Monnica T Williams

University of Ottawa · School of Psychology

Custody cases characterized by conflict may involve allegations of abuse or parental alienation, necessitating a thorough examination of the situation for the child’s wellbeing. This case series describes stereotypes and biases faced by three racialized fathers, resulting in problems in the processes and outcomes of the family court system. Occurri...

Interest in psychedelic research in the West is surging, however, clinical trials have almost exclusively studied synthetic compounds such as MDMA, ketamine, DMT, LSD, ibogaine, and psilocybin. To date, few clinical trials have utilized whole mushroom/plant material like Psilocybe mushrooms, Iboga, or Ayahuasca. Individuals participating in the Roo...

As clinical trials for psychedelics move into phase III in the USA, Europe must address its lag in integrating professional education around psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) and supporting psychedelic drug research. This paper evaluates the necessary frameworks for implementing PAT in Germany, emphasizing the nation’s potential leadership role wi...

When racism is the cause of PTSD, how do you treat it? Although racial trauma is a common form of PTSD among Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC), few therapists know how to treat it—leaving traumatized clients without the support they need to heal from the devastating effects of oppression and discrimination. A Clinician’s Guide...

There are growing concerns in Canada about access barriers to quality mental health care, which has worsened significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic and for some Canadians more than others. With a nationally representative sample of 1501 adults, surveyed by the Angus Reid Institute, this study examined the mental health conditions Canadians experien...

Just as parents can expect their children to encounter physical bumps, bruises, and injuries along the road to adulthood, emotional distress is also an unavoidable part of growing up. The sources of this distress range from toddlerhood to young adulthood, from the frustration of toilet training to the uncertainty of leaving home for the first time....

Although obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is associated with clinically significant distress, many OCD patients do not seek treatment. Studies show that Black Americans with OCD are even less likely to obtain treatment due to differences in access. This study explored demographic and symptom outcomes associated with mental health service use for...

Individuals with a history of psychotic experiences and disorders such as schizophrenia, and mood disorders with psychotic features tend to be excluded from psychedelic-assisted therapy research and treatment programs, despite minimal research demonstrating heightened risk of adverse effects for this group. Participants (n = 100) were asked to comp...

These tips hope to offer families and adults around children currently impacted by the trauma in Gaza improved coping skills, ideally enabling a greater sense of control over the wellbeing of these children; the adult caregivers of children in ongoing traumatic situations and stressors themselves suffer negative impacts on their mental health due t...

This article addresses gaps in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) when it comes to integrating racial issues that affect racialized patients’ mental health. Traditional adaptations of CBT focused on social, religious, and linguistic challenges but neglected the critical aspects of interpersonal, institutional and systemic racism, internalized racis...

This chapter discusses cultural considerations in brief treatments for children, adolescents, and young adults. Although only about 12% of the world’s population lives in Western, educated, industrialized, and developed countries, over 80% of research findings come from these regions. While modern psychotherapies are grounded in Western values, cul...

Sexual minority (SM) individuals appear to be at greater risk for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Despite this, little is known about OCD presentation and treatment outcomes among SM individuals. Although some research has suggested that SM individuals may be more likely to endorse unacceptable thoughts related to violence/sex/religion compare...

Importance As government agencies around the globe contemplate approval of the first psychedelic medicines, many questions remain about their ethical integration into mainstream medical practice. Objective To identify key ethics and policy issues related to the eventual integration of psychedelic therapies into clinical practice. Evidence Review...

The field of psychedelics is in an important era, with a significant focus on the potential role of psychedelic compounds in the treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. In 2022, a scientific research conference was held in Toronto to bring together stakeholders from a variety of disciplines and to promote dialogue and collaboration....

Background This study contributes to the understanding of the efficacy, safety, and experience of ketamine-assisted therapy. The paper documents how individuals describe the effects of a protocolized and personalized use of ketamine (‘the relational dose’) in the context of group couples therapy based on Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT). Little is...

Background Hypotheses surrounding the etiology of depressive disorders encompass a wide range of biological changes that can occur in a depressed individual, from gene variations to epigenetic modifications and not only serotonergic mechanisms. Once again, the therapy response of the patient to antidepressants is connected to modifications in the e...

Cet article vise à sensibiliser les psychologues, psychiatres, psychothérapeutes, travailleurs sociaux et autres professionnels de la santé mentale aux microagressions raciales vécues par les patients noirs, autochtones et de couleur, ainsi qu’à leur fournir des stratégies pour mieux les évaluer, les réduire et les éliminer dans la pratique cliniqu...

This presentation, titled "Discrimination and Bias in Artificial Intelligence and Mental Health. Mindful of Machines: AI and Law’s Role in Promoting Compassionate, Rights-Complying, Mental Healthcare," was delivered at the University of Ottawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics in Ottawa, ON. It addresses the critical issue of discrimination...

Racial stress and racial trauma refer to psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses to race-based threats and discriminatory experiences. This article reviews the evidence base regarding techniques for coping with racial stress and trauma. These techniques include self-care, self-compassion, social support, mindfulness, cognitive restru...

Racism has been shown to directly be deleterious to the mental health care received by minoritized peoples. In response, some mental health institutions have pledged to provide antiracist mental health care, which includes training mental health care professionals in this approach. This scoping review aimed to synthesize the existing published mate...

Anti-racism approaches require an honest examination of cause, impact, and committed action to change, despite discomfort and without experiential avoidance. While contextual behavioral science (CBS) and third wave cognitive-behavioral modalities demonstrate efficacy among samples composed of primarily White individuals, data regarding their effica...

There is a growing body of literature demonstrating that experiences of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, heterosexism, poverty) are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Traditional trauma assessments do not assess experiences of oppression and it is therefore imperative to develop instruments that do. To assess oppression-based...

This report describes the experience of racism by public service employees by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG). Our team completed the qualitative analysis and report used to inform the final report that was released.

Currently, individuals with personal or familial histories of psychopathological experiences of psychosis, psychotic spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, and similar conditions are excluded from most psychedelic clinical trials, studies, and treatment programs. This study sought to determine why such an exclusion exists, what the implications of t...

Psychedelics are being studied for the treatment of numerous mental health disorders, as well as a means of bringing people together. Nonetheless, people of color and those with other marginalized identities have not been fully included. Studies and research on psychedelic-assisted therapies have largely excluded people of color, leaving out fundam...

This vignette told in eight graphic panels illustrates a story about how emotional responses associated with White femininity are used to derail a classroom discussion about racial injustice in a university setting. The panels show how this weaponization of femininity occurs and how it shields those who wield it from external criticism while center...

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is gaining renewed interest as a treatment for various mental disorders. However, there has been limited Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) representation in PAP clinical trials, signaling the need for culturally consonant communication about the efficacy and safety of PAP. We randomly assigned 3...

To serve our diverse communities, clinicians must understand how racism shapes the lives of racialized people, affecting physical and mental health. Legha’s (2023) antiracist approach is an accessible guide that clinical supervisors and trainees can implement to reduce racism in mental healthcare. Supervisors and trainees learn to work toward ident...

The Qur’an prohibits the use of intoxicants such as alcohol. However, the use of psychedelics falls somewhere in between social acceptance and outright prohibition among Muslim communities. Due to the cultural and religious stigma associated with the use of psychedelics among Muslims, it is difficult to encourage Muslim participation in psychedelic...

The field of psychedelic studies is expanding at a rapid pace and the need for academic institutions to engage more directly with this emergent field is growing. There have been some initial moves within the academy to begin tackling this evolving landscape, but these efforts have been relatively siloed along traditional disciplinary lines. Academi...

Psychology aims to capture the diversity of our human experience, yet racial inequity ensures only specific experiences are studied, peer-reviewed, and eventually published. Despite recent publications on racial bias in research topics, study samples, academic teams, and publication trends, bias in the peer review process remains largely unexamined...

The Dimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS) is widely used to measure obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) severity across four broad symptom dimensions (i.e., contamination, responsibility for harm, unacceptable thoughts, symmetry). Despite its proven utility, there is reason to suspect that the unacceptable thoughts subscale conflates differ...

Introduction: Evidence suggests that psychedelics may serve as a therapeutic approach to reduce substance use; however, People of Color (POC) are often excluded from this research. We investigated whether psychedelic use affects other substance use among POC and whether perceived changes in psychological flexibility and racial trauma mediates this...

L’objectif de cet article est de faire la lumière sur la façon dont les politiques instrumentalisées soutiennent un système conçu pour exclure les personnes racisées de la profession de psychologue, contribuant ainsi à la pénurie de prestataires de soins de santé mentale, qui à son tour contribue à une crise de la santé mentale au Canada. Nous décr...

Organizational culture, policies, and procedures can prevent or promote sexual violence. Lensed through a case study of one woman police officer and her abuse, this paper examines the organizational issues surrounding sexual harassment and abuse in law enforcement and the impact on officers' psychological well-being. We review issues surrounding wo...

There is a notable disparity between the observed prevalence of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders in racialized persons in the United States and Canada and White individuals in these same countries, with Black people being diagnosed at higher rates than other groups. The consequences thereof bring a progression of lifelong punitive societal implicat...

Oppression refers to systemic discrimination where the injustice targets or disproportionately impacts specific groups of people. The Trauma Symptoms of Discrimination Scale (TSDS) is a self-report measure designed to assess the traumatizing impact of discrimination broadly by measuring anxiety-related symptoms of trauma due to discriminatory exper...

Purpose of Review The literature on racism and anxiety-related disorders, especially social anxiety, specific phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder, is notably lacking. This report aims to review recent evidence demonstrating the link between racial discrimination and various anxiety-related disorders. Recent Findings Anxiety-related disorders...

The study and understanding of symptom presentation in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has become increasingly important in the scientific literature. Through circumnavigation of the globe, this article details differences in OCD between Western, Middle Eastern, Jewish, Hispanic, Asian, and other groups. The review involved a systematic search...

The term racial trauma is used to describe the cumulative distressing and traumatizing effects of racism in all of its forms, and it closely resembles the construct of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This investigation aims to increase our understanding of racial trauma by comparing the characteristics of those with a clinically-relevant diag...

For many marginalized people, coping with discrimination is not a temporary condition. Rather it is endemic to living in a discriminatory society and a source of ongoing stress. In this paper, we explore the need to provide people struggling to cope with the skills to tackle not just the personal consequences of discrimination, but also to understa...

Andersen et al. (2021) ont publié dans cette revue un article en anglais portant sur les préjugés raciaux et l’usage erroné de force mortelle parmi les policiers du Canada. Ils y exploraient le lien possible entre l’usage erroné de force mortelle dans une épreuve de tir simulée à des fins de nouvelle attestation, la physiologie du stress et la race...

The field of psychology has established high professional standards for those who have chosen to dedicate their careers to caring for people navigating relational and mental health challenges. And for good reason. Given the intimate and essential character of this work, these ethics and accountability standards have become a cornerstone of the prac...

The field of psychology has established high professional standards for those who have chosen to dedicate their careers to caring for people navigating relational and mental health challenges. Given the intimate and essential character of this work, these ethics and accountability standards have become a cornerstone of the practice of psychology, h...

Despite recent increased interest in equity, diversity, and inclusion in post-secondary education, racism persists on university campuses as it does throughout Western society, fueled by malignant myths and falsehoods. These myths operate such that universities, intended as places to inspire intellectual growth and development, promote misinformati...

Il y a eu de multiples appels en faveur d’une représentation accrue des personnes autochtones, noires et de couleur (PANDC) dans tous les volets de la main-d’œuvre en psychologie. Pour qu’il y ait équité au sein de la profession et dans la prestation des services, il doit y avoir un accès équitable aux programmes d’études supérieures en psychologie...

This article reviews the current research literature concerning Black people in Western societies to better understand how they regulate their emotions when coping with racism, which coping strategies they use, and which strategies are functional for well-being. A systematic review of the literature was conducted, and 26 studies were identified on...

Aggression may be defined as an action taken to harm another person who is not willing to be harmed. This definition includes physical and verbal aggression, relational aggression, ostracization, and avoidance. Currently, intention of causing harm is argued to be the critical part of what is considered an aggressive behavior and given that microagg...

Experiences of past and present oppression/discrimination towards Turtle Island’s Indigenous peoples are pervasive, contributing to symptoms of stress and trauma. Psychedelic substances have been shown to be effective for treating multiple disorders; however, there is a lack of research within Indigenous groups. This study examined the effects of n...

Racism can be stressful or even traumatizing. Psychological unwellness emerges out of the confluence of historical, cultural, and individual experiences, and resulting syndromes may or may not fit into a DSM-5 PTSD diagnostic framework. Although racial stress and trauma are common presentations in therapy, few therapists have the resources or train...

Aggression may be defined as an action taken to harm another person who is not willing to be harmed. This definition includes physical and verbal aggression, relational aggression, ostracization, and avoidance. Currently, intention of causing harm is argued to be the critical part of what is considered an aggressive behavior and given that microagg...

Racism has been linked to the development or worsening of mental health disorders. When posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms occur due to experiences of racism, it may be referred to as race-based traumatic stress or racial trauma. More work is needed to quantify the distress experienced by those affected. The present study aimed to assess the va...

Objective: Despite strong evidence for the safety and efficacy of ketamine in the treatment of mood disorders, the enrollment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) has not been a focus of this research. Health disparities in the treatment of mood disorders in BIPOC indicate a strong need to understand the clinical, social, and pharmaco...

Objective Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating disorder requiring timely diagnosis and treatment, with special attention needed for Black populations in the U.S. Yet, stakeholders often fail to recognize Black communities' heterogeneous ethnic composition, thus not allowing diverse sociocultural realities to inform PTSD interventi...

Background: Limited ethnoracial diversity in previous ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) trials for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has prompted questions concerning whether Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) also benefit from this treatment. Methods: Secondary analysis was conducted using a modified int...

Purpose of Review While research has identified racial trauma in other contexts, it is often overlooked amongst Canadian society. Racial trauma occurs as a result of an event of racism or cumulative events over time whereby an individual experiences stress and consequent mental health sequelae. Given that the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or Person...

Some may think that discussions on the inhumane treatment of refugees of color can wait until after the war in Ukraine has ended. However, human lives are at risk every second and no refugee should be denied basic rights because of interactions between their identities and others’ ideological beliefs. In addition, experiences of racism within Ukrai...

Evidence-based jury selection is a critical need because of historical and ongoing racial biases that impede a just process and outcome. As norms about bias, how to measure it, and mitigating its effects have progressed over time, new tools to help carry out this work have become available. This article synergizes the latest relevant psychological...

Racism is a pervasive problem in Western society, leading to mental and physical unwellness in people from racialized groups. Psychology began as a racist discipline and still is. As such, most clinical training and curricula do not operate from an anti-racist framework. Although most therapists have seen clients with stress and trauma due to racia...

Les Canadiens noirs et les Afro-Américains font face à des disparités en ce qui concerne leur accès à des soins de santé mentale et particulièrement des soins de santé mentale de qualité. Les préjugés implicites sont des attitudes et des stéréotypes inconscients, soient des pensées automatiques, qui peuvent potentiellement provoquer des comportemen...

Background Newly arriving Syrian refugees can present with specific health characteristics and medical conditions when entering the United States. Given the lack of epidemiological data available for the refugee populations, our study examined the demographic features of Syrian refugees resettled in the state of Kentucky. Specifically, we examined...