A global survey has found New Zealanders relatively content with our lives as the world emerges from the financial crisis.

An Auckland woman smashed a 77-year-old man in the head and set his legs on fire, before closing the door to his bedroom and leaving him to die, a court has heard.

A University of Queensland study has discovered a positive attitude can improve your immune system and may even help you live longer.

Teen cannabis smokers are 60 per cent more likely to drop out of high school than their non-smoking peers, and are more likely to use other drugs and attempt suicide.

No, I honestly wasn't. I decided the best approach was to look at it as a big adventure.

One person takes their own life every 40 seconds, equating to 803,900 deaths across the world every year, according to the first WHO report on suicide prevention.

It may be possible to train the brain to prefer healthy low-calorie foods over unhealthy higher-calorie foods, researchers have claimed.

A NZ great-grandmother suffering from dementia took her own life with her husband at her side just hours after publishing a moving letter explaining her decision.

Experts on the process of ageing are recommending a dose of One Direction as part of their prescription for a happy and successful old age.

I'm speechless this week. (Doesn't happen often.) Last week I wrote about how I was suffering from depression.

A previously law-abiding mother has been jailed for faking the signature of the chief executive at one of New Zealand's biggest insurance firms.

Women who do not breastfeed their babies are at a higher risk of postnatal depression, according to a major study of more than 10,000 mothers.

New Zealand’s youth suicide rate has dropped by a quarter – but suicides among the elderly are rising as old people are increasingly isolated from their families.

Deborah Hill Cone writes about living with depression and her hope that one day soon the tears will stop.

Merck & Co., the second-largest US drugmaker, has won approval to sell its treatment for insomnia that is viewed as a drug with fewer side effects than older pills such as Ambien.

Robin Williams' cause of death has been confirmed by sheriff's officials this morning, as tributes continue to pour in for the actor, who had a special bond with NZ.

If survey data are to be trusted, there's a surprisingly weak relationship between money and happiness. As national incomes rise, happiness does not increase.

Humans seem to experience pain, whether acute or persistent, in a unique way. As a species, we have evolved from having very simple damage-sensing mechanisms to develop early warning systems.

Many new mothers suffer from extreme tiredness even four months after giving birth, prompting experts to warn they should not hurry back to work.

Fears about air travel are common and entirely understandable. Human beings have not evolved to fly, writes psychologist Peter Kinderman.

The brains of premature babies can perform almost as well as those born at full-term by the time they're teenagers, depending on the environment the child grows up in, an Australian study shows.

Over the last half century, the global food industry has profoundly changed the way we eat. While we understand how these dietary changes have impacted physical health, their effect on mental well-being is only now being realised.

Women who use pain relief during childbirth may have a lower risk of depression after their babies are born, a leading psychiatrist has said.

Watching Alex McKinnon battle a devastating back injury contributed to Darius Boyd's battle with depression, Wayne Bennett says.

Auckland psychologist Grant Amos believes the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March proved more troubling to nervous passengers.