Background on Canadian Mental Health.

Mental illness is a leading cause of disability in Canada (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2015; Lim et al., 2008; Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2014). In any given year, 20% of Canadians experience a mental illness, and by the age of 40, 50% have had – or will have – a mental illness (Dobson et al., 2020). Accounting for a large proportion of mental illnesses are mood disorders.

Major depression is the most prevalent mood disorder affecting approximately 5.4% of the Canadian population (Dobson et al., 2020). Depression can cause severe challenges and is characterized by persistent sadness, feelings of hopelessness, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, and sleep disturbance.

Unfortunately, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a rise in major depressive disorder (MDD) amongst adults (Liu et al., 2021). Specifically, in the Fall of 2020, 15% of Canadian adults screened positive for MDD, with the number rising to 19% in the Spring of 2021 (Liu et al., 2021).Alarmingly, it is estimated that only half of Canadians who experience a major depressive episode receive “potentially adequate care” (Patten et al., 2016). Moreover, for those who do receive care, existing pharmacological treatments are relatively lacking – with 30-40% patients deemed as “treatment resistant” (Papp et al., 2022). New pharmacological approaches are sorely needed.