Mental Health A-Z

A mood disorder where people experience prolonged feelings of being sad, hopeless, low and inadequate, with a loss of interest or pleasure in activities and often with suicidal thoughts or self-blame. People can experience low self-esteem and apathy or a feeling of emptiness.

A condition that occurs when the body cannot use glucose normally. Glucose (a type of sugar) is the main source of energy for the body’s cells.

Prejudicial action or distinguishing treatment of a person based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or category of people. This may take overt (intentional and obvious) or subtle (unintentional or embedded in social structure or process) forms. Discrimination can also include acts that are unlawful under the Australian Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Programs which seek to divert people who are facing criminal charges in a court into a rehabilitation, treatment or intervention program that is intended to address underlying problems such as drug or alcohol dependency, mental illness, homelessness or extreme poverty. Diversion programs focus on the causes of a person’s offending, rather than punitive action.