Tag: involuntary treatment

Reading of the Week: Psychosocial Care After War – The New Lancet Psych Paper; Also, AI vs Physicians (JAMA) and the Latest in the News

September 10, 2026 / / 0 Comments

From the Editor

He survived the civil war. But nightmares haunted him and he rarely left his apartment. My patient had survived, yes, but his mental health problems, untreated in his home country, tormented him. In a world of war and violence, my patient’s experiences – the mental illness and the lack of care – are all too common. 

With few psychiatrists and psychologists, could non-specialist providers help fill the treatment gap? Anushka R. Patel (of Harvard University) and her co-authors attempt to answer that question in an impressive new systematic review and meta-analysis published in Lancet Psychiatry. Drawing on a quarter century of studies and involving more than 10 000 survivors, they compared non-specialist care with a relatively inactive control. “Our findings support the overall effectiveness of non-specialist provider-delivered psychosocial interventions for violence survivors…” We consider the paper and its implications.

In the second selection, from JAMA, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel and his co-authors write thoughtfully if controversially about artificial intelligence. While many assume that medicine will be reshaped by the collaboration of physicians and computers, they suggest otherwise, focusing on five cognitive medical tasks. “That in the near future AI alone may provide better patient care than physicians or physician-controlled hybrids at 5 fundamental cognitive medical tasks is unsettling but seems probable.”

Finally, we review the latest news with articles from The Toronto Star, The Wall Street Journal, and The Globe and Mail. The topics: addiction treatment, the bias of therapists, and the PTSD and research of Margaret McKinnon.

DG

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Reading of the Week: Lived Experience of Postpartum Depression & Psychosis – the New World Psych Paper; Also, Involuntary Treatment and Family Stress

May 15, 2025 /

From the Editor

“You are normal and then the next thing, you know, you’re crazy.”

So comments a woman about her postpartum depression. Typically, we describe this illness with a list of symptoms. But how do patients experience it? In a new World Psychiatry paper, Dr. Paolo Fusar-Poli (of King’s College London) and his co-authors attempt to answer this question with a “bottom-up” approach, looking at both postpartum depression and psychosis. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first bottom-up review of the lived experience of postpartum depression and psychosis. Experts by experience co-designed, co-conducted and co-wrote the study, leveraging an established methodological template developed by our group to investigate the lived experience of psychosis [and] depression…” We look at the paper and its implications.

Should people with substance problems be forced into treatment? Across North America, some are proposing this idea, including governments in British Columbia and Alberta. In a new Canadian Journal of Psychiatry paper, Benedikt Fischer (of the University of Toronto) and his co-authors look at the issue and the evidence. “Involuntary treatment for severe SUD is a complex and contentious concept that requires careful in-depth consideration before its adoption.”

In the third selection, a paper written anonymously for The BMJ, the author describes the challenges for families of those with severe mental disorders. He notes his deep frustration with visits to the ward, often leaving him in tears. “Perhaps family support needs to become part of the culture on mental health wards, and we should recognise the need for help in communicating.”

DG


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