Marvin Ross

Now that the accolades are done with, and the congratulatory high fives finished on Canada's new mental health strategy, it's time to get down to the really difficult task at hand, one that was largely ignored in that strategy. That task is to deal with the question of those with...

The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) is to be congratulated on its just introduced mental health strategy for Canada for doing what is very rare for organizations. They listened to the many criticisms of its draft report and have made improvements. For that, the commission...

While this is Mental Health Week, May 24 is national schizophrenia awareness day in Canada, and if a disease ever deserved a day, it is schizophrenia. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that it deserves more attention than any other chronic illness; all are devastating to victims,...

To a large extent, spending money on more training for how police can best deal with people with mental illnesses is a total waste.

The U.S.-based Treatment Advocacy Center has it right when they say, "Police Training Yes, but Treatment Definitely." I am referring to the recent...

A research report on anti-depressant use out of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario strikes me as a denial of mental illness and a denial of the need to relieve suffering from mental illness when we can.

The study in question was conducted by Paul Andrews,...

Former Senator Michael Kirby, who helped bring mental illness out of the shadows with his Senate report, is turning over the chairmanship of the Mental Health Commission of Canada to his vice-chair, Toronto psychiatrist David Goldbloom, effective April 1. Those of us who have been reluctantly...

Spending money on programs to fight the stigma of mental illness is a waste and ineffective. It would be far more appropriate to use that money to provide proper treatment. If that were done, what stigma there is would be reduced.

Many argue that a major impact of stigma is...

Finally, psychiatrists are so fed up with the regressive way our society treats those with serious mental illness that they are speaking up and making demands on behalf of some of the most vulnerable in our society. The Canadian Psychiatric Association just released a position paper called "The...

The phrase "one in five have a mental illness (or issue or problem)" has been used extensively for quite some time. From a public relations point of view, I can (or did) appreciate why: to demonstrate what an extensive issue mental illness is. Even if you are not...

Their efforts are laudable but somewhat misguided. The Mental Health Commission of Canada is concerned with the fact that the media regularly stigmatizes people with mental illness. To counteract that, they are holding lectures across Canada targeting journalism students to get them to think about what they write...

In the first week of 2012, the Toronto area has witnessed two likely examples of what the U.S.-based Treatment Advocacy Center calls preventable tragedies in the treatment (or lack of treatment) of serious mental illness. These are two current examples of what I called "Society's Shame"...

That was and still may be a phrase used by psychiatrists in Ontario to refer to the concept that those with serious untreated mental illness have the right to refuse treatment. Even though they suffer from a disease of the brain that impairs their rational thinking, most jurisdictions in North...

In earlier posts ("Too Much Pop Psytchology and "Alzheimer's and Schizophrenia"), I talked about the medical and scientific evidence that exists demonstrating that schizophrenia (and other serious mental illnesses) are diseases of the brain. While these are diseases, many people commonly refer to them as mental...

On June 24, I reported that a group of families in B.C. caring for relatives with serious mental illness had not had any response to suggestions and concerns sent to the Mental Health Commission of Canada. The commission's rationale was that "due to the depth of the email...

Mentioning health care professionals along with discrimination and mental illness is likely surprising for many. It certainly was to me when I first encountered a study called "Community Attitudes Towards People With Schizophrenia." Conducted in Alberta as part of the World Psychiatric Association's Global Campaign to...

Who can explain why our society treats those with Alzheimer's disease medically while we increasingly treat those with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses in jail?

Alzheimer's disease impacts the elderly while schizophrenia, which begins in late adolescence, initially impacts the young. Among the symptoms of Alzheimer's are...

Why is there such a strong anti-medical model attitude towards serious mental illness when the evidence keeps growing that these are diseases of the brain? The question was posed by my colleague, David Laing Dawson, who is a psychiatrist as well as a writer, artist and filmmaker. He...

Caring for a family member with a serious mental illness (mainly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) is often extremely stressful for families; it impacts them financially, emotionally, socially and physically.

Hoping to improve the situations for the tens of thousands of families in this situation, a group of 45 B.C....

Lack of services for the mentally ill is becoming an issue for the upcoming election in Ontario. Many are not impressed with what this government has accomplished in its two terms.

The Liberals took power on Oct. 23, 2003 and inherited a report on mental illness reform called