From the Editor
Earlier this week, a patient mentioned that, until recent events, he hadn’t heard of Wuhan, China. Today, it would seem, we are all familiar with this city.
Much reporting and commentary have focused on infections and deaths. But what are the psychiatric implications of the outbreak? This week, we have three selections. In the first, we look at a short and thoughtful paper from The Lancet Psychiatry that tries to answer this question. Dr. Yu-Tao Xiang (University of Macao) and his colleagues note: “In any biological disaster, themes of fear, uncertainty, and stigmatisation are common and may act as barriers to appropriate medical and mental health interventions.”
In the second selection, we review a new study that uses an online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy aimed at patients with residual depressive symptoms, involving 460 participants. Zindel V. Segal (University of Toronto) and his co-authors find that the intervention “resulted in significant improvement in depression and functional outcomes compared with [usual depression care] only.”
And in the third selection, Drs. Pier Bryden and Peter Szatmari, both of the University of Toronto, discuss their new book. They open their Globe essay with a simple question: “What can I do to help my child?”
DG
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