The Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why has received considerable attention over the last few months since its initial worldwide release on March 31. The feedback has been mixed however, and has generated a fair bit of controversy over the portrayal of suicide and self-harm, leading Netflix to post advisory warnings. Many mental lhealth organizations and advocates, along with mental health professionals, have since been speaking out about their concerns regarding the show.

Psychiatrist Dr. Stan Kutcher in Halifax, has been working with the IWK Health Centre and Teenmentalhealth.org to generate an online resource for teens, parents, and educators on how to address concerns regarding the show and discuss mental health issues with young people. 

The resource (link below) specifically highlights concerns such as how the show glamorizes or romanticizes suicide/self-harm raising the concern that there may be an increase in such behaviours by vulnerable youth, presents adults/others as unknowing or unhelpful, and most importantly does not address mental illness which often underlies suicidal thoughts and behaviours. 

However, more importantly, the website provides visitors with a "set of talking points", an important document that should be provided to those who watch the series as it both addresses the above concerns, but also guides discussions between youth and their caregivers/educators, and highlights how hope and help are available to those in need.

To find out more, visit:
http://teenmentalhealth.org/news-posts/responding-13-reasons-considerations-schools/

Remember it's the last day of Mental Health Week, but there's still plenty of time to take action!

This year, mental health week's focus is on the long wait times Canadians experience when seeking publicly funded psychotherapy, counselling, and support form community-based mental health services and programs. 

Early diagnosis and treatment are critical for individuals with mental illness and are crucial to improving overall prognosis. So consider getting involved by writing your MP to push for increased funding for mental healthcare, as well as donating money to local initiatives, or simply speaking up about mental health and the great demand for increased services and supports.
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#SickofWaiting #Getloud

Attention those interested in internal medicine, family medicine, cardiology and cardiac surgery! Did you know that there's a link between mental illness and cardiovascular disease?

While not entirely well understood, the link between mental illness and CVD goes both ways. Specifically those with mental illness are at higher risk of heart disease, likely secondary to substance use, unhealthy lifestyle behaviours, and side effects of certain psychotropic medications, as wellas higher rates of mortality and morbidity related to heart disease, perhaps due to noncompliance with medications, and physiologic effects of stress and low mood on the body.

However, those with heart disease are also at higher risk for depression and anxiety. In fact, growing evidence indicates that rates of depression are higher among those with CAD, as well as those who have had a history of MI and/or cardiac revascularization procedures compared to that of the general population. 

While new studies are being conducted to examine the use of certain medications, such as SSRIs in treating heart disease and statins for management of depression, our current focus should be on optimizing our patients' well-being and reminding ourselves of the connection between physical and mental health. As such, consider the emotional impact of a new diagnosis of CVD or recommendation of surgery, and consider screening for mental health conditions in patients with known heart disease as addressing both issues is important to a patient's overall function, longevity, and quality of life. 

"I’ve chatted with patients about the crippling demands that heart transplants or bypass surgeries place on them. I’ve listened as patients struggle to speak, breathing heavily, lungs filled with fluid from congestive heart failure. Some patients fall into despair after years of endless medications, hospitalizations and poor health. Others are petrified by the operating room and the long road to recovery that lies ahead...

...Depressed patients with cardiac disease have mortality rates twice as high as their non-depressed counterparts. Heart disease patients with depression are at higher risk of cardiac arrest, complications from surgery and hospital readmission after undergoing procedures than those without depression."​

To read more, visit:

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mental-illness-and-heart-disease-are-often-found-in-the-same-patients/2017/02/17/665e5dd0-ee1d-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html?utm_term=.e2bf61573b2e
• https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/05/ask-well-what-is-the-link-between-depression-and-heart-disease/?smid=pl-share&_r=1
  

It's that time of year again! Today is Bell Let's Talk Day! Get involved and show your support by joining in on the conversation, advocating for mental health and sharing your stories. 
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Bell will donate 5¢ more to mental health initiatives for every: text, call, tweet & post using #BellLetsTalk, view of our Facebook video and snap using the Bell Let’s Talk geofilter.

In this TEDMED talk, concert pianist Zsolt Bognor speaks briefly to his experience of depression and how he found comfort and healing in classical music. Bognor also shares with viewers two of his favourite pieces by Austrian composer Franz Peter Schubert who was believed to have struggled with depression too.
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Do you think music can be therapeutic when it comes to mental health? What songs do you listen to that provide you with solace or work to lift your spirits?

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) provides a variety of free, online resources that may be helpful for patients, families, and the general public. Quick, online tutorials offer a great introduction to a variety of mental health issues for those interested in learning more. A practical resource to keep in your back pocket!

To check this out visit:
http://www.camh.ca/en/education/Patients-Families-Public/public/mental_health_and_addiction_101_series/Pages/mental_health_and_addiction_101_series.aspx

Wishing everyone a safe and fun Halloween! With another All Hallow's Eve upon us, we reflect on the abundance of news articles over the last few weeks that explore the use of psychiatric wards and mentally unwell patients in Halloween entertainment, from horror shows and haunted houses to individual costumes.

While those who dress up in straightjackets or visit houses designed like asylums often do so in the quest for frightful fun, it is important to remember the deeper impact this sort of entertainment can have on those with lived experience and even society in general. Mental health advocates believe using mental illness to generate screams serve only to perpetuate stigma surrounding mental health and further entrench long-held myths such as how mental health patients are violent. Moreover, for those who suffer from mental illness these attractions can be hurtful or offensive, as for them their diagnosis is not a costume that they "can take off whenever we feel like it".

In both the articles below, two mental health advocates and those with mental health issues themselves, including Professor of Psychology at Columbia university and TED speaker Andrew Solomon, share their take on mental illness in Halloween. 

"For those of us with firsthand experience with mental illness — especially those who have experienced trauma in a mental hospital — such entertainment ventures cut much too close to the bone. When my mother was dying of cancer, she was admitted to some miserable wards, but I find it hard to envision a Halloween event at which you would pretend to be getting chemotherapy and vomiting constantly while surrounded by patients driven into the quasi-dementia that comes of unremitting pain...
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Sanity and mental illness lie on a spectrum, and most people occasionally cross over from one side to the other. It’s the proximity of mental illness rather than its obscurity that makes it so scary. But it should be scary in a “fix the broken care system” way or in a “figure out the brain’s biology” way, and not in a “scream for laughs” kind of way."

For more information, click here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/opinion/mental-illness-is-not-a-horror-show.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0
https://themighty.com/2016/10/why-mental-illness-shouldnt-be-a-halloween-costume/

Don't forget that this week (October 2 - October 8 2016) is Mental Illness Awareness Week, a public education campaign run annually by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health.

"This year’s MIAW theme is Spreading Awareness, Reducing Stigma. As one in five Canadians live with mental health issues, the campaign encourages Canadians to share their personal stories about stigma and how it negatively affects them in their personal life, in the workplace, or in their community."

To find out more about this campaign, watch videos from Canadians impacted by mental illness share their stories, and get in on the online conversation you can use #MIAW2016 on Twitter or visit http://www.camimh.ca.

In this must read article for all current and soon-to-be residents, Dr. Elisabeth Poorman describes her own experience of developing depression while starting work as a new physician. She also highlights other studies, including her own survey of other physicians, to further demonstrate how mental health struggles are not uncommon among those in the medical profession, and despite residency programs and hospitals giving increased attention to "physician wellness and self-care", there are still multiple barriers to finding and receiving adequate support.

At the end of the article, Dr. Poorman also provides some excellent suggestions that may work to better equip new physicians with the help and services they need to address their mental health issues, in addition to helping them build resiliency, one of the biggest keys of all.

"By the end of my first year of residency, I knew I was in trouble.

I was overwhelmed by the 15-hour days, the unbearable sadness of the tragedies I witnessed, my feelings of impotence and my fears of making a mistake.

My life was my work and everything else seemed to be falling apart: my physical health, my relationships, my ability to sleep after months of night shifts.

Yet, I came to work every day. I completed every task. And then I'd go home each night and cry. An administrator pulled me aside one morning: “How’s it going?” she asked.

I began to sob. “Well, get yourself together and get ready for the day,” she said. I dried my tears off in the bathroom and readied for the rest of my 12-hour shift...

... In writing this piece, I've come to realize that we continue to treat mental health disorders in medical training and practice as the exception. But in reality, mental health disorders in residency are the rule, and those who never experience them are the exception. And though it is common, it should not be dismissed as “normal.” We should not tell trainees, as I was told by numerous colleagues and my own providers, that “this is just residency.” I had clinical depression, and it was very treatable once I was able to get adequate care." 

For the full article, click here:
http://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2016/08/19/depression-resident-doctor?utm_campaign=npr&utm_content=20160821&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews