Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. An edited version appeared in the 2005-1-27 edition under the heading “It’s up to the PM to convince us”. It appears that once again the federal government is attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of Canadians. Prime Minister Paul Martin…
Read moreReferendum on same-sex marriage
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette, It appeared in the 2004-12-15 edition under the heading “Referendum way to express opinion”. Your editorial (”Vote no on this”, Gazette 2004-12-14) decries referendums as divisive, and blames them for creating or widening wounds in the fabric of Canadian society. In reality,…
Read moreDeciding who gets treated and how: assessment of problem behaviours and risks in the elderly
Presented at Clinical Grand Rounds, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital Department of Psychiatry, ICFP Amphitheatre, on 2004-12-9. Download a pdf of the presentation slides and notes.
Read moreProposed ban of trans fats
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. One would think we had learned nothing from the U.S. experience with Prohibition, or the War on Drugs. Banning a substance such as alcohol or marijuana inevitably leads to the creation of a criminal underground which profits enormously, and supports a large…
Read morePUFAs and eosinophilic esophagitis
Submitted as a Letter to the Editor of the Medical Post on 2004-10-25: The article “MDs see more pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis” in the2004-10-19 edition (p50) suggests that the recent dramatic increase inthe incidence of this little-known condition parallels the increase inasthma and allergies in general. The reason for the increase…
Read moreSanctuary in churches
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. Immigration Minister Judy Sgro believes that it is inappropriate for churches and other faith communities to provide sanctuary to refugee claimants who have been ordered deported after their hearings. It has been argued that churches should not usurp the role of democratically…
Read moreSuspended with pay
An edited version of this letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette appeared in the 2004-8-2 edition under the heading “Suspension with pay not a bad idea”. Given the demonstrated inability of many government or crown corporation bureaucrats to do their jobs properly, it seems pretty clear that they…
Read moreTremblay’s outrage
An edited version of this letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette appeared in the 2004-6-18 edition under the heading “Lavish lunches exemplify abuses”. So Mayor Tremblay is outraged that members of his political party were reimbursed for lunches and vintage wines out of our taxes? Nothing to compare…
Read moreFinancial abuse of vulnerable seniors: are we part of the problem or part of the solution?
This presentation was part of a panel discussion at the Community Conference: Protecting the vulnerable: the financial abuse of the elderly. Gelber Conference Centre, Montreal, on 2004-6-10. Download a pdf of the presentation slides.
Read moreElection posters up prematurely
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. The federal liberals have made flouting the rules an art form, as demonstrated by the sponsorship scandal, Radwanski’s expense accounts, and the Shawinigate affair. Now, in Westmount, liberal incumbent Lucienne Robillard’s overeager campaign team are breaking the rules by erecting election posters…
Read moreWhy megacities?
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. The various arguments that have been made in favour of merging smaller municipalities into megacities have been demolished, one by one, as these undemocratically created monstrosities (monstrocities?) have failed to produce promised reductions in costs. It seems that the only remaining rationale…
Read moreDaycare subsidy is now a user fee?
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. It appeared in the 2003-12-21 edition under the heading “Not a user fee”. Shame on you, Gazette! Your editorial “We didn’t vote for this” (14 Dec 2003) refers to user-fee increases as tax increases by another name, and rightly so. But to…
Read moreLooking after our own health: what can we do?
Presentation as part of a panel discussion, AMI-Quebec, Montreal, QC, on 2003-11-24. Download a pdf of the presentation slides and notes.
Read moreSchool board elections
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. The recent school board elections were noteworthy for the low voter turnout, and for the mysterious process whereby some voters who previously had been on the English school board electoral lists saw their names turn up on the lists for francophone school…
Read moreTransit strike
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. The strike of MTC maintenance workers is a terrible hardship for many people, but is it really necessary to limit service to a few hours daily and none on weekends? After all, it isn’t the bus drivers who are striking; it’s the…
Read moreLegal insider trading hurts small investors
This letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette appeared in the 2003-10-7 edition under the heading “Rules on legal insider trading unfair to small investors”. Your editorial on insider trading, “Get tough on market fraud” (Gazette, 5 Oct.) fails to make a sufficiently clear distinction between legal and illegal…
Read moreWhat causes insomnia?
This article was published on the website of Scientific American, on 2003-5-12. download a pdf file of the web article. An edited version appeared in the print edition of Scientific American, October 2003. Download a pdf file of the print article. The articles were republished in 2006 in the print and online…
Read moreAssessment of depression in dementia
This was presented on 2003-9-19 at the McGill Division of Geriatric Medicine First Annual Interdisciplinary Geriatric Seminar, titled “Promoting partnership through protocols: intervention strategies for dementia care”, held at the Ruby Foo Hotel, Montreal. It was also presented on 2003-9-18 at Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Rounds, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal. Download a…
Read moreAtypical antipsychotics and diabetes
This presentation was given at Clinical Grand Rounds, Department of Psychiatry, SMBD-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC, on 2003-9-11. Download a pdf of the presentation slides.
Read moreAverage sunrise time predicts depression prevalence
Citation: Olders H. Average sunrise time predicts depression prevalence. J Psychosom Res. 2003;55:99-105. Abstract: OBJECTIVE: Folk wisdom has it that early rising is associated with being “healthy, wealthy and wise.” A physiologic explanation may be Wiegand’s “Depressiogenic Theory of Sleep,” which posits that excessive REM sleep causes depression. Sleeping late…
Read morere: Telemarketing victims’ revenge
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. It appeared in the 2003-7-4 edition under the heading “Similar campaign as no-call list needed to stop spam”. If it was so easy for U.S. regulators to come up with what promises to be an effective way to put the lid on…
Read morePharmacology of sleep disorders
This lecture was given to psychiatry residents at the Jewish General Hospital annually, over several years ending in 2005. Download a pdf of the lecture slides and notes.
Read moreAffective disorders, sleep patterns, and treatment implications
Affective Disorders, Sleep Patterns, and Treatment Implications Problem issues in treatment of affective disorders Only 60-70% of depressed patients respond to antidepressants (in carefully done studies). The clinical reality is worse. In some patients, antidepressants worsen agitation, may increase suicidality We still don’t understand what causes depression, or how antidepressant…
Read moreAre insomniacs sleep deprived?
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. Every couple of weeks or so, there appears an article about sleep, most recently “A mounting sleep debt is nothing to yawn about” (Gazette 2002-12-03) Typically, the authors decry the high prevalence of insufficient sleep, the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation, the…
Read moreDaylight saving time
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. It appeared in the 2002-11-5 edition under the heading “Let’s make those long winter evenings brighter”. Dr. Colin Shapiro recently pointed out (Changing clocks causes temporary havoc, Gazette 2002-10-28) that the switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time, on the last…
Read moreDepression: an overview
Training session for personnel participating in “Depression Screening Day”, CLSC René-Cassin, Côte St-Luc, QC, 2001-10-2 Download a pdf of the slides and notes.
Read moreAverage sunrise time predicts depression prevalence (poster)
This poster has been presented at: • Canadian Sleep Society Annual Meeting, Ottawa, May 2001 • McGill Department of Psychiatry Annual Research Day, 2000-11-17 • McGill Division of Geriatric Medicine Fifth Annual Research Day, Holiday Inn, Montreal, 2000-4-28 • Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry Annual Meeting, Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal,…
Read moreFibromyalgia Symptoms and Sleep Patterns (Poster)
This poster has been presented at: • Canadian Sleep Society Annual Meeting, Ottawa, May 2001 • McGill Department of Psychiatry Research Day, 2001-11-2 • 6th Annual McGill Pain Day, McIntyre Medical Building, 2002-1-24 Download a pdf of the poster.
Read moreBiomedical ethics: just a question of money?
When a patient’s wishes conflict with the doctor’s, or families disagree with medical teams about the treatment of a loved one, biomedical ethicists are often called in to help resolve the issues. Recent examples that made headlines include the case of Sophia Park, a twenty-five year old grad student, married…
Read moreMerger of cities
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. It appears that the Quebec government is employing a timeworn ploy to get its way with regard to the just-introduced legislation on the forced merger of Quebec cities. The ploy is: when trying to get a deal, always ask for more than…
Read morePain in brain-dead patients
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. With reference to the article “Leading British doctors urge anesthetics for brain-dead organ donors” (Gazette, 20 Aug 2000, page A10), I find it surprising that the British Department of Health would reject in such a cavalier fashion the possibility that brain-dead individuals…
Read moreFatigue and sleep in cancer and fibromyalgia: can too much sleep be bad for you?
This was an invited lecture, given at Grand Rounds, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda MD on 2000-6-16, and again that day at Grand Rounds, Rheumatology Department, NIH. Download a pdf of the presentation slides and notes.
Read moreThe Dementias
This lecture was given annually from 1996 to 2000 as part of Block E of the McGill Department of Psychiatry Diploma Course, to Psychiatry Residents. Download a pdf of the lecture handout.
Read moreFatigue and sleep in cancer: Can too much sleep be bad for you?
This invited lecture was given on 2000-1-22 at the l’Esprit Cancer Rehabilitation Conference, held at the Renaissance Hotel du Parc, Montreal, Quebec. It was also presented at the Thursday Seminar series, Research & Training Building Conference Room, Allan Memorial Institute, Montreal, on 1999-5-13; at the Palliative Care McGill Rounds, Mount…
Read moreSelect Psychiatric and Psychological Considerations (Book chapter)
Olders H, Winningham ML. Select psychiatric and psychological considerations. In: Winningham ML, Barton-Burke M, editors. Fatigue in cancer: a multidimensional approach. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett; 2000. p. 197-242 Click on the icon to the right to download the book chapter.
Read moreWhen boys become “gunmen”
Letter to the Editor of the Montreal Gazette. The recent shootings in Taber and Littleton have stirred up a great deal of commentary about the role of the media in promulgating violent behaviour. While the research seems to focus on the effects of watching violence on television or in the…
Read moreComment on letter “The Pits”
The following was submitted on 1999-5-5 as a Letter to the Editor of the National Post: One theory about why we have armpit (and groin) hair: the hair shaftsprovide a larger surface area to enhance the diffusion of pheromones(chemical sex attractants) emitted by the apocrine sweat glands locatedat the bases…
Read moreA diet for life
What disease affects 33% of Canada’s population, and costs the health care system $6 billion per year? Obesity, spreading rapidly around the world, doubles in prevalence every five years. Clearly an epidemic. In the U.S., 1995 marked a milestone, when the prevalence of overweight in adults reached 50%. And this…
Read moreWhy become a psychiatrist?
Talk given at Career Day, Trafalgar School for Girls, Montreal , on 1998-11-26; 1999-11-30; and 2001-1-23. I would like to tell you a story about a patient who I’ll call Mr. A. I first met Mr. A. in July. He had been referred to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the Jewish General…
Read moreProtocol for Management of Depressive Disorders in Cancer Patients
Protocol for Management of Depressive Disorders in Cancer Patients Diagnostic interview & instruments to identify the disorder & to identify key symptoms; include interview with family/caregivers, careful sleep assessment • Major depression • Dysthymia • Subsyndromal Depressive Disorder • Bipolar Affective Disorder, Depressed Phase • Presence of psychosis • Presence…
Read moreSleep, depression, fatigue, and insomnia
Sleep, Depression, Fatigue, and Insomnia Henry Olders, MD, FRCPC12 August 1998 IntroductionRecent research indicates that an important cause of depression may be sleeping too much; specifically, too much Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. In those individuals without a genetic predisposition to depression, too much REM sleep can cause some depressive…
Read moreMetabolic mayhem: Hunter-gatherers trapped in an agrarian age
Olders, H. Metabolic mayhem: Hunter-gatherers trapped in an agrarian age. Nutrition Post (Summer 1998) p14. Pub: Medical Post, Maclean Hunter Publishing Limited Download a pdf of the article. Download a question from a reader, and my response.
Read moreAlzheimer’s disease
Talk to Merck-Frosst employees, Merck-Frosst Pharmaceuticals, Montreal, QC, on 1998-5-28. Download a pdf of the presentation Download a pdf of the presentation slides
Read moreThe Y2K problem
This letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette appeared in an edited form in the 1998-5-30 edition with the title “”Programmers can do in millenium bug” The millenium bug has received a great deal of editorial comment. Hapless users of elevators, automobiles, banks, governments and all the other products,…
Read moreDoes excessive sleep cause insomnia, depression and fatigue?
This presentation was given at the Sylvia Hamovitch Day Conference on 1996-11-29, put on by the Psychogeriatrics Service of the Department of Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, QC. Download a pdf of the slides and notes.
Read moreGovernments and the operation of a free market
This is a talk given in 1996 to the Economics Class of Mr. Fogel, at Miss Edgar and Miss Cramp’s School for Girls, Westmount. My daughter Lisa was in this class at the time. Hypothesis Many of the current ethical, social, cultural, and environmental concerns would not have arisen if…
Read moreCommunication breakdown in caring for seriously ill patients
This talk was given to staff at CLSC René-Cassin, 1996-3-28. I am going to tell you a story. It’s about Mrs. A., who is 86 years old, a widow living in her own apartment since her husband died 12 years ago. She and her husband were both born in Poland,…
Read moreMedication: a dialogue between a psychoanalyst and a general psychiatrist
A panel discussion between Dr. Arthur Propst, psychoanalyst, and myself, on the role of medication. This took place on 1996-2-14, as part of the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society Extension Program, in Montreal. Three stories patient on MAOI with hypertensive crisis I would like to start by telling you a story. It…
Read moreThe Paradoxical Approach
Two ideas central to treatment: 1. Focusing on observable behavioural interaction in the present 2. Deliberate intervention to alter the ongoing system All theories of psychotherapy have limitations of practice as well as conception, inherent in their own nature (although often attributed to human nature). Basic Premise: the kinds of…
Read more70% of Dutch Practices are Successfully Computerized
Olders H: 70% of Dutch Practices are Successfully Computerized. Can Med Informatics 1994 Nov/Dec; 1(4): 18-9 Click here to download pdf of article: article 70 per cent of Dutch practices successfully computerized
Read moreAlternatives to civil commitment
This Letter to the Editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry was published in the April 1992 edition. Citation: Bishop M, Olders H. Alternatives to civil commitment.[letter]. Can J Psychiatry 1992;37(3):223. Download a pdf of the letter and a reply by Drs. Brouillette and Paris. 1 August 1991 The Editor The…
Read moreMinor tranquilizers
I gave this lecture every two months over several years, to each group of medical students doing their clinical clerkship in psychiatry at Douglas Hospital. Download a pdf of the Lecture Notes. Download a pdf of a multiple choice questionnaire.
Read moreProsody in affective disorders and schizophrenia: diagnosis using computer simulations of neural networks
Henry Olders, MD, FRCPC Douglas Hospital Verdun, Quebec, Canada 2 Oct 1990 Introduction Effect of medication on negative symptoms An NIMH double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the effects of antipsychotic withdrawal (four weeks drug-free) followed by four weeks’ treatment with fluphenazine HCl in 19 young patients with chronic schizophrenia showed that…
Read moreNegative symptoms in schizophrenia
This letter to the Editor of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry was co-authored by Dr. Virginia Duff and myself. It was published in the 1990 August edition (vol. 35, no. 6). Citation: Duff V, Olders H. Negative symptoms in schizophrenia.[letter]. Can J Psychiatry 1990;35(6):570-571. Download a pdf of the letter and…
Read moreMourning and Grief as Healing Processes in Psychotherapy
Citation: Olders H. Mourning and grief as healing processes in psychotherapy. Can J Psychiatry. 1989;34:271-278. Download a pdf of the article. Abstract: The argument developed in this paper can be outlined as follows: relationships are vital for growth, for adults and especially for children; to ensure that we work to maintain…
Read moreHammingNN classifier – early ideas
Below is an article I wrote in 1989, describing my ideas for a neural network derived from my knowledge of physiology from medical student days, my studies in behaviour from psychiatry residency and practice, and computer principles from my time in engineering. A Neural Network Model Based On Brain Physiology…
Read moreBiomedical Ethics: A Personal View
This essay was written while taking a fourth year Bioethics course as a medical student at McGill University. Henry Olders 7717465 27 April 1981 It seems that a large part of the energy being expended on the subject of biomedical ethics has to do with making decisions in situations where…
Read moreNeurobiological abnormalities in pernicious anemia: metabolic mechanisms
Olders H. Neurological abnormalities in pernicious anemia: metabolic mechanisms. Undergraduate medicine term paper, McGill University, 14 Apr 1978 Download a pdf of the article.
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