Guidelines and resources for practice

The RANZCP produces guidance to help psychiatrists and other mental health professionals in their work. 

For any enquiries, including requests for archived documents, contact policy@ranzcp.org.


Clinical practice guidelines

The RANZCP has produced the following clinical practice guidelines: 

Anxiety disorders

Deliberate self-harm

Eating disorders

Mood disorders

Schizophrenia

Clinical Practice Guidelines are evidence-based documents that include recommendations intended to optimise patient care and assist health care practitioners to make decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances. Clinical Practice Guidelines issued by RANZCP have a limited life. They are regularly reviewed and revised in light of appropriate new evidence that may emerge.

Other guidelines and resources by topic



A

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health - acknowledging the Stolen Generations - December 2020

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health - principles and guidelines [PDF; 65 KB] - July 2014

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health - RANZCP apology for the role played by psychiatrists in the Stolen Generations - 1999

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health workers - August 2016

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - recognition in the Australian Constitution - November 2018

ADHD in adults 

ADHD in childhood and adolescence  - October 2014

Alcohol policy [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2016

Alcohol related harm - reducing and recognising - November 2016

Antidepressants for children and adolescents [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2005

Antidepressants to treat depression in dementia - February 2015

Anxiety disorders - 2018

Asylum seeker and refugee health [Endorsed external guidance] - May 2015

Asylum seekers and refugees - mental health needs of children - May 2018

Asylum seekers and refugees - provision of mental health services - May 2017

Audio-visual recording in psychiatric practice [PDF; 179 KB] - April 2012


B

Benzodiazepines - guidance for use in psychiatric practice [PDF; 65 KB] - November 2019


C

Carers - supporting them in the mental health system - September 2021

Cannabis - therapeutic use of medicinal cannabis [PDF; 65 KB] - January 2021

Child and adolescent psychiatrists - their role - October 2010

Child sexual abuse - March 2016

Children and adolescents - psychotropic medication use [PDF; 65 KB] - November 2015

Children in care or at risk of entering care - December 2021

Children of parents with mental illness - March 2016

Cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine - deprescribing [Endorsed external guidance] - October 2017

Climate change impacts on mental health - December 2021

Community mental health services - February 2012

COVID-19 - administration of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) during the pandemic [PDF; 403 KB] - August 2022

COVID-19 - administration of rTMS therapy during the pandemic [PDF; 280 KB] - August 2022

Cultural safety - December 2021


D

Deep brain stimulation [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2018

Deep sleep therapy - February 2018

Delirium Clinical Care Standard (revised 2021)

Dementia [Endorsed external guidance]- February 2016

Dementia - antipsychotic medications as a treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia [PDF; 65 KB] - August 2016

Dementia - behavioural and psychological symptoms of (BPSD) [Endorsed external guidance] - May 2013

Diagnostic manuals - December 2021

Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceuticals - July 2016


Eating disorders - 2014

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - guidelines for the administration of - 2019

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - position statement - October 2019

Electronic monitoring of people utilising forensic mental health services - May 2018

Endorsing external or third-party clinical guidance [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2019

Ethics - RANZCP code [PDF; 65 KB] - 2018

Ethics - see also 'Sexual boundary violations'


F

Family and whānau involvement in mental health consumers/tangata whai ora in care, assessment and treatment processes [Endorsed external guidance] - November 2000

Family court proceedings [PDF; 65 KB] - February 2019

Family violence and mental health - May 2021

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) [Endorsed external guidance] - September 2019

Financial interests in treatment or management facilities - ethics for RANZCP members [PDF; 65 KB] - May 2015


G

Gambling - problem gambling position statement - September 2017

Gender dysphoria / gender incongruence – recognising and addressing mental health needs - August 2021

GPs and psychiatrists: best practice guidelines for referral and communication [PDF; 65 KB] - April 2014

 


H

Hepatitis C [PDF; 347 KB] - December 2022

HIV/AIDs and mental health - August 2018


I

Illicit drug policy [PDF; 65 KB]

Immigration detention centres in Australia - guidance for psychiatrists working in these centres [PDF; 65 KB] - February 2016

Information sharing with families/whānau/carers - December 2021

International Guidelines Library [Endorsed external guidance]

 


K

Ketamine for treatment-resistant depression [PDF; 65 KB] - 2021


L

LGBTIQ+ mental health needs - August 2021

Lived experience – partnering with people with a lived experience - September 2021

Lived experience - psychiatrists with personal experience of mental illness - November 2016

Loneliness - May 2019


M

Media and digital technology - impact on children and adolescents - May 2018

Medicare benefits for training in psychotherapeutic techniques [PDF; 65 KB] - November 1991

Medicare Benefits Schedule - Opinion and report (MBS item 291)

Medico-legal report writers in New Zealand - access and use of clinical information [PDF; 119 KB] - August 2021

Medico-legal settings - developing reports and conducting independent examinations [PDF; 65 KB] - November 2020

Mental health legislation - comparing Mental Health Acts across Australia and New Zealand - June 2017

Mental health services - May 1997

Methamphetamine use - recognising and addressing the harmful mental health impacts - September 2019

Mood disorders - 2020

 

N

National codes and standards relevant to psychiatry practice and mental health services in Australia and New Zealand [PDF; 65 KB] - April 2017

Natural disasters and climate-change-related weather events - addressing mental health impacts - January 2020

NDIS for psychiatrists

Neurosurgery for mental disorders - October 2019

 

O

Off-label prescribing in psychiatry [PDF; 65 KB] - May 2018

Older people - psychiatry services for - November 2019

Older people: Psychiatric service delivery for older people with mental disorders and dementia - June 2022

Opioid policy - improving management of chronic non-malignant pain [Endorsed external guidance] - April 2009

 


P

Pain Management (Acute): Scientific Evidence 5th edition [Endorsed external guidance] - 2020

Past mental health practices - acknowledging and learning from - March 2016

Perinatal mental health services - October 2021

Persons found not criminally responsible or unfit to stand trial - November 2020

Pharmaceutical and healthcare industry - ethical principles in relationship to psychiatrists [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2019

Pharmaceutical industry - principles for RANZCP engagement - June 2016

Pharmacogenetics in healthcare [Endorsed external guidance] - July 2018

Physical health of people with mental illness - 2017

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Prevention and early intervention of mental illness in infants, children and adolescents - October 2010

Principles for mental health systems - December 2021

Private health insurance policies for psychiatric care in Australia - May 2017

Private psychiatric practice - information about setting up, managing and closing a practice [Member sign-in required] - November 2016

Psychedelic substances - therapeutic use of [PDF; 295 KB] - July 2022

Psychiatrists as team members - April 2002

Psychosis - see schizophrenia clinical practice guideline - 2016

Psychotherapy conducted by psychiatrists - June 2021


R

Recovery and the psychiatrist - March 2016

Referral communication between psychiatrists and GPs - best practice - December 2020

Referred patient assessment and management guidelines  [PDF; 65 KB]

Religion and spirituality in psychiatric practice - June 2018

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) - guidelines for the administration of [PDF; 65 KB] - November 2018

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) - guidance on the delivery of Medicare-funded rTMS services in hospitals [PDF; 121 KB] - November 2021

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) - position statement - November 2018

Role and relationships of psychiatrists and other service providers in mental health services - January 2012

Role of psychiatrists in the prevention and early intervention of mental illness in infants, children and adolescents - October 2010

Role of the psychiatrist in Australia and New Zealand - November 2013

Rural psychiatry - January 2022


S

Schizophrenia - 2016

Seclusion and restraint - minimising and, where possible, eliminating the use of seclusion and restraint in people with mental illness - August 2021

Sedation and/or analgesia for diagnostic and interventional medical, dental or surgical procedures [Endorsed external guidance] - 2014

Self-harm - 2016

Sexual boundary violations - zero tolerance policy [PDF; 65 KB] - March 2016

Sexual orientation change efforts - March 2019

Smoking cessation - June 2022

Social anxiety disorder - 2018

Social media and online presence for psychiatrists - November 2016

Stimulant medications in adults [PDF; 65 KB] - October 2015

Stolen generations - position statement - December  2020

Suicide - Supporting team members after the suicide of a patient [PDF; 204 KB] - December 2021

Suicide - coping with patient suicide as a supervisor [PDF; 200 KB] - September 2021

Suicide - coping with patient suicide while in training [PDF; 120 KB] - August  2021

Suicide reporting in the media - March 2019

 


T

Telehealth in psychiatry - May 2020

Tobacco policy [PDF; 65 KB] - 2005

Torture and other inhuman treatment - abolition of - November 2018

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) [PDF; 65 KB] - August 2018


V

Voluntary assisted dying - September 2020


W

Whānau Ora - May 2021 

WPA Position Statement on Implementing Alternatives to Coercion: A Key Component of improving mental health [Endorsed external guidance] - October 2020

Workforce - child and adolescent psychiatry [PDF; 65 KB] - June 2019

Workforce - specialist old age psychiatry - July 2016

 

 

 

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