Prof John Oliffe

David Gray: So, I’m here with Dr John Oliffe from University of British Columbia who’s a psycho oncologist and a nurse. Thanks very much for Talking Urology here, John. You gave a fantastic presentation yesterday in regard to depression and suicidality in prostate cancer patients. The 3I’s and the 3D’s, can you explain what these are and a quick summary?

John Oliffe: Sure, we talked about the 3D’s which are discordant relationship, difference and diversity. So discordant relationship in men diagnosed with depression are half the road of women and they suicide at three times the rate. Difference in terms of we believe that the early symptoms and signs of depression in men are different and include irritability and anger and alcohol overuse. And then diversity, within the subgroups of men, so some particular areas of guys they’re more impacted so first nation fellas or aboriginal fellas, gay, bisexual men, we know that they’re more prone to depression and suicidality.

David: And then you also mentioned the 3I’s of injury, interiority and isolation?

John: Yeah, so we talked about depression and suicidality in men and so one of the things that we talked about is injury. So it can be things in childhood injury, you know divorce of parents, you know growing up in an abusive household, those sorts of things, but also as time goes on accumulation of injuries, so it might be bereavement, divorce, you know illness, prostate cancer diagnosis. So we talked about those injuries as being cumulative over time and not necessarily dealt with and the interiority is that oftentimes guys will interiorize their problems and also look for remedy and the remedy that we see most commonly is alcohol overuse to try and blunt some of the things that are going on. So, they ruminate in their problems, try to remedy with alcohol and the last one is isolation. So the idea of social isolation, because if you’re trying to conceal a depression, you’re very likely to become isolated because you don’t want other people to see and you’re looking to try and self-muster, for want of a better term. So just to say that isolation in guys is one of the biggest risk factors for suicide because there’s a lack of belongingness you know so it really is a heightened risk.

David: Perfect! So it’s a very engaging talk that you gave yesterday, so thanks very much.

John: Thanks a lot Dave.