In the heart of downtown Toronto sits a trailblazer in the mental health field—Workman Arts, the world’s longest-running multidisciplinary organization for arts and mental health.[1] Workman Arts has overwhelmingly evidenced the benefits of engaging those with mental illness with the arts, through the many artistic careers and passions that they continue to foster. The organization […]
While it is obvious that negative representations of mental illness in media – such as stereotyping in film and television, and overrepresentation in news – have perpetuated stigma, this harmful influence appears to have persisted in new and unique ways.[1] In recent years, some media outlets have begun to romanticize—that is, to reframe as desirable—those […]
Academic studies conducted in Europe, New Zealand, and America during the past 20 years have shown that a significant minority of the world population—5% to 13%—hear voices that other people cannot[1]. This statistic includes people who do and do not suffer from a related physical or mental illness. [1] It is difficult to describe […]
Some bands are born of positive beginnings. Social Mystics is no exception. Born in 2007, this group was developed by the arts-based occupational therapy program, the Creative Works Studio (CWS). Situated in Toronto, CWS is run by St. Michael’s Hospital, in partnership with the Good Shepherd Non-Profit Homes Inc. They offer therapeutic arts programming to […]
Media sources have long since adored stories about ‘psychopaths,’ including classic cinematic villains like Hannibal Lector and Alex DeLarge, more recent television antiheroes like Dexter Morgan and Frank Underwood, and real-life examples like Jeffrey Dahmer and Robert Pickton. The term has come up repeatedly through the American presidential race, through accusations that both Donald Trump […]
Early in 2015, researchers concluded that genes and the environment play an equal role in human development based on the results obtained of over 50 years of research with 14.5 million sets of twins, putting rest to the infamous nature-nurture debate [1]. While conscious lifestyle choices can control the phenotype of our genetics to a […]
Fall, cities, and mental health. What do these three things have in common? Today, more human beings live in urban areas than ever before. Tomorrow, that number will grow. Urban centres have a lot to offer — convenience, better access to services — but is it just a coincidence that as urbanization has increased, there […]
“On days when I’m not sure what the journey is or why I’m on it, I can still be sure what the journal is and why I write,” states author Christina Baldwin in the very first chapter of her book “Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Practice” [1]. Journaling is seen as a reflective […]
One late Friday night, I sipped away at my cup of coffee and mindlessly scrolled through dozens of Facebook posts. Wedding images. Typical. An adorable cat video. Predictable. A status stating, “I HATE my life! No one cares, goodbye.” Wait a minute. Let me backtrack there. Such an alarming statement was posted by a casual […]
Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his book Nicomachean Ethics [1], claimed that happiness is the ultimate goal of human existence. Today, about 2300 years after this claim, academic research has taken on a serious study of happiness and the role of positive emotions [2]. While negative emotions such as pain, sadness, and anxiety alert us that […]