Would We Leave Our Flu Untreated? Then, Why Ignore Mental Health?
As parents, siblings, or friends, the last thing we often consider is the mental health of someone close to us. In fact, this topic tends to be brushed under the carpet more quickly than a family secret that might cause embarrassment.
This issue becomes even more complicated when we arrive in a country such as Canada, where medical records may be publicly available. How can parents who have immigrated to Canada, seeking a better start for their children, face the stigma of acknowledging that their child has a mental health issue? This raises numerous questions: How can we seek medical assistance for a problem we want to keep hidden? How will our child find a job with such a condition on their record? How will they navigate personal relationships? The questions are many, but the answers are few, causing the problem to fester and worsen over time.
Recent studies have highlighted a concerning increase in young people diagnosed with psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and the associated criminal behavior.
Data shows that new diagnoses among teenagers and young adults aged 14 to 20 have risen by 60% between 1997 and 2023. Those born between 2000 and 2004 are estimated to be 70% more likely to receive a schizophrenia diagnosis than individuals born in the late 1970s.
So, what is schizophrenia? It is a chronic mental health condition characterized by psychotic episodes, during which individuals may lose touch with reality and experience delusions and hallucinations. A primary symptom of schizophrenia is psychosis, defined as a collection of symptoms that makes it difficult for a person to distinguish between reality and imagination.
Researchers from ICES, North York General, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and Bruyère Health Research Institute examined the number of people diagnosed with mental illness by the age of 30. They found that those born in the early 1990s were 38% more likely to receive a psychosis diagnosis compared to individuals born in the late 1970s.
This data does not include cases of psychosis caused solely by mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder, brief psychotic episodes that did not lead to medical treatment, or drug intoxication without a psychosis diagnosis.
The findings, published in the medical journal CMAJ, indicate that individuals born in more recent decades are diagnosed with psychotic illnesses more frequently and at younger ages than their predecessors.
Overall, men were found to be more likely than women to develop psychosis, and individuals with schizophrenia were more likely to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or have a history of mental health issues or substance use.
A leading mental health expert in Ontario suggests that increased drug and cannabis use may be a contributing factor to the rise in schizophrenia, noting a clear correlation between the rise in substance use in Canada and the data findings.
Other potential causes proposed by researchers include increased social and financial stress and difficult or traumatic childhood experiences.
Additionally, there is concern that parents having children later in life could affect sperm and egg quality, potentially influencing the likelihood of such diagnoses.
It is also essential to recognize that improvements in diagnostics and a better understanding of the condition may have contributed to the increase in diagnoses, but further investigation is needed.
This research comes at a time when there has been a surge in violent crimes attributed to psychosis.
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