Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program

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Did you find what you were looking for? A personal message from the website administator

Did you find what you were looking for? That’s what the check out person often asks me as I’m getting ready to pay for a purchase at one of the big-box stores. At first I thought it was a silly thing for them to ask, but the more I contemplated on the question, the more [...]

Early Intervention Approaches to Mental Health Services can Save the UK up to £50 Million Per Year

A London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and King’s College London study has shown that by providing an early intervention service approach rather than standard mental health care for one cohort of patients with psychosis, the UK could save £40 million per year in the short term, £33 million in the medium term [...]

New from the Beacon Program

Beacon Program is a unique and exciting community based Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) program for young people with severe and persistent mental disorders. Located in a beautiful new building in the Annapolis Valley, it is a voluntary program that empowers individuals to make choices, gain skills, and find a more satisfying life in the community with [...]

check out teenmentalhealth.org

Our colleagues at teenmentalhealth.org have been putting tremendous effort and heart into developing new resource materials to help teens, their families, their teachers, health care professionals and all of us better understand the mental health issues that arise for teens. Check out the new resources, the ongoing blog and all the other features at teenmentalhealth.org

Video poem: Superhero

The Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia has created a video poem called ‘ Super-hero”. The poem was written by Laura Burke, a Nova Scotia early psychosis mental health consumer who has been widely recognized for her work in exposing and overcoming stigma while communicating deeper levels of what it means to experience mental disorder. The Mental [...]

The Sooner the Better Education Package

The Sooner the Better Education Package has helped thousands of patients, family members, clinicians and students to better understand the issues involved when a young person develops psychosis. The package includes a 20 minute video, a 60 page information guide and a poster. The video features two patients and their families describing, in their own [...]

About Early Psychosis

Psychosis is a term used to refer to mental experiences in which there is a distortion of, or a loss of contact with reality. Hallucinations (sensory perceptions that are not based on actual stimuli), delusions (beliefs that are not based on an accurate understanding of situations) and disorganization are the most common forms of psychotic experience. Although psychosis [...]

Early detection of psychosis improves 5-year outcomes

In the late 1990s a group of clinicians and researchers in Norway, along with collaborators from the US and Denmark, set out to boldly test the fundamental hypothesis of the field of Early Psychosis. That hypothesis is, simple put, that the earlier in the course of the development of psychosis the condition is recognized, and [...]

Psychosis is treatable

Effective treatments are available for psychosis. With effective treatment, most people recover and go on to live a meaningful life. Ideally, treatment should be started on an outpatient basis before crises occur. Inpatient treatment may be necessary if the symptoms are very severe. Examples include significant risk of self-harm or aggression, and insufficient supports in the [...]

Treatment

What are the causes of psychosis?

Intensive research over the past several decades has clearly established that the experience of psychosis in associated with changes in the way the brain functions. From that point of view, psychosis is clearly a disorder of the brain. However, perhaps the more interesting question is, what caused the changes in the way the brain is [...]

Causes

Cognitive Therapy for youth at increased risk of psychosis

A long awaited study of the use of cognitive therapy with young people who appear to be at increased risk of developing a psychotic disorder has now been published (BMJ April 2012). Dr. Anthony Morrison and an impressive team of colleagues, including Dr. Max Birchwood, recruited nearly 300 youth who met the currently established criteria [...]

Five Years of Early Intervention in Psychiatry

The professional journal Early Intervention in Psychiatry recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. In an editorial in the February 2012 issue of the journal, editor-in-chief Dr. Patrick McGorry gives his views on the progress, and lack of progress in bringing early intervention into the mainstream of psychiatry. On the progress side McGorry points to national initiative [...]

March 30, 2012: invitation to dinner, entertainment, silent auction

The Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program and the Nova Scotia Psychosis Research Unit warmly invite you to join us for dinner, entertainment and a silent auction on March 30, 2012 at the Asburn Golf Club. Musical entertainment will be provided by Ian Sherwood, 2008/2010 Nova Scotia Musician of the Year. Festivities begin at 6pm. For [...]

New NSEPP brochure provides indepth information for families

The Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program (NSEPP) has created a new and innovative brochure for families. Based on requests and questions from family members, the brochure contains concise and comprehensive descriptions of the services offered and the roles of the members of the NSEPP team. The brochure will help empower family members to work closely with [...]

In defense of a DSM-5 diagnosis of ‘at risk for psychosis’

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