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Guest Post – Wonky Stigma Theories and Anti-medication Philosophies Are Expanding and Hurting People with Severe Mental Illnesses | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Susan Inman Those of us wishing that we could have sensible mental illness literacy campaigns keep coming up against a wonky but persistent idea that, if we supply basic information about disorders like schizophrenia, we’ll create stigma. Not surprisingly, the research supposedly supporting this belief comes from those who have a lot to gain…
Guest blog: RFK Jr On Medical Research | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
As told by Dr. David Laing Dawson When I was a kid we didn't have any of these sissy-ass vaccines. We developed immunity the old fashioned way, the God given way. We'd get the disease and then most of us would recover and be set for life. Momma would give us a spoon of cod…
Guest Post – Tragedies in Nova Scotia; Predictable and Preventable | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
by Nancy Saunders, a Nova Scotia Mother who lost her son to suicide after she attempted to provide vital information to the medical sysytem and to seek information in order to get help for her son. Barriers created by privacy laws and related policies and practices prevented her from doing so. Nova Scotia had two…
The Useful Idiot | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson I have been focused on Donald Trump recently, and specifically prognosticating how such a personality evolves when emboldened by power and praise but also ridiculed and cornered. It is not a pretty sight, and he will become increasingly dangerous. But he is also a useful idiot for others. Rachel Maddow…
Ghengis Khan, Donald Trump with a bit of Well Needed Humour and Poetry | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson, author of Two Years of Trump on the Psychiatrist's Couch. "I have committed many acts of cruelty and had an incalculable number of men killed, never knowing whether what I did was right. But I am indifferent to what people think of me."- Genghis Khan We try to find humour…
Guest Blog: A Family Caregiver’s Five Wishes for the New Year: Improving Responses to Psychotic Disorders like Schizophrenia | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Susan Inman As the mother of a daughter who has been living with schizophrenia for over 24 years, I’m profoundly grateful for the evidence-based treatments used in mainstream psychiatry which have helped her have the life she has today. As someone who was considered one of the most profoundly psychotic teenagers the local refractory psychosis…
The White House Duo | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson We have in the White House a fascinating and terrifying couple, a duo, a pairing. A brilliant but autistic man and a supreme narcissist. It has to be an unusual pairing but perhaps there is a historic precedent. Both lack empathy for others. The one because empathy requires mirror neurons,…
An Impending New Alliance of Ruling Czars and Oligarchs with a Return to Serfdom? | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson Some years ago I was talking with the owners of an antique shop in Australia. They were retiring and closing up their business. Then they were going to travel and see the world. But only to "civilized" countries, they said. Canada was on their list, and much of Europe. But…
Time for a Disability Coalition | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The issues facing those with disabilities tend to be unique to the particular disability with one huge exception that is often overlooked. I am referring to disability income supports that any compassionate government should provide to its citizens. In addition to adequate medical care and supports with daily living, the disabled need…
Assorted Thoughts on the State of the World and The Upcoming Ontario Election. | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The last few weeks have seen a number of analyses by Dr Dawson of our friend from south of the border. If you want more of his assessment of the man then I highly recommend his book of a few years ago called Two Years of Trump on the Psychiatrist's Couch. It…
Trump Has it Backward: The US Should be Canada’s 11th Province | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson Over the years my attitude toward the U.S.A has been one of typical Canadian ambivalence: one part envy and admiration, one part disdain and disgust. For a while after 9/11 I felt American, or at least one with America. That was my great city on my continent these delusional primitives…
Understanding Trump | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Dr. David Laing Dawson On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a surprise attack against the Soviet Union, its ally in the war against Poland. Many historians have tried to explain Hitler's decision to break his treaty with Stalin and invade the Soviet Union. It meant traversing a thousand miles of frozen land and committing…
Obsessing about Trump | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Dr. David Laing Dawson (Jan. 29) Family members tell me to stop obsessing about Donald Trump and American politics. There is nothing you can do. Life is good, family, friends, and Canada, the rivers and the mountains. Focus on your children and grandchildren, they say. But I know how Adolf consolidated his power, and those…
Mental Health Privacy Policies Leave Families In The Dark | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross I first wrote about this problem in the article below in 2015 in Huffington Post and health privacy is still a problem that has never been addressed by most jurisdictions. A recent Manitoba law introduced that would allow medical professionals to contact a patient's support network in situations where serious harm is…
An Alternate Universe | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Dr. David Laing Dawson Donald J. Trump is actually uniquely positioned to do some very good things. His unpredictability, his seeming carelessness, his various threats, his bombast, his demand for loyalty, his willingness to change his position on anything and everything, his cosy relationship with dictators, his perseverance, and his narcissism and psychopathy - these…
Au Contraire, Donald | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Dr. David Laing Dawson Letter to Donald J. Trump, Kevin O'Leary, and the Governors of Washington, Oregon, California, Hawaii, and the New England states. An alternative proposal: Canada is willing to adopt some American states as Provinces of Canada, over time. Once a state, by referendum or legislative decree, indicates a wish to secede from…
Trump and Elon | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson Like many boys of my generation I devoured the science fiction writers of the first half of the last century, up to maybe 1960. Their extrapolations from known science were wondrous, but I assumed their ideas of governance in the future were off. Surely we would not be ruled by…
Best Wishes to Our Readers for the Holiday Season With Words of Wisdom from the Mayor of New York City | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
The Christmas season is just about upon us so we've decided to take a break until 2025. We started this blog in 2014 and we are astounded that we still have so much to write about. Ideally, as the services for the mentally ill improve, we would have less to complain about but that has…
Guest Column – Nova Scotia must amend laws to protect children from suicide | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Last week, I wrote about the need for mental illness advocates to keep pushing for improvements in services using the example of St Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton. Management decided to cut a needed program despite considerable opposition from the public and their own staff. Earlier this year, I did a column on a group of…
For Good Mental Illness Care – Get Rid of the Bureaucrats | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross Canada needs strong family advocates working with competent clinicians to ensure that the ill get the care they need. When we don't get that, our programs are at the mercy of penny pinchers. The world saw this during the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic when sufferers and their families were actively lobbying…
A Government Funded Slum? – Our Second Comprehensive Report on Indwell | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
There have been murders, assaults, drug addiction and trafficking, suicides, police activity, poor management and oversight. Many of their residents live in fear. Despite all of that, politicians from all levels of government like what they are doing and gave them $33,826,011 of taxpayer funds in the fiscal year ending March, 2024.
As The Year 2000 Approached I Thought There Would Be a Backlash. | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson We were coming to a symbolic point in our developing enlightenment, in our sciences and technologies, in our understanding of our world, and even a growing awareness of those aspects of our lives, our consciousness, our universe, that remained beyond comprehension. Greater numbers in our successful societies had given up…
Book Review – I Got Sober For This | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross People who suffer from serious mental illness can, with proper help, recover to lead fairly productive lives. The problem is that neither the US nor Canada, provides the care and treatment that people need. The result is that we have untreated or semi-treated people wandering the streets and, increasingly, living in parks,…
Guest Blog: Canada’s Mental Health Commission Needs New Priorities | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Susan Inman Canada’s Mental Health Commission Needs New Priorities The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has conducted a new survey inviting the public to comment on what their priorities should be moving forward. Before the MHCC can move forward in a way that actually provides the kinds of help that people with the…
Best Practices for Supportive Housing for the Mentally Ill | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
A lot has been said in this blog about the failures of supportive housing and the lack of oversight of them by government bodies who often fund these efforts. Included in the problem is mixing those with serious mental illness with those with addictions. Dr. Dawson has worked in the front lines of psychiatry for…
Mental Health A Small Light in the Darkness | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
yt Dr David Laing Dawson A small light in the darkness No, not Trump again, where I haven't found the light, but rather within the current bleak system of mental illness treatment. The Montfort Hospital in Ottawa just announced the opening of a new Emergency facility for people in Mental Health Crises, right next to…
Unforced Errors Canada and the Trump Victory | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson One of my profs, one of the best and most memorable teachers in the medical school I attended in the early 1960's, was an American. He moved to Canada rather than be forced to testify before the infamous House UnAmerican Activities Committee. The actions of Joseph McCarthy caused many educated,…
Guest Post The Myth of Wrap-Around Supports at Supportive Housing – Indwell and an Armed Standoff with Police | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Karen Allin In the last couple of months I have written a couple of guest blogs on Indwell, a Christian charity that provides affordable, supportive housing. The first blog highlighted how many tenants do not feel safe living at Indwell as they have experienced an unacceptable level of verbal and physical assaults from other…
The Presidential Election Deja Vu All Over Again | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Some optimists have been writing about Trump being a bull-shitter, not a liar, not a serious man. just a showman. They say his rhetoric, his hyperbole, his accusations, his promises are "bull-shit", meaning they have no meaning beyond garnering attention and stirring emotion. These optimists liken Trump Talk to professional wrestling, with it's mix of…
Ontario Jumps into the Task Force Game Or How to Avoid Doing Anything | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross Last month we did a couple of blogs looking at the waste of resources by the Canadian government and its task force on mental health and addictions conducted by the Standards Council of Canada. Dr Dawson's translation of some of their statements had many readers laughing out loud. Not to be outdone,…
November 5 is Fast Approaching | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson I have not written about Donald Trump for several years, though, unfortunately, he now occupies a large piece of my cognitive real estate every day. Should he win this time the cost to all of us will be very high. He will surround himself with sycophantic loyal supporters. He will…
Canada’ Continuing Shame on the World Stage | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross A recent report from the Ontario Coroner on our Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) is garnering international negative headlines for what can be described as our official euthanasia program. I last wrote about this in 2022 making reference to denunciations of the program by numerous experts which you can find here. The…
Follow Up Pondering, Delegating and Mumbling. The Latest Government Report on Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson Marvin's post reminded me of a time I was sitting through an all day presentation at the Ministry of Health. Mid morning I raised my hand and said, “Two possibilities here. Either I am simply not as smart as I thought I was, or none of this makes sense.” A…
Pondering, Delegating and Mumbling. The Latest Government Report on Mental Health and Substance Abuse | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The mental health and substance abuse problems facing Canadians are pretty straight forward and are often mentioned in the press. People can't get timely medical help such as appointments with doctors, specialists, hospitalizations, community programs and adequate income. People with substance abuse cannot find rehabilitation programs to help them get free of…
Mental Illness Treatment in the Past and How it should be Again | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson One of our readers commented on the last post about the decline in mental health services since the 1980's and asked if what we did then was based on the assertive Community Treatment model. She added that ACT is the “only case management model that is evidence-based and known to…
Mind You 10th Anniversary Special- The Decline of Mental Illness Treatment from the 1980s On | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Yesterday, in our anniversary special, we re-ran our most read article. This post came a close second and explains why our care for those with mental illness has become so bad. By Dr David Laing Dawson Through the 1970’s into the 1980’s I ran what we called Community Psychiatry Services. They were General Hospital based…
Our 10 Year Anniversary | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross We began writing this blog in early October 2014 but I don't think either of us expected to be still writing 10 years later. There have been many times over the years when I kept thinking how long can we keep going and and what can we write about each week. Sadly,…
From Hospitals to Encampments in City Parks and Streets– The Devolution of Mental Illness Care in Canada | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross And we created the problem, or at least naive, idealistic liberals and do gooders did. It started in the 1960's when we had little causal understanding of severe mental illness like schizophrenia and other forms of psychosis. For the previous 100 years those who suffered were housed in large institutions or mental…