I’ve been thinking about the state of our city a lot these days. Toronto has always been a very safe place to live. It used to be called, “Toronto the good,” but now, things have changed. Over the past few years, our city has become increasingly dangerous. There have been more non-gang-related shootings, stabbings, and random incidents of violence in Toronto than ever before. People are being attacked on the street and in the public transit system.

I know of at least four instances of drivers running down pedestrians in Canada over the past five years. And the last two were just in the past couple of months. There was the most recent incident in which a driver ploughed into a crowd of walkers in Amqui, Quebec…

It’s International Women’s Day again and it arrives at the same time as the US Conservative PAC is organizing to remove rights for transgender people. Although there are those today who refuse to recognize these rights, they are no less valid and necessary and they need more than ever to…

The topic of anger comes up fairly often in my psychiatry practice. Recently, I saw the movie, Turning Red, and I started thinking about the different ways that people deal with their anger. I’ve noticed over the years that there are three different dysfunctional ways that people manage their anger. 1. Repression. The person will keep shoving it down because they’re afraid of what would happen if they were to express it directly.

Lately, I’ve been exploring how we can respond to comments and questions that seem unreasonable, distasteful or that appear to be based on false assumptions. People tend to tell us things or ask questions based on their own experiences and biases. …

When we think about romance it’s easy to become confused about what’s a sign of a potentially positive relationship and what’s a bad one. There is a lot of misinformation about love going around these days and we heed it at our own peril. Romantic movies and TV shows often misrepresent how relationships should proceed, presenting super-dysfunctional behaviour as acceptable and even desirable. One such behaviour is love-bombing. Like the name…

Monday, January 16th, is known around the world as “Blue Monday.” It’s supposed to be the saddest day of the year. With the shape of things these days, I’m not surprised if people are feeling more down than ever. In many ways, our world seems to be going in the…

Content warning: This blog contains discussion of suicide. — https://play.pod.co/ruthless-compassion-with-dr-marcia-sirota/dealing-with-loss-during-the-holidays-in-wake-of-the-death-of-london-knight-abakar-kazbekov The season for celebrating holidays is here, filled with parties, family gatherings, and copious amounts of food and drink, but what if making merry is the last thing on our minds? It just occurred to me that the recent suicide of Stephen “tWitch”Boss, a mere ten days before Christmas…

Content warning: This blog contains discussion of suicide. — Like so many others, I’m heartbroken to learn about the suicide of Stephen tWitch Boss. I remember watching him on So You Think You Can Dance in 2008 and falling in love with his talent, his charm and his grace. As a fan, I’ve been keeping an eye out for…