People with bipolar disorder have high levels of post 16 years education, but it’s estimated that only half of those living in Europe with the condition are in paid employment. This is a real concern because the illness typically affects young and middle-aged people who would normally be active in the workforce. Of course, living [read the full story…]
Benzodiazepines are an effective treatment for acute anxiety and transient insomnia, but guidelines advise that they should not be prescribed for longer than a few weeks as their long-term use can lead to dependency and falls in older people (amongst other things). The evidence appears compelling and yet benzodiazepines are still widely prescribed in the [read the full story…]
The relationship between attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and substance use in children is hotly debated. ADHD symptoms include inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity and conduct disorders, and there’s considerable interest in finding out which of these predicts early substance use. If we have reliable evidence that answers this question we can make informed decisions about treating ADHD and [read the full story…]
The excellent Time to Change initiative is quick to point out that people with mental health problems are more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. However, it remains the case that certain mental health conditions are more frequently associated with antisocial behaviour and violence than others. Personality disorders (PD) are one [read the full story…]
Some of the older elves in the woodland don’t join in with our social activities as much as they used to. The younger elves call them ‘cranky’ and laugh at them sitting alone in their tree houses. Personally I worry that they might be feeling lonely and I doubt that shutting themselves away from the [read the full story…]
To date, ecstasy use has been very much associated with young people and clubbing, but some research has shown that the environments in which it is taken is now beginning to broaden. Lifetime prevalence rates for the drug are around 10% in the US and 8.6% in the UK according to 2010 EMCDDA estimates. The [read the full story…]
Although most Musculoskeletal Elves lead very physically active lives there are a small minority of Elves who are office based. Occasionally I hear them complain of episodes of low back pain and they have enquired of me as to what contributed to its onset. Although I felt I had a reasonable idea as to the main [read the full story…]
Early intervention services for psychosis are aimed at people aged 14-35 who are experiencing a first episode of psychosis or at risk of doing so. The teams that work in this area usually include psychiatrists, psychologists, community psychiatric nurses, social workers and support workers. The NICE schizophrenia guideline recommends that early intervention services are offered [read the full story…]
It’s hard not to picture scenes from the great war films when we consider the mental health of veterans. Images from Apocolypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket and The Hurt Locker are etched onto the public psyche in such a way that it’s sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction. Research has shown [read the full story…]
This well conducted prospective cohort study looks at the impact that cannabis use can have on the development of the brain over a 20 year period, from the teenage years to middle-age. The research studied 1,037 people from New Zealand who are part of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development study, which followed participants from [read the full story…]
