By the age of 19, between a fifth and a quarter of young people have suffered from a depressive disorder. There are associations between depression and self-harm, suicide, substance abuse, poor academic performance and social dysfunction. The most robust evidence exists for two particular psychological interventions: cognitive behavioural therapy and interpersonal therapy. There is evidence [read the full story…]
Shared decision-making is all the rage right now, so it’s great to see this new report written by Professor Alan Cribb from the Centre for Public Policy Research at King’s College London. There has been broad acceptance for many years that patient-centred care and shared decision-making between patients and healthcare professionals is a good idea, [read the full story…]
This Mental Health Network briefing, produced in association with the National Housing Federation, outlines a number of routes that mental health providers and housing associations may wish to explore together to improve quality and reduce costs. A settled home is vital for good mental health. People with mental health problems are far less likely to [read the full story…]
The prevention of suicide in inpatient mental health settings has long been a focus for clinicians and managers. Understanding what can be done in community, emergency and general practice settings to reduce the number of suicides has presented more of a challenge. This briefing introduces the National Patient Safety Agency’s (NPSA) new suicide prevention toolkits [read the full story…]
Read this important new research if you work in mental health or public health and have an interest in the relationship between mental disorders and adversity in childhood and chronic physical conditions in later adult life. The cross sectional study was conducted by researchers in New Zealand who set out to investigate whether childhood adversities [read the full story…]
Women who have survived physical or sexual abuse may continue to experience post traumatic stress disorder and other mental health complaints well into later life, according to a new study published in the Journal of Women’s Health. Researchers from Connecticut conducted this systematic review which involved finding what they call ’empirical studies’ from the last [read the full story…]
Suicide is rarely far from the headlines these days, but the last week has seen a number of high profile stories in the mainstream media. First there was the tragic death of the much loved footballer Gary Speed, which has been followed by a huge amount of press coverage. Then on Saturday The Sun newspaper [read the full story…]
This cross-sectional study conducted by researchers from VU University in Amsterdam investigated whether specific personality traits (such as neuroticism, conscientiousness and being open to experiences) are associated with an increased use of mental health services. The background to this study is the fact that there are now many safe and effective treatments available for depression [read the full story…]
Patients with first episode psychosis often relapse after initial remission, so it is perhaps surprising that treatment guidelines for the condition are generally based on poor quality evidence. Antipsychotic drugs are frequently discontinued, but clinicians don’t have ready access to information that shows how to determine which patients can be successfully tapered off of antipsychotic [read the full story…]
I had a fantastic response to the November poll, so a big thanks to everyone who took the time to tell me what professional group you belong to. The Mental Elf is used most by mental health nurses who make up 21.9% of the total polled audience. It’s also well used by patients (12.4%), students [read the full story…]
