In a society where trauma is either relegated to the abnormal or used as a catch-all term, Dr. Gabor Maté delves into the question of what constitutes trauma in our current day culture. In his book “The Myth of Normal” Dr. Maté, a retired physician with expertise in addiction, trauma, and childhood development, explains trauma […]
Knowing how to find emotional balance in life is important because we all experience ups and downs. By developing mindfulness and bringing perspective to our experience, we can learn to respond to our emotions rather than react to them. Let me share with you a story I heard some years ago at a meditation retreat. […]
[trigger warning: mentions of suicide] “Jeremy” is a song written by the band Pearl Jam’s lead singer Eddie Vedder and featured on the band's debut album Ten. The song takes inspiration from a newspaper article about a 15 year old boy named Jeremy Wade Delle who Richardson, Texas who took his own life in front […]
"Mr. Brownstone" is a song written by Guns N' Roses guitarists Izzy Stradlin and Slash and featured on the band's debut album Appetite for Destruction. The song talks about the band's shared struggle with addiction to heroin and how it affected them. The term "brownstone" is common slang for heroin, and the song describes how […]
Autism spectrum disorder has been underestimated in girls, women, non-binary people and other minorities. Boys are 4 times more likely to receive an autism diagnosis than girls. Further, being Hispanic or Black also reduces the likelihood of receiving an autism diagnosis compared to their white peers. These disparities could be mostly related to the fact […]
Organ transplants are on the rise. In Canada alone, transplant surgeries have increased by 22% from 2011 to 2020. But wait times make for great uncertainty and stress. Five years ago, Frank (name changed for anonymity) was put on an organ donation waitlist, which can take from 5 to 10 years. He and his wife […]
Hoarding is often mocked, stigmatized, and used as entertainment in shows like Hoarders, on the Art and Entertainment Network. Previously regarded as a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), in 2013, hoarding was designated as a separate disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V on hoarding behaviour in western culture found approximately 2 of 100 […]
Art has long been used as a form of expression, often giving a peek into the artist’s deepest thoughts and feelings. The benefits from this form of expression have led to the development of art therapy in the 1940s. Since then, the practice has gained popularity and has been integrated into clinical treatments globally. Often […]
“Wake Me Up When September Ends” is a song written by the lead singer of the band Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong who is talking about his struggles with grief after the passing of his father. His father passed away of cancer when the lead singer was only ten years old. In an interview Billie […]
The song “29” written by singer Demi Lovato (she/them) for her eighth album tells the story of her traumatic, age-inappropriate relationship with Wilmer Valderrama, who met when she was 17 and he was 29. They dated for six years after her 18th birthday. For a long time, Lovato continued to say that their relationship was […]