CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health articles from December 2004

CrossCurrents - The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health archives from December 2004

Note from the editor.(Editorial)
December 22, 2004... This issue of CrossCurrents focuses on sexual orientation and gender, often-overlooked but important considerations in addressing mental health and substance use issues. The terminology used to describe the diversity of sexual orientations and...

CAMH courses available through the Internet.(news from CAMH)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... CAMH has recently made some of its education courses available online. The courses are interactive and engaging, with cutting-edge content and facilitators who are experts in their field. CAMH's online courses are professional and rigorous,...

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett visits CAMH.(news from CAMH)
December 22, 2004... On November 9, the Honourable Carolyn Bennett visited CAMH to announce health research funding on behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Minister Bennett announced $74 million in funding for Ontario scientists and highlighted the...

New Psychiatric and Addiction Nursing Research Chair.(news from CAMH)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Dr. Carles Muntaner has been appointed the first-ever Psychiatric and Addiction Nursing Research Chair at the University of Toronto and has been hired as a research scientist in CAMH's Culture, Community and Health Section. He joins the Faculty...

12th Annual Rendezvous with Madness a success.(news from CAMH)
December 22, 2004... CAMH'S Workman Theatre Project hosted its 12th Annual Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival from November 11 to 25. The festival received very positive attention from the mainstream media. It was described by the National Post as a "smartly...

Youth treatment system a signature effort in the world of integration.(profile)
December 22, 2004... "Three doors, one process." That's how one member of the integrated management team for the Thunder Bay Youth Addictions System describes the pathway by which youth in Thunder Bay, Ontario, can get help for concurrent mental health and...

Kirby report calls for national mental health and addiction strategy.(news)(Interview)
December 22, 2004... This Q&A is based on an interview with Senator Michael Kirby, chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. In November, the committee released Canada's first-ever report on the mental health and addiction...

Substance use decreases medication adherence, increases relapse.(news)
December 22, 2004... It's the long weekend and it's Anthony's birthday, so he plans to celebrate. He has been doing well on the antipsychotic medication he started taking six months ago for schizophrenia, but he decides it won't do any harm to skip his meds for...

Harnessing the benefits of animal-assisted therapy.(news)
December 22, 2004... Mental health professionals and researchers are confirming what pet owners have always known: Relationships with animals have many mental health and psychosocial benefits. These benefits are increasingly being harnessed by animal-assisted...

Adverse maternal conditions affect offspring's suicide risk.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Adverse pregnancy and maternal-related conditions may be associated with an increased risk of suicide in adolescent offspring, according to a prospective study out of Stockholm, Sweden. The researchers studied a cohort of 713,370 individuals...

Needle exchange users take fewer HIV risks.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Injection drug users who take part in needle exchange programs are less likely than other injection drug users to engage in drug-related behaviours that increase the risk of HIV transmission, according to researchers at the University of...

Early puberty linked to early substance use.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Children who enter puberty at an early age are more likely to have issues with alcohol, cannabis and tobacco use, according to researchers in Melbourne, Australia. The researchers surveyed 5,769 10-to-15-year-olds in Washington, in the United...

Gene may link depression and alcohol dependency.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine have identified a gone that seems to be linked to both alcohol dependency and depression. Previous studies have suggested that common genes may underlie the two disorders and that they...

Therapy as effective as medication for social anxiety disorder.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... Antidepressants and talk therapy are equally effective in treating social anxiety disorder, according to researchers at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Previous studies have found that antidepressants, particularly the selective...

Amygdala may be involved in extinguishing fears.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... The part of the brain involved in "unlearning" fears may be the same as that implicated in learning fears in the first place, according to researchers at New York University. This brain region for forgetting fears, the amygdala, had already...

ER intervention may reduce alcohol use.(research update)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... A brief intervention can reduce the alcohol use of individuals who present to emergency departments with a history of alcohol use issues, according to researchers at Imperial College in London, in the United Kingdom. In this single-blind trial,...

Better dead than queer: youth suicide and discrimination in a heterosexual world.(focus)
December 22, 2004... KIDS DON'T KILL THEMSELVES BECAUSE THEY'RE GAY. That's absurd. At least that's what Roz Michaels used to think. Twelve years ago, her 21-year-old son Bruce jumped to his death at Grand Canyon's No Name Point. He left a suicide note explaining...

Straight talk: creating bridges between health care providers and the LGBT community.(focus)(Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered)
December 22, 2004... AFTER LISA WORKS THROUGH ALL THE COMPLICATED emotions that accompany heading into a substance use treatment program, she swings the clinic's front doors open and heads to reception. She's given a questionnaire that asks for some basic personal...

The doctor is in: sexual minority physicians still serve in silence.(focus)
December 22, 2004... "We expend a lot of energy coping with homophobia that the institution throws at us--a ton of energy that we can turn instead toward making ourselves better doctors."--ONTARIO MEDICAL STUDENT, 2000 IN 1973, THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC...

Double jeopardy: building strong communities to fight homophobia and racism.(focus)
December 22, 2004... FRANK BRAWN IS GAY. HE KNEW THAT BY AGE SIX. NOW, more than five decades later, and married with children, he's certain about one more thing--he will never come out as a gay man, not to his wife and grown children, and certainly not to the...

The woman inside: gender reassignment surgery follows half a century as an outsider.(focus)(Column)
December 22, 2004... AT FIRST, YOU JUST KNOW, WITH THE DEEPEST UNDERstanding that any child can have, that you are "different." You really try, but when you do what makes you feel good inside, the outside world quickly makes you understand that it is bad. Those...

Meth, men and myths: substance use and the gay club scene: this Q&A is based on an interview with Nick Boyce, harm reduction co-ordinator with the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT), a community-based organization that provides support, HIV prevention and education services for people living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS.(q & a)(Interview)
December 22, 2004... Why did ACT recently create the gay men's harm reduction co-ordinator position? Recent ACT research found a high rate of drug use in the gay club scene, and a lot of gay men were asking for information. At the same time, the City of...

Paradigms of Personality Assessment: converging and diverging approaches.(Book Review)
December 22, 2004... Paradigms of Personality Assessment caps the career of its author, Jerry S. Wiggins, a leading theorist and researcher in personality assessment who worked for much of his life at the University of British Columbia, and who spent his...

Sexual orientation and gender resources on the web.(downloaded)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2004... For the public For Canadians, the Canadian Health Network (www.canadian-health-network.ca) is always a reliable source for health consumers. Select the topic "Sexuality/Reproductive Health," and then use the "Quick Searches" pull-down menu...

Roadblocks in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: rethinking the challenges.(Book Review)
December 22, 2004... In Roadblocks in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, editor Robert Leahy tries to shed light on how cognitive therapy commonly breaks down and how to handle or prevent problems. The term "roadblocks" was chosen advisedly. Since his first book,...

Banning doping in sport: an impossible dream.(the last word)
December 22, 2004... OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, THE fight against doping in sport has picked up steam. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was created in 1999; a new World Anti-Doping Code has been signed and an international treaty on doping is being negotiated...

Conferences.(Calendar)
December 22, 2004... CANADA Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: "Equality of Access--Rights and the Right Thing to Do" February 24-26, Victoria, British Columbia Contact: Interprofessional Continuing Education, University of British Columbia, 2194 Health...