Andrew Jones appraises a recent study of mortality and life expectancy of people with alcohol use disorders in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, which provides some useful insight into the impact of hazardous alcohol use.
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Amy Green appraises a systematic review of CBT for insomnia (CBTi) in people with comorbid mental illness, which concludes that cognitive behaviour therapy could be an effective alternative to hypnotics. However, concerns about the review methodology cast some doubt on the findings.
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John Baker considers the findings of a recent meta-synthesis of research looking at the role of acute mental health nurses from the perspective of the nurses themselves. He concludes that, whilst this viewpoint is important, it’s also vital that we consider what service users think nurses should provide.
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Today’s blog is reposted from the excellent Conversation UK website. It’s written by Kerrie-Anne Ho and Colleen Loo from the University of New South Wales in Australia. They provide an overview of recent research looking at the efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation for depression.
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Something a bit different today; a reflective blog from André Tomlin who has spent most of the last week discussing the new DCP #UnderstandingPsychosis report on Twitter. He considers the pros and cons of social media and what this whole discussion means for the future of the Mental Elf.
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Sally Adams summarises a new randomised controlled trial in JAMA, which tests a sustained care intervention and post-discharge smoking cessation for hospitalised smokers.
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Helen Bould summarises a meta-analysis of interventions for caregivers of someone with an eating disorder, which highlights a lack of high quality primary research.
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Current NICE guidelines state that PTSD should not be dealt with unless alcohol dependence is first treated. Paul Christiansen summarises a systematic review of the comorbidity between PTSD and alcohol misuse and wonders where the guidance leaves patients and professionals.
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Helge Hasselmann highlights a recent systematic review of anti-inflammatory drugs for depression, which concludes that NSAIDs, in particular celecoxib, decreases depressive symptoms without increased risk of adverse effects. However, the meta-analysis has a number of draw-backs, which make the study findings far from convincing.
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Keith Laws, Alex Langford and Samei Huda provide a critique of the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology report published today.
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