LGBT Youth Switch It Up Project Preview

How does hatred feel, sound, and look? Qualitative, creative experiences of homophobia and transphobia are expressed on cards in this video made for LGBTTQI2S youth in Ontario, Canada. A mental health and social problem that causes more mental health issues for its victims. Videos like this one help to spread awareness and acceptance of all people as equally human. A preview of the Switch It Up project for LGBT Youth Line. [Apologies: I didn't realize this video is geoblocked outside Canada due to music copyright. Sorry!]

Inspiration Through Empathy: Peer Support

A short documentary by a student filmmaker about a peer support group in Kelowna, BC, Canada. A group of mental health consumers meets weekly, views a presentation on a topic of their choice, then breaks into smaller groups to talk about their mental health issues and building wellness. Peer support is different than other support services (not a replacement, it’s complementary to professional services) because it’s a space for people to come together with others who truly understand what it’s like to live with a mental illness, providing empathy, reassurance, and connection that can’t be found any other way.

Come out, Come Out Wherever You Are

A call to shake off shame, come out of the closet and be open about mental health issues in order to fight social stigma. Compelling and well-written narration by Michael Kimber of the Colony of Losers blog, along with slick edited images including examples of famous people known to have psychiatric labels.

Greg Murray, The Quality of Life Scale

A collaboration with a psychiatry group at UBC in Vancouver and a Sydney, Australia researcher measuring quality of life in bipolar disorders, separate from its symptoms. Murray describes how they developed a scale, now available for free clinical and individual use (click here), through a series of questionnaires and analyses. They created a useful instrument for the treatment of bipolar disorder that considers important dimensions.

Michalak, E., Murray, G. (2010). Development of the QoL.BD: a disorder-specific scale to assess quality of life in bipolar disorder Bipolar Disorders, 12 (7), 727-740 DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-5618.2010.00865.x

The Brush, the Pen, and Recovery

A documentary about a group of artists who have schizophrenia working out of Cottage Studio, an art studio program for mental health consumers in Hamilton, ON. People discuss their past and present experiences with schizophrenia, and how creating art improves their lives. Art professionals from a nearby commercial gallery join the studio to mount an exhibit. Finally, the artists reflect on what recovery, and art, means to them. “Painting makes me feel like I don’t have to hide,” says one. Click here or on the image above to view the video.

Andre Picard: Mental Health and the Media

An interview with a health reporter for The Globe & Mail, a national Canadian newspaper. Topics include mental health stigma, sensationalization, marginalized issues, and policy. They also talk about reader feedback, and parallels to journalism about breast cancer.

Psychopia

A short student documentary about Vancouver author and artist Sandra Yuen MacKay. She has schizoaffective disorder and asserts, “Despite having a mental illness, I thrive on life.” In this video she and her family talk about her art, advocacy and public speaking, why she wrote a memoir, and the ultimate message that recovery is possible.

Cameron

Candid interview with a Fort McMurray, Alberta man who is homeless and dealing with a drug addiction, talking about the lack of accessible drug rehab programs, a dangerous story of life and death in dumpsters, what it’s like to experience withdrawal, and barriers to treatment. Part of Invisible People Road Trip 2011, a summer’s worth of street interviews with Canadians who are homeless. The short interviews reveal a variety of challenges including mental health issues, abuse, racism, and addictions. Click here for the full series of videos from Canada, and check out blog posts about other mental health issues around the world in the World Mental Health Day blog party.

The Psychologically Healthy Workplace: Leaders’ Perspectives

Employers and labour leaders share practical solutions that have improved mental health in their workplaces. For more information, see the archives and resources at The Bottom Line 2011 conference on psychologically safe workplaces. See also: workplace perspectives from employees.

It’s all in the timing: A psychologist measures how musicians communicate emotion

Dan Levitin designed a psychology experiment using a special player piano to analyze and reproduce a performance without expressive elements, and versions in between. When participants ranked their preference of versions it was found they matched the most expressive, in which a musician uses variations in timing, loudness and softness to convey emotion. In the second brief video, part 2, Levitin discusses implications for synthesized music. Hat tip: Open Culture.