At the CEYMH, we are hosting a series of talks inviting people to talk about their first-hand experience with mental illness. These talks are meant to provide an alternate perspective to diagnosis and treatment and allow for the open discussion on possible future research directions, different approaches to mental illness as well as on the improvement of current psychological practices.

Presentation Title: Systemic Inflammation in Psychotic Illnesses: A Case of Chicken and Egg.

For our first talk of this series, we invited Hashwin Ganesh, a trained neuroscientist now working in business, to speak about his experience with psychosis. Before his diagnosis, Hashwin remembers having significant sleeping problems, irritability, and stomach issues, all of which impacted his daily life. After undergoing several tests and scans, he found himself to be on several treatment plans, each targeting one symptom at a time, none of which improved his quality of life.

Frustrated, Hashwin took his health into his own hands, and started to look at all of his test results on his own to try and make sense of his condition. He noticed a consistent pattern of inflammation behind his physical symptoms and started researching the link between inflammation and psychosis. This is where the question of the chicken and the egg was discussed: Is inflammation what is causing psychosis, or is psychosis or a predisposition to psychosis causing the inflammation?

There is little knowledge on the link between the two, and Hashwin urged researchers to explore this question, as it could significantly impact early intervention and treatment for many individuals impacted by psychosis.

If you would like to participate or present in any of our future CEYMH Experiential Talks, please send us an email at info@ceymh-cesmj.ca. For future talks, please check our Events page.

By Farida Zaher