OCD risk may increase following perinatal complications

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Alan Underwood summarises a population based cohort study of 2.4 million Swedish children, which highlights links between perinatal risk factors such as smoking during pregnancy, and later development of obsessive compulsive disorder.

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iCBT for depression: how does it work?

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Mark Smith presents the findings from a qualitative systematic review of iCBT for depression, which tries to unearth the mechanisms of change of internet-based or computerised cognitive behavioural therapy.

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What happened to you? Trauma informed approaches to mental health care

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Sarah Carr explores a narrative review of trauma informed approaches to mental health care, which aims to provide a definition and plan for future development.

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Cannabis use during pregnancy: little known about impact on child or maternal health

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Ellen Grimas summarises a systematic review on prenatal exposure to cannabis and maternal and child health outcomes, which highlights the lack of high quality research in this area.

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Mental health of prisoners: have we reached a state of crisis?

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Ian Cummins highlights the increased risk of all-cause mortality, suicide, self-harm, violence and victimisation in prisoners. He welcomes a recent review of reviews which contains clinical, policy and research recommendations.

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Antipsychotic efficacy measured by real-world observational study

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Tracey Roberts examines whether a retrospective observational study accurately investigates the effectiveness of second and first generation antipsychotics.

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Trauma and psychotic symptoms: clear association, but do we really understand why?

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#UCLJournalClub students worked collaboratively on this blog, which appraises and summarises a recent cross sectional study looking at the psychological mechanisms that mediate effects between trauma and psychotic symptoms.

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Chronic pain and depression: genetic and environmental risks

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Marcus Munafo explores a recent study that uses genetic data and family environmental information to quantify the risk of chronic pain and the contribution of risk variants for major depressive disorder.

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Rapid response to eating disorders predicts better outcomes

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Francesca Solmi writes her debut elf blog on a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of rapid response to eating disorders, which finds that early treatment of anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder is associated with moderate improvements in behavioural and cognitive outcomes.

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Cognitive bias modification for addiction: are we flogging a dead horse?

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Matt Field considers a recent meta-analysis that explores the effectiveness of Cognitive Bias Modification interventions for substance addictions.

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