Disagnosing Mental Illness During Difficult Times
A guest essay in the NY Times makes some excellent points about the way we’re framing mental health issues in kids. Psychologist Darby Saxbe discusses the well-intentioned but problematic way…
mental health
Inaccessible Accessibility
Why is remote learning suddenly so difficult to access when we have all the tech we need to pull it off? When I was in grade 12, I started to…
real heroes for real reasons: female athletes moving the world forward
These days I can’t blog about events or issues that are meaningful to me until they’re old news — which of course in today’s world can mean only days or…
Staying Healthy Takes Work
If social media is any barometer of this, anti-mask abuse appears to be skyrocketing. Fixed it for ya! There are tons of comments by the Covid cautious about about being…
On Helping Professions
Should mental health professionals be more concerned about the spread of a brain-invasive virus that affects mental health by doing a number on the brain?? Amanda Hu wrote “I feel…
Children Risk More Illnesses after Covid
What every pediatrician in the world needs to read – from tern: Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is a really bad thing, isn’t it? I wonder what the…
Fraud Fest in Waterloo Region
Catherine Fife and Debbie Chapman speaking to protesters. It feels like we turned a dark corner in Ontario. In my hometown in particular. Doug Ford came to K-W to be…
Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The Associated Press reports on how the climate breakdown is producing every form of extreme weather everywhere all at once, while E.M. Fischer…
re-setting expectations: let’s all stop apologizing for not being instantly available all the time
Long ago, when emailing first became widely used, I had several long-distance friendships that were conducted entirely by email. I noticed that almost every email began the same way: “Sorry…
Maté: Part Depth Psychology, but Part Questionable Quick Fix
He received the Order of Canada, profoundly helped many people with addiction on the streets of Vancouver, and is much loved and admired, but some of Dr. Gabor Maté’s claims…
ASD Assessments
Assessments for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are sometimes a piece of work. I’ll look at two of them here. As a reminder, everyone with ASD is really different from one…
Problems with Psychiatry
Paul Minot, MD, wrote a thread inviting other threads on the practice of psychiatry. Caveat, I have no idea of the credibility of any of these claims, but some make…
Chris Hedges on Our Current State of Paralysis
Hedges writes on Substack now, if you haven’t been able to find him lately, and his piece today is excellent. He starts by pointing out the growing rich-poor divide that…
Forced Exposure in Hospitals
If you’re feeling unwell, McMaster is advising you to NOT go to a hospital because they no longer require masks there, and they don’t want people in there spreading their…
"can you see the head?" : things i heard at the library: an occasional series, #39
At the Port Hardy library, we serve many marginalized people. They are poor, street-involved, struggling with the intertwined impacts of intergenerational trauma, mental illness, and addiction. The most common impact…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – David Wallace-Wells discusses how the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with the real prospect of another pandemic (particularly on top of the…
COVID-19 Pandemic Reflections and The Next Pandemic
Well the pandemic is over, at least according to most governments, science and medicine not so much. So now it is time to look back, and to look forward. Perhaps…
things i heard at the library: an occasional series: # 37
I have an update on R, the customer who was the subject of the previous two TIHATL posts: #35, a customer who refuses to be helped, and #36, a customer…
what i’m reading: shuggie bain, brilliant and devastating fiction by douglas stuart
Any novel that wins the Booker Prize will be worth reading. Not all literary prizes reflect quality, but the Booker Prize carries a lot of weight. So when a debut…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Oscar Grenfell discusses how Australia is among the countries which has seen a declining life expectancy due to COVID-19 – with a distinct…