Thursday, September 04, 2003

Survey takes first look at mental health of Canadians
CBC News story - "The first national snapshot of Canadians' mental health has been released by Statistics Canada. It's based on a survey of 37,000 people over age 15. It shows that over a one-year period, 2.6 million Canadians, or about one in 10, suffer from mental illness. And that teenagers and young adults are most at risk. The survey only includes a select group of mental illnesses: depression, mania and panic disorders, agoraphobia and social phobia, and alcohol or drug dependence. But Lorna Baillie of Statistics Canada says it offers a clearer picture than ever before of the mental health of Canadians..." Data will be released tomorrow at the Statistics Canada web site. See also Federal Government must take leadership to reduce burden of mental illness (based on materials from the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health), New national numbers indicate a crisis in mental health: Where is the political leadership? (based on comments by CMHA Ontario) and the CTV story, Major depression a leading illness in Canada.