It's a hard reality that mental illness and substance use often coincide. Combine these factors with poverty and social marginalization, and you have the snowballing problem known as "concurrent disorders." Dr. Bill MacEwan has spent the last 20+ years working with patients in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood that is home to around 20,000 people with almost 25% of the people suffering from mental illness. He's also the medical lead for the city's Downtown Community Court psychiatric teams.  Host Faydra Aldridge speaks with Dr. MacEwan about the intersection of mental illness, drugs, and the criminal justice system.

Additional Resources: 

• Dr. Bill MacEwan Bio
• Mental illness and significant cognitive impairment among marginalized adults in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
• Profound suffering at the heart of our beautiful city seems to defy all attempts to relieve it
• The Hotel Study: Multimorbidity in a Community Sample Living in Marginal Housing
• Building Community Society - for more details about next steps
• Visions Journal: Concurrent Disorders (2004, Vol 2 (1))
  
• Homelessness, Mental Health and Substance Use: Understanding the Connections (Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research)

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On this episode of Look Again we’re asking: what’s at the root of the hesitation around using medication to treat mental illness? How do the medications actually work on the brain? And what other treatments work in combination with medications? Host Faydra Aldridge speaks with Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia.

Additional Resources: 

• Non-Invasive Neurostimulation Therapies (NINET) Laboratory (UBC Department of Psychiatry)
• Safety, tolerability, and risks associated with first- and second-generation antipsychotics: a state-of-the-art clinical review
• Electroconvulsive Therapy: A History of Controversy, but Also of Help
• What is Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT)? [Centre for Addiction and Mental Health] 
• Medications and Complementary Treatments [BC Schizophrenia Society]

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Right now, there's an idea that cannabis is a harmless drug and some people say they use it to help their mental health. But for those predisposed to serious mental illnesses such as Schizophrenia, science tells us it’s not that cut and dry. Host Faydra Aldridge of BCSS, along with her guest Dr. Nick Mathew, a practising addiction and forensic psychiatrist, look at how society grapples with cannabis use in a time of greater legalization; and how cannabis can be both helpful and dangerous to people with mental illness. 

Resources: 
Cannabis use in first episode psychosis: what we have tried and why it hasn’t worked (BMC Medicine) 

Cannabis, Schizophrenia, and Psychosis (BC Schizophrenia Society) 

Cannabinoids for the treatment of mental disorders and symptoms of mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis (The Lancet)

A Review of Human Studies Assessing Cannabidiol's (CBD) Therapeutic Actions and Potential (The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology)

Impact of adolescent marijuana use on intelligence: Results from two longitudinal twin studies (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

Rates and Predictors of Conversion to Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder Following Substance-Induced Psychosis (American Journal of Psychiatry)

Daily Use, Especially of High-Potency Cannabis Drives Earlier Onset of Psychosis (Schizophrenia Bulletin)

Cannabis and Psychosis: A Critical Overview of the Relationship (Current Psychiatry Reports)

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In this special episode, learn about the alarming statistics revealing Schizophrenia as the second-highest risk factor in COVID-19 mortality rates, and discover what it’s like to live through a pandemic with a mental illness. In part one, host Faydra Aldridge is joined by a woman who witnessed how the stress and uncertainty of living in the time of COVID have exacerbated her brother's mental illness. And in part two, we interview Dr. Katlyn Nemani, NYU Langone neuropsychiatrist and lead author of the study that identified concrete connections between COVID-19 and people with schizophrenia in New York City.

Additional Resources:

• Psychiatric Disorders Associated with Increased Mortality From COVID-19
• Mental Illness and COVID-19 Susceptibility in South Korea
• COVID-19 Prevalence and Mortality Among Schizophrenia Patients in Israel
• Premature Mortality Among Adults with Schizophrenia in the US
• Risk Factors for Pneumonia in Patients with Schizophrenia
• COVID-19 Mental Health Supports (Heretohelp)
• COVID-19 & Supporting Someone Living with Schizophrenia (BCSS)
• BCSS' Letter to Dr. Bonnie Henry re: COVID-19 Vaccine

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In this episode, host Faydra Aldridge illuminates the reality of what it's like to experience auditory hallucinations, or “hear voices,” by speaking to people who have lived it. Faydra is joined by Dr. Randall White, the Medical Director of Community Mental Health in Vancouver and the clinical director of the BC Psychosis Program at UBC Hospital, to talk about what is psychosis, what it means, and what to do in a situation when someone is experiencing psychosis.

Resources:

• Early Psychosis Intervention Program
• BC Psychosis Program
• Psychosis – Heretohelp
• Psychosis – BC Schizophrenia Society
• Schizophrenia: Helping Someone Who is Hallucinating – HealthLink BC
• Hallucinations in Schizophrenia
• Auditory Hallucinations in Schizophrenia
• Auditory Hallucination Simulation

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While mental health is a well-covered topic, people often lump it together with mental illness. We want to challenge the idea that disorders like Schizophrenia are 'mental health' issues. Listen in to our first episode of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined, where host Faydra Aldridge of BCSS along with her guest Dr. Diane McIntosh, a clinical assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, look at the difference between the two terms; why mental illness needs its own specific plan of action and more.

Resources:

• Learn more about Dr. Diane McIntosh
• This Is Depression: A Comprehensive, Compassionate Guide for Anyone Who Wants to Understand Depression
• Learn more about mental illness – Heretohelp
• Learn more about mental illness and schizophrenia – BC Schizophrenia Society

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"Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined” is a groundbreaking new podcast brought to you by the BC Schizophrenia Society and supporting partners. The podcast brings forward the humanity of mental illness while dispelling the myths by sharing the voices of medical experts, family members, and people with lived experience with mental illness.

Host Faydra Aldridge, CEO of BCSS, speaks with medical experts, families, and people with lived experience of mental illness to dispel myths and get to the truth. Be prepared for frank conversations, up-to-date medical information, immersive sound design, and stories of hope and resilience. This podcast is for anyone whose life has been touched by mental illness. In other words, it’s for everyone.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.