John Baker

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John Baker was appointed to Chair of Mental Health Nursing in 2015. John's research focuses on developing complex clinical and psychological interventions in mental health settings. He is particularly interested in i) acute/inpatient mental health services and clinical interventions; ii) medicines management in mental health care; iii) the attitudes and clinical skills of mental health workers, iv) the mental health workforce. The good practice manuals which he developed have been evaluated, cited as examples of good practice, and influenced clinical practice in the UK and abroad. The training package for patients, service users and carers to promote research awareness and understanding has been cited by the MHRN and NICE as an exemplar of good practice.

John is a member of the NIHR post-doctoral panel, sits on the Editorial boards for Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing & International Journal of Mental Health Nursing. He is a Registered Nurse Teacher with the Nursing, Midwifery Council (NMC) and is active within Mental Health Nursing Academics (UK).

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Lithium prevents suicide in mood disorders, according to updated systematic review

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Mood disorders include schizoaffective, dysthymia, rapid cycling, unipolar and bipolar disorders. People with mood disorders have a 30 times higher risk of suicide than the general population. Recent Mental Elf blogs have summarised the data on suicide risk and bipolar disorder, and shown that one key treatment is lithium which appears to have a robust evidence [read the full story…]

Systematic review: which anti-psychotic medication is the best?

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Schizophrenia is considered a chronic long-term debilitating condition, affecting about 1% of the population. There has been considerable debate about which of the anti-psychotic medications are the best treatments. The debate has usually been structured around typical (older) and atypical (newer) anti-psychotic medications. The revised NICE guidelines (2009) moved towards a more neutral stance between [read the full story…]

ADHD in childhood is not linked to later development of bipolar disorder

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Bipolar disorder is considered a hereditary condition. There is emerging evidence that prodromes/early symptoms are evident in children before disorders develop. This potentially offers a chance to treat and prevent the development of mental health problems in adulthood. Being able to identifying early symptoms of the onset of this mental health disorder is clearly important, however, [read the full story…]

Foetal exposure to sodium valproate is linked with autism risk

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The risks of congenital malformations and impact of cognitive development after foetal exposure to anti-epileptic drugs has been known for some time. Sodium valproate is a frequently used drug for epilepsy and other disorders (including bipolar disorder and migraine). The researchers aimed to examine the link between foetal exposure and subsequent development of autism. Methods [read the full story…]

New guideline says lithium still appears to have the most robust evidence base as a long-term treatment for bipolar disorder

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Bipolar disorder features as one of the top ten disabling disorders for working age adults. There are numerous risks including suicide, increased mortality and reduced social functioning associated with the disorder. Key to enabling recovery is preventing acute episodes from occurring, with each episode increasing the risk of future ones. Therefore ensuring long-term maintenance treatment [read the full story…]

Systematic review finds that suicide risk for prisoners with bipolar disorder may be lower than other mental disorders

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In prisons, suicide is the leading cause of mortality (estimated at 3-5 times the general population). Mental health disorders are known to increase the risk. Generally, suffering from a bipolar disorder increases the risk of attempted or completed suicide when compared to the general population. So it would be expected that prisoners with bipolar disorder [read the full story…]