Kirsten Lawson

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Kirsten is a Consultant at Kent & Medway NHS and Social Care Partnership NHS Trust. She has previously worked to develop a network of Liaison services across the Trust; service development within community based services and now clinically works on acute inpatient services. Throughout her career she has gained a wealth of experience in management and leadership roles. Kirsten is a displaced Scot; part geek, part Christmas fanatic, part elf and National Patient Safety & Care Award winner. She is passionate about learning and development; bringing Psychiatry to the masses. She can be found on twitter as @LiaisonLawson.

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Collaboration, collaboration, collaboration

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Kirsten Lawson explores the benefits of working across professional and therapeutic boundaries, highlighted beautifully by the recent COINCIDE RCT of collaborative care for patients with depression comorbid with diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

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Antidepressants for depression in cancer: Cochrane review highlights lack of evidence

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Kirsten Lawson reports on a recent Cochrane systematic review, which highlights a lack of high quality trials about the efficacy and safety of antidepressants for depression in cancer.

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Guess who? Put a face to a name

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Kirsten Lawson reviews a randomised controlled trial looking at the impact of providing clinician photos on inpatient’s recall of names and roles. Is this an effective way to improve communication between inpatients and their care team?

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Woodland walks and your ‘Elf

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Kirsten Lawson dons her walking boots and reports on the national Walks for Health (WfH) programme, which has been investigated in an observational study looking at the mental, emotional and social well-being of people who participate in woodland walks.

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Depression and cancer: Lancet papers on prevalence and integrated collaborative care

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Kirsten Lawson highlights a trio of Lancet papers on the prevalence of depression in cancer patients and the efficacy of a new treatment programme called ‘Depression Care for People with Cancer’.

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Mental disorders after critical illness: depression, PTSD and functional disability in survivors of intensive care

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The BRAIN-ICU prospective cohort study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine looks at mental health outcomes and functional disabilities in a general ICU population. It explores the hypothesis that depressive symptoms after discharge are more often somatic (i.e. bodily complaints) than cognitive-affective (i.e. thought-related and mood-related complaints).

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Lifetime risk of treated mental disorders

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This new study concludes that approximately one-third of the Danish population will receive treatment in secondary care for a mental disorder across their lifetime. Should we be talking about 1 in 3, rather than 1 in 4?

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Critical illness and risk of psychiatric diagnosis

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Out in the woodland we are pleased that recent advances in medical care mean that more patients are surviving critical illnesses within intensive care units (ICU).  “But what does that have to do with the Mental Elf?” I hear you say. Well, we Mental Elves are wondering whether this advancement in medical technology and technique are actually putting people [read the full story…]

Is the menopause depressing? Not necessarily

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Some of the lady Elves in the forest have been sharing their concerns about the menopause, and whilst keeping an eye out for hot flushes, night sweats and mood swings; what other changes will the menopause will bring?! Well, Freeman and colleagues have some good news and bad news for us. In November 2013, JAMA [read the full story…]