When we hear “innovations in mental healthcare,” we tend to think about apps or wearables. In today’s episode of Quick Takes – part of our series on innovation – I speak with Daisy Singla, a senior scientist at CAMH and our first womenmind™ scientist. Singla talks about her recent study that expanded access to psychotherapy for perinatal women, reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety by drawing a page from work done in low-income countries. The key concept: training up laypeople to deliver therapy.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

• How effective therapy delivered by non-specialists was for pregnant and postpartum participants
• The surprising impact the study had on trauma symptoms
• The role task-sharing and telemedicine played in the study
• And how a model used in Goa can scale up to help improve maternal mental healthcare in North America

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Quick Takes is a production of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. You can find links to the relevant content mentioned in the show and accessible transcripts of all the episodes we produce online at CAMH.ca.

Follow CAMH Education on X (formerly known as Twitter) @camhEdu

Follow and subscribe to Reading of the Week where, every week, Dr. David Gratzer reviews research papers from the world of psychiatry.

Mindfulness, acupuncture, yoga. These were all once considered alternative treatments – favoured by some patients but lacking in evidence. Times have changed. Mindfulness, for instance, is a psychotherapy mentioned in the depression guidelines. What about yoga?

In today’s Quick Takes episode, I speak with Dr. Vanika Chawla, a psychiatrist, a registered yoga teacher, and an assistant professor at Stanford University, about her experience incorporating yoga into her practice.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Common misconceptions about yoga
• The three key components of yoga-based interventions
• The optimal duration, and frequency of yoga interventions for different diagnoses
• Recent research findings on yoga’s effectiveness

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Quick Takes is a production of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. You can find links to the relevant content mentioned in the show and accessible transcripts of all the episodes we produce online at CAMH.ca.

Follow CAMH Education on X (formerly known as Twitter) @camhEdu

Follow and subscribe to Reading of the Week where, every week, Dr. David Gratzer reviews research papers from the world of psychiatry.

As doctors, we often shy away from discussing our health, especially our mental health — even with our own physicians. That’s unfortunate as doctors have a higher suicide rate than the general population, yet fears of vulnerability, judgment, and stigma keep many of us silent. In this episode of Quick Takes, Dr. Gratzer sat down with Dr. Joss Reimer, president of the Canadian Medical Association, who openly shares her own experiences with depression, as a doctor and as a patient.

In this episode, you will learn:

• About the importance of reaching out and getting help for mental health—whether it's a diagnosed illness or normal stress.
• What it’s like to have your mental health be front-page news.
• How Dr. Reimer would like to change the health care system.
• And what may be the best ice cream shop in the Canada.

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Quick Takes is a production of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. You can find links to the relevant content mentioned in the show and accessible transcripts of all the episodes we produce online at CAMH.ca.

Follow CAMH Education on X (formerly known as Twitter) @camhEdu

Follow and subscribe to Reading of the Week where, every week, Dr. David Gratzer reviews research papers from the world of psychiatry.