Mental Health Cover

Recently, Hockey Nova Scotia moved to decrease the probability of significant head injury in young people playing Canada’s game.  This type of regulatory progress is to be applauded and needs to be paired with increased educational activities designed to inform youth, parents, coaches, educators and health providers about concussions.  Even with the best available equipment and most appropriately designed rules pertaining to body contact in hockey and other sports, accidents can happen and brain injury can occur.  Everyone needs to be informed about the signs and symptoms of concussions and be aware that even a seemingly inconsequential “whack on the head” can lead to life altering concussion. Benjamin Gray’s poignant story as reported by the Chronicle Herald (May 14, 2013), is an excellent example of how print media can participate in raising public awareness of this important issue, and Benjamin is to be applauded for his courage in sharing his personal and...

It is fashionable in some domains of public discourse to denigrate psychostimulant medications and their therapeutic impact on young people living with ADHD.  In particular, it is not uncommon to find armchair philosophers, scientologists or even research naïve journalists happily spouting off about the way that psychostimulants turn young people into robots, take away their feelings and generally make them less than human. These medications are, in the mouths of those espousing such opinions, at best dehumanizing and perhaps worse.  They are supposed to take away the mind and the soul of those to whom they have been prescribed. They are supposed to make young people less authentic as individuals and are supposed to block their ability to make critical considerations about their ability to function, on or off the medications.  In short, they are a challenge to authenticity and damage moral agency. An interesting aspect of this pontificating has been the strength by which ...

Once again the issue of media reporting of youth suicide has raised its head. Upsetting reports of a B.C. teenager’s suicide have flourished throughout the media. Details regarding the persons actions, method of suicide and other intense details have been revealed and given this teen a prolific profile in the media. The death has certainly taken the country by storm and opened public’s eyes to bullying and teenage suicide. But, some worry that these reports and continuous updates will affect youth in similar situations and could result in copy-cats. Over the past week, I had the opportunity to touch on this subject where I discussed ways the media can report these tragedies responsibly and provide the public with useful information.   Click here to view an article from the Chronicle Herald. These sensational reports of youth suicide seem to be increasing throughout Canadian media. Evidence shows that this type of reporting is linked to increased rates of suicide, especially in youn...

Recently, sensationalized reports of health problems associated with the use of some medications used to treat ADHD have appeared in the media.  Check out some of the stories here: The Spec Digital Journal Metro News It can be frightening to read about incidents of severe adverse effects to medication, but it's important to keep a critical perspective when reading about these sensational stories. Do medical treatments have risks?  Absolutely!  Every treatment does.  What must happen when a treatment is prescribed is that the patient, parent and health provider must agree that the benefit is likely to be greater than the risk.  For some treatments, risks can range from mild to severe, or either common or uncommon.  For example, the risk of a heart attack may be 1/10,000 as a side effect of that medication, while the risk of a stomach ache may be 1/100 or a headache 1/10.  Compare that to the risk of dying by being struck by lightning (1/7...

Some of the most common concerns teen patients have when discussing going back to school and reconnecting with their friends are often surrounded around their social relationships. Things such as, what will my friends think? What will my friends say? What will my friends do? In our clinical service, we spend a lot of time helping young people determine the best way to mention their living with a mental illness to their friends, teachers and other social networks. As much as we try to help, the transition can sometimes not go as smooth as planned. Sometimes friends won’t fully understand. One thing that we often tend to not pay enough attention to is helping people understand what they can do to be supportive. It now occurs to me that some of the people we complained about not being helpful and supportive may actually have wanted to be, but didn’t know how.  Maybe it wasn't always the friends avoidance or apprehensive behaviour that was the result of stigma. Maybe some of that could...