Caregivers are often described as the invisible backbone of health systems. Across Canada and around the world, millions of people quietly support loved ones living with illness, disability, aging, or mental health challenges. Yet while the health of patients and care recipients receives significant attention, the mental health of caregivers themselves has historically been overlooked. Today,…

I write frequently about mental health, as it remains one of the core focus areas of Viewpoint Foundation. For this issue of Invested, I wanted to step back and examine the question “what are the underlying causes of mental illness?” For decades, mental illness has been framed primarily as a disorder of the brain, a matter…

In the last issue of Invested, I touched briefly on a new category of AI tools that aims to fill the gap in access to mental health care professionals: therapist-focused chatbots. While the broader debate about AI and mental health often centres on general-purpose models like ChatGPT, there is a parallel ecosystem of purpose-built “digital…

In this issue of Invested, I am exploring the intersection of mental health and AI technology, as a growing wave of reporting has revealed the emergence of real-world psychological, emotional, and behavioural harms tied to the way people use AI chatbots. At the forefront, large-language-model (LLM) systems like ChatGPT are widely celebrated as tools that boost…

This is the last article in my series on the exploration of the disorienting effects of cognitive dissonance, or what happens when people confront evidence that undermines their most deeply held beliefs. From postwar reckonings to conspiracy tribalism, this series has explored how identity, trust, and denial collide when the world no longer makes sense. This…

We have been talking about cognitive dissonance over the last couple of months, and for this issue of Invested, I am continuing my closer examination of the key areas in which this psychological phenomenon occurs. This time, we’re diving into the sometimes outlandish, sometimes true world of conspiracy theories. The Psychological Comfort of Conspiracy Theories In times…

In the last issue of Invested, I explored the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance, or what happens when our beliefs are challenged by facts and why we often resist revising them. This month, I wanted to take a deeper look at one particular dimension of this phenomenon, which is what happens when the dissonance is not…

This month, I’m shifting focus from the mental health care system to a psychological phenomenon that is both fascinating and alarmingly pervasive. As someone who works in mental health philanthropy, I find this phenomenon particularly relevant, not only because it affects individuals’ well-being, but because it presents an enormous challenge to social cohesion, public health, and…