Tag: Silver

Reading of the Week: Postsecondary Students & Mental Illness (CJP), a New Podcast (CAMH), and Bipolar & Social Media (NYT)

From the Editor

Social media. An uncertain job market. Increasing academic demands.

Is life for our postsecondary students harder than ever? And are we seeing a surge in mental health disorders as a result?

In the first selection, we consider a new Canadian Journal of Psychiatry paper on postsecondary education and mental illness. While many have opinions on this topic, the University of Toronto’s Kathryn Wiens and her co-authors seek to add data to the discussion. Drawing on the Canadian Community Health Survey, they find: “The results do not imply the emergence of a mental health crisis among postsecondary students.”

graduation-feature-20131011

In the second selection, we look at a new podcast considering technology and education. I interview some accomplished educators, including the University of Toronto’s David Goldbloom. “This is about challenging our own norms, values and expectations as clinicians.”

And in the final selection, we consider a New York Times essay on bipolar and social media. “Facebook snitched our big family secret: Roland, the literary prodigy, the tenderhearted musician, the Ivy League grad, was bipolar.”

DG

 

Continue reading

Reading of the Week: Social Media & Paranoia — the new Acta Paper; Also, How Do We Change Docs? A Reader Responds

From the Editor

Politicians tweet about townhall meetings; celebrities put vacation pictures on Instagram; your cousin in Europe has her own YouTube channel.

Our world is very different than it was just a few short years ago. (Fun fact: Facebook – a decade and a half old – claims to have more than 2 billion active monthly users.)

But how has social media affected those with mental illness? While this is much discussed in the media, there is little in the literature. In this week’s Reading, we consider a new paper that looks at social media and mental illness, in particular psychosis. Tweet this: the University of Manchester’s Natalie Berry and her co-authors didn’t find a connection between use of social media and increased paranoia.

BELCHATOW POLAND - MAY 02 2013: Modern white keyboard with colored social network buttons.

In this week’s Reading, we consider this new paper from Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. We also wonder about the role of the Internet and social media for those with psychosis, drawing from a Psychiatric Services paper.

Also, the University of Toronto’s Dr. Ivan Silver writes a letter to the editor about a previous Reading.

DG

 
Continue reading