SZ Magazine Past Issues

Feature Stories

The role of family in treatment, By Melissa Churly
Research has shown that having a strong support network of family and friends plays a crucial role in helping a person with a mental illness achieve a positive outcome and recovery.

Choosing the right mental health professional, by Jennifer Pellegrini
The doctor-patient relationship is one of the most important professional relationships in a person’s life. It is especially important for individuals who are seeking a doctor to help them deal with a mental illness. So how should you go about finding a psychiatrist?

Medication-Following the doctor’s orders, By Michelle Morra-Carlisle
Of the many therapeutic and lifestyle methods of treating a serious mental illness, medication is crucial in controlling psychosis. For many it is a godsend—yet an estimated 40 to 90 percent of patients with schizophrenia don’t take it as prescribed, which almost guarantees a relapse.

Medication tolerance- By Mary Medland
Can a patient develop a tolerance to his or her antipsychotic medication, thereby decreasing its effectiveness? The short answer, most mental health professionals agree, is no.

0 Comments Magpie Media published Friday, March 09, 2012

Cover Stories

Anosognosia versus denial,
Making sense of one of the most misunderstood symptoms often mistaken for denial, anosognosia is a genuine inability to see that a problem exists….
 
Fighting the causes of sleep disruptions
Many of us are sleep deprived; in the mental health community, it is unclear whether sleep disruptions are more frequent among people with schizophrenia or on par with the rest of the population…

Fact versus fiction: Long-acting injectables
Patients play a big role in their own recovery and must take their medication regularly, but life’s many distractions can make it easy to miss doses. This is why some patients and doctors choose long-acting injectables …
 
Much More!

0 Comments Magpie Media published Friday, January 06, 2012

Taking Back Control: Learning to Cope with Voices
Hearing voices is a form of hallucination in which a person perceives sounds without an external auditory stimulus. In other words, hearing things that aren’t real. Auditory hallucinations are one of the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, affecting about 70 percent of patients. What causes people to hear what others cannot, and how can you keep the voices at bay when medication fails?

0 Comments Magpie Media published Monday, September 19, 2011

Seeking wellness
A look at the services provided at mental health facilities Mental health treatment centers vary as widely as the people who live with mental illness. These centers include everything from short-stay crisis treatment to forensic, faith-focused, and long-term residential care. SZ Magazine examines six randomly selected facilities run by private corporations, non-profit organizations, and provincial governments.

1 Comments Magpie Media published Friday, July 01, 2011

Seeing isn’t always believing
Hallucinations and delusions are very real for people with schizophrenia.At the age of 23, the voices had become so constant that Bryn Ditmars was hearing them 24 hours a day. “They would be there with me when I woke up in the morning and stay with me until I went to bed at night.” It was constant commentary and criticism.” And, combined with the internal voices, Ditmars experienced continuous delusions. Both can be key factors in diagnosing a mental illness. Medication and cognitive behavioral therapy can help these two common symptoms of schizophrenia.

0 Comments Magpie Media published Friday, April 01, 2011

Testing tolerance
Canadian scientists are targeting clozapine response through a new EEG study. Help is here, like it or not.

0 Comments Magpie Media published Saturday, January 01, 2011