newsletter third quarter update 2002

The Mental Health Information Centre is pleased to report back on an eventful third quarter. The main focus has been on publishing the Mental Health Resource Guide of Southern Africa, organising National Anxiety Disorders Awareness Week (NADAW), additional CME activities, educational talks, media interviews, recruitment for research trials and participation at the National Psychiatry Congress at the Lord Charles.

Publications

• The 6th edition of the Mental Health Resource Guide of Southern Africa was published and distributed in September. We have received much interest and many additional orders for this book.
• Most the algorithms from the publication Psychiatric Medications in Primary Care: Algorithms & Guidelines have been loaded onto our website for professionals to have easier access. Selected algorithms are linked to the electronic CPD service, eCPD.

Educational activities

• Psychopharmacology Congress 2003, Spier, Stellenbosch, September 10-13. The Society for NeuroScience will be co-hosts. The first announcements for the congress are being distributed and the latest information is being updated on our website, including abstract details.
• CME Activities: Apart from the NADAW CPD accredited activities in October, the MHIC organised 6 other CME's since July. The main focus of education was for GP's and topics addressed were: anxiety in children and adolescents; advances in the management of schizophrenia; post-partum depression; posttraumatic stress disorder; a practical approach to DSM-IV classification and current perspectives on OCD.
• Educational Talks: Charmaine presented to a large group of 2nd & 3rd year mixed health science students at Stellenbosch University Faculty of Health Sciences. The talk addressed stigma and community attitudes towards mental illness.

  On World Mental Health Day Charmaine gave a talk at Stikland Hospital on the function of the MHIC and MRC Unit on Anxiety & Stress Disorders. This talk also covered the focus of the World Federation for Mental Health's initiative to raise awareness and destigmatise mental health issues.

  Jane presented a general overview of anxiety disorders and depression to SAA general staff during October.

• Brochures: the MHIC information brochure has been updated and printed in both English and Afrikaans. Thank you Solvay for generously funding this! Our series of NADAW brochures has also been updated and distributed to interested callers and various primary health care centres. Thank you Parke-Med/Pfizer for your continuous support of our lay education work.

Awareness campaigns
National Anxiety Disorders Awareness Week (NADAW) 7-13th October: Thank you to Parke-Med/Pfizer for once again sponsoring this campaign. In line with the theme of World Mental Health Day, we focused on PTSD and the effects of violence and trauma on children and adolescents. Our activities included CME sessions in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Information kits with posters and brochures were distributed to doctors rooms and pharmacies. Radio interviews were conducted and press releases sent to the various media.

Mental Health Media Awards: front row Jane Metelo-Liquito (MHIC), Catriona Ross (COSMO), Prof Nair (Anti-Stigma Initiative). Middle row Adele Hamilton (FairLady), Charmaine Hugo (MHIC), Fakir Hassan (SABC PSA). Back row Loretta Botha (Parke-Med), Willemien Brummer (Die Burger).

Mental Health Media Awards: On 9 October various journalists who were nominated and voted for by a national panel were given awards for their outstanding reporting on mental health issues. Prof Margaret Nair was the keynote speaker and discussed the importance of the media in informing the public and destigmatising mental health issues. Thank you SASOP for flying Prof Nair down and for covering all her costs. Jackie Stewart from the Trauma Centre spoke about the effects of violence and trauma on children and adolescents.

The award winners are Willemien Brummer (Die Burger), Adele Hamilton (Fairlady), Raeesa Mohammed (Lotus FM) and the overall winner for 2002 is Catriona Ross (Cosmopolitan). Special Recognition Certificates were given to Ann Donald (editor of Fairlady), the Pretoria News, and Fakir Hassan (SABC, Public Service Announcements).

We are especially pleased at the continuous collaboration with various mental health roleplayers during our awareness campaigns. Of note is our close alliance with the Depression & Anxiety Support Group, the Dept of Health: Mental Health Programmes, the SA Federation for Mental Health, and SASOP. We look forward to maintaining these, and forging new working relationships.

Research
News from our MRC Research Unit on Anxiety and Stress Disorders includes updates on current studies:

• General statistics from the Bathuthuzele Youth Stress Clinic: 105 adolescents have been interviewed; the mean age is 13.8 years (SD=2.7); gender: 38,5% male, 61% female; ethnicity: 6.8% White, 80,6% Coloured & 12,6% Black; a diagnosis of PTSD has been given in 60% of the adolescents, and approximately two-thirds of these are female.
• A new study is investigating the use of fluoxetine (Prozac) in the management of specific phobia. The study runs over 8 weeks for patients aged between 18 and 65 years. SPECT scans are done pre- and post- treatment to evaluate functional blood flow.

The MHIC presented two posters at the recent National Psychiatry Congress at the Lord Charles in Somerset West. Titles were "The changing face of mental health information needs as experienced by the MHIC" and "A critical look at stigma and its impact in psychiatry".

Thank you to everyone who helped us man the MHIC stand at the Lord Charles in September. There was much interest in our publications and the MRC Anxiety Unit's various studies.

Website - 50 205 hits in 6 months
Interest in the MHIC website has grown dramatically since we revamped in May 2002. We received 50 205 successful requests in the past 6 months. The most traffic is on a Monday and a Wednesday, with 10 273 and 9 817 summed hits respectively. Although most interest has originated from South African domains (32%), our site has attracted interest from all over the world, including the USA, UK, Canada, Australasia, Europe, and other African states such as Botswana.

Call centre
The MHIC call centre took over 500 calls during the month surrounding NADAW. 234 of these related directly to our educational and media activities, while 191 where general information queries. Of the latter, the majority were patients (37%), family of patients (26%), or medical professionals (16%). Most requested information on schizophrenia (29%), depression (16%), PTSD (11%) or other anxiety/stress conditions (19%). The high interest in schizophrenia may be attributed to the extensive media coverage at the time of a study on the use of fish oil in schizophrenia (Prof Emsley and colleagues).

Mental Health Information Centre
PO Box 19063, Tygerberg 7505
South Africa
Tel (021) 938-9229, Fax (021) 933-5790
E-mail: mhic@sun.ac.za
http://www.mentalhealthsa.co.za