I have a love-hate relationship with my friend, and fellow Douglas blogger, Cam Zacchia. I hate Cam because he writes infinitely more interesting blogs then I do. I love him because he doesn’t brag about it.I also appreciate Cam because he stimulates my cerebral cortex. Cam loves to pose interesting questions. I wish I had [...]
Tag Archives: mental illness
It depends: The difference between stigma and wisdom
As an academic, I cherish debate and reflection. Of course, it is one thing to be challenged by someone who may have some reservations about my views about the mind-body debate or my thoughts about when and where the Habs will bring home cup number 25. To be questioned on your personal beliefs takes us [...]
Stigma and mental illness: The Joy of Cooking
For those of you who may have become accustomed to a more light-hearted treatment of issues related to mental health: You may want to skip this entry. Why? Because I’m mad as hell and I don’t want to take it anymore. The source of my disaffection? The results of a survey commissioned by the Canadian [...]
Stress and diathesis OR psychological tales of wise Achilles
In my last entry, I lamented the lack of progress we have made in understanding the causes of mental disorders. Before I get accused of being an eternal pessimist, let me clarify the point I was trying to make. All I was trying to do was to emphasize that we need a lot more research [...]
Exciting causes of insanity
My good and true friend, Ray Barillaro (who is our resident audio-visual guru at the Douglas) took time out of his busy schedule to send me the table above. It’s from the 1893 annual report of the Douglas (in those days called the Verdun Protestant Hospital for the Insane). It shows the best guesses of [...]
