#ElfieSelfie Show your love for the Mental Elf

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There is great excitement in the woodland right now as we prepare for the relaunch of the Mental Elf and the official launch of the new National Elf Service website on Wed 20th May. So what better time to show your support for the elves by posting your #ElfieSelfie?

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The Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale is a good tool for diagnosing dementia in multicultural populations

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Clarissa Giebel summarises a systematic review, which concludes that the Rowland Universal Dementia Assessment Scale (RUDAS) has good sensitivity (77.2%) and specificity (85.9%) for diagnosing dementia in multicultural populations.

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Promoting smoking cessation in people with schizophrenia

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Meg Fluharty summarises a recent clinical overview of smoking cessation in people with severe mental illness, which provides useful practical advice to clinicians who are trying to help service users with schizophrenia, psychosis and other conditions to quit smoking

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Mental Health First Aid improves knowledge, reduces stigma and makes people more likely to offer support

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Sarah Knowles summarises a recent meta-analysis of Mental Health First Aid, which claims to be the first study to quantitatively synthesise the evidence in this field.

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Trauma-focused psychotherapies for PTSD in people with experiences of psychosis: A change in the status quo?

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Clinical Psychologist and Researcher Rachel Brand publishes her debut blog on a recent RCT of Prolonged Esposure vs Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing vs Waiting List for patients with PTSD and psychosis.

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The evidence for mindfulness: Mental Health Awareness Week #mhaw15

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Mental Health Awareness Week starts today! It’s all about mindfulness this year, so we are showing our support by highlighting the evidence-based blogs we’ve written on the subject over the last few years. Start here if you want to read about the evidence for mindfulness, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy and mindfulness-based group therapy.

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Pharmacotherapy for PTSD: an update on the evidence finds some efficacy but small effect sizes

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Patrick Kennedy-Williams summarises a recent systematic review of pharmacotherapy for PTSD, which compares antidepressants with placebo for post-traumatic stress disorder. [Please note: this blog was amended on 7/5/15].

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Varenicline supports smoking reduction and smoking cessation, according to RCT

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Paul Christiansen highlights an RCT of varenicline on smoking cessation through smoking reduction, which suggests that varenicline may be an effective treatment for smokers who wish to gradually reduce their cigarette consumption.

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