Psychology

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, Vol 66(2), May 2025, 69-79; doi:10.1037/cap0000435

This article reflects on a professional journey in clinical psychology shaped by curiosity, circumstance and perhaps an inclination to take the less travelled path. While award articles typically centre on the awardees’ body of work, I opted to go in a different direction. My experiences have placed me both within and outside the profession for decades, and this dual perspective informs my examination of the field’s evolution over the past 30 years, highlighting both significant achievements and pressing challenges. The mental health system has expanded, yet the demand for services continues to outpace capacity. In response, I propose ways the profession might adapt, integrating emerging trends and reimagining its role in a rapidly changing landscape. The goal of this article was less to present definitive answers and more to provoke critical dialogue—like the candid conversations that emerge after formal meetings end. By embracing uncertainty and unconventional routes, including different ways of seeing our profession, technology and particularly artificial intelligence, we may find new ways forward for psychology and mental health care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, Vol 66(2), May 2025, 80-89; doi:10.1037/cap0000432

Our world has undergone enormous change during the past 10 years, and professional psychology has not escaped these influences which have created both challenges and opportunities. There has been a burgeoning demand for a wide range of mental health services, particularly since the pandemic. Ideally, these services should be provided by well-trained professionals in an evidence-based, responsive way that respects individual and cultural diversity. While psychology has worked hard to adapt to change, it has been difficult to be proactive rather than merely reactive. The Canadian Psychological Association has spearheaded several significant events that have addressed issues within our field since 2019, including the National Summit on the Future of Professional Psychology Training and the adoption of the sixth revision of the Accreditation Standards for Doctoral and Residency Programs in Professional Psychology (Canadian Psychological Association, 2023). This article discusses current issues that affect access to services and training within professional psychology training. It concludes with a series of feasible recommendations that reflect an increasingly urgent need to better tailor training to unmet mental health needs within Canada. I have written from a personal perspective that has grown out of my experiences primarily in clinical psychology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, Vol 66(2), May 2025, 90-102; doi:10.1037/cap0000425

This article examined the growing polarization, misinformation, and disinformation surrounding gender diversity, with a focus on detransition. In the current sociopolitical climate of divisiveness, the misrepresentation of detransition experiences fuels moral panic, negatively affecting social attitudes towards detransitioners and gender-diverse individuals while being weaponized to restrict access to gender-affirming care. In response, this article seeks to offer a more accurate and nuanced understanding of detransition, challenge disinformation-driven panic, and reduce stigma experienced by detransitioners. Drawing from multiple sources of knowledge, the article meticulously dissects the underpinnings of disinformation-fuelled detransition panic, revealing an interplay of cisnormative and transnormative biases. By exposing these biases, the article encourages a more open and reflective approach to understanding gender and nonlinear gender trajectories, highlighting the multiplicity of factors contributing to detransition as well as the diversity of detransition experiences. It concludes with recommendations and invitations for readers to expand their perspectives on gender towards one that depathologizes detransition and nonlinear gender trajectories and moves beyond the trans–cis binary. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, Vol 66(2), May 2025, 103-114; doi:10.1037/cap0000421

International psychology is an emerging field that makes the discipline global and inclusive. It also uses psychological science to understand and address global challenges, such as those reflected in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This award article, which is associated with the Canadian Psychological Association award for the international advancement of psychology, describes the activities and resources associated with international psychology or global psychology as some would refer to it. The connections among cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, decolonial psychology, and indigenous psychology are considered. The article also offers information on the author’s journey and activities in the field as just one example of how one enters the field and participates in it. The journey and activities will be different for each international psychologist. Although international psychology has had a presence in Canada, it is not widely acknowledged as a field on its own. The article concludes by discussing the progress made in furthering international psychology in Canada and the lessons learned by the author from being a part of international psychology at the global level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne, Vol 66(2), May 2025, 115-128; doi:10.1037/cap0000420

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions that affects children and youth. Recent research has shown that the quality of life (QoL) of those with epilepsy is less associated with biomedical aspects of the disorder, such as seizure frequency or the number of antiseizure medications used. However, much of the existing literature has relied on proxy measures of QoL because it was felt that children were less able to answer for themselves and that proxies tend to underestimate the QoL of others. This article first describes the development of a QoL scale that could be completed by children and their guardians. We then use that scale to determine factors that influence QoL, such as peer and parental support, and to compare the QoL with that of children with other medical conditions and in different countries. Finally, we describe a study designed to increase physical activity and decrease depression among children with epilepsy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)