Latest Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Stories

TORONTO, April 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) led a study discovering a gene for a new form of intellectual disability, as well as how it likely affects cognitive development by disrupting neuron functioning. CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. John Vincent and his team found a mutation in the gene NSUN2 among three sisters with intellectual disability, a finding to be published in the May issue of the American Journal of Human...

TORONTO, April 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - People with an opioid addiction had the highest risk of death when compared with rates for alcohol and other drugs, according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). For those dependent on opioids, the risk of death was 5.71 times higher than healthy individuals in the population of the same age, gender and race. Those with methamphetamine use disorders were next highest with a 4.67-fold risk, followed by those...

TORONTO, April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - The Problem Gambling Institute of Ontario (PGIO) at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) today launched a new and unique option in the continuum of care for individuals and families affected by problem gambling: online self-help tools.  Anonymous, free, and accessible any time of day from a computer with an internet connection, these new tools can help the approximately 333,000 Ontario adults and approximately 29,000 students who...

CALGARY, March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - The Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) is pleased to confirm the appointment of Dr. David Goldbloom as its new Chair of the Board of Directors effective April 1, 2012. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Vice-Chair of the MHCC Board since its inception in 2007. He replaces the outgoing Chair of the Board, the Honourable Michael Kirby. Dr. Goldbloom is a practicing psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in...

A meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease provides new insight into the long-held belief that drinking a glass of red wine a day can help protect against heart disease. "It's complicated," says Dr. Juergen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. Dr. Rehm's paper, co-authored by Michael Roerecke, was recently published in the journal Addiction. "While a cardioprotective...

Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have identified a potential target for the development of anti-craving medications for people with addictions to stimulants such as methamphetamine. The discovery centers on a brain receptor related to the chemical dopamine, which has a complex role in addictive behaviors. Using brain scans and a novel chemical probe developed in CAMH's Research Imaging Centre, CAMH scientists found that the probe had high levels of binding...

A new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has found that employees with depression who receive treatment while still working are significantly more likely to be highly productive than those who do not. This is the first study of its kind to look into a possible correlation between treatment and productivity. The study is particularly significant at a time when the Canadian economy continues to face uncertainty. Mental illness costs the Canadian economy an estimated...

In a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), people with schizophrenia showed greater brain activity during tests that induce a brief, mild form of delusional thinking. This effect wasn't seen in a comparison group without schizophrenia. The study appears in the December issue of Biological Psychiatry. "We studied a type of delusion called a delusion of reference, which occurs when people feel that external stimuli such as newspaper articles or strangers'...

Survey of teens in Ontario, Canada, shows latest trends in drug use Fewer Ontario teens are smoking cigarettes than ever before -- good news that is tempered by continuing concerns around binge drinking, and driving while under the influence of cannabis, according to the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey released today by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The survey, which included 9,288 students across Ontario in grades 7 to 12, is the longest running...

A new study has shown harmful prescription patterns of powerful painkillers among a substantial number of Ontario patients who received methadone therapy to treat their opioid addiction. Methadone, which is a type of long-acting opioid, has proven to be an effective therapy for opioid dependence. According to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), 18% of methadone maintenance therapy patients also received...