Joubert syndrome
TORONTO, May 12 /CNW/ - A new study involving Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found a gene connected with a type of intellectual disability called Joubert syndrome. ....
CAMH researcher discovers new gene that causes intellectual disability
Showing posts with label MENTAL HEALTH. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MENTAL HEALTH. Show all posts
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Why Antidepressants don't work
Why Antidepressants don't work
http://nissaa1.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-antidepressants-dont-work-for.html
http://nissaa1.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-antidepressants-dont-work-for.html
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Mental Ilness or Jinn? Watching a Faith Healer at Work , #fb
A Doctor in Iraq, Watching a Faith Healer at Work
By AMIR A. AFKHAMI, M.D.
Published: December 27, 2010
"Moreover, blaming the jinn allowed the family to see the young woman’s misbehavior as aberrant and shifted responsibility from her to a supernatural being. My Iraqi colleague agreed that despite his own strongly secular perspective, he still believed that honest faith healers fulfilled an important role in a war-ravaged country with a severe shortage of mental health professionals. "
Read more....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cases.html?_r=1
By AMIR A. AFKHAMI, M.D.
Published: December 27, 2010
"Moreover, blaming the jinn allowed the family to see the young woman’s misbehavior as aberrant and shifted responsibility from her to a supernatural being. My Iraqi colleague agreed that despite his own strongly secular perspective, he still believed that honest faith healers fulfilled an important role in a war-ravaged country with a severe shortage of mental health professionals. "
Read more....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/health/28cases.html?_r=1
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Why Are People So Divided When It Comes To Children's Mental Health?
Why Are People So Divided When It Comes To Children's Mental Health?
Dr. Harold Koplewicz.
National leading child and adolescent psychiatrist; president,
The Child Mind Institute
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/mental-health-being-openminded_b_791706.html
Dr. Harold Koplewicz.
National leading child and adolescent psychiatrist; president,
The Child Mind Institute
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/mental-health-being-openminded_b_791706.html
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Freedom to be sick leaves families feeling chained
Caregivers who can't get mentally ill loved ones to seek help grapple with laws designed to protect civil rights
ANDRE PICARD
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Vani Jain, manager of policy and community relations at the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario, which runs the innovative Justice and Mental Health Program to support parents, says: “The No. 1 question we get here is, ‘How do I get help for my loved one who doesn't want it?' .....
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.wmhcriminals1128/BNStory/mentalhealth/
November 27, 2008 at 10:03 PM EDT
ANDRE PICARD
From Friday's Globe and Mail
Vani Jain, manager of policy and community relations at the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario, which runs the innovative Justice and Mental Health Program to support parents, says: “The No. 1 question we get here is, ‘How do I get help for my loved one who doesn't want it?' .....
http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081127.wmhcriminals1128/BNStory/mentalhealth/
November 27, 2008 at 10:03 PM EDT
Film peers into the mind of the mentally ill
Film peers into the mind of the mentally ill
Eyes Beyond based on filmmaker's bipolar experience
Daniel Reininghaus's new film lifts the veil on mental illness.
The charismatic twentysomething wrote, directed, produced and is the lead actor in Eyes Beyond, an award-winning 28-minute independent social drama/horror/thriller based on the Etobicoke man's personal experience with bipolar disorder....
http://www.insidetoronto.com/community/health/article/876230--film-peers-into-the-mind-of-the-mentally-ill
Monday, September 20, 2010
Reyal Jardine-Douglas
Why did mentally ill man have to die? - Published On Sun Sep 19 2010
Brendan Kennedy
The cases are strikingly similar: a man with mental illness who has stopped taking his medication wields a makeshift weapon, such as a hammer or kitchen knife, and is confronted by police.
He refuses to drop the weapon or threatens the officers and is shot dead.
The latest killing happened three weeks ago, when Reyal Jardine-Douglas was shot by police while fleeing a TTC bus allegedly armed with a knife. His death came virtually on the eve of a coroner’s inquest into Byron Debassige’s similarly deadly confrontation with Toronto police two years ago.
Starting Monday, a jury of five ordinary people will try to answer the same questions at Debassige’s inquest that were asked at the inquests for Lester Donaldson, Edmond Yu, Wayne Williams and seven other men with mental illness who were killed by Toronto police officers over the last two decades: Why was this person killed and what can be done to avoid similar deaths in the future?.....
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/857076--we-must-learn-from-shooting
Re: Police knew of mental illness before fatal shooting: Family, Sept. 1
Once again a mentally-ill man is gunned down by those whose job it is to protect public safety. Everyone can agree that no one should be allowed to harm the public and that officers have a right to defend themselves, especially when facing an armed assailant.
Nonetheless, we also need to recognize that the mentally ill must not be treated like criminals. Their condition is directing their actions. There is no intent to commit violence. The police should make every effort to defuse the situation, including avoiding the type of lethal confrontation that killed Reyal Jardine-Douglas.
Something broke down in the system that is supposed to prevent these incidents. Whether the officers were not properly apprised of Jardine-Douglas’s condition, whether they forgot some piece of their training, or whether their training was not adequate for this situation, a young man lies dead.
Jardine-Douglas could have been anyone’s brother — yours or mine. Please, let’s try to ensure this is the last time lethal force is used against the mentally ill.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/andre-picard/ontarios-mental-health-system-needs-to-be-fixed-now/article1692785/ - Sept 01
Ontario’s mental-health system needs to be fixed now
Andre Picard
Published on Wednesday, Sep. 01, 2010 2:25PM EDT
What a cruel juxtaposition of events.
Last Thursday, a committee of the Ontario Legislature released a hard-hitting report on the need to fundamentally transform the province’s mental-health and addictions system.
Then, on Sunday, as if to underscore the urgency of implementing their recommendations, Toronto Police shot to death 25-year-old Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas. The shooting is still under investigation, but his “crime” seems to have been to suffer from mental illness.
The scenario is depressingly familiar: Young man has a psychotic episode, police are called (usually by a concerned family member), the agitated individual (screaming threats and sometimes brandishing a weapon) refuses to obey police orders. Bullets fly. Another “crazy” person dies. Then we are all left to wonder why.
Invariably, police and families are put in this untenable situation because the sick individual was untreated. The shooter, the ill person and the grieving family are all victims – of a broken system.
Mr. Jardine-Douglas is a case in point. Suffering from severe paranoia, he was taken to the family doctor on Aug. 27. His condition worsened so, the next day, his family took him to a hospital, where he was turned away because no psychiatrist was available. Help was sought at a second hospital, but the man refused treatment (not unusual for people with severe mental illness) and fled. Police were called because the family feared for his life. Not long after, Mr. Jardine-Douglas was making a scene on a city bus, then he was shot. He is dead because he didn’t get timely, appropriate care.
“We are convinced that a radical transformation of mental-health and addictions care is necessary if Ontarians are to get the care they need and deserve,” the committee headed by MPP Kevin Flynn wrote in a report tabled a few days earlier.
The MPPs heard many heart-wrenching stories about families’ inability to get care for their loved ones in a byzantine system, and about the frustrations of caregivers who have one hand tied behind their backs by senseless laws. To their credit, the politicians proposed some sensible, no-nonsense solutions.
First and foremost, they called for the creation of a new umbrella organization, Mental Health and Addictions Ontario.
Hold on, you might say, the last thing we need is more bureaucracy. But the single biggest problem with the mental-health system is that there is no system, only a muddled patchwork of services.
MHAO would be modelled on Cancer Care Ontario, which has been revolutionary by organizing cancer care in the province. Mental health needs the same medicine.
Currently, getting medical treatment, particularly for acute problems such as psychotic episodes, is nearly impossible. Emergency-room protocols are uneven at best; 24/7 mobile crisis-intervention teams work marvellously, but they are few and far between. There is an acute lack of treatment beds, particularly in psychiatric hospitals. While these institutions have fallen out of favour, they are essential for the sickest of the sick.
Most people suffering from mental illness live in the community, but getting appropriate care in the real world is dizzyingly complex. They need housing as much as medication and they need income as much as counselling, but our social welfare system operates in silos.
Mental-health and addiction services are funded or provided by 10 different provincial ministries. Community care is delivered by 440 children’s mental-health agencies, 330 adult mental-health agencies, 150 substance-abuse treatment groups and 50 problem-gambling centres. There are many well-meaning programs, but there is no co-ordination and little collaboration.
The lack of leadership and accountability is disturbing, and sometimes deadly.
The legislature committee pointed out, quite astutely, that while mental illness and addictions are medical conditions, they have become criminalized to a troubling degree. More than one-third of people in custody in Ontario suffer from a diagnosed mental illness and substance abuse is a factor in half of all criminal offences.
“Far too many Ontarians experience their first contact with the mental-health system through the justice system,” the MPPs wrote.
Police need to be better trained to deal with people suffering from mental illness and these sick individuals need to be sentenced to care, not jail.
One of the most compelling aspects of the report – and one that will probably prove to be the most controversial – is the call to broaden the criteria for involuntary admission (and, by extension, limit the right of severely mentally ill people to refuse treatment.) “The right to autonomy must be balanced by the right to be well,” the committee wrote.
It is a travesty that families have trouble getting care for family members who are clearly very ill, yet refuse treatment or are too quickly discharged.
This is not freedom, it’s a death sentence.
Similarly, privacy laws create perverse situations where families are emotionally and financially invested in caring for a loved one but are denied even the most basic information about their condition.
The recommendations made by the all-party committee are not new, but they are stated plainly, concisely and with an appropriate sense of urgency. Given the unanimity, there should not be a moment’s hesitation to act.
As the MPPs said succinctly in the report’s conclusion: “The necessary changes have yet to be made and individuals continue to suffer.”
Implementing the recommendations would launch a new era of compassion, care and safety for mentally ill people and their families. Inaction will leave us all with blood on our hands.
Aug 31, 2010
Brendan Kennedy
Reyal Jardine-Douglas’s family called police to get him help. Later on, after a confrontation with officers, he was dead.
The family of the 25-year-old Pickering man fatally shot by police on Sunday says he suffered from mental illness, including paranoia, and that they had called police to get him admitted to hospital.
In a statement released Tuesday through their lawyer, Jardine-Douglas’s family said they phoned 911 early Sunday afternoon from Lawrence Ave. E. and Victoria Park Ave. to get him help. “He was not exhibiting any violent behaviours at the time,” the statement noted.
The family told 911 that Jardine-Douglas had boarded a southbound Victoria Park bus, informing the dispatcher of his mental state “on more than one occasion.” The family’s lawyer, Glenn Stuart, said they believed that message had been communicated to the attending officers.
Jardine-Douglas was shot by an officer after he fled from the bus when it was pulled over by police at about 3:10 p.m.
Witnesses said police cruisers boxed in the bus and a man bolted through the rear as officers boarded through the front door. According to one witness, three shots were fired in a confrontation.
A knife was recovered at the scene.
The revelation has reignited criticism of the police three weeks before a coroner’s inquest opens into a similar police shooting two years ago.
On Feb. 16, 2008, 28-year-old Byron Debassige, who had schizophrenia, was shot dead by police in Oriole Park after he stole lemons from a local grocery store armed with a 10-centimetre knife.
Officers were cleared of wrongdoing by the Special Investigations Unit, which said Debassige “advanced” toward them and ignored repeated commands to drop the knife. But Debassige’s family and Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto say the officers needlessly escalated the situation.
Police knew of mental illness before fatal shooting, family says - thestar.com
Monday, August 30, 2010
AUTISM
Sorbara advised jail for aggressive autistic teen, mom claims - Aug 27, 2010
Genes provide key to autism ---Dr. Stephen Scherer, senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, co-led an international research team to find the genetic roots of autism
Study links autism to dozens of missing genes
Autism: Making sense of a confusing world
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/02/f-autism.html
http://jacobfreeman.blogspot.com/
Spectrum of Hope - Our journey as a family through the autism spectrum
This blog has been created as a way of letting others in on our journey with our son's autism spectrum disorder
Genes provide key to autism ---Dr. Stephen Scherer, senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, co-led an international research team to find the genetic roots of autism
Study links autism to dozens of missing genes
Autism: Making sense of a confusing world
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/04/02/f-autism.html
http://jacobfreeman.blogspot.com/
Spectrum of Hope - Our journey as a family through the autism spectrum
This blog has been created as a way of letting others in on our journey with our son's autism spectrum disorder
Friday, July 9, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Do you think psychiatry can “cure” an evildoer?
Religion and mental illness
Do you think psychiatry can “cure” an evildoer?
ABDUL RASHID is a member of the Ottawa Muslim community, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Capital Region Interfaith Council.
My limited understanding of psychiatry is that it is a medical condition primarily related to some form of mental difficulty or disorder. And an evil act is one that results in harm, be it to an individual or another living being or even the environment. I assume the answer to the posed question is to bring into discussion the religious dimension.
Religion and faith are very important in most people’s lives. However, faith is not a magic wand that would guarantee the absence of difficulties, losses and illness. These problems are part of life (Holy Qur’an, 2:155).
The Islamic view is that when a medical problem is diagnosed, it creates a dual responsibility. On the one hand, it is the responsibility of the society to search for an appropriate cure and treatment. On the other hand, it is a religious obligation on person suffering from the disease to seek proper treatment.
It is also important to point out that Islam does not partition individual personality into compartments. There is an inherent unity of the human person, where spiritual and mundane are interactive elements in life. Therefore, treatment is also supplemented by prayer to the Creator of all life for the removal of medical and other difficulties. We are also told that we should never give up in the benevolence and mercy of God Almighty.
Another important principle in Islamic jurisprudence is that a person suffering from mental disorder cannot be held accountable for an act that is a direct result of this has resulted from his or her affliction
Do you think psychiatry can “cure” an evildoer?
ABDUL RASHID is a member of the Ottawa Muslim community, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Capital Region Interfaith Council.
My limited understanding of psychiatry is that it is a medical condition primarily related to some form of mental difficulty or disorder. And an evil act is one that results in harm, be it to an individual or another living being or even the environment. I assume the answer to the posed question is to bring into discussion the religious dimension.
Religion and faith are very important in most people’s lives. However, faith is not a magic wand that would guarantee the absence of difficulties, losses and illness. These problems are part of life (Holy Qur’an, 2:155).
The Islamic view is that when a medical problem is diagnosed, it creates a dual responsibility. On the one hand, it is the responsibility of the society to search for an appropriate cure and treatment. On the other hand, it is a religious obligation on person suffering from the disease to seek proper treatment.
It is also important to point out that Islam does not partition individual personality into compartments. There is an inherent unity of the human person, where spiritual and mundane are interactive elements in life. Therefore, treatment is also supplemented by prayer to the Creator of all life for the removal of medical and other difficulties. We are also told that we should never give up in the benevolence and mercy of God Almighty.
Another important principle in Islamic jurisprudence is that a person suffering from mental disorder cannot be held accountable for an act that is a direct result of this has resulted from his or her affliction
Monday, May 3, 2010
Internet Pornography: Destroying Us From Within | MentalHealth4Muslims
Internet Pornography: Destroying Us From Within MentalHealth4Muslims
•There are approximately 4.2 million pornographic websites (roughly 12 %) on the internet today.[1]
•Every second 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography.[2]
•47% percent of families have said that pornography is a problem in their home.[3]
•In 2003, inappropriate conduct on the Internet, mainly pornography, was a significant factor in 2 out of 3 divorces.[4]
•There are approximately 4.2 million pornographic websites (roughly 12 %) on the internet today.[1]
•Every second 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography.[2]
•47% percent of families have said that pornography is a problem in their home.[3]
•In 2003, inappropriate conduct on the Internet, mainly pornography, was a significant factor in 2 out of 3 divorces.[4]
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Parents and Mental Illness
Brampton teen's suicide tied to privacy law
Carleton staff prevented from contacting family of depressed teen
Apr 23, 2008 04:30 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Staff Reporter
Although the school was aware Nadia Kajouji had been suffering from depression, privacy laws prevented counsellors from contacting the girl's parents earlier, Carleton University officials told a news conference yesterday.
Nadia's family has been critical of the university for not telling them the teen had expressed suicidal thoughts and had been on antidepressants. The 18-year-old disappeared six weeks ago and only after she'd been gone three days did Mohamad Kajouji get a call from the school about his daughter's mental state. She had been seeing a counsellor and campus doctor and had been prescribed Cipralex, an antidepressant.
A body, which police believe is the Brampton teen, was found in the Rideau River on Sunday.
The tragedy has once again raised questions about a university's obligation to inform parents about their child's medical condition.
Her father says the doctors she was seeing knew she was feeling suicidal but didn't contact him until it was too late. Carleton would not comment on what information they had prior to Nadia's disappearance or what information was revealed to Kajouji.
"I can't comment directly on the Nadia case because of the legislation, but I can say that we do have protocol ... and, at Carleton, we feel that we had done everything we could for Nadia," said Suzanne Blanchard, associate vice-president for student services.
While legislation would protect confidentiality between Nadia and her doctor, the law also clearly states confidentiality can be broken if someone's life is in danger.
At Ryerson University, as at Carleton, senior student staff live on each floor in residence. These students are trained to detect signs of depression and, depending on the severity of the case, a range of procedures is carried out.
"There have been several cases (involving seriously depressed students) over the last few years where we have contacted somebody," said Glen Weppler, manager of student housing services at Ryerson. "We always tell the student that we will be contacting somebody and we ask, `who you would like us to contact?' Often it's a parent, but sometimes a sister, brother or, in at least one case, a teacher."
By all accounts, the Brampton teen had been a bright high school student with dreams of being a lawyer. But once she left for university, things changed. When the 18-year-old came home for Reading Week, her family noticed she seemed down. She'd recently split with a boyfriend and was having trouble in school.
Typical teenage stuff, her father thought.
During the investigation, police uncovered alarming online instant messenger conversations between Nadia and an American woman who encouraged the teen to kill herself in front of a web cam. Counselling someone to commit suicide is illegal in Canada.
Sgt. Uday Jaswal, who led the investigation, offered little comment on the online chats.
"That was provided to the family in confidence to them to help them understand the situation. We've taken the view that it's a personal family matter," he said.
Carleton staff prevented from contacting family of depressed teen
Apr 23, 2008 04:30 AM
Robyn Doolittle
Staff Reporter
Although the school was aware Nadia Kajouji had been suffering from depression, privacy laws prevented counsellors from contacting the girl's parents earlier, Carleton University officials told a news conference yesterday.
Nadia's family has been critical of the university for not telling them the teen had expressed suicidal thoughts and had been on antidepressants. The 18-year-old disappeared six weeks ago and only after she'd been gone three days did Mohamad Kajouji get a call from the school about his daughter's mental state. She had been seeing a counsellor and campus doctor and had been prescribed Cipralex, an antidepressant.
A body, which police believe is the Brampton teen, was found in the Rideau River on Sunday.
The tragedy has once again raised questions about a university's obligation to inform parents about their child's medical condition.
Her father says the doctors she was seeing knew she was feeling suicidal but didn't contact him until it was too late. Carleton would not comment on what information they had prior to Nadia's disappearance or what information was revealed to Kajouji.
"I can't comment directly on the Nadia case because of the legislation, but I can say that we do have protocol ... and, at Carleton, we feel that we had done everything we could for Nadia," said Suzanne Blanchard, associate vice-president for student services.
While legislation would protect confidentiality between Nadia and her doctor, the law also clearly states confidentiality can be broken if someone's life is in danger.
At Ryerson University, as at Carleton, senior student staff live on each floor in residence. These students are trained to detect signs of depression and, depending on the severity of the case, a range of procedures is carried out.
"There have been several cases (involving seriously depressed students) over the last few years where we have contacted somebody," said Glen Weppler, manager of student housing services at Ryerson. "We always tell the student that we will be contacting somebody and we ask, `who you would like us to contact?' Often it's a parent, but sometimes a sister, brother or, in at least one case, a teacher."
By all accounts, the Brampton teen had been a bright high school student with dreams of being a lawyer. But once she left for university, things changed. When the 18-year-old came home for Reading Week, her family noticed she seemed down. She'd recently split with a boyfriend and was having trouble in school.
Typical teenage stuff, her father thought.
During the investigation, police uncovered alarming online instant messenger conversations between Nadia and an American woman who encouraged the teen to kill herself in front of a web cam. Counselling someone to commit suicide is illegal in Canada.
Sgt. Uday Jaswal, who led the investigation, offered little comment on the online chats.
"That was provided to the family in confidence to them to help them understand the situation. We've taken the view that it's a personal family matter," he said.
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