DrYouth

Any thoughts on what might transpire next decade... We can look back in 10 years and see whether we were anywhere close. Will driverless vehicles finally arrive? Will virtual reality make an impact? Will it outcompete real reality? Will Global Warming start to have serious impacts? Will the middle east sort itself out or continue it's clusterfucking ways? Will the social impact of automation +/- the impacts of climate change stir social unrest? Will the retreat from globalization into nationalism continue or will the pendulum swing back? Will China continue its ascent? Will US hegemony continue relatively unchallenged for yet another decade?

No it's not easy... The deep seated problem is the medical systems failure to understand stress and trauma.... the underpinnings of most mental health issues and many physical illnesses and chronic pain issues. Our education system is another part of the problem.. Clinicians train academically - basically learning knowledge and facts rather than skills. These systems converge to talk a lot about diagnoses and brain chemistry and essentially know very little about actually working through the impact of trauma on the nervous system. There are some very powerful new therapies for trauma... but they are not widespread....

The Global Financial Crisis led to the Occupy Movement... The Arab Spring sprung and fizzled.... The Syrian Conflict The rise (and fall) of ISIS The rise of China... Russia asserts itself Smart phone dominance - Social Media - The Rise of FANG - Facebook. Apple, Netflix, Google The Surveillance Society - Wikileaks - The whistleblowers The challenge to Globalism - the rise of Populism Trump / Brexit... and the Culture Wars What do you all say?

By all means I am in support of exploring other systems and learning from them.

Don't wait to see a psychiatrist. Doctors always think they need to refer to other doctors. Suicidal thoughts in teens are extremely common and do not usually require medical psychiatric intervention. Get her connected with a well rated mental health worker who works with teens and families. Check out your local public mental health service for youth and families. Find out what the intake process is.

Not at all... I was referring to medication based treatments as often neffective and occasionally counterproductive for mild to moderate mental health issues. I agree with you that the public system is underfunded. However there is a public mental health system which is not insignificant.... although it is rationed. The Canadian Mental Health Association also provides meaningful services and peer support... and is open access. So overall we are not doing too badly and certainly better than the US when it comes to public access mental health services. A completely unrationed publicly funded mental health system is a utopian fantasy... but I completely agree with striving for better public mental health supports and addictions programs.... we have a long way to go.

Based on your infallible crystal ball?

A publicly funded mental health system HAS to be rationed. There are in Canada many privately funded mental health providers. Medical psychiatric care is OF COURSE rationed.... but there is much more of it available publicly in Canada than in the US. Medical psychiatric care is really only something you want to consider if your mental health needs are in the severe range. Medical treatment of mild to moderate mental health concerns has been shown to be often ineffective and not infrequently counter productive... Once again Big Pharma has hijacked the system... much to all of our detriment... although there are some situations where psychopharmacology has a significant role to play... it is sad to see it taking the lead role in management of our mental health issues... leading to a lack of expertise in non-medication based approaches. Going back to a mandated insurance system is the biggest brain fart of them all. Why insert a private middle-man - something that has been demonstrated to inflate costs and vastly increase burocratic red tape.

I am a practicing psychiatrist working with adolescents at our local general hospital. In speaking with physicians from the US, I am convinced our Canadian system is head and shoulders ahead of the US system. I can provide support to teenagers of all financial backgrounds that are admitted to our hospital with suicide attempts or major mental health presentations and hospitalize them for the amount of time necessary for them to stabilize without overwhelming the families with financial burden. This would simply not be possible in the US. Only those with adequate insurance would receive the treatment necessary and those without would not. In fact those with adequate insurance often receive more interventions than necessary which is often counterproductive. The primary concern with the medical system continue to be the over reliance on Big Pharma in funding research and promoting interventions. This is far bigger than a local Canadian issue. Canada certainly does a better if still inadequate job of curtailing the expenses and negotiating with Big Pharma to reduce our health care costs. Can we do better, certainly and we should.... And yes we look good compared to the US... but we should look to other models of health care that have worked out efficiencies that strike a better balance.

If Canada was going to come apart it would have already. Other than a bunch of whining of which there is no decline... there is no sign of Canada coming apart any time soon... I agree with the OP article on that score.

I guess the question is "how do they suck?"... I hear a lot of different problems being expressed around here. Each solution brings its own potential problems with it. Make so and so happy and you make this other guy unhappy... All I'm saying is for the most part Canada does pretty well... should we continue to strive to do even better... why the hell not... But what exactly are you proposing?

Could things be better... sure there is always room for improvement... Could it be worse... all you have to do is look around the globe... it could be a lot worse.

This is very true... And yet I appreciate Canada... because in fact everything will be ok. The same cannot be said for most other places in the world... Count your blessings.

The original definitions of left and right had the right as monarchists and those defending the rights of the nobility and clergy against a left that wanted a constitution to constrain the powers of the monarch and allow a small percentage of male property owners the right to have a say in government. I doubt you want to restore those original definitions...