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Questions and Answers About The Family Alliance On Severe Mental Illnesses (FASMI) | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
FASMI is a relatively new Canadian Not for Profit (we are applying for charitable status) to represent the interests of families of those with serious mental illnesses. Our board comes from across Canada and the following questions and answers are designed to give you more information about us and what we hope to accomplish. Further…
A Primer on Trump Semantics for Canada Day | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr David Laing Dawson I have listened to far more Trump speak than is good for my mental health. And now, when I hear pundits and political commentators explaining what he might mean by what he says, while applying an assumption that Donald J. Trump is a thoughtful empathic rational human being, I find…
We Need to Keep Focusing on the Plight of the Mentally Ill | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson Some years ago I researched the amount of press received by the Ontario Hospital (psychiatric hospital, mental hospital), and mental illness in general, over the years in the Hamilton Spectator. (The Hamilton Spectator is the newspaper for the greater region of Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1846.) As one might guess,…
The Negligence and Ongoing Disaster of Affordable Supportive Housing | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross One of the recurrent themes of this blog is the disaster that is supportive housing. People with disabilities often require affordable supportive housing to help them cope with their disabilities and their limited financial resources. Sadly, mental illness does not get sufficient hospital beds or trained professionals in Canada compared to other…
A Few More Steps to Full Dictatorship | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson Already accomplished: 1.Create a threatening enemy. Dehumanize that enemy. Blame that enemy for all woes. 2. Undermine journalism and the free press. 3. Undermine all independent experts. 4. Assume control of Universities by threatening to defund them. 5. Create a cabinet of loyal idiots and sycophants. 6. Weaken and undermine…
A Wasted Expensive Band-aid for Homelessness, addiction and Mental Illness | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The Hamilton Spectator just published a three part series based on one of their reporters having been embedded in the Emergency Room (ER) at St Joseph's Hospital in downtown Hamilton. The term embedded is usually used for press who embed with a military unit in an active war zone but the reporter…
Make America Health Again – The Movement Toward Fascism, Oligarchy, and Dictatorship | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson Why is the fraudulent, unscientific, destructive, and stupid MAHA movement emerging now? Why are unscientific, debunked ideas finding foothold in 2025? Some of these RFK Jr, and MAHA ideas are cloaked in expert terminology, such as the notion that vaccines should be tested against placebo, but missing all the serious…
In Memorium – Annick Michelle Aubert – A Staunch Advocate for Serious Mental Illness | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross I was just starting to wonder about Annick who I had not heard from for a few weeks when her obituary turned up in the Globe and Mail. Her death was not unexpected at the age of 94 but she was a physical and intellectual powerhouse so it was very unexpected. I…
This Mental Health Month We Need Parity with Other Illnesses And Funding/Outcome Accountability | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross Thanks to Kiefer Sutherland's grandpa, Tommy Douglas the former premier of Saskatchewan and leader of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Canadians enjoy universal health care. Sort of. This is May or Mental Health Month and universal health care for those with serious mental illnesses is hard to come by if at all.…
Guest Blog: A Plea to the Canadian Psychiatric Association | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Susan Inman As we finish another year’s painful exclusion of information about schizophrenia and anosognosia in Mental Health Awareness Month, all I can do with my frustration is look for help from the Canadian Psychiatric Association. After all, it’s only contemporary mainstream psychiatry that has allowed my daughter who has lived with schizophrenia for…
Happy Mother’s Day to the Heroes Who Fight For their Mentally Ill Kids | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross Having a child with an illness is difficult but when that illness is the very misunderstood serious mental illness like schizophrenia, it is a kick in the gut. As Laura Pogliano, a mother and advocate in Maryland wrote on the difference between her experience of having a child with serious mental illness…
The Maga War on Science | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson It is a curious irony. In many interviews RFK Jr alludes to his childhood years during his uncle's presidency. The reference to “my uncle's presidency” is, of course, a self-aggrandizing reminder of his famous heritage. (Or perhaps it's similar to Trump frequently mentioning his Professor Uncle to buttress his arguments…
The Canadian Election and the Need to Disconnect From the US | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Dr. David Laing Dawson I watched CTV on election night, and, throughout the evening, on the right side of the screen, they scrolled through all the ridings in Canada, including the name and photo of each candidate. And here's what repeatedly struck me and provided some warmth and pride as the evening wore on:It…
The Vancouver Tragedy and “Mental Health Issues” | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The suspect was “known to police,” Rai confirmed, and had “significant interaction” with the police and mental health professionals in the past. From the Vancouver acting police chief quoted in the Toronto Star about the murder of 11 people by a suspect driving his SUV into acrowds at a Filipino street festival in…
Observations on the Federal Election With Some Distressing Facts | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Marvin Ross I will vote on April 28 because I always do even when I have to hold my nose and mark my X for the least odious alternative. Politicians shamelessly offer everyone not only a chicken but the pot to cook it in even when they don't know where the chickens can be found.…
Research Ideas from Family Caregivers for People with Schizophrenia Part Six The Police Role in Treating People with Severe Mental Illnesses – A Research Proposal | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Michael Theilmann Background Starting in the 1940s in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, there was a historic move away from housing people with serious mental illnesses in institutions. This was brought about by two principal factors: media exposure of appalling conditions in some institutions; and the introduction in the 1950s of…
Research Ideas from Family Caregivers for People with Schizophrenia Part Four and Five Tracking and Assessing Services for People with Concurrent Disorders AND Dependency and its Role in the Need for Information Sharing for Caregivers of those with Serious Mental Illness | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
Tracking and Assessing Services for People with Concurrent Disorders By Lisa Kofod Overview: “People with a mental illness are twice as likely to have a substance use disorder compared to the general population (16%). At least 20% of people with a mental illness have a co-occurring substance use disorder. For people with schizophrenia, the number…
Research Ideas from Family Caregivers for People with Schizophrenia Part Three Social Workers Need Mental Illness Literacy Training | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Kathleen Mochnacki Social work practice in mental health emphasizes a strengths-based and recovery-oriented approach, empowering individuals to live fulfilling lives despite mental health challenges. Yet in order to empower a person living with a severe mental illness, it is important that the social worker know about the trajectory of the illness, the many symptoms…
Research Ideas from Family Caregivers for People with Schizophrenia – Part Two Needed Research on Supportive Housing – A Survey of What Currently Exists and Their Standards if Any | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Marvin Ross The majority of people with serious mental illness live with their aging parents which often becomes a problem. We parents become ill, infirm, die or simply need to downsize. When that happens, what becomes of our kids. That was the case my wife and I had to deal with and we thought…
Research Ideas from Family Caregivers for People with Schizophrenia – Part One The Need for Mental Illness Literacy Campaigns that Include Schizophrenia | Mind You Reflections on mental illness, mental health and life
By Susan Inman It’s well known that family caregivers for people with schizophrenia often play a key role in providing essential and ongoing support for this population. Nevertheless, we are rarely asked for our input on key service issues and on our ideas for research that is needed to improve the mental health system. This…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…