “You have to dissociate the concept that food equals weight gain because if they have that in their mind forever, as soon as they can stop doing it (balanced eating), they'll stop doing it.” - Carolyn Costin on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in after a fortnight when we present an audio documentary using content from our anorexia series. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com   Host: Jack Hodgins  Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After discussing anorexia at length with those affected both directly and indirectly by the condition, this week on Wellbeing we are moving on to talking about the recovery sector in the anorexia field. During lockdown, author and psychotherapist Matthew Campling released his book “Diary of a Male Anorexic” which covers his journey with the condition and also his recovery from it. In this episode, Mathew shares his thoughts on the anorexia recovery sector both from his own personal experience as someone having gone through the recovery sector but also now form his perspective as a psychotherapist in the field. Matthew's other books include “Therapeutic Weight Loss” and “Eating Disorder Self-Cure: The Matthew Method”.  In this episode Matthew talks about his own experience with the recovery sector, his book “Diary of a Male Anorexic”, his views on the effectiveness of the recovery sector, the importance of fixing the psychological underpinnings of anorexia - not just the physical habits, the importance of not giving starved people more food then the body can absorb, how family can help their loved ones with anorexia in the recovery process, how recovery may differ person to person, and society's view on size and how that interacts with anorexia. “If they (recovery places) don't come from the idea that its the dysfunction - self defence - of the psyche, then they are always going to be looking at it from the outside.” - Matthew Campling on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with anorexia recovery expert Carolyn Costin. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com   Host: Jack Hodgins  Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we speak with Adi Barkan, an activist fighting against anorexia in the fashion industry. Anorexia is prevalent in the modelling industry and Adi has seen it happen firsthand. Adi has been a photographer in the fashion industry since the 1980s, and noticed that it was with the introduction of thin models like Kate Moss in the 1990s that everything changed. As Adi will talk about, since the 1990s anorexia has been prevalent in the industry. Due to this factor, he became an activist and has campaigned for legislation banning the use of models below a certain BMI. He has given a TED talk on the subject, and talks regularly about the subject across the media. In this episode Adi talks about how he got into the fashion industry as a photographer, when anorexia started becoming a problem in the fashion industry, how anorexia impacts the mental health of those modelling, his advocacy work against anorexia in the fashion industry, how editing software like photoshop impacts self image and contributes to anorexia developing, how the use of excessively skinny models impacts people in society and their body image, and how anorexia can be better combated in the fashion industry. “Just think, if all the people woke up in the morning, looked in the mirror and say 'Oh, I look great', how many companies are going to break down.” - Adi Barkan on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with author and psychotherapist, Matthew Campling about the anorexia recovery sector. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com   Host: Jack Hodgins  Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Katherine Schultz, a photographer based in Adelaide, Australia, and she shares her experiences having a sister going through anorexia. Katherine's perspective as a sibling of someone with anorexia is a rarely heard.  In this episode Katherine talks about when she noticed anorexia was becoming a problem for her sister, how her sister's anorexia impacted their relationship, how it impacted the family's daily life, what brings on eating disorders, how it felt seeing her sister loose who she was to anorexia, the supports available to siblings and family members of those going though anorexia, the mental strategies Kathrine has to manage the toll her sister's anorexia has on her, and her general advice to family members of those with anorexia. "The deeper she fell into it, the harder it was to sort of have conversations with her about it and she kind of lost like a spark, and I think many people talk about that like you sort of lose sight of the person you know them to be as this disorder takes over." - Katherine Schultz on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with activist in the fashion industry against anorexia, Adi Barkan. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com   Host: Jack Hodgins  Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Week on Wellbeing we are talking with Veronica Luccioni, who is a mother whose daughter went through anorexia. Following her daughter's recovery, Veronica founded The Elephant in the Room Foundation, a charity that aims to improve the lives of individuals with anorexia nervosa. She is on the show today to share her perspective as a mother having a child with anorexia, and how she went about helping her daughter with her anorexia. In this episode Veronica talks about when she noticed the anorexia in her daughter, the symptoms she noticed of anorexia from her perspective as a mother, and how she helped her daughter recover. Her body changed and she became skinnier and started wearing smaller clothes . . . she started fitting into those clothes again and she started wearing them so I told her 'No! you cannot be wearing those - you cannot be fitting into smaller and smaller clothes'.  - Veronica Luccioni on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Kathrine Schulz about her sister's journey with Anorexia We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com Host: Jack HodginsWellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with David Chawner, comedian and mental health advocate. Anorexia is seen to be a mental health condition that effects mostly females, but today we cover the important perspective of male anorexia. Dave started developing anorexia during puberty to keep out unwanted emotions that come along with puberty. He gave a TED Talk in 2015 about the condition and soon after in 2018 wrote his memoir; Weight Expectations: One Man's Recovery from Anorexia. He says a big part of his recovery has been his comedy work, of which a lot of his content is based around the illness. In this episode, Dave talks about why he developed anorexia, the differences in being male going through anorexia, how the recovery sector needs to become a more positive environment, his own recovery journey, the role of comedy in his recovery, and how friends and family can better support those with anorexia. “One of the things about the Anorexia is that generally it can tend to numb unwanted emotions -unwanted thoughts- because its kinda like if you' don't put any fuel in your car it won't run and if you don't feed your brain then it will start shutting down.” - David Chawner on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with a mother with a daughter that has anorexia    We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Christine Jap about her anorexia journey. Christine started experiencing anorexia at age twelve and after a journey with it only recovered recently in 2017 while attending university. Today Christine is the PR officer for The Elephant In The Room Foundation, a charity that aims to improve the lives of individuals with Anorexia Nervosa. This is the sixth instalment in our 13 part series on Anorexia. This episode is the fourth and last with females that have had a journey with anorexia. Next week we cover the important topic of male anorexia.  In this episode, Christine talks about why she developed anorexia, the way she viewed food while going through anorexia, how her family tried to help her with her anorexia, how it impacted her daily life, her journey with recovery, the challenges of anorexia recovery and how recovering has impacted her life positively.    “Inside I knew there was something else going on, that it wasn't really my fault. Everyone was kinda just saying 'Oh this is your fault, you just don't want to get better'', so that reinforced my shame and negative thoughts” - Christine Jap on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with comedian Dave Chawner about his anorexia journey    We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Brittany Burgunder, author and life coach. Brittany was first diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 13. She engaged in disorder eating as the more weight she lost, the less anxious she became. Her anorexia would be with her for years, up until the time she was in college. Brittney weighed just 56 pounds when she was 20, and was near death. She survived her anorexia which morphed into a binge eating disorder. Within 18 months, she went from being underweight to being obese. Today Brittany has recovered from both eating disorders and in 2016 published her book Safety in Numbers: From 56 to 221 Pounds, My Battle with Eating Disorders which covers her journey with eating disorders. Today Brittany is a Certified Professional Life Coach and eating disorder specialist. In this episode, Brittany talks about the beginnings of her anorexia, why she thinks it developed, how it impacted her daily life and relationships, how it changed her daily life over time, her relationship with food, how her anorexia morphed into binge eating disorder, how binge eating disorder impacted her daily life in contrast to anorexia, her journey to recovery from both eating disorders, how her book came to be, and how recovery has allowed her to get her life back.  “I felt that if I could be perfect or if I could be the best at something, if I could be super successful it would sorta' overshadow how I really felt inside and mask how awful I truly felt." - Brittany Burgunder on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with another person that has gone though anorexia  We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Kelsey Osgood, a New York based writer. Kelsey started developing anorexia when she was 14 and was first hospitalised for it at 15. Her battle with anorexia would be decade long and would consist of three lengthy hospitalisations. After her recovery she began writing her story down. These writing would become her 2013 book "How to Disappear Completely: On Modern Anorexia". The book set out not to be like many of the Anorexia memoirs that came out during the '90's and early 2000s that romanticised the condition.  In this episode, Kelsey the beginnings of her anorexia, the culture towards anorexia in the 90's and early 2000s, how it impacted her relationship with food at the time, how it changed her daily life over time, her journey to recovery, how her book came to be, her thoughts on the understanding of anorexia in wider society, and gives some tips for friends and family member in how to support and approach people with anorexia.  "I think even when I was a teenager and I was first hospitalised in the year 2000, people, compared to the statistical number of people who have a clinical eating disorder, people were very aware of what Anorexia and Bulimia was. Maybe there was some lingering insensitivities to it  but there was really this enormous push, starting with the death of Karen Carpenter in 1983, that was really trying to tell people this is not about weight, it about any number of things; its about control, its about people pleasing, its about nefarious cultural forces" - Kelsey Osgood on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Brittney Burgunder about her anorexia and binge eating disorder journey   We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Cherry Boone O'Neill. Cherry grew up in the public eye being the daughter of American singer Pat Boone. Being a part of a musically family she regularly performed with the Boone Family. During her early teenage years in the early 1970s Cherry developed anorexia. At this time the condition was not well understood with many doctors not knowing much of its existence or how to treat it. After recovering from the condition in the early 1980's her memoir about her time with the condition, Starving for Attention came out in 1982. Today Cherry is a Certified Transformational Life Coach and talks about her experiences with anorexia regularly. In this episode, Cherry talks about her early life performing with the Boone Family, the beginnings of her anorexia, how it changed her daily life over time, its impact on her relationships, how fellow Boone family members tried to help her, her journey to recovery, how her book came to be, her friendship with fellow anorexia sufferer Karen Carpenter, and her thoughts on the stigma that exists towards anorexia in society. "My Doctor didn't even tell me the name of what I was struggling with, I thought I was just some isolated freak going through this weird behaviour all by myself." - Cherry Boone O'Neill on this episode of Wellbeing  Tune in next week when we talk with Kelsey Osgood about her anorexia journey. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are talking with Dr Walter Kaye, Executive Director of the Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research, University of California San Diego. Dr. Kaye's research seeks to understand why individuals develop eating disorders and use what is learned to develop more effective treatments. He has authored more then 300 articles and publications on the subject and through his treatment work works closely with parents of children with anorexia and other eating disorders. This is the final episode talking with academics about anorexia as next week we start talking with those that have actually had the condition.  In this episode, Dr. Kaye talks about what anorexia is, how and why it occurs, its effect on the body and the bones, anorexia in younger people, common traits in those with anorexia, how long it takes to develop, the prevalence of anorexia, how it impacts the brain, and the anorexia researching sector more broadly.  "People will often end up recovering, and when they do, they actually do very well in life, and some of the traits that got them into trouble -self discipline, obsession with details, they are very achievement orientated - can be used in beneficial ways and people who recover from anorexia often do very well In life." - Dr Walter Kaye on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with Cherry Boone O'Neil about her anorexia journey   We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing is the second instalment in our anorexia series. We are continuing to look into anorexia from an academic perspective. In this episode we are talking with Prof. Isabel Krug, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology, and leads the MSPS Eating Disorder Lab based at the University of Melbourne. The main focus of the lab is to improve the understanding of the genetic, neurocognitive, environmental, and psychological underpinnings of eating disorders. Prof. Krug talks about what anorexia is, how and why it occurs, its effect on the body and the internal organs, anorexia in younger people, stigma surrounding those with anorexia, anorexia in children and different age groups, how it impacts the brain, and the anorexia researching sector more broadly. "Some people could just go into a diet for what ever reason, or might be dissatisfied with their body, start a diet and then they develop an eating disorder." - Prof. Isabel Krug on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with another expert in the anorexia field. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we are kicking off our 13-part series on Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental health condition and is characterised by a fear of being overweight. In our first instalment we are talking with internationally renowned eating disorder expert Dr. Judith Brisman. Dr Brisman is the co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder which, when it was first released in 1988, was the first book to offer effective advice for families and friends of those with eating disorders. Dr Brisman is also a pioneer in the eating disorders field having founded The Eating Disorder Resource Center in 1981 which was the first centre of its kind. In this episode, Dr Brisman talks about what anorexia is, how and why it occurs, its effect on the body and the internal organs, anorexia in younger people, anorexia in those who are part of the LGBTQ community, the effects of social media on anorexia's prevalence, stigma around those with anorexia, anorexia recovery in children, how anorexia impacts the brain, and her role as a psychoanalyst in recovery. "We are also seeing that we totally missed the world of gender fluidity; of course this is all a new subject and we are learning so much about this. Think about it, if you are in a male body and you believe you're a woman and you're 13 years old or 15 years old and you want to look like you really believe you are, the first thing you are going to do it make your body smaller, and so we are also seeing anorexia in the transgender community" -  Dr. Judith Brisman on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in next week when we talk with another expert in the anorexia field. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing, we speak with John Fischetti, a professor of education from the University of Newcastle. In this episode, following on from my last interview with Professor Fischetti a few months ago, we discuss the changing attitudes to wellbeing in universities. John has seen wellbeing become a main focus of universities in his four decades in the educational field. Seeing student wellbeing going from being a topic rarely, if ever, discussed when he was first at uni as a student in the mid 70's, to now being a professor in at a university where student wellbeing is talked about every day.   In this episode, Professor Fischetti talks about the development of student wellbeing becoming a part of unis, the support services available to students at unis, more wellbeing friendly examination methods, the importance of good nutrition for students on campus, meeting the wellbeing needs of a diverse range of students and the supports available for indigenous students.   “Students are so busy, most of our students working while they are going to school and rushing, not taking the time to eat right and you add that to not sleep and maybe a little extra caffeine, you end up in a burnout mode...and that's just not healthy.” - Prof. John Fishchetti on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in the New Year when we begin a series on Anorexia.   We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we speak with Dr Tanmay Bagade, a Lecturer in Medical Education and Global Health at the University of Newcastle. Dr Bagade has worked all over the world in the medical field including in India, Somalia, and Papua New Guinea. He has worked and collaborated with several international organisations such as World Health Organisation and the United Nations. When not working overseas, Dr Bargade helps his students become compassionate and empathetic international health practitioners.  In this episode Dr Bagade talks about the global links between heath systems around the world, the economic and political contexts that can make or break a health system, Australia's health system and what makes it successful, the importance of quality education for aspiring practitioners in lower income nations, and what Australia's role is helping other nations in a health context.  “We are all connected due to globalisation, so global health is very important in terms of improving worldwide health and access to health care services and quality of health care.”  - Dr Tanmay Bagade on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a fortnight when we discuss student wellbeing in universities with Prof. John Fischetti. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we speak with Dr Graeme Horton, a Lecturer and researcher from the University of Newcastle. We are discussing Climate Change's impact on our health and food. As a member of the Management Committee of Doctors for the Environment, Dr Horton co-authored the "Climate Change Health Check 2020 Report" for the Climate Institute in 2008, which he presented at the 61st United Nations Department of Public Information Conference. Graeme highlights that few of the predictions outlined in the report did not come true.   In this episode Dr Horton talks about the effects of climate change on ecosystems and in turn, how that effects our food and health, the negative impact climate change could have on food production, climate change's effect on the mental health of farmers, and how people can improve their diets to be more climate focused.      “We know that as carbon dioxide levels rise, some plants can increase the rate that they grow but that actually decreases the exact to which they incorporate nitrogen and protein, and so protein levels within plant-based foods can drop. That's a concern for people who are most at risk of protein malnutrition.”   - Dr Graeme Horton on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a fortnight when we discuss global health with an expert. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we speak with Professor Adrian Dunlop from the University of Newcastle. Prof. Dunlop has over 25 years experience in the addiction field both in a clinical and researching setting. Since 2007, Prof. Dunlop has been the Director of the Drug & Alcohol Clinical Services in the Hunter New England Local Health District.  In this episode Prof. Dunlop talks about what alcohol is, how alcohol can affect people differently, Australia's drinking culture, how common it is for a problem with alcohol to develop, the historical and cultural links to alcohol in Australian culture, the strain alcoholism puts on the health system, and how we should frame what addiction is.  “Has somebody said to you ‘Hang on, maybe you have a problem with alcohol', That's actually not a bad measure of - a non-scientific measure - but a way of working out maybe something is going wrong here.”  - Prof. Adrian Dunlop on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a fortnight when we discuss climate changes effect on food and our health with an expert. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Wellbeing we speak with Professor Lesley Wicks, from the University of Newcastle. Prof. Wicks' research is centered around how our diets affect mitigating disease risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as stroke and mental illness. In this episode Dr Wicks talks about how food affects the body, how poor nutrition can cause negative impacts on the body, the different nutritional needs of different age groups, why people are not eating enough fruit and vegetables, the affordability of good nutrition, the links between obesity and the food people eat, the quality of the nutrition provided by the big food companies, and some simple ways in getting more nutritious foods into the diet.  “Obesity is directly a function of energy. So, if you have more energy, if you eat more energy than you use, then your body will store it for later. The body is very efficient at storing energy and in our body, we store it as fat, and if you end up having a consistent situation where you eat more energy than you use, you will put on weight.”   - Prof. Lesley Wicks on this episode of Wellbeing Tune in in a fortnight when we discuss alcohol use and addiction. We would love to hear from you! If you would like to suggest topics, give us feedback, or just say hi, you can contact us on wellbeing@2nurfm.com  Host: Jack Hodgins Wellbeing website: https://www.2nurfm.com.au/wellbeing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.