It's time both doctors and front-line staff began to reflect the kind of compassionate care we deserve and should expect
An open letter to health-care professionals: Let’s agree that having to see a doctor or being admitted to a hospital is an activity that greatly impacts our overall physical and psychological well-being. Now, let’s pretend that the receptionists and front office staff at a medical clinic are actually a reflection of the kind of care…
Operating a business while your brain and body are worn down and in a suppressed state will affect your ability to make sound decisions
Big ideas and small pockets, long to-do lists and short of help. It’s a recipe that can take 12 to 18 hours a day on full-throttle as you juggle the demands of human resources, accounting and budgeting, sales, customer service, webmaster and marketing. If you’re one of those small business entrepreneurs who feels the pressure…
Bipolar disorder affects between one and two per cent of the adult population
Many of us have a friend or family member we wonder about because they seem to shift unpredictably from one mood to another. We are often worried or in awe of them because they can be on a high one day and despondent the next. While it certainly isn’t always the case, people like this…
Mental health professionals offer a public service to help us recognize the danger signs and risks of having a tyrant in office and how to disarm them
Tyrannical leaders share certain qualities. In essence, they live under a tremendous fear of being overthrown. Through their actions, almost without exception, they inadvertently make this fear a reality. I know how fortunate I am to live in a free country. I will never forget my first experience of no longer having the freedom to…
Do any of these characteristics remind you of anybody you know?
Imagine you are a CEO and you need to hire a vice-president to turn around a failing business unit. You are down to the last two. There is Jane, who is charming and ambitious and drives the team hard. No fools are suffered, the dead wood is hacked and the parking lot is full from dawn to dusk. Jane…
Mental illnesses can often be prevented from developing, or becoming more severe and difficult to treat, by offering help to young people
By Mariette Chartier and Marni Brownell University of Manitoba Mental illness is the most common illness found in Canada's children and teens. We all know a young person who struggles with depression, anxiety, an addiction or a behavioural disorder. Mental illness causes high levels of distress in children and can significantly interfere with their lives. But mental illnesses can…
In Canada, men account for three out of every four suicides – with seven men dying by suicide every day – but our support programs fall short
By John Oliffe and Britney Dennison Men’s Health Research University of British Columbia Jason was in Grade 5 when he started having feelings for other boys. Because of those feelings, he was called names, beaten up in school and sexually assaulted. Since high school, Jason has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic…
Psychotic episodes can occur for a variety of reasons, not all of them having to do with mental illness
Hallucinations and delusions are the first things many people imagine when they hear about mental illness. They think of people who hear voices, see imaginary people or think they are someone they’re not. While hallucinations and delusions are not the hallmark of every mental illness, they can occur as a symptom of several disorders. Schizophrenia…
A patient sometimes perceives a positive result, even from a fake drug
Medical knowledge and treatments have advanced more quickly in the last 50 years than ever before, but the powerful effects of placebo treatments are still reported and are not fully understood. Simply put, a placebo is a medicine or medical treatment that has no active pharmacological ingredient. The term often refers to the inactive treatments…
Sufferers twice as likely to die of accidental causes as people without
Although awareness has increased steadily for the past several years, there is still a lot of misinformation circulating about Attention Deficit and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADD/ADHD). This common disorder, which affects many school-aged children, is not only a childhood condition. While many believe it is a condition children grow out of, experience shows that…
An open letter to health-care professionals: Let’s agree that having to see a doctor or being admitted to a hospital is an activity that greatly impacts our overall physical and psychological well-being. Now, let’s pretend that the receptionists and front office staff at a medical clinic are actually a reflection of the kind of care…
