Thomas A. Ban: Vignette on the history of lithium in psychiatry.
Preamble
The content of this vignette was extracted and adopted, with some modification, from my essay entitled “The role of serendipity in drug discovery,” published in 2006 in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience (2006; 8: 335 -44), a journal, supported by an unrestricted grant from the FrenchInstitut La Conference Hippocrate - Servier Group.
Vignette on the history of lithium in psychiatry
The discovery and rediscovery of the therapeutic effects of Lithium in psychiatry were the result of false theories about the etiology of mood disorders (Ban 2006).
Lithium is an alkali metal discovered by J.A. Arfvedson in 1817 while analyzing the mineral petalite (Ban 1969). The name Lithium comes from the Greek lithos: stone; it was coined by Jons Jacob Berzelius (1779-1848) who was involved in classifying minerals (Ban 2004; Schou 1957).The substance was first isolated in sufficient quantity for medical use by R. Bunssen and A. Mathiessen in 1855 (Healy 2002; Kline 1969). Four years later, after the demonstration that Lithium carbonate could dissolve urate stones, it was introduced into medicine for the treatment of gout by Alfred Barring Garrod (Garrod 1859; Johnson 1984).Gout is a disease characterized by urate deposits in the cartilage and increased uric acid, a breakdown product of urea, in the blood.
During the second half of the 19th century many physicians believed in a uric acid “diathesis,” a predisposition for the accumulation of urea in the body that could cause a variety of disorders, from gout and rheumatism to cardiac disease and mental illness (Yeragani and Gershon 1986). Since acute symptoms of gout develop suddenly and persist untreated for days or weeks before they remit, William Hammond, at the Bellevue Hospital in New York, assumed that some forms of “mania,” a term used in those years for “universal – total madness,” might be a form of cerebral gout and employed Lithium in their treatment (Hammond 1871).On the basis of the same assumption, Carl Lange, a Danish neurologist, treated hundreds of patients with Lithium and in 1886 reported on its prophylactic effect in “periodical” depressive disorders (Lange 1886). Yet, without the availability of the necessary technology for monitoring blood levels, Lithium was too toxic a substance to be clinically employed.
In the late 1940s the possible therapeutic effect of Lithium in “mania,” by that time perceived as a “mood disorder,” one of two “poles” of Emil Kraepelin’s “manic depressive insanity,” was recognized by John Cade, an Australian psychiatrist (Cade 1949; Kraepelin 1899; Neele 1949).Arguably influenced by RolvGjessing’s diagnostic concept of ”periodic catatonia,” introduced in the 1930s, Cade assumedthat manic-depressive illness is analogous to thyrotoxicosis and myxedema and speculated that “mania” is a state of intoxication by a normal product of the body in excess and “melancholia” is a state of deficiency of the same substance (Cade 1970; Gjessing1938). To pursue his speculation he compared the effects of intraperitoneally injected concentrated urine from manic patients with urine from normal subjects in guinea pigs and found the former far more toxic (the animals died) than the latter. Cade identified urea as the culprit that killed the animals and established that creatinine decreased (“protected”), whereas uric acid increased (“enhanced”), the toxicity of urine. Since the urine of manic patients was more toxic than could be neutralized by the protective action of creatinine, he decided to determine the toxicity-enhancing effect of uric acid. Since uric acid was virtually insoluble in water, he used the most soluble of the urates, Lithium urate, in his experiments. To his surprise, instead of enhancing toxicity, Lithium urate protected the animals from urea’s toxic effects. He attributed the protection of animals from the toxic effect of “manic urine” to Lithium and demonstrated that injection of an 8% urea solution killed five of 10 guinea pigs whereas a similar solution with Lithium added killed none (Cade 1970).
To determine whether Lithium salts alone have any discernable effects Cade injected large doses of 0.5% aqueous solution of Lithium carbonate into guinea pigs and found that after a latent period the animals became extremely lethargic and unresponsive to stimuli for about two hours. This may seem a long way from the lethargy of guinea pigs to the control of manic excitement, but since Cade’s investigations had commenced in an attempt to demonstrate the presence of a toxic substance excreted in the urine of manic patients, he decided to compare the effect of Lithium in 10 manic, six schizophrenic and five depressed patients (Ban 2006). The substance seemed to be effective in controlling psychotic excitement and, especially, if it occurred in manic patients (Cade 1949, 1970).
Prerequisites to the introduction (arguably re-introduction) of Lithium into the armamentarium of drugs in the treatment of mental pathology were:
1. Noack and Trautner’s establishment of blood levels at which lithium can be safely administered to patients with the employment of “flame photometry,” developed by Victor Wynn at the at the Florey Institute in Melbourne(Noack and Trautner 1951),and
2. the determination by Trautner and his team,which included Gershon, Noack and Morris, that the excretion and retention of ingested Lithium had its effect on ionic balance in man (Trautner, Morris, Noack and Gershon 1955).
Instrumental to the introduction of Lithium into the assemblage of drugs employed to treat mental pathology were Schou and associates’ (Jüel-Nielsen, Strömgren and Voldby) demonstration in 1954 of its therapeutic efficacy in treating “mania,” verifying Cade’s 1949 observationsand Noackand Trautner’s 1951findings.
Ultimately, it was Baastrup and Schou, in 1967,who demonstrated Lithium’s therapeutic efficacy in the treatment (including prophylaxis) of “periodical” (recurrent) depressive psychoses, verifying Carl Lange’s observations in1886 (Baastrup and Schou 1967; Lange 1886; Schioldann2011). It was also Baastrup and Schou who discovered and demonstrated Lithium’s therapeutic efficacy in the treatment (including prophylaxis) of Kraepelin’s “manic-depressive psychosis” (Baastrup and Schou 1967). Since then Lithium has remained one of the standard treatments of “manic depressive psychosis.” By the time the original version of this “vignette” was written in 2006, the 4th edition (with text revised) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association hadsubsumed“manic depressive psychosis” under “bipolar disorder,” a term (but not concept) adopted from Karl Leonhard’sClassification of Endogenous Psychoses(American Psychiatric Association 2000; Leonhard 1957).
References:
American Psychiatric Association. DSM-IVTRDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fourth Edition Text Revised. Washington; American Psychiatric Association; 2000.
Baastrup PC, Schou M. Lithium as a prophylactic agent: Its effect against recurrent depression and manic-depressive psychosis. Arch GenPsychiatry 1967; 16: 162-72.
Ban TA. Psychopharmacology. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins;1969, p.410.
Ban TA. Neuropsychopharmacology and the history of pharmacotherapy in psychiatry. A review of developments in the 20th century. In: Ban TA, Healy D, Shorter E, editors. Reflections on Twentieth-Century Psychopharmacology. Budapest, Hungary; Animula; 2004; 697-720.
Cade JFJ. Lithium salts in the treatment of psychotic excitement. Med J Aust. 1949; 2: 349-52.
Cade JFJ. The story of lithium. In: Ayd FJ, Blackwell B, editors. Discoveries in Biological Psychiatry. Philadelphia/Toronto; J.B. Lippincott Company; 1970; 218-29.
Garrod AB. Gout and Rheumatic Gout. London; Walton and Maberly; 1859; 438.
Gjessing R. Disturbances of somatic functions in catatonia with periodic course, and their compensation. J Ment Sci, 1938; 84: 608-21.
Hammond WA. A Treatise on Diseases of the Nervous System. New York; Appleton; 1871.
Healy D. The Creation of Psychopharmacology. Cambridge, Massachusetts/ London, England; Harvard University Press; 2002; 47-50.
Johnson FN. The History of Lithium. Basingstoke, England; MacMillan Press; 1984.
Kline NS. Lithium: The history of its use in psychiatry. In: Kline NS, ed. Modern Problems
of Pharmacopsychiatry. Volume 3. Basel/New York: S. Karger; 1969, p. 75-92.
Kraepelin E. Psyhiatrie, Ein Lehrbuch fuer Studierende und Aerzte. 6 Auflage. Leipzig: Barth; 1899.
Lange C. Om periodiske Depressionstilstande og deres Patagonese. Copenhagen; Jacob Lunds Forlag; 1886.
Leonhard K. Aufteilung der endogenen Psychosen. Berlin: Akademie – Verlag; 1957.
Neele E. Die Phasischen Psychosen. Leipzig: Barth; 1949.
Noack CH, Trautner EM. The Lithium treatment of maniacalpsychosis. MedJAust 1951; 2: 219- 22.
Schioldann J. Periodical depressions and their pathogenesis. History of Psychiatry 2011; 22:116-30.
Schou M. Biology and pharmacology of the Lithium Ion. Pharmacol Rev 1957; 9: 17 -58.
Schou M, Jüel-Nielsen N, Strömgren E, Voldby H. The treatment of manic psychosis by the administration of lithium salts. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1954; 17: 250-260.
Yeragani VK, Gershon S. Hammond and lithium: historical update. Biological Psychiatry1986; 21:1101-1102.
January 24, 2019
Gregory Mark de Moore
Audio History/Audio-visual
and
Media/Radio product/Print/Film/Television
de Moore, GM
Interview by Gaz Fearon, Melbourne, 4 May 2015. Talking Tom Wills: wordpress.
de Moore, GM
‘Taped interview with Sarah Rood’ about Johnny Mullagh, Tom Wills and the aboriginal cricket team’, 2015, at the Melbourne Cricket Club, 19 February 2015. For the Mullagh-Wills Foundation.
de Moore, GM
‘Taped interviews with Tony Shepherd, Chair of the GWS Board’
Oral history of the origins and first years of the new AFL team, Greater Western Sydney. December 2012 - ongoing
Mikes-Liu, Kristof and de Moore, GM
‘Taped interview with Dr Peter Morse, psychiatrist, Westmead Hospital’
Recollections of psychiatry from the 1970s – 2013
State Library of NSW, December 2013
de Moore, GM
‘Taped interview with Jim McMurtry, former nurse, Cumberland Hospital. Recollections of psychiatric care from 1955-85’.
State Library of NSW, July 2012
de Moore, GM
‘Taped interviews with former nurses of Kenmore Psychiatric Hospital, 1940s-1960s’, 2011-2012Audio-Visual and Media:
Radio/Podcast
Interview with Sydney Radio Station 96.1 FM, June 6, 1994 on ‘Strategies for reducing suicide’. Based on firearm death research.
Radio interview with Rob Hess on sport and alcohol, 1999, Southern FM 88.3, Melbourne.
Interviewed, ABC Radio, Alice Springs, 8 November, 2004. Interviewer Barry Nicholls, About PhD, my interest as a psychiatrist in sport, the study of Tom Wills and his mythology surrounding the aboriginal origins of Australian football.
Website: www.abc.net.au/central/stories/s1239917.htm
SBS radio interview, August 2, 2006. Interview with James Nunez. Topic: Tom Wills, Australian football and Marngrook.
ABC radio interview. Barry Nicholls, ABC Alice Springs, The life of Tom Wills. August 3, 2006.
Interview, Brisbane radio, 4EB, Violence and mental illness, June 2007.
Interview, ABC News Radio Melbourne, 21 September 2007. Comment on image of indigenous football from William Blandowski expedition 1857.
ABC radio interview with Glynn Greensmith. Statewide regional radio, Western Australia. On the Tom Wills biography. Recorded Thursday, 17 July 2008.
ABC radio interview. Barry Nicholls, ABC Alice Springs. On the Tom Wills biography. Recorded Friday, 18 July, 2008.
ABC radio interview with Steven Martin. ABC Ballarat, Victoria. On the Tom Wills biography. Recorded Monday, 21 July, 2008. On website ‘Investigating the death of the father of football’ www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/07/28/2316731.htm accessed on 29/07/2008
ABC radio interview with Jennifer Byrne, Sydney. ABC Radio National. On whether the home of Australian Rules football should be considered Melbourne or Geelong, 2008.
ABC radio interview with Joseph Thomsen, Goulburn Murray ABC radio, live to air on 23 July, 2008.
Interview with Charles Wooley, radio stations, 5 August, 2008. Australian All Over programme.
Interview with David Mark, ‘The World Today’, 6 August, 2008. ABC National Radio.
www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2326236.htm
Interview, SEN radio, Melbourne with David Schwarz and Francis Leach, August 7, 2008.
Interview with Peter Goers, Michael Sexton and Lincoln Tyner, SA ABC radio, August 7, 2008.
Coodabeen Champions, ABC radio, Melbourne, August 9, 2008 and February 14, 2009
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2008/08/21/2342838.htm
ABC Radio, Rockhampton, Interview with Craig Zonca, August 12, 2008. ‘Tom Wills: A Story you should know.’
blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2008/08/tom-wills-a-sto.html
August 20, 2008. Interview with Charlie Wooley on the roots of Australia’s obsession with sport. Australia All Over programme.
Radio interview with Mal Garvin, Heat FM, through 70 radio stations, ‘Conversation of the Nation’. The Wills family and Australian history. September 7, 2008
November 6, 2008: Charlie Wooley programme, Australia All Over. Interviewed Adam Gilchrist, Australian Test Cricketer.
Interview with Radio ABC 891 Adelaide, 26 May 2009 with Sonya Heldoff. Sport, Medicine and Australian History.
Interview with Radio 5AA, Graham Cornes and Stephen Rowe, 26 May 2009. . Origins of Australian Rules Football
Interview with Peter Walsh, Roger Wills: ABC radio Grandstand, 21 June 2009. Cricket, Football and Australian History.
Interview with Gerard Whateley, ABC radio, on 4 July 2009. Australian Rules Football in western Sydney.
Interview with Angela Owen, Central West ABC, 16 November 2009. Writing, Sport and Australian History.
Interview, 2BS radio, Bathurst, 18 November 2009. The 1866-1868 Aboriginal Cricket Team and their visit to Bathurst.
Interview with Jared Reid, Monday, 8th November 2010, East Side FM radio, Paddington Town Hall, Programme called ‘Between the Covers’. Personal journeys in writing.
Interview with Michael Veitch, Radio ABC Hobart, 11 August 2011, on history and sport.
Interview with Ann Jones, Radio ABC Northwest, South Australia, 1 September, 2011. Regarding launch of second edition of Tom Wills book.
Book Review, Tom Wills, South West ABC radio, Western Australia
1 November 2011.
Interview with Rebecca McLaren, Horsham, ABC, Western Victoria, 8 March 2012. On the aboriginal cricket team and upcoming talk in Harrow, Victoria.
Interview with Vanessa Mills, Broome, W.A., ABC radio, 6 April 2012. On the aboriginal connection to the beginning of Australian Rules football.
www.abc.net.au/local/stirues/2012/04/10/3474270.htm
Interview with Barry Nicholls, ABC Radio, Grandstand, W.A., Friday 13th April, 2012.
Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio, interviewed in Brisbane, 24th April 2012.
www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/04/24/3487841.htm
Interview with Professor of History, Bruce Berglund, Calvin College, U.S. A., New Books in Sport, Podcast.
Interviewed on 6/7/2012 and posted on website 17/8/2012
Conversation Hour with Richard Fidler, ABC Radio, interviewed in Brisbane, replayed on 22nd February 2013.
Reproduced for Qantas in-flight radio entertainment 2013
Reproduced for Virgin Australia in-flight entertainment 2014
Interview with Barry Nicholls and Elizabeth Gwynne, ABC radio, drive time show, Southwest Western Australia, on an upcoming charity boxing match between two women and their psychological preparation; 14 March 2014.
Interview with Barry Nicholls and Elizabeth Gwynne, ABC radio, drive time show, Southwest Western Australia, on bipolar illness, after revelations that the WA ex-treasurer had been diagnosed with bipolar illness; 6 May 2014.
Interview with Barry Nicholls, ABC radio, drive time show, Southwest Western Australia, on the delisting of an AFL player and the psychological repercussions; 4 June 2014.
Interview with Geoffrey Cannon, ABC radio, drive time show, Southwest Western Australia, on how home ground advantage and home crowds affect the outcome of sporting matches. The focus was on this week’s upcoming AFL finals match Fremantle versus Port Adelaide; 8 September 2014.
Interview with Barry Nicholls, ABC radio, drive time show, Southwest Western Australia, on schizophrenia, violence and auditory hallucinations. For Mental Health Week; 8 October 2014.
Interview with Dr Andrew Amos, 8 July 2016, for a podcast for the journal Australasian Psychiatry, on John Cade and the discovery of lithium.
audioBoom/APY August 2016 Podcast: John Cade and the biographer’s art
audioboom.com/boos/5108814-apy-2016-podcast-john-cade-and-the-biographer’s-art
Interview, Wednesday 24th August, 2016 - radio RTR FM, Program ‘The Mag’, Presenter ‘Kylie Sturgess’. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, Friday 26th August, 2016 - Radio Grant Broadcasters, Rockhampton. Presenter Laurie Atlas. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, Tuesday, 30th August, 2016 – Radio Southern FM, Bayside radio, Melbourne, Programme – Best Medicine, Presenter – Gaytana Adorna. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, Wednesday, 31st August, 2016, ABC studios, Ultimo, Radio National, Life Matters, Presenter Ellen Fanning, On the book Finding Sanity. [represented in a commentary article by Nicola Harrison on 9 September 2016, ‘Remembering John Cade, the Australian doctor who tamed bipolar disorder’ on www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/remembering-john-cade-father-of-lithium-treatment/7823488
Interview, Sunday, 4th September, 2016, radio 2UE, Programme – Healthy Living, Presenter Dr Ross Walker. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, Monday, 5th September, 2016, UGFM Upper Goulburn Radio, Programme – ‘Lunch with Mishelle Stastra’, Presenter Mishelle Stastra. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, Saturday, 10th September, 2016, Radio 2GB, Overnight show, Presenter – Susie Elelman, On the book Finding Sanity.
www.2gb.com/article/susie-elelman-taming-bipolar-disorder
Interview, Thursday, 15th September, 2016, Radio Adelaide, Programme – ‘The Wire’, Presenter, Sarah Martin. On the book Finding Sanity.
‘Finding Lithium: A Story of Modern Mental Health Pioneer’
Interview, Conversations with Richard Fidler, ABC radio, 10 October 2016, on the book Finding Sanity.
www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations/7899396
Interview, Saturday, 15th October, 2016. Radio 3MDR, Programme – ‘Classically Saturday’, Presenter – Jules Vines. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview, ABC South West W.A. Regional Drive show with Barry Nicholls, 19th October, 2016, W.A. On the book Finding Sanity.
Interview presented by Tom Nightingale, ABC, PM show, 20th October, 2016, Tom Wills, the 1866 aboriginal cricket team and plans for the 150th year commemoration on Boxing Day 2016.
www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2016/s4560097.htm
Interview by Nicole Chvastek, ABC Western Victoria, Drive programme, 21st October, 2016, Tom Wills, the 1866 aboriginal cricket team and plans for the 150th year commemoration on Boxing Day 2016.
Interview by Charlie King, ABC Darwin, 22nd October, 2016, Tom Wills, the 1866 aboriginal cricket team and plans for the 150th year commemoration on Boxing Day 2016.
Ockham’s Razor with Robyn Williams, Radio National, 6th November, 2016, ‘John Cade and the discovery of lithium treatment for bipolar disorder.’
Interview with Melanie Pearce, ABC radio, Orange, Central West NSW, 11th November, 2016 on the book ‘Finding Sanity: John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder.’
Interview, ABC radio Grandstand, Boxing Day 26th December, 2016, Remembering the aboriginal cricket match on Boxing Day 1866. Interviewed by Gerard Whateley and Dirk Nannes, MCG.
Interview, Macquarie Radio, 3 AW and 2 UE, Boxing Day 26th December, 2016, Remembering the aboriginal cricket match on Boxing Day 1866. Interviewed by Bruce Eva, Mike Hussey, Damien Fleming and Ric Finlay, MCG.
Interview, British Broadcasting Commission (BBC) radio solent, 17 March 2017, Louisa Hannan. On the book ‘Finding Sanity’.
Interview, ABC radio, Australia, AM Programme, interviewed by Thomas Oriti, May 2017, on mental health and the legal profession.
Interview, ABC radio, for ‘The Law Report’, by Damien Carrick, May 2017 on mental health in the law focusing on the topic of vicarious trauma.
Interviewed for article, ‘Gunshot suicide likely to be impulsive action’, p. 11, May 20, 1994. Australian Doctor.
Interviewed for Herald-Sun Newspaper, Melbourne, 5 August, 2004, p. 103, Australian football.
Interview with Cheryl Critchley, Herald-Sun Newspaper, Melbourne. July 5, 2004. Article: August 28, 2004, p. 12. Article on alcohol consumption by sportsmen.
Interview for Australian Doctor on 21 July 2004 as College of Psychiatry spokesman for the reporting of how Psychiatry is portrayed in the media. Australian Doctor, 30 July 2004, p. 8.
Interview for Weekend Australian Financial Review, October 23-4, 2004, 22-23.
Topic: discussing recent suicide of a prominent Australian businessman. Spokesman for the College on Suicide.
Interview for The Age, ‘Suicide a risk after hospital’, 12 December 2004. Interviewed by Liz Porter.
Interview for Weekend Australian, February 19-20, 2005, p. 3. Topic: Violent games and children.
Interview for Medical Observer, 25 February, 2005, p. 1-2. Topic: Suicide and antidepressants.
Interview for The Sunday Telegraph, 27 November, 2005, p. 27
Topic: Suicide in the Antarctic.
Interview, Melbourne University, for book on personal and family experiences of Australian football, Footy Passions, 2009, UNSW Press, written by Prof. Joy Damousi and Dr John Cash. Interview on Friday, February 17, 2006 at Melbourne University.
Interview, Australian Doctor, 10 March, 2006, p. 5, ‘Poor uptake of new psych item’, about access by GPs to psychiatrists’ opinions in urgent matters.
Interview, Weekend Australian, 15-16 July, 2006, p. 20 Health Section. Dystonia and its emotional consequences. ‘From wheelchair to football field in a day.’
Interview, ‘Dystonia in focus’, 2006, Issue No. 2, pp. 10-11.
Interview, Herald-Sun newspaper, August 2, 2006, p. 81, ‘No support for Aboriginal link to footy.’
Interview, Australian Cricket Society, Spring 2006, Tom Wills and cricket, Vol. 27, no. 4. p. 3.
Interview, Australian Doctor, 14 March, 2007, on Suicide Rate and Body Mass Index. Published 21 March 2007, ‘Suicide mortality lower in obese men’, by Cathy Saunders. Accessed 23 July 2008 at:
www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/ac/0c04a7ac.asp
‘Footy’s flawed father’, by Cheryl Critchley in Herald Sun, 12 July 2008. Article about the Tom Wills biography.
‘Koori footy links take a new kick’, by Noel Murphy in Geelong Advertiser, 12 July 2008. Article about my biography on Tom Wills.
Article: ‘Football founder Wills set to kill. Murder mad’, by Noel Murphy in Geelong Advertiser, 16 July 2008. About my biography on Tom Wills.
Interview with James Dowling, Progress Leader newspaper, on 15 July 2008. Published 22 July 2008, ‘Fathers of football buried in Kew’. On website www.progressleader.com.au/article/2008/07/22/39521_ppv_news.html
Accessed 28/07/2008
Launceston Examiner article, 12 July 2008. ‘Triumph and tragedy for footy founder’, by Martin Stevenson. Review of the Tom Wills biography.
AFL record, 15 August 2008 – review of Tom Wills: His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall
The Weekend Australian, Review, August 2, 2008, pp. 12-13.
‘Brilliant sportsman took a tumble in the field of life’ Review of my biography Tom Wills: His Spectacular Rise and Tragic Fall. Review was written by Peter Lalor.
Interview, Hosken’s Reserve, Moreland Leader, August 18, 2008. Growing up in Melbourne and following Australian Rules Football.
Interview in Albury about rotating psychiatry trainees to Albury Base Hospital.
‘Trainee starts at hospital’, by Di Thomas, The Border Mail 9 August 2008.
On website:
Interview with James O’Brien ‘when cricket bowled prejudice’ for Bendigo Magazine, Winter 2009, pp. 194-5.
Interview, Western Advocate regarding Tom Wills, 17 November 2009
Psychiatry e-Bulletin RANZCP Fellow Profile, April 2010
‘Outrage at destruction of psychiatric records’ by Michael Slezak in ‘Psychiatry Update’, Thursday, 2nd December, 2010. p. 1. A commentary on Greg de Moore and the destruction of medical records by the NSW Government.
‘Psychiatrist in profile: Dr Greg de Moore’ in ‘Psychiatry Update’, 9 December 2010.
Extract from ‘Tom Wills’ biography published in The Week magazine, 9 September 2011, 36-7.
Interviewed for ‘Push for Wills relic’, by Danny Lannen, Geelong Advertiser, 12 October, 2011, p. 17.
Interviewed for ‘Time to Honour Tom Wills’, by Danny Lannen, Geelong Advertiser, 15 October, 2011, p. 13.
Interviewed for ‘A spell-binding, tragic tale of Tom Wills’, West Wimmera Advocate, 14 March 2012.
Interviewed for ‘Bradman to join Mullagh’, The Wimmera Mail-Times, 16 March 2012.
Interviewed for ‘A spell-binding, tragic tale of Tom Wills’, The Hamilton Spectator, 14 and 15 March 2012.
Interviewed for The Sun-Herald, by Daniel Lewis, 25 March 2012, p.22
‘Why West is Best’
Interviewed for The Canberra Times, 31 March 2012, by Ewa Kretowicz, ‘Asylum Echoes’, an article on recently psychiatric medical records from Kenmore Hospital
Interview for The Canberra Times, 31 March 2012, by Ewa Kretowicz, ‘Bid to halt loss of medical records’
Interview for Inside Sport, 26 April 2013, by Jeff Centenera, The psychological state of Tom Wills and links to creativity in sport. Appeared as ‘Rules of Engagement’, Inside Sport, June 2013, pp 58-64.
Interviewed by Clifford Fram, AAP, ‘Corby faces mental health challenges’ 12 February 2014.
www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/02/12/corby-faces-mental-health-challenges
‘The incredible saga of Thomas Wentworth Wills’, written by Nichole Overall, District Bulletin, Queanbeyan, 9th September 2014.
Interview with Ben Chenoweth, Campbelltown Macarthur Advertiser, Tuesday, 19 August 2014. Tom Wills, Australian rules football and links to Western Sydney. Appeared in Camden-Narellan Advertiser, 23 September 2014.
Australasian Lawyer
‘Head to head: Alcohol abuse and the legal profession’, August, 2016
Extract from ‘Finding Sanity: John Cade, lithium and the taming of bipolar disorder’ printed on 27 August 2016, www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/mind/findingsanityhowanaustraliandoctor discoveredthefirstdrugtotreatmentalillness/news
Syndicated to the Courier Mail/Daily Telegraph/Herald Sun/Adelaide Advertiser
Review by Derek Parker of ‘Finding Sanity.’ ‘Genesis of a groundbreaking chemical cure’ in The Australian, Literary Review, 24 September 2016.
Extract ‘Finding Tom Wills’ from Tom Wills biography , in Daily Review, 30 September 2016.
dailyreview.com.au/tom-wills-and-the/49844/
Interview with Mary Gearin, ‘Boxing Day 1866 Aboriginal team v MCC remembered 150 years on at MCG’.
20th October 2016
ABC online
www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-20/anniversary-150-years-aboriginal-team-mcg/7951882
Also ‘Artwork to mark Boxing Day anniversary’
Cricket Australia.com.au
Commonwealth Bank Boxing Day test to honour 1866 aboriginal XI
www.rsn.et.au/commonwealth-bank-boxing-day-text-honour-1866-aboriginal-xi/
CricketVictoria
www.cricketvictoria.com.ay/news/article/boxing-day-test-to-honour-1866-aboriginal-xi
Book extract from ‘Finding Sanity’ in ‘Medical Observer’: Unsung hero – how a remarkable Australian made lithium a household word. December 2016 – January 2017.
Greg de Moore
‘The pioneering Aboriginal team that took cricket by storm’
Opinion Piece in the Sydney Morning Herald
26 December 2016, p. 29 Reproduced in The Age as ‘Pioneers on the cricket field’ on 26 December 2016.
Interview by Jerome Doraisamy, 7 April 2017, for Lawyers Weekly, on the topic of eating disorders in the legal profession.
Film/Television
Script consultant for Australian Biomedical Productions – for the production of medical videos. Early 2000s.
Interviewed for Documentary video on Tom Wills, Liz Huf, 26 April 2003, Newtown, Sydney. Video entitled: ‘The Triumph and Tragedy of Tommy Wills.’
Interviewed for Consumer video on Schizophrenia. ‘Unchaining the Mind: Advances in Schizophrenia’. March, 2004.
Writer-Director, Dr. Brian Somerville. Produced for the Schizophrenia Fellowship of NSW Inc. Animated Biomedical Productions, Sydney, Kobe, 2004. www.medical-animations.com
Interviewed for ABC-Television History programme, Rewind, May 13, 2004, Melbourne Cricket Ground, The Origins of Australian football. Shown ABC-TV on 3 October, 2004.
Website: www.abc.net.au/tv/rewind/txt/s1209463.htm
Interview, ABC Evening News, Television, Melbourne, 21 September 2007; ABC Evening News, Television, Sydney, 22 September, 2007. Comment on image of indigenous football from William Blandowski expedition 1857.
Interview, Marngrook Footy Show, Melbourne, Community Television Channel 31, Foxtel 180. Topic on the origins of Australian Rules football, the role of Tom Wills and possible links to indigenous football. Panel interview on May 8, 2008.
Interview for the video documentary ‘Tom Wills’, August 19, 2008, at 32 Palermo Street., South Yarra
Television, Channel 10, Interview with Neil Cordy, 10 March 2010, National News (promotion) and screened on National News, 5.30 pm, 11 March 2010.
Interview for AFL Media, AFL House, Melbourne, February 2013 on the origins of Australian Rules football, the key instigators of the game, possible aboriginal origins and plans to review recognition of past premierships.
Screening of ‘Tom Wills’ documentary on Channel 10 and Channel 1: 7th August 2016. Available as a DVD.
Interview, SBS and ABC News, 20th October 2016, Tom Wills and the 1866 aboriginal cricket team. Announcement at the MCG of plans for the 150 year commemoration.
Interview on John Cade at Bundoora Homestead, by Sarah Rood, 14th December 2016, for Tiny Empire Collective.
Research and contribution to video ‘Backroads: Unarrimin’, 29 January 2017. Found at www.facebook.com/ABCRural/videos/10154424285017635/