New research links severe period pain to depression
Girls with painful periods are twice as likely as their peers to have symptoms of anxiety or depression.
A new study from Deakin University has found period pain often leads to psychological distress.
ABC NewsRadio's Tamara Wearne spoke with Dr Marilla Druitt, a Geelong based obstetrician and gynaecologist and affiliate lecturer at Deakin University about this shift in cause and effect, and what can be done to help young women.
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ABC News
40 minutes ago
- ABC News
Five factors that favour drought relief during this winter's weather
There are multiple signs a boost in rainfall this winter and spring will alleviate the record drought currently crippling southern Australia. This optimistic outlook is due to the oceans and atmosphere around Australia transitioning into a state more conducive to precipitation. There are five factors that point towards a significantly wetter winter and spring compared to last year across drought-affected regions — and only one influence that would favour the drought continuing at its current severity. An extended spell of cold and showery weather will impact south-east states from Friday to Tuesday thanks to two cold fronts and low, the exact weather pattern that has been notably scarce over the past 18 months. A typical winter front only brings a day or two of showers; however, a feature of the upcoming system is its longevity, which will allow rain totals to accumulate above 20 millimetres across most of southern and mountain Victoria, agricultural regions of South Australia and the NSW southern slopes. For coastal regions of SA and Victoria, along with many parts of Tasmania, the winter storms should generate more than 50mm. This upcoming soaking follows an initial first round of drought relief in late May when the best rain in months arrived across southern SA, south-west Victoria, and the NSW Riverina. Remaining inland areas missed out on last week's rain, and while the next system will bring light falls, less than 10mm is likely across the northern Wimmera, Mallee, Murraylands, Riverlands and the western Riverina. Along with farmers, a second group that will welcome the storm is ski resorts, which could gain 50 centimetres of fresh snow through the opening long weekend. The general model consensus is that follow-up rain should arrive mid- to late next week as another cold front sweeps east across southern Australia. The front is currently predicted to reach WA next Tuesday and then spread to south-east states by about Thursday, although being more than a week ahead, its strength and precipitation are uncertain. By 10 days out, standard daily forecasts become unreliable — however, despite the limitations, medium-range forecasts do offer a guide to whether a certain week is likely to be wetter or drier than normal. Current forecasts for the middle weeks of June show no strong swing favouring wetter or drier than normal conditions near our southern coastline — which at this time of year implies at a minimum some further rain is likely. The exceptionally dry autumn in southern states this year was partly due to an almost total failure of Northwest Cloudbands (NWCBs). Australia averages 36 NWCB days per year, and they are responsible for the vast majority of cool-season rainfall in many inland regions. The first NWCB in 2025 did not arrive until late May, and while it delivered record falls to parts of the NT and Kimberley, unfortunately its path was well north of SA and Victoria. The absence of NWCBs can be partly traced back to the waters off the WA coast — essentially, they are too warm to provide the required temperature variation between the tropics and mid-latitudes. And while the marine heatwave off the west coast is showing little sign of waning, waters have recently also warmed south of Indonesia, which is increasing the thermal gradient off Australia's north-west coast — a pattern more encouraging for the development of NWCBs. Another reason NWCBs may become more frequent through the remainder of the year is the possibility of a negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). A negative IOD is the Indian Ocean's version of La Niña and has a similar influence on rainfall by shifting cloud formation towards Australia. The last three negative IOD years, 2016, 2021 and 2022, all produced very wet winters and springs across many parts of the country — and the majority of global models are forecasting a negative IOD will develop during the coming months. While seasonal outlooks can be notoriously unreliable in early winter, there are already signs the transition to a negative IOD may have commenced. The key monitoring zones for the phase of the IOD are shown below in the black boxes, and during the past week sea temperatures have fallen off the Horn of Africa and warmed off the coast of Java. If this trend were to continue for another few weeks, negative IOD thresholds may be reached this winter. The final reason for optimism is seasonal forecasts for the upcoming months range from either near normal to above average rain for southern Australia. The Bureau of Meteorology's modelling in particular shows a strong swing favouring above-median rainfall during the next few months across the inland region — displaying up to an 80 per cent probability for northern parts of SA. Even if rainfall is above average for several months, the significant deficits of 100 to 500mm that have accumulated in southern Australia through the past 18 months are unlikely to be removed until multiple seasons of above-average rain are recorded. It's also worth considering the potential that rainfall remains well below average, an outcome plausible if a negative IOD and NWCBs do not materialise. Another factor that reduces the prospects of rainfall this year is climate change — there has been a declining number of fronts observed over our latitudes in recent decades due to an expansion of tropical circulations into the mid-latitudes. Although the long-term trend indicates droughts in southern Australia will therefore become more frequent and severe, in the shorter term, the balance of probabilities still suggests drought relief is ahead.
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Here are the biggest takeaways so far from Erin Patterson's testimony in her murder trial
Accused triple-murderer Erin Patterson has continued to give evidence in her own trial as it edges closer to an end. Ms Patterson's defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, called her to the stand late on Monday to begin questioning her. The 50-year-old has been charged with murder and attempted murder after three relatives died from death cap mushroom poisoning following a meal prepared and served by Ms Patterson. Another relative, Ian Wilkinson, fell seriously ill but survived. While Ms Patterson is expected to take the stand again on Wednesday — answering questions from her defence lawyers before the prosecution has the opportunity to cross-examine her — here are some of the key things we have learned so far during her testimony. On Tuesday, Ms Patterson conceded that the beef Wellington dish she prepared for her relatives contained death cap mushrooms. "Do you accept that there must have been death cap mushrooms in [the meal]?" her defence lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked. "Yes, I do," Ms Patterson replied. Ms Patterson has always maintained her innocence and her lawyers argue the deaths were a tragic accident. She told the court the majority of the mushrooms used in the deadly meal had come from the local Woolworths in Leongatha and some from a grocer in Melbourne. She said mushrooms she purchased from an Asian grocer in April 2023 smelt "very pungent", so she put them in a container and took them back to her Leongatha home to store them. Earlier in the trial, the jury was shown messages sent between Ms Patterson and some of her online friends criticising her in-laws. In one of those messages, Ms Patterson wrote: "This family I swear to f***ing go". "I'm sick of this shit, I want nothing to do with them … So f*** 'em," another message read. On Tuesday, she told the court she wished she had never said those things. The court heard that Ms Patterson regretted the language she had used and "played up the emotion" to get support from her online friends. In previously heard evidence, a Facebook friend of Ms Patterson said she was openly an atheist and had described clashes with her estranged husband, Simon, stemming from his rigid religious beliefs. But on Tuesday, Ms Patterson confirmed to the jury that she was Christian. "They would gently make fun of the fact that I was religious, and I would try to, I don't know, evangelise back to them in a sense," she said when asked about the online comments she made to friends that she was an atheist. "But it was all in good humour." Ms Patterson outlined to the jury that she developed an interest in wild mushrooms while going on walks during the first COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. She told the court she noticed lots of them popping up at the Korumburra Botanical Gardens during those walks. Eventually, she said, she became confident in her ability to identify different species of mushrooms, even eating some she picked herself. "They tasted good and I didn't get sick," she said. The court also heard that Ms Patterson would dehydrate mushrooms she foraged as well as some she purchased from the store to dry and preserve them. Previously, the court heard she lied to police about owning a food dehydrator and foraging for mushrooms. During her testimony on Tuesday, Ms Patterson recounted experiences that had damaged her trust in the medical system, including health episodes involving her children where she felt her concerns were not being listened to. She told the jury she often turned to "Doctor Google", including one time when she convinced herself that she had a brain tumour. She admitted to the jury that she never had ovarian cancer but that she had been experiencing chronic headaches, fatigue, abdominal pain, sudden weight gain and fluid retention. Throughout the trial, the court has heard a cancer diagnosis was the reason Ms Patterson invited her guests to the lunch in question. She also told the court she never had a needle biopsy on a lump on her elbow, which she spoke to her mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, about in messages shown to the jury. Ms Patterson outlined that she had had body image issues since she was a teenager and said that her mother had weighed her weekly as a child. "I've tried every diet under the sun … it's been a rollercoaster over the years," she said. Ms Patterson was visibly emotional when she spoke about being bulimic and binge eating. Ms Patterson spoke about multiple separations between her and her estranged husband, Simon. During her evidence, she said the separation was "difficult" but the pair "went back to just being really good friends". "I didn't want to separate, but I felt there was no choice," she said on Tuesday. "Our primary problem was, if we had a disagreement or any kind of conflict, we didn't seem to be able to talk about it in a way where either of us felt heard or understood. "We just felt hurt, and we didn't really know how to do that well." Ms Patterson told the court she had put three properties under her and Simon's names because she "wanted some way to demonstrate to Simon [that] I see a future for us". Simon previously gave evidence of the pair's tumultuous relationship. "I'll put it this way, she would leave each time … it was always her leaving me," he previously told the court.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
‘Catfishing': Dodgy tradies' insane rip off tactics exposed
Frustrating issues normally seen in the dating world have rocked Australia's home repairs and renovations industry, with homeowners warned about a concerning rise in 'catfish tradies'. These smooth talking operators have been reported to be luring unsuspecting clients with too-good-to-be-true quotes, only to spring them with extra charges once works begin. Catfish tradies also include companies who misrepresent their previous jobs with fake imagery or qualifications and then deliver shonky projects that fall well short of what clients were promised. It comes as hipages research showed Australians' confidence in tradies has eroded over time, with 66 per cent of those surveyed in a recent poll saying they struggled to find one they could trust. This lack of trust, coupled with a widespread ignorance about proper qualifications and pricing, is creating perfect waters for these Catfish Tradies to thrive, according to hipages. Homeowners caught in the web of catfishing tradies were losing thousands of dollars on projects that were substandard or didn't deliver on specifications. Relationship expert Sera Bozza said it was homeowners' lack of understanding of how to select a tradie that was creating a particularly favourable environment for catfishing behaviours. Many people still relied on gut feeling, handshakes and false recommendations for sourcing tradies, which made it easier for them to be exploited, Ms Bozza said. 'Sometimes tradies can be really charming and the homeowner will get swept up by it all,' she said. 'Often what happens is there is a lump sum quote that's given in the beginning but once they get to the job it becomes itemised. It's all added up to a total and it's a lot higher. '(Catfishing) tradies misrepresent their experience, qualifications and past work to win jobs … they offer quotes that seem too good to be true and often use misrepresented photos to seal the deal.' Ms Bozza added that a lack of knowledge about pricing exacerbated the issue. About two thirds of those polled by hipages said they were in the dark about how much hiring a tradie should cost, leaving them vulnerable to inflated invoices and hidden fees. 'About 2 million Aussies have hired the wrong tradie at some point,' Ms Bozza said, 'Platforms like hipages let tradies show reviews, but there are other ways people find tradies and without these verifications it's easy to go by just a handshake or a feeling. 'Many people don't know what they are looking for. It's essentially guesswork. And that makes it rife for catfishing.' Ms Bozza highlighted some key red flags homeowners should watch out for – many of which were similar to certain types of dating trends. These behaviours were categorised as: > Mr Unreliable: A tradie who promises to call but never does. 'Trust comes from consistency,' Ms Bozza warned. 'If they're hard to reach before the job starts, imagine how they'll handle your timeline.' > The Pick-Me Tradie: Someone who trashes other tradies to win your job. 'If they need to bag out the competition to look good, they're not the better choice,' Ms Bozza said. > The Zero Footprint: An operator with no reviews, license, or verified history. 'If you can't find anything about them online, there's a likely reason,' Ms Bozza said. > Lying About Their Height (and Their Quotes): Quoting one price and invoicing another. > The Catfish Carpenter: Photoshopped pics and work that looks nothing like promised. 'Being catfished by an unqualified tradie can leave you feeling betrayed and duped with dodgy results.' Signs of a good tradie were that they confirmed quotes and actually showed up, Ms Bozza added. They also had legitimate photos and something of an online presence with substantive reviews.
