Tag: Bland

Reading of the Week: Cancer & Suicide & Good News – the New Transl Psychiatry Study; Also, AI & Therapy Dropouts, and Bland on Her Father & His D-Day

From the Editor

He was so overwhelmed by the cancer diagnosis that he didn’t eat or sleep for days. “It was my worst nightmare.” My patient isn’t alone in that devastating experience, of course – the diagnosis and treatment of cancer is a major life event. Not surprisingly, the suicide rate is roughly double that of the general population in the United States. But with increasing psychosocial interventions, how has this changed over time?

In the first selection, Qiang Liu (of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences) and his co-authors attempt to answer that question in a new paper for Translational Psychiatry. Drawing on 40 years of data and a major US database, they analyzed the journeys of five million cancer patients, discovering good news. “We revealed a gradual increase in cancer-related suicide rates from 1975 to 1989, followed by a gradual decrease from 1989 to 2013, and a marked decrease from 2013 to 2017.” Indeed, between 2013 and 2017, the rate dropped by 27%. We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, Sakiko Yasukawa (of the Sony Corporation) and her co-authors aimed to reduce dropouts from psychotherapy using AI. In a new paper for BMJ Mental Health, they describe an RCT involving 149 people. “The results suggest that the personalised messages sent by the chatbot helped participants control their pace in attending lessons and improve programme adherence without human guidance.”

Last week marked the anniversary of D-Day with ceremonies, including in Normandy. What was the toll on those who returned home? In the third selection, an essay published in The Globe and Mail, Normanne Bland describes her father and his time in Europe. She writes about him with mixed feelings, coloured by his mental health problems, including PTSD. “I had a complicated relationship with my father. I was proud of his service but I loathed his drinking.”

There will be no Reading next week.

DG

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Reading of the Week: The Best of 2018

From the Editor

It’s an annual Reading of the Week tradition. At the end of each year, we pause, take stock, and consider the best selections of the past 12 months.

new-year-2018

2018 was an eventful year.

Start here: the federal government legalized the recreational use of cannabis.

We have heard so much about legalization over these past few years, that the event itself seemed almost anti-climactic. But remember: Canada is only the second country in the world to do this.

And 2018 has seen further evidence that stigma continues to fade: governments across the country have committed themselves to increased funding for mental health; more people spoke of their experiences with mental illness; more people talked about previously taboo topics, such as suicide.

And so with an eye on the future, let’s look back at the last year. In this final Reading of 2018, we look at a few memorable selections. Enjoy.

Please note that there will be no Reading for the next two weeks.

DG

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Reading of the Week: A 20th Century Medical Renaissance Man – the Life & Legacy of Dr. Roger Bland

From the Editor

Few individuals have contributed more to the evolution psychiatry, the promotion of mental health, or served as a more committed and effective advocate for the mentally ill than Dr. Roger C. Bland. He inspired us, he guided us, he mentored us and enriched us. He was a father figure to many – a voice of experience, compassion, reason and intelligence we could always count on.

Simply put, Dr. Bland was a great man.

Dr. Roger Bland had a storied career.

He was a practicing psychiatrist for decades. He also held many leadership and administrative positions over the years: Chair of the University of Alberta’s Department of Psychiatry, President of the Alberta Psychiatric Association, Vice-President International Federation of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Assistant Deputy Minister of Health for Alberta, and Deputy Editor of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. For his accomplishments, he was appointed to the Order of Canada. He also found time to be a father and grandfather. And he was an accomplished chef.

He passed at the end of July.

orderofcanadaDr. Roger Bland being invested in the Order of Canada

I had a few interactions with Dr. Bland. A couple of years ago, at the CPA Annual Conference, we started to talk about suicide prevention after a colleague’s presentation, and we ended up debating our interpretation of several papers. I remember breaking into a slight sweat as I realized that he had a near encyclopedic knowledge of the literature.

But if he could be tough in a discussion, he was an amazing collaborator. At the request of a younger colleague, I once asked Dr. Bland for input into a collaborative care project. He was generous of his time and very thoughtful. (Dr. Bland had been a founding member of the Canadian Collaborative Mental Health Initiative, which involved a dozen organizations; he testified before Parliament on the work of this Initiative.) Yet, he had no hesitation talking about how to structure a partnership with primary care and even how to think about our documentation – pro-tip: keep the notes short and focused; family doctors are busy.

In this Reading, we consider the life and contributions of Dr. Roger Bland.

I asked Dr. Scott Patten, the editor-in-chief of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, to write about him – his work and also what it was like to work with him. Dr. Patten also discusses some of Dr. Bland’s most important papers.

For those who wish to read more about Dr. Bland, I’ve included links to his Globe and Mail obituary. There is also a link to the University of Alberta Department of Psychiatry’s monthly newsletter where colleagues reflect on his life and legacy – the opening quotation is from Dr. Xin-Min Li, the Chair; and Dr. Bland gives an interview – his last – on his career (spoiler alert: his training included 10,000 home visits).

DG

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