Sally Merry

Last updated

Sally Nicola Merry
Scientific career
Fields Child psychiatry
Institutions University of Auckland

Sally Nicola Merry is a New Zealand child psychiatry academic. She is currently a full professor at the University of Auckland and holds the Cure Kids Duke Family Chair in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. [1]

Contents

Merry rose to full professor in 2015, [2] and has been involved in the development and evaluation of the SPARX video game for young persons with mild to moderate depression, stress or anxiety. [3] In 2014, Merry was named as the NEXT Woman of the Year in the Health & Science category. [4]

Selected works

Related Research Articles

Cognitive behavioral therapy Therapy to improve mental health

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. CBT focuses on challenging and changing cognitive distortions and their associated behaviors to improve emotional regulation and develop personal coping strategies that target solving current problems. Though it was originally designed to treat depression, its uses have been expanded to include the treatment of many mental health conditions, including anxiety, substance use disorders, marital problems, and eating disorders. CBT includes a number of cognitive or behavioral psychotherapies that treat defined psychopathologies using evidence-based techniques and strategies.

Major depressive disorder Mental disorder involving persistent low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest

Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive low mood, low self-esteem, and loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. Those affected may also occasionally have delusions or hallucinations. Introduced by a group of US clinicians in the mid-1970s, the term was adopted by the American Psychiatric Association for this symptom cluster under mood disorders in the 1980 version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), and has become widely used since.

Physical abuse Medical condition

Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or workplace aggression. Alternative terms sometimes used include physical assault or physical violence, and may also include sexual abuse. Physical abuse may involve more than one abuser, and more than one victim.

Suicide prevention Collective efforts to reduce the incidence of suicide

Suicide prevention is a collection of efforts to reduce the risk of suicide. Suicide is often preventable, and the efforts to prevent it may occur at the individual, relationship, community, and society level. Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have long-lasting effects on individuals, families, and communities. Preventing suicide requires strategies at all levels of society. This includes prevention and protective strategies for individuals, families, and communities. Suicide can be prevented by learning the warning signs, promoting prevention and resilience, and a committing to social change.

Child and adolescent psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial factors that influence the development and course of psychiatric disorders and treatment responses to various interventions. Child and adolescent psychiatrists primarily use psychotherapy and/or medication to treat mental disorders in the pediatric population.

Substance abuse prevention Measures to prevent the consumption of licit and illicit drugs

Substance abuse prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention, is a process that attempts to prevent the onset of substance use or limit the development of problems associated with using psychoactive substances. Prevention efforts may focus on the individual or their surroundings. A concept that is known as "environmental prevention" focuses on changing community conditions or policies so that the availability of substances is reduced as well as the demand. Individual Substance Abuse Prevention, also known as drug abuse prevention involves numerous amounts of different sessions depending on the individual to help cease or reduce the use of substances. The time period to help a specific individual can vary based upon many aspects of an individual. The type of Prevention efforts should be based upon the individual's necessities which can also vary pepsi. Substance use prevention efforts typically focus on minors – children and teens especially 12–35 years of age. Substances typically targeted by preventive efforts include alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, coke, methamphetamine, steroids, club drugs, and opioids. Community advocacy against substance use is imperative due to the significant increase in opioid overdoses in the United States alone. It has been estimated that about one hundred and thirty individuals continue to lose their lives daily due to opioid overdoses alone.

Parent management training (PMT), also known as behavioral parent training (BPT) or simply parent training, is a family of treatment programs that aims to change parenting behaviors, teaching parents positive reinforcement methods for improving pre-school and school-age children's behavior problems.

Child sexual abuse, also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child, indecent exposure, child grooming, and child sexual exploitation, including using a child to produce child pornography.

Depression in childhood and adolescence Pediatric depressive disorders

Depression is a mental disorder characterized by prolonged unhappiness or irritability, accompanied by a constellation of somatic and cognitive signs and symptoms such as fatigue, apathy, sleep problems, loss of appetite, loss of engagement; low self-regard or worthlessness; difficulty concentrating or indecisiveness; or recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. Depression in childhood and adolescence is similar to adult major depressive disorder, although young sufferers may exhibit increased irritability or behavioral dyscontrol instead of the more common sad, empty, or hopeless feelings seen with adults. Children who are under stress, experiencing loss, have attention, learning, behavioral, or anxiety disorders are at a higher risk for depression. Childhood depression is often comorbid with mental disorders outside of other mood disorders; most commonly anxiety disorder and conduct disorder. Depression also tends to run in families. In a 2016 Cochrane review cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), third wave CBT and interpersonal therapy demonstrated small positive benefits in the prevention of depression. Psychologists have developed different treatments to assist children and adolescents suffering from depression, though the legitimacy of the diagnosis of childhood depression as a psychiatric disorder, as well as the efficacy of various methods of assessment and treatment, remains controversial.

Disability abuse is when a person with a disability is abused physically, financially, sexually and/or psychologically due to the person having a disability. Disability abuse has also been considered a hate crime. The abuse is not limited to those who are visibly disabled such as wheelchair-users or physically deformed such as those with a cleft lip, but also those with learning, intellectual, and developmental disabilities as well as mental illnesses.

David A. Wolfe

David Allen Wolfe is an academic, psychologist and author specializing in issues of child abuse, domestic violence, children and youth. His work includes the promotion of healthy relationships through school programs, with a major focus on the prevention of child abuse and neglect, bullying, dating violence, unsafe sex, substance abuse and other consequences of unhealthy relationships.

<i>Sparx</i> (video game) 2013 video game

SPARX is a not a video game. It is educational software intended to help young people with mild to moderate depression, stress or anxiety. Through the game, this e-therapy will teach them how to resolve their issues on their own, according to a talking psychotherapeutic approach called cognitive behavioural therapy. Before taking part in this game, a personality test is required to determine if SPARX will be suited and helpful for the future user.

Thalia C. Eley British psychologist

Thalia Catherine Eley is a Professor of Developmental Behavioural Genetics at the Institute of Psychiatry's MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King's College London. Her work focuses on the interplay between genetic and environmental factors on the development and treatment of anxiety and depression.

Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus American licensed psychologist

Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus is a licensed clinical psychologist and professor with the University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. Rotheram is the professor-in-residence in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is the Director of the Global Center for Children and Families at UCLA and the former director of the Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services.

Ernesto Caffo is the founder and President of SOS Il Telefono Azzurro Onlus and Fondazione Child. He is a Chair Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, full-time Director of the Department of Paediatrics for the Hospital of University of Modena, and Director of the 6th edition of the Master Assessment and Intervention in situations of child abuse and pedophilia at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Professor Julia Rucklidge is a Canadian-born clinical psychologist who is the director of the Mental Health and Nutrition Research Group at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Her research has centered on mental health and nutrition.

Prevention of mental disorders are measures that try to decrease the chances of a mental disorder occurring. A 2004 WHO report stated that "prevention of these disorders is obviously one of the most effective ways to reduce the [disease] burden." The 2011 European Psychiatric Association (EPA) guidance on prevention of mental disorders states "There is considerable evidence that various psychiatric conditions can be prevented through the implementation of effective evidence-based interventions." A 2011 UK Department of Health report on the economic case for mental health promotion and mental illness prevention found that "many interventions are outstandingly good value for money, low in cost and often become self-financing over time, saving public expenditure". In 2016, the National Institute of Mental Health re-affirmed prevention as a research priority area.

Judy Garber is a clinical psychologist known for her research on emotional dysregulation and mood disorders, with a focus on cognitive-behavioral interventions for adolescents who have depression. Garber is Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.

Helen Minnis is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Glasgow. She studies reactive attachment disorder and other developmental conditions.

Kerry Gibson South African-New Zealand psychologst

Kerry Lynn Gibson is a South African-New Zealand clinical psychologist and academic, specialising in youth mental health. She is currently the Deputy Head of School (Academic) for the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland. Gibson was the president of the New Zealand Psychological Society, from 2014 until 2016.

References

  1. "Professor Sally Merry - The University of Auckland". unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz.
  2. "Professor Sally Merry Inaugural Lecture - The University of Auckland". www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz.
  3. "PM launches SPARX online tool for youth - Health Research Council". www.hrc.govt.nz.
  4. Friday; October 2014, 10; Year, 3:48 pm Press Release: NEXT Woman Of The. "Introducing New Zealand's Women of the Year | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)