The Epidemiology of Mental Illness in Canada

Our perception of the crisis in mental health is traceable to (i) better methods and more sophisticated understandings of behavioural conditions, (ii) increased levels of demand, (iii) an increasingly pathogenic socio-political environment, and (iv) mounting demands for higher cognitive performance. The Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology should seek a deeper understanding of disability and how it impacts upon quality of life, and map out the nature of disability s diversity across Canada. It should explore the prevalence of preventable determinants including how, unwittingly, mental health legislation might increase levels of pathology by over-reliance on the criminal-justice system among those already affected