Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
BC Schizophrenia Society
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"Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined” is a groundbreaking podcast brought to you by the BC Schizophrenia Society and supporting partners. Host Faydra Aldridge, CEO of BCSS, and co-host Melissa McKenna, Marketing and Communications Manager at BCSS, speak 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.
3 Listeners
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Top 10 Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Schizophrenia: People & Perceptions
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
06/08/22 • 22 min
Most people have seen movies or TV shows that have used schizophrenia as part of their story. But how often do we stop to think about what those representations actually mean or look like? Do they portray the experience of people living with schizophrenia accurately? As studies have shown, schizophrenia is one of the conditions that the general public views most negatively and generates a lot of stigma. Societal stigma is one aspect, but for those living with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, there's an additional challenge of managing their own internalized stigma when it comes to being diagnosed with schizophrenia. However, there are people living with schizophrenia who are trying to change that. One of those people is Adria Roberts, who works as a mental health peer support worker. It's a job she says gave her hope and helped her regain her life after her diagnosis. In this episode, she shares how she came to terms with her diagnosis.
Resources:
- Lost in Reality: Hearing Voices - Adria Roberts' TEDxChilliwack Talk
- Read: Into the Eye of the Storm - The Chilliwack Times (pp: 1, 23)
- Follow Adria on Twitter: @adria_the
- Watch Adria on CBC's 'You Can’t Ask That' – S2E4: Schizophrenia
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3 Listeners
Me & My Three Mothers: Life with Schizophrenia
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
11/09/22 • 28 min
If you’re the child of a parent who lives with mental illness, you can be faced with a lot of tough challenges. You may feel overwhelmed, sad, scared or even angry. You may resent your parent for not being like the other parents. Or you could also wind up as a caregiver and try to fix everything. In her lifetime, Dr. Grace Cho, author of her memoir Tastes Like War, says she has had three mothers. The mother of her childhood, before schizophrenia. The mother of her adolescence, a woman who is visibly deteriorating mentally. And the mother now, a woman trapped by schizophrenia and the voices and delusions that it brings. In this episode, Dr. Cho reflects on her journey from teenager to adulthood and how her mother’s schizophrenia shaped the direction of her life and her work. She talks about the social factors that left her mother feeling vulnerable and the stigma that prevented her from getting treatment. And how she found a way to build a loving relationship and connect with her mother.
Resources:
Grace Cho's Book: Tastes Like War
KIC Children's BookletKelty Mental Health Resource CentreSupporting Children of Parents with Mental Illness in the Classroom (Heretohelp)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1 Listener
Breaking The Silence: Desi Mental Illness
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
02/09/22 • 29 min
In many cultures around the world, mental illness is still highly stigmatized and rarely talked about. Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at how mental illness is viewed and talked about in the South Asian Community, one of the largest ethno-cultural groups in Canada. Talking about mental illness, getting help, or even getting diagnosed is hindered by generational gaps, language barriers, and perceived taboos, just to name a few.
In this episode, we’ll hear four voices sharing their personal experiences of serious mental illness within the South Asian Community, and speak to Kulpreet Singh, founder of the South Asian Mental Health Alliance. Since 2010, Kulpreet has been tackling these disparities and trying to raise awareness and reduce stigma around mental health -- and serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia by leveraging the expertise and influence of second-generation South Asian Canadians.
This is going to be an honest talk about how culture can play a role in how mental illnesses are seen and treated, in particular within the South Asian community.
Resources for show notes:
- South Asian Mental Health Alliance
- Advocates call for more targeted mental health support for South Asian Community during pandemic (CBC News)
- Silence on mental illness nearly killed Karandeep Gill. Now her honest is helping others (CTV News)
- Need to Culturally Adapt and Improve Access to Evidence-Based Psychosocial Interventions for Canadian South-Asians: A Call to Action (Community Journal of Mental Health)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bridge the Gap -- Mental Health and Substance Use
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
06/09/21 • 15 min
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)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Introducing Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
03/10/21 • 1 min
"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.
Behind Getting Committed
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
10/12/22 • 22 min
It is not an easy decision to call the police or an ambulance to take a loved one to a psychiatric facility - all in the hopes that they get the treatment they need and deserve. But sometimes people with an untreated mental illness lose insight into the fact they are ill and will not accept voluntary treatment, even when their illness may be causing harm to themselves or others. The BC Mental Health Act allows people experiencing a serious mental health crisis to get help through involuntary treatment. But what's the impact of that decision on a family member? And what happens to someone once they are admitted to a psychiatric facility? In this episode, you'll meet Vanessa Nelson. Vanessa’s daughter, Mira, was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 18 and is now 22. In these few years, Mira has been involuntarily detained under the BC Mental Health Act many times. This is Vanessa's journey through the twists and turns of her daughter's mental illness and the role involuntary treatment has played in keeping her daughter alive.
Resources:
BC Mental Health Act in Plain Language
What does it mean to be certified - Here2help
Demystifying the Mental Health Act - Webinar by BCMHSUS
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Psych Meds: The Whole Story
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
01/11/23 • 24 min
Like any prescription medication, Abilify, Risperdal, Clozapine, and other anti-psychotics have side effects. And like any medication, they are prescribed to help a person manage an illness. Anti-psychotics can help with a number of different illnesses, but often used to help manage a person's symptoms of schizophrenia, including paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. However, there’s a movement that wants to shift mainstream thinking away from using medication to manage the symptoms of a serious mental illness. It's encouraging people to accept and live with the symptoms of serious mental illness, symptoms like voices, hallucinations, and other symptoms. It’s a controversial topic and we’ve brought back a familiar voice from our first season – Dr. Diane McIntosh, Psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia. In this episode, we talk about the use of medications in treating serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
Resources:Dr. Diane McIntosh - Bio
Blindsided - Dr. Diane McIntosh's podcast
Antipsychotic Selection Is Important for Reduced Nonadherence in Schizophrenia
Look Again Season 1, Episode 5: The Truth Behind Psychiatric Medication
Anti-Psychotic Medication - CAMH
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Break from Reality: Psychosis + Violence
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
10/26/22 • 23 min
While there's no way to predict whether a person with a mental illness will become violent, there's still a common understanding that those diagnosed with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, are unpredictably aggressive. This can be seen in how people living with mental illness, substance use, and violence are portrayed through the news, TV, or movies. But these misconceptions can fuel the stigma towards people living with severe and persistent mental illness. How do we address the role that violence plays in the lives of people living with a mental illness and everybody else around them? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Rakesh Lamba, who is the medical director with BC Mental Health and Substance Use Services, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, and someone with a wealth of experience conducting risk assessments with Correctional Services Canada and the Parole Board of Canada.
Resources:
Schizophrenia - Warning Signs of Voilence
Dr. Rakesh Lamba’s bio
PHSA Forensic Psychiatric Services
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mental Illness and Police: A Hopeful Story
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
06/23/21 • 18 min
Serious question: Why is it that when people show signs of serious mental illness or psychosis -- calling the police for help is often viewed as a "last resort" by families and loved ones? Historically, when law enforcement and mental illness intersect, the results have been patchy. But Sgt. Cara Thomson of Surrey RCMP's Police Mental Health Outreach team wants to change that. Her unit handles police-related mental health and addiction calls for service and staffs the Car 67 program, where a registered Psychiatric Nurse rides with a police officer, attending mental health calls. Sgt. Thomson joins host Faydra Aldridge for a candid conversation about mental health, violence, and law enforcement.
Additional Resources
- Combining Police with Nurses for Mental Health Calls Isn't BC's First Came in 1978
- Breaking the Cycle of Crisis: The role of police in crisis intervention (Visions Journal, 2017, Vol 12(4))
- Building Connections with Police Mental Health Resources
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hope on the Horizon: The scientific pursuit of a cure for mental illness
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined
02/14/24 • 33 min
In this episode, our discussion revolves around a controversial question: Can mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, be cured? We tackle that question and more with a distinguished guest, Dr. Daniel Weinberger, the director and CEO of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development. Together, we discuss the complexities of researching the sources of mental illness and the age-old nurture versus nature discussion. Driven by the pursuit of answers, we navigate the nuanced concept of 'curing mental illness,' covering genetic studies, cutting-edge research, and unexpected connections, like the intriguing role of the placenta. Brace yourselves for a journey into the unknown terrains of mental illness.
Resources:
Lieber Institute For Brain Development: https://www.libd.org/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined have?
Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined currently has 37 episodes available.
What topics does Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined cover?
The podcast is about Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Medicine and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined?
The episode title 'Schizophrenia: People & Perceptions' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined?
The average episode length on Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined is 22 minutes.
How often are episodes of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined released?
Episodes of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined are typically released every 14 days.
When was the first episode of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined?
The first episode of Look Again: Mental Illness Re-Examined was released on Mar 10, 2021.
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