Women's Mental Health
and Addiction Research
Head: Dr. Brenda Toner
The Women's Mental Health and Addiction Research Section is dedicated
to facilitating initiatives that further our understanding and treatment
of women's mental health and addictions. The overall goal of the section
is to develop health care that is more responsive to the needs of women.
Our primary mandate is to focus on social, psychological and biological
factors that will further our understanding of the origin, expression,
prevention and treatment of mental health problems and addictions in women.
This group seeks partnership with a diversity of women to further research
that will be helpful to all women with mental health and addiction issues.
The section has continued to focus on multidisciplinary research collaboration
at international and local levels. The following represent selected highlights
of ongoing and new research and educational initiatives.
Functional
Gastrointestinal Disorders in Women
Multicentre Trial of
Functional Bowel Disorders
The Women's Mental Health and Addiction Research Section continues to
actively recruit participants for a study by the National Institutes of
Heath for a multicentre trial of functional bowel disorders. This study
represents a unique collaboration between mental health professionals
and gastroenterologists from the University of Toronto and the University
of North Carolina. The aim is to improve understanding and treatment of
these chronic and debilitating illnesses that are diagnosed mainly in
women. This study is the first to take a holistic view of these disorders,
assessing both the biological and psychosocial impact of cognitive-behavioural
therapy versus antidepressant medication. Over the past three years, several
papers, abstracts and presentations have been produced from this rich
database.
Cognitive-Behavioural
Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
The writing of a book entitled Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment of
Irritable Bowel Syndrome by Brenda Toner, Zindel Segal, Shelagh
Emmott and David Myran represented a productive collaboration among researchers
and clinicians sharing a common goal to improve the quality of care of
patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) through evidence-based practice.
Gender Role and IBS
A recent publication, Gender Role and IBS: Literature review
and hypothesis incorporates work on the influence of gender
roles in the understanding and treatment of IBS. It is the first critical
review on gender differences research in IBS, and it provides an alternate
approach to the exploration of gender differences beyond that of biological
sex.
Feminist Issues in Research
Methodology
In an article that was published in Feminism & Psychology,
Donna Akman took a leadership role in describing the integration of research
methodology in constructing the cognitive scale for functional bowel disorders.
She demonstrated that it is possible to develop a quantitative measure
that adheres to feminist methodology and is responsive to the social context
of women's lives.
Gender
Role Socialization
Development of Gender
Role Scale for Women
A large theoretical literature suggests that many mental health problems
experienced by women are influenced by socialization into the female gender
role. Gender role socialization refers to the internalization of prescribed
gender role messages for women as depicted by multiple sources in society.
A major shortcoming in this area is the lack of a validated tool to measure
gender role socialization. Our group has been actively developing a scale
to reflect the diversity of women's experience in this area. The scale
will serve an important empirical function as a predictive and outcome
measure in feminist-informed treatment interventions for women.
Gender Role Messages for
Women
Feminist researchers and clinicians agree on the need to develop interventions
that expose and challenge gender role messages for women. However, no
existing interventions provide a systematic and detailed account of possible
themes and sessions for use in group or individual therapy with women.
Our group developed an intervention to bring women together across diagnostic
categories. This intervention encourages women, in a supportive and normalizing
shared environment, to openly explore how various gender role messages
may have affected their sense of well-being. Our group is also committed
to test the efficacy of this approach against more traditional forms of
therapy. This productive collaboration between feminist therapists and
researchers in the Society, Women and Health Program and our section will
advance the merit of the field, as very little work has previously been
devoted to empirically testing the efficacy of feminist informed therapies.
Adolescents with Eating
Problems
An Eli Lilly Canada Fellowship in Women's Mental Health Research, awarded
to Pier Bryden, helped develop a feminist-informed body-image group therapy
manual for adolescents with eating problems.
Trichotillomania
Using qualitative methodologies, Josie Casati has played a leadership
role in identifying themes involving women's experiences with trichotillomania,
or compulsive hair pulling.
Immigrant Women and
Women of Colour
We are pleased to have recruited Dr. Alisha Ali into a new research scientist
position to develop feminist research with a focus on immigrant women
and women of colour. This program of research has already been productive
in collaborating with community health centres focusing on women's issues
and other CAMH programs interested in preventing substance use problems
among African-Caribbean youth. They have also developed international
linkages with researchers in the field of women's health.
Life Role Changes that
Contribute to Well-Being among Immigrant Chinese Women
Taryn Tang leads this new program of research that examines the transitional
life event of immigration and changes in Chinese women's roles.
Our section is also active in professional training, media presentations
and public forums, with a view to influence provision of care to women
locally and internationally. In particular, we have been active in teaching
undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels in psychiatry and psychology,
and in encouraging electives, fellowships and post-doctoral positions
in Women's Mental Health and Addiction. We are particularly interested
in helping to develop academic careers in women's health. To increase
communication among all staff and students interested in women's health
issues, we developed the city-wide Women's Mental Health Interest Group
in Toronto, a group that arranges monthly presentations on a variety of
issues across the spectrum of women's health.
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1-800-463-6273
