States of Mind
Farewell
Today’s offering will be the last installment of this column. It has been my privilege to discuss issues in mental health and wellness here for several...
SSRIs during pregnancy
Risks, benefits of SSRIs during pregnancy Pregnancy and childbirth can be a special time for women and families. Excitement and anticipation mount as...
Obesity and ADHD
North America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic. In Canada, one in four adults and one in 10 children have clinical obesity, which is a major public health...
Bi-polar disorder in youth
Lithium use in youth with bipolar disorder In the past few years there has been a growing recognition that bipolar disorder does not always present for the...
Brain's response to lithium
As our understanding of the human brain improves along with our imaging technology, we are finally starting to unravel some of the unknowns about many...
Food insecurity and health
In the past few years, we have heard a lot about food insecurity. Sadly, this is a growing problem for many people in the world and even here in Canada. In...
Bipolar disorder's fallout
Psychiatric disorders in children of parents with bipolar disorder Although many psychiatric conditions are commonly diagnosed during early adulthood, symptoms...
Ketamine as anti-depressant
If you’ve heard of the drug ketamine, it has likely been in the context of its use as an anesthetic or pain reliever. You may also have heard of its...
Smoking and mental illness
Rates of smoking are much higher for those with mental illness than in the general population. One survey of psychiatric patients outpatients in the U.S....
Psych problems, solutions
Barriers and solutions for urgent psychiatric care When a person is in acute psychiatric distress — having a psychotic episode, suicidal, demented or...
Picky eaters and anxiety
For parents with toddlers and small children, meal-time food battles are common. Rare is the family whose children will gladly ingest unfamiliar dishes without...
Mental health is costly
Is mental health care affordable? I recently read an article about a U.S. national survey conducted during the summer with some interesting results concerning...
Suicide risks too common
Suicide is a preventable tragedy, the worst outcome of mental illness and something we need to talk more openly about. According to statistics on the Canadian...
How bad is your memory?
As we age, concern about memory function increases. These days, thanks to increased attention in the popular media and the baby boom generation reaching their...
Nocebo: placebo's evil twin
We are likely all familiar with the idea of a placebo effect. This occurs when we experience a response to a perceived treatment when the treatment itself is...
Mental health care problems
Inequality in mental health care Around the world, there's a stark inequality in mental health care. Perhaps not surprisingly, mental health care is very...
Disorder leads to hard life
As its name implies, antisocial personality disorder is characterized by behaviour that is antisocial. Socially irresponsible behaviour, failure to conform to...
Psychiatry: the couch is out
Psychiatry 101 – Battling myths and stereotypes It seems that practically every person who comes in for treatment has a different idea of what constitutes...
The happiest person alive
Happiness is that state of being it seems almost everyone is striving for. Many people ask me what it takes to be happy, to have a happy life. Of course, the...
Wisdom trumps intelligence
Wisdom trumps intelligence for life satisfaction It turns out being smart isn’t the secret to happiness and life satisfaction – and it doesn’t...