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Anti-stigma strategies work
May 23, 2012 / 7:00 am
Although the mountain of stigma surrounding mental illness is far from being conquered entirely, it appears as though raising awareness is helping to chip it away. Measures such as direct advertising, mental health screening by health care providers and increased exposure and advocacy from...
Suicide
May 9, 2012 / 5:00 am
Did you know we kill ourselves far more often than we kill each other? It’s true. Suicide rates in Canada are approximately 10 times higher than homicide rates – and the numbers are similar in the US. This is often surprising since we don’t hear much about suicide. News...
Alcohol abuse very common & serious
May 2, 2012 / 5:00 am
(Photo: Flickr user, aloha75) Summer will be here before we know it. Many of us are looking forward to spending some time sitting back on a patio or at the lake with a cold beverage. It’s a perfect way to beat the Okanagan heat while enjoying the summer atmosphere and...
Postpartum depression
Apr 25, 2012 / 5:00 am
Research points to the importance of a comprehensive approach to treating postpartum depression. Postpartum depression affects between 15 and 20 percent of new mothers. During a time many expect to be the happiest of their lives, depression, anxiety and sometimes psychosis can make things...
ADHD not just a product of our culture
Apr 18, 2012 / 6:00 am
Ever since becoming a household term across Canada and the US, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has inspired controversy. Many people have questioned its validity as a true disorder as well as the rates at which it is diagnosed. Some skeptics say symptoms are just normal...
Antidepressants: benefits exceed risks
Apr 11, 2012 / 5:00 am
Even after a review of all studies on antidepressant use in children and teens concluded benefits far outweigh the risks, I still hear many people talk about the risk of suicide among young people taking these medications. Today I want to reiterate the fact that risk of suicidal behaviour...
Research in schizophrenia meds
Mar 28, 2012 / 5:00 am
Research into antipsychotic medications has resulted in big improvements over just the last few years. Second generation antipsychotic medications were introduced just 18 years ago. Until then, the drugs used to treat schizophrenia were responsible for serious side effects in many...
What do we know about depression?
Mar 14, 2012 / 5:00 am
Given that more than 20 percent of the population will experience depression at some point in life, you would think that we should know just about everything there is to know about this disorder. The human brain is still uncharted territory in many ways and we continue to learn new things...
Should mentally ill people be in jail?
Mar 7, 2012 / 5:00 am
Over the past 25 years, countries with well-developed psychiatric services have systematically emptied psychiatric hospitals. In fact, about 90 percent of the psychiatric beds that existed in the early 1980s have now been eliminated. Initially, these hospital beds were supposed to be...
Primary care of psychiatric disorders
Feb 29, 2012 / 5:00 am
Approximately 30 percent of our population will experience symptoms of a psychiatric disorder over a one year period. Even though mental illness is extremely common, even in countries like Canada, the UK and the US, the vast majority of psychiatric illness goes undiagnosed and...
Genetics of human behaviour
Feb 22, 2012 / 5:00 am
Although Darwin’s writings about evolution from a physical or structural perspective are well known, he also wrote about the evolution of human behaviour – a topic much less universally discussed. He suggested that human behaviour – like physical characteristics –...
Psychiatric hospital admission
Feb 8, 2012 / 5:00 am
In a previous column I talked about some of the reasons why a person might be admitted to a psychiatric ward in the hospital. Often, this occurs when individuals are a danger to themselves or others or when they are unable to function on their own. In these cases, hospital admission is often...
Marijuana use and psychosis
Jan 25, 2012 / 5:00 am
Photo: Contributed Statistics show that more than half the population in our province has used cannabis at least once – that’s 1.84 million people in BC alone and it is more widespread here than in the rest of Canada. Further, 65...
Separation anxiety
Jan 18, 2012 / 5:00 am
Photo: Contributed - (Flickr user, scottkinmartin) Almost any parent of a toddler can tell some sort of story of taking their child to pre-school for the first time – as mom tried to leave she got tears, screams or the child physically attaching...
Adolescent angst
Jan 4, 2012 / 5:00 am
Teen angst – most of us remember being teenagers and feeling the rising need for independence, the desire to experience life and experiment in areas beyond what our parents and teachers prescribed for us. For some teenagers, all of this pent up frustration at not quite being...
Omega 3 & mood disorders
Dec 28, 2011 / 5:00 am
oto: Contributed By now we’ve all heard the many news reports that say eating omega-3 fatty acids found in seafood and some plant life is good for us. We know that this strange substance can be helpful for a myriad of health areas including our heart,...
Genetics of anxiety
Dec 21, 2011 / 5:00 am
Recent advances in our understanding of the way mental illness operates are promising to pave the way for changes in the way we deal with these conditions in the future. An excellent example of this sort of advance in understanding applies to the way the genetic basis of anxiety...
Poverty: why care?
Dec 14, 2011 / 5:00 am
During the holidays as most of us get ready to lavish gifts on our loved ones and participate in a number of festive meals and gatherings, it is hard not to think of the many people in our community and around the world who are living in poverty and for whom the holidays hold no such...
Pathological jealousy
Dec 7, 2011 / 5:00 am
Almost everyone has experienced the green monster of jealousy at some point in life. Either you have felt jealous yourself or have had someone else express jealousy over you. However, one form of jealousy that thankfully most of us have not experienced is the extreme and...
Depression affects the brain
Nov 30, 2011 / 5:00 am
As if feeling better weren’t incentive enough to pursue treatment for clinical depression, treating the disease can lessen the irreversible damage depression causes to certain parts of the brain. We have known for some time that depression is associated with cognitive...
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