Clinicians have proven few pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments effective for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and eating disorders (ED). However, researchers are exploring new treatment options for those with EDs and BDD including psychedelic-assisted therapies. This systematic review collected and evaluated evidence related to the therapeutic impact psychedelics have on patients diagnosed with EDs and BDD.

The Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health recently released a guide for everyone in the campus community outside of accessibility services to learn how best to support post-secondary students with disabilities.

Click here to download the free Accessibility & Accommodations toolkit

Alcohol-linked causes lead to approximately 17,000 Canadian deaths annually. However, alcohol products sold in Canada are not required to be labelled with their health risks. In this commentary, the authors offer rationales for why it is important to mandate labelling of all alcohol products, summarize Canadian initiatives to legislate alcohol warning labels and address myths and misconceptions about alcohol labels.

In the field of housing and homelessness, the term Housing First describes an evidence-based approach to ending chronic homelessness. However, there is some confusion about what constitutes Housing First. This resource describes the Canadian Housing First Network’s definition of Housing First by defining “what it is not” and “what it is.”

In 2022, Health Canada approved a three-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that decriminalized possession of certain illegal substances for personal use among adults in the province of British Columbia (BC). This exemption includes a cumulative threshold of 2.5 grams of opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and methylenedioxy-methylamphetamine (MDMA). Researchers conducted interviews with people who use drugs in BC to understand the impact of the 2.5-gram threshold and how it might affect people who use drugs.

Of the 1.2 million Canadians taking prescription opioids for chronic pain, more than 10 per cent develop opioid use disorder compared to just 0.2 per cent in the general population. Currently, it is unclear which neurochemical factors put them at risk.

The Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health recently released a toolkit to help those who are looking for ways to better support the mental health and well-being of international students on campus.

This week, Mental Health Research Canada released a new report, Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace, in partnership with Canada Life and Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.

This study examines indicators of mental health in Canadian workplaces. It is informed by data gathered online from over 5,500 respondents by Pollara Strategic Insights in March / April 2023.

A few interesting findings include:

There are few effective treatments for depression in people with bipolar disorder, especially fast-acting ones. Nitrous oxide (an anesthetic also known as laughing gas) has been shown to work quickly in a small set of studies of adults with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder.

All of Ontario is seeing an increase in drug overdoses, but the Northern communities, such as the City of Greater Sudbury, are experiencing an even larger increase. Governments are addressing this problem by approving and funding supervised consumption services, where people who use drugs can bring their own substances and use them under supervision. One such supervised-consumption site, The Spot, was approved in Sudbury but has not received provincial funding.