The Social Connection Series: Imad’s Story from World Health Organization.
Teresa Bansen, Director, Quality and Patient Experience at Edgewood Health Network sheds some light on what’s troubling young people – and where they can find help.
Recent findings by the Mental Health Commission of Canada found that 1.2 million children in Canada are experiencing mental health issues. And less than 20% get the care they need.
A perfect storm of conditions is putting today’s youth at greater risk for addiction and mental health disorders. Social media, video games, peer pressure, and an intense political climate are all playing a part.
EHN Canada offers a virtual Healthy Minds Teen Comprehensive Program available to youth across the country. Teresa talked to us about what’s on young people’s minds and what makes our program uniquely positioned to help.
WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING WITH TODAY?
Teresa: While substance use and mental health concerns have been impacting youth for ages, there are some relatively newer concerns that young people are facing.
One concern, unsurprisingly, is the impact of the pandemic on children and youth. I don’t know that we fully understand or can anticipate how COVID has impacted youth. To speak to what I’ve seen with youth I’ve worked with, along with what other professionals in the field have noted, is that we’re seeing an increased tendency to isolate and that youths’ social batteries are running out more quickly.
We know that because of the pandemic’s closures and lockdowns, many children and adolescents missed out on very important socialization and developmental milestones. In some ways, children and youth are presenting a bit younger developmentally because they haven’t had as many opportunities to gain experiences with their peers, interests, and academics in the way that the generations before them have.
Other concerns many young people are struggling with are technology and social media, which has likely been reinforced and worsened by the pandemic and lockdowns. There’s also typically a pretty large discrepancy between the capacity and understanding adults have of social media and technology when compared to the knowledge of young people. Gaming has also been identified as a growing concern brought forward by parents and caregivers. Many parents I’ve worked with are expressing concern about their children and teens spending excessive amounts of time playing video games, as well as time on their screens.
YOUNG PEOPLE ARE VERY TECH-SAVVY, YET THEY’RE STILL VULNERABLE TO SOCIAL MEDIA DANGERS. WHY IS THAT?
Teresa: Youth tend to be very tech-savvy and can typically find their way through a variety of applications, even providing support and help to their parents or siblings. However, the brain does not stop developing until at least the age of 25, which puts youth in a particularly vulnerable position when consuming media and technology.
We also know that when parents are armed with knowledge and information about risks associated with behaviours or common vulnerabilities for youth, they can facilitate helpful discussions surrounding concerns. However, with social media and access to technology, there is a gap in knowledge and therefore parents are less likely to be able to facilitate meaningful conversations about risk and safety.
THERE MUST ALSO BE ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA THAT TEENS DON’T TELL THEIR PARENTS ABOUT?
Teresa: Yes, absolutely. I am glad you raised this point. I think a large majority of teens have experienced or contributed to various levels of cyberbullying, or perhaps have felt out of control or troubled regarding situations or relationships online. For example, a peer has access to a photo or information that they sent, which then gets shared with others without their consent.
Another potential area for concern is that many adolescents are meeting friends online – friends that they may not ever meet in person. These could be mutual friends they’ve added through a platform such as Snapchat, or it could be people who live on a different continent altogether. And unfortunately, a lot of parents just aren’t aware of the number and nature of relationships their teenagers are making online.
While many parents do a good job of educating their teenagers on the basics about certain risks of the internet, there are still tremendous gaps and blind spots that parents aren’t even aware of.
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS HELPED CONNECT YOUNG PEOPLE WHO FEEL ALONE. AND IT HAS HELPED REFLECT DIFFERENT BODY TYPES, ETHNICITIES, AND GENDER EXPRESSIONS. HOW DO TEENS BALANCE THE GOOD AND BAD?
Teresa: I do believe that social media can have a really positive impact on people’s lives, as well as help to raise understanding and increase access to information and education on important topics. For example, social media can be a great vehicle for increasing representation of certain folx within the media, or for advocacy surrounding equity deserving groups like BIPOC or 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities. Having said that, it’s hard to know how much of this positive content is being consumed by adolescence.
It can be helpful for trusted adults to work with young people to avoid certain topics that might be triggering or unhelpful for them. For example, if a teen is in recovery from an eating disorder or has mental health concerns, it is worth having open, non-judgemental conversations about which pages or accounts they should consider removing from their social media feeds.
Approaching these conversations with curiosity and working with the youth to come up with their own solutions can also be helpful. This could also look like actively searching out and interacting with those more positive accounts and content. Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of really negative content out there that’s misrepresentative of many things, with a large portion of it pertaining to mental health concerns.
Additionally, it is especially hard for adolescents to discern what advice and content is healthy and legitimate versus what isn’t.
HOW MUCH IS A TENSE GLOBAL POLITICAL CLIMATE IMPACTING YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH RIGHT NOW?
Teresa: I’ve seen some examples where I have really admired and been impressed by the level of insight, nuance, and advocacy young people bring to important social justice movements. I personally have had moments where I feel very encouraged and hopeful due to younger generations being so vocal and well-informed on important topics.
However, as you can imagine, the flip side of having so much access to global information can feel very overwhelming and can absolutely have a negative impact on mental health. For example, for an adolescent exploring their own gender identity who isn’t sure how to work through this self-discovery, access to tense political climates regarding gender and sexuality has the potential to significantly impact their mental health. Similarly, it is important to recognize the impact of witnessing collective trauma, which can be quite detrimental for youth given their stage of development.
PEER PRESSURE HAS BEEN DISCUSSED AS A CAUSE OF TEEN MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES FOR DECADES. WE SEEM TO HAVE MADE LITTLE HEADWAY IN SOLVING THAT ISSUE.
Teresa: Oh, gosh, and there really isn’t a simple solution to peer pressure because relationships and connection are at the core of our being. Humans are social creatures who have a survival instinct and drive to feel included, valued, loved, connected, and as if we belong.
For many youths, staying connected to peers and being accepted can often override any hesitancy they may feel about engaging in certain behaviours, such as drug use. If being with friends is the only place a teen feels that they really belong, or have a chance of eventually belonging, it makes sense that the adolescent (or anyone, for that matter) may succumb to peer pressure. It’s hard-wired into us.
DO YOU THINK THAT WITHIN 2SLGBTQQIA+ TEENS, THERE ARE EVEN MORE WHO ARE LOOKING FOR COMMUNITY AND FINDING IT IN THE CLUB SCENE?
Teresa: This is a great question. While I can’t say yes or no definitively, I would have to imagine that that is what’s happening to many young people. Because as we talked about, if you’re already in a marginalized position and “othered” within the larger society, it’s hard to find your place of fitting in and connection.
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT EHN ONLINE’S HEALTHY MINDS TEEN PROGRAM AND HOW IT CAN HELP? Teresa: In light of everything we’ve just been chatting about, there is a great need for youth and for families to navigate what’s happening for them. Specifically, the Healthy Minds Comprehensive Teen Program provides youth with the counselling, education, and support they need to thrive. It is a 6-month program that also includes educational and supportive sessions for caregivers to help foster a healthy and open environment for their teens – all virtually.
WHY IS TREATING CONCURRENT DISORDERS SO IMPORTANT?
Teresa: It’s been my experience working in the field of mental health that teens with concurrent disorders tend to fall through the cracks. For example, if a teen has both substance use and an eating disorder, they may get a referral to an eating disorder program. However, once they complete the assessment and it’s identified that they also use substances, substance use is a common exclusion criterion, which will likely lead to the assessment team asking the teen to work on their substance use first to access services. Often, a similar situation arises if the same youth attempts to get help for their substance use first.
When we look at human behaviour, what it boils down to is just different symptoms for similar pain and struggles that human beings experience. I think it is important that we offer this treatment so fewer teens will fall through the cracks.
YOU MENTIONED SUPPORT FOR BOTH TEENS AND THEIR FAMILIES?
Teresa: Yes, we really encourage parents and caregivers to attend the family support components of our program. Many parents don’t know what to do or how to support their teen, but there’s a clear desire from families to learn.
Specifically, the Healthy Minds Teen Program offers orientation and exit sessions, as well as 12 hours of Emotion-Focused Family Therapy for caregivers. The hope is to build some community and connection not just for the teens, but for parents and caregivers as well. I’ve heard from so many parents that having a child that is struggling can be an incredibly isolating experience, leaving caregivers feeling lost and helpless. And the research shows us that when family is involved, there are much better outcomes for treatment.
SHOULD TEENS IN THE PROGRAM WORRY THAT EVERYTHING THEY SAY IN TREATMENT WILL BE SHARED WITH THEIR PARENTS?
Teresa: No, definitely not. As licensed mental health professionals, we have to adhere to personal health privacy laws, which means that what youth share with us must remain confidential. There are always exceptions or limits to confidentiality with regard to imminent harm or safety, but our clinicians do a great job clarifying any questions youth may have.
SO, TEENS WITH VARIOUS STRUGGLES – EATING DISORDERS, TRAUMA, OCD, ADDICTION, DEPRESSION – WILL ALL EXPERIENCE GROUP THERAPY TOGETHER?
Teresa: Yes. There are a few different reasons and ideas behind that. These teens are struggling and are in pain. They need support. The behaviours they have are just the surface level symptoms. Having teens together with various struggles can be really helpful for them to not feel like they’re alone or that they’re weird or different.
HOW CAN PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS KNOW WHEN A TEEN IS REALLY STRUGGLING?
Teresa: That’s a great question. There is a large range of indicators that parents, teachers or healthcare providers can notice or pick up on when a teen is struggling. Generally speaking, warning signs may include noticing fairly significant shifts in the youth’s mood, whether the teen is a lot more excitable than usual, or perhaps noticing the teen is feeling sad, disengaged, or is self-isolating. If grades start to drop in school, that’s typically an indication that they’re struggling in some way.
You may notice a young person commenting more on their body or on their appearance, which might include really degrading comments toward themselves. It may be helpful to watch out for significant weight loss or weight gain within a short amount of time, as well as changes to how much and what types of foods they’re eating.
We are also starting to see more parents pre-emptively connect teens with a therapist or support program. The teen may not be expressing significant distress, but it can still be very helpful to make that connection with a trusted person or therapist before things get really bad. Having an existing connection and learning skills in advance can help with preventative work.
Loss is one of life’s most stressful events. It takes time to heal, and everyone responds differently. We may need help to cope with the changes in our lives. Grief is part of being human, but that doesn’t mean we have to go through the journey alone.
What is grief?
Grief (also called bereavement) is the experience of loss. Many people associate grief with the death of an important person or pet. However, people experience grief after any important loss that affects their life, such as the loss of a job or relationship. Grief after diagnosis of an illness or other health problem is also common.
People experience grief in many different ways—and experience many different thoughts or feelings during the journey. People may feel shocked, sad, angry, scared, or anxious. Some feel numb or have a hard time feeling emotions at all. At times, many people even feel relief or peace after a loss.
Grief is complicated. There is no one way to experience grief. Feelings, thoughts, reactions, and challenges related to grief are very personal. Some people have thoughts or feelings that seem at odds with each other. For example, someone may feel very depressed about their loss but accept the loss at the same time. Many people find that the intensity of their grief changes a lot over time. Holidays can often bring up strong feelings, for example. People work through grief in their own time and on their own path.
What can I do about it?
People express or talk about grief in different ways, but we all feel grief after a loss. In most cases, people navigate through grief with help from loved ones and other supporters and, in time, go back to their daily life.
Some people need extra help from a mental health professional. Grief can be more complicated when the loss is sudden or unexpected, frightening, the result of an accident or disaster, or the result of a crime. Other factors also play a role. A person’s experience of mental illness, lack of personal and social supports, and difficult personal relationships can also affect the impact of grief. A type of counselling called grief counselling supports people through difficulties around grief.
Here are some tips to help you through your journey:
- Connect with caring and supportive people. This might include loved ones, neighbours, and co-workers. It could also include a bereavement support group or community organization.
- Give yourself enough time. Everyone reacts differently to a loss and there is no normal grieving period.
- Let yourself feel sadness, anger, or whatever you need to feel. Find healthy ways to share your feelings and express yourself, such as talking with friends or writing in a journal.
- Recognize that your life has changed. You may feel less engaged with work or relationships for some time. This is a natural part of loss and grief.
- Reach out for help. Loved ones may want to give you privacy and may not feel comfortable asking you how you’re doing, so don’t be afraid to ask for their support.
- Holidays and other important days can be very hard. It may be helpful to plan ahead and think about new traditions or celebrations that support healing.
- Take care of your physical health. Be aware of any physical signs of stress or illness, and speak with your doctor if you feel that your grief is affecting your health.
- Offer support to other loved ones who are grieving. Reaching out to others may be helpful in your own journey.
- Be honest with young people about what has happened and about how you feel, and encourage them to share their feelings, too.
- Work through difficult feelings like bitterness and blame. These feelings can make it harder to move forward in your life.
- Make a new beginning. As the feelings of grief become less intense, return to interests and activities you may have dropped and think about trying something new.
- Think about waiting before making major life decisions. You may feel differently as your feelings of grief lose their intensity, and the changes may add to the stress you’re already experiencing.
How can I help a loved one?
Many people feel like they don’t know what to do or say when a loved one if experiencing loss. If the loss also affected you, you may be working through your own experiences of grief. One of the most important things you can do is to simply be there for your loved one. Grief can feel overwhelming, but support and understanding can make a huge difference.
Here are some tips for supporting a loved one:
- Understand that a loved one needs to follow their own journey in their own way and express their feelings in their own way.
- Ask your loved one what they need, and regularly remind them that you’re there for support if they aren’t ready to talk with others yet. Remember to offer practical help, too.
- Talk about the loss. It’s common to avoid the topic and focus on a loved one’s feelings instead, but many people find sharing thoughts, memories, and stories helpful or comforting.
- Remember that grief may be bigger than the loss. For example, someone who loses a partner may also experience a lot of fear or stress around financial security and other important matters.
- Include your loved one in social activities. Even if they often decline, it’s important to show that they are still an important member of your community.
- Help your loved one connect with support services if they experience a lot of difficulties.
- Take care of your own well-being and seek extra help for yourself if you need it.
These simple and proven strategies will help you manage stress and find meaning in the new year.
Since the height of the pandemic, there has been a cultural shift in the way we talk about mental health. It’s as though the years of isolation and uncertainty helped us understand how vital our emotional needs were to our overall well-being.
Now that we’re paying more attention to our inner lives, it’s also essential that we take action. Fortunately, there are a number of things that everyone can do to nourish their mental health and find moments of joy.
Here are some of our favorite tips from the past year as we prepare to enter 2024.
1. Try a proven way to sleep better.
Experts say that getting enough sleep is one of the most important things we can do for our mental health. If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep, studies have found that cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or C.B.T.-I., is as effective as using sleep medications in the short term — and more effective in the long term. C.B.T.-I. helps people address anxieties about sleep and find ways to relax. To find a provider, try the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine directory.
2. Learn how to tell whether your anxiety is protective or problematic.
It’s normal to feel anxious from time to time. In fact, having some anxiety can actually be useful. Experts say an internal alarm system can improve our performance, help us recognize danger and even encourage us to be more conscientious. So we asked Dr. Petros Levounis, the president of the American Psychiatric Association: How much anxiety is too much?
“If you start to notice that worry and fear are there constantly, that is a signal that you need some help,” he said.
Other signs to look out for include restlessness, a sense of fear or doom, increased heart rate, sweating, trembling and trouble concentrating.
3. Stop the worry cycle.
If you have a tendency to ruminate, there are a few simple ways to curb the habit. The first is to distract yourself: Research shows that diversions can help get your mind off whatever is stressing you out. Try playing a word game or listening to music, paying close attention to the lyrics.
Other times, it’s better not to fight the urge — but that doesn’t mean you should let your thoughts spiral out of control. Set a timer for 10 to 30 minutes of dedicated rumination time, and give yourself permission to mentally mull things over. When the timer goes off, it’s time to move on.
4. Practice ‘5 things tidying.’
When you’re struggling with your mental health, basic tasks like washing dishes or doing laundry can feel impossible. But living amid mess can make you feel even worse. KC Davis, a licensed professional counselor and author of the book “How to Keep House While Drowning,” advises focusing on function over aesthetics — your home doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be livable.
An efficient way to keep things from getting out of hand is to practice what she calls “five things tidying.” Tackle the five main categories of clutter — trash, dishes, laundry, things with a place and things without a place — one at a time to help cleaning feel more manageable.
5. Embrace gratitude.
Gratitude is a positive emotion that can arise when you acknowledge that you have goodness in your life and that other people — or higher powers, if you believe in them — have helped you achieve that goodness.
To really reap the benefits of gratitude, experts say, it’s important to express it whenever possible. That might include writing letters of thanks or listing the positive things in your life in a journal. Giving thanks to friends, romantic partners and even co-workers can also offer a relationship boost.
6. Be optimistic about aging.
Research shows that mindset really matters when it comes to health, and it can even extend your life. A classic study found that people who were optimistic about aging lived seven and a half years longer than those who had negative perceptions of it.
To adopt a more positive outlook about getting older, shift your focus to the benefits of aging, like better emotional well-being and higher emotional intelligence. Look for aging role models, too: older people who stay physically active and engaged in their communities, or those with traits that you admire.
7. Participate in the arts.
The notion that art can improve mental well-being is something many people intuitively understand but don’t necessarily put into practice.
You don’t need talent to give it a try, experts say. Writing a poem, singing or drawing can all help elevate your mood, no matter how creative you consider yourself to be. One of the easiest ways to get started is to color something intricate: Spending 20 minutes coloring a mandala (a complex geometric design) is more helpful for reducing anxiety than free-form coloring for the same length of time, research has found.
8. Look for a little bit of awe every day.
Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to connect with the physical world around us. Enter the awe walk.
Pick a walking spot (either new or familiar) and imagine that you’re seeing it for the first time. Then pay attention to your senses. Feel the wind on your face, touch the petals of a flower. Simply notice the sky. It can be more restorative than you might expect.
9. Take a tech break.
If you’re having trouble focusing, it’s not just you. Research has found that over the past two decades, the amount of time we spend on a given task has shrunk to an average of just 47 seconds, down from two and a half minutes. Technology is often to blame.
To regain control of your concentration, Larry Rosen, a professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, suggested a strategy he calls “tech breaks.” Set a timer for 15 minutes, then silence and set aside your phone. When time is up, take one or two minutes to check your favorite apps — that’s your tech break — and get back to work for another 15-minute cycle. The goal is to gradually increase the time between your tech breaks, building up to 45 minutes (or more) away from your phone.
10. Take a deep breath.
One of the fastest, easiest ways you can calm your mind and body is by taking slow, deep breaths. Doing so helps to turn up your parasympathetic nervous system — the counterbalance to the “fight or flight” stress response — and lower your blood pressure and regulate your heart rate.
One breathing exercise that can be particularly helpful for mitigating fear and anxiety is 4-4-8 breathing, where you inhale for four counts, hold your breath for four counts and exhale for eight counts.
The Difference Between Moral Injury & PTSD from EHN Canada.
Emotions play a huge role in our lives, our actions and our relationships. Yet, most of us know surprisingly little about what they are, how we experience them and why we have them in the first place. Some psychologists might say we’re low on “emotional literacy.”
This lack of emotional literacy leaves us ill-equipped to manage the variety of emotions we experience on a normal day, let alone during a pandemic. Focusing on naming, expressing and dealing with our emotions — the ones we like and the ones we don’t — is important for our mental health. By learning more about your emotions and how to name them, express them, and deal with them, you can use them to better navigate your daily life, make better decisions and feel more at ease.
What are emotions?
Emotions are sort of like our internal road signs or stoplights, but with the lights flashing in different parts of our bodies in different ways. There’s a subjective part, which is how you feel in the moment — what we might call happiness, sadness or fear. There’s a physiological component, which is how your body reacts to what you’re experiencing (clenched teeth? squeals of delight?). And then there’s often a behavioural component, which is the action you take in response to how you feel.
How are emotions felt in the body?
Emotions physically manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Your breathing or heart rate might speed up or slow down. Your body temperature might rise or fall, leading you to feel warm or cool. Your facial expressions and body language might change — furrowing your brow and slumping your shoulders when you’re feeling frustrated, for instance. And finally, emotions might trigger movements, like tapping your foot or twirling your hair when you’re feeling nervous or impatient.
Why do we have emotions?
First and foremost, emotions are thought to serve an evolutionary purpose. Our ancestors who felt fear and ran away (red light!) when they saw tigers survived, while those who felt nothing did not.
Another way to put it would be to think of emotions as motivators. We are motivated to do things that lead to comfortable emotions (green light!) and avoid doing things that lead to uncomfortable emotions. Once again, this plays a key role in our survival, leading us to seek out food, avoid danger and reproduce.
Emotions also help us communicate and collaborate with others, and therefore play a key role in helping our society run smoothly.
How does naming our emotions help?
Putting our feelings into words can reduce the intensity of negative emotions and make them more manageable.
For example, in a study of people with a spider phobia, researchers found that when participants described the anxiety they were feeling in the presence of a giant tarantula, they were better able to manage their anxiety when they were exposed to the tarantula one week later. In fact, the participants who described their anxiety in greater detail actually experienced the least amount of anxiety, including dulled physical responses like less sweaty palms.
Putting feelings into words is thoughti to decrease activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that drives our responses to fear and stress, and increase activity in the prefrontal control regions, parts of the brain associated with regulating and making sense of emotions.
How emotions connect us with others
According to emotion scientist Marc Brackett, the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, labeling our emotions also helps us describe what we’re going through, which helps us get help from others. We can’t empathize without being in touch with how we’re feeling ourselves, so this language of emotions helps us provide support that matches what someone is feeling, foster connections, commiserate and solve problems together.
By better understanding our emotions, becoming more aware of their effects and labelling them more accurately, we’re better able to make sense of how we’re feeling and act in ways that contribute to greater emotional wellbeing. That’s the power of getting real about how you feel.
If your emotions are overwhelming, persistent and/or are interfering with your daily functioning, it’s important to seek mental health support.
Sources:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/emotion/
https://www.scn.ucla.edu/pdf/Torre(2018)ER.pdf
https://www.marcbrackett.com/a-word-is-a-world/
Affect Labelling Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer,J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x
The largest study of treatment-resistant depression in older adults has found that augmenting commonly used antidepressants with the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole can induce remission of depressive symptoms in 30 per cent of patients.
The results of the Optimizing Outcomes of Treatment-Resistant Depression in Older Adults (OPTIMUM) clinical trial have just been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
CAMH and the University of Toronto collaborated with leading institution the Washington University School of Medicine and several other research centres on the study, which included 742 participants over the age of 60 with treatment-resistant depression, meaning that at least two courses of treatment had been unsuccessful in improving symptoms. Up to one in three people diagnosed with depression are considered treatment resistant.
“There are a lot of myths about depression in older people. It is a myth that older people have higher rates of depression and it is a myth that depression in older people is more resistant to treatment,” said study co-author Dr. Benoit Mulsant, Clinician Scientist at CAMH. “This study shows that there are effective treatments for older people and they can recover and live happier, healthier lives.”
The study compared the efficacy of different medications: One group had aripiprazole (brand name Abilify) added to their existing anti-depressant. Another group had the drug bupropion (brand names Wellbutrin and Zyban) added instead. A third group had lithium added while a fourth and fifth group tapered off the anti-depressant they were using and switched to bupropion or nortriptyline.
Participants in each group reported improvement in their mental health over the 10-week course of treatment, but those who were given aripiprazole improved the most, with 30 per cent of participants showing remission in symptoms, compared to 20 per cent who improved when switched to bupropion.
Typically, when patients do not respond positively to a first course of treatment for mental illness, physicians will try one treatment after another until they find something that works and does not have debilitating side-effects. For example, problems with balance can be a risk factor for some anti-depressants that increase the risk of falls and injury and have a devastating impact on older patients. The OPTIMUM study found that while patients who received aripiprazole or bupropion both showed similar improvements in mental health, those taking bupropion were at greater risk for serious injury due to falls.
“By establishing the likelihood that different treatment options will be effective, and the risks attached to each treatment, we can ensure that we are choosing the best option to help patients with treatment-resistant depression,” said co-author Dr. Daniel Blumberger, Clinician Scientist at CAMH and Director of the Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention. “We may not know for certain which treatments will work, but we know which ones are most likely to. In this way, we can quantify that we are making the best choices for our patients.”
Dr. Mulsant says that research into mental illness treatments for older adults has been lacking compared to other age groups. He and Dr. Blumberger are two of a small number of senior scientists in the world specializing in treatment-resistant depression in late life.
“Over the past 15 years CAMH has become a leader in North America in research into geriatric depression,” said Dr. Mulsant. “That is why colleagues from places like Columbia University and UCLA want to work with us.”
About The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)
CAMH is Canada’s largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit camh.ca or follow @CAMHnews on Twitter.