Research busts mental health coping myth

People with extreme psychological distress have exceeded the limits of their own resources, and need support from others to cope, according to new research led by The Alliance for Suicide Prevention – Sunshine Coast’s Professor of Suicide Prevention Helen Stallman. The mental health research, conducted at USC’s Thompson Institute, was published in Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, and found that healthy coping strategies – such as mindfulness and distraction – certainly work, but sometimes they are not enough. Professor Stallman said the findings contradicted a common belief that people who were in extreme distress were not resilient or did not have healthy coping mechanisms. Read the full story on the USC website.