Screening for alcohol misuse in the emergency department needs to be done quickly and accurately, so it makes sense to find the best instrument for this purpose. This systematic review of diagnostic cohort studies searched a range of databases and journals and also conducted citation searching because of a lack of relevant literature found by [read the full story…]
The PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) is one of the most important rating instruments for patients with schizophrenia. Kay’s original 1987 article on PANSS has been cited more than 4,000 times making it one of the most frequently cited schizophrenia articles on PubMed. Despite its common use there still seems to be profound uncertainty [read the full story…]
Researchers from the VU University in Amsterdam and the EMGO Institute have published a nice summary of the effects of psychotherapies for adult depression. The study summarises a series of meta-analyses that they have carried out, to measure the strength of the evidence for the different types of psychotherapy in treating different types of depression. Here’s what [read the full story…]
Depression is common in patients with dementia and antidepressants are widely prescribed for this population although the evidence remains limited. This randomised controlled trial conducted by researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry in London and published in the Lancet, explored the safety and efficacy of two widely-used drugs (sertraline and mirtazapine) in patients with dementia and [read the full story…]
Older people who suffer from depression and executive dysfunction experience significant levels of disability and often don’t respond well to conventional drug treatments. This randomised controlled trial conducted by researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York State, attempted to find out if problem-solving therapy is better than supportive therapy for reducing disability in older [read the full story…]
This cross-sectional study used a postal questionnaire to find out if there are regional differences in the attitudes of doctors and nurses to antipsychotic polypharmacy and the use of clinical guidelines. A survey was sent to 2 pairs of treatment settings in Denmark, characterized by low and high prevalence of antipsychotic polypharmacy, respectively. The questionnaire [read the full story…]
This cohort study conducted by researchers from the St. Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center set out to answer the question: Are antidepressants associated with an increased or decreased risk of incident myocardial infarction and all-cause mortality? 93,653 patients aged 25–80 years (average age 51.5 years, 14.1% female, 77.8% White, 57.1% not married) were identified using the [read the full story…]
The objective of this cost-utility analysis was to assess the cost-effectiveness of providing group cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), compared with routine primary care, for women with postnatal depression in the UK. Group CBT was compared with routine primary care for women with postnatal depression, defined by their Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) score, with scores ranging [read the full story…]
The UK Adult ADHD Network has published a consensus statement on the identification and management of ADHD offenders within the criminal justice system (CJS). The document claims that ADHD is currently not on the criminal justice agenda, which is a concern given the disproportionately high rates of ADHD offenders compared with the normal population and [read the full story…]
Many people with dementia experience pain, but often find it difficult to communicate this to their carers and the pain is therefore manifested as agitation instead. A randomised controlled trial published in the British Medical Journal looks at a systematic approach to the treatment of pain, to see if it can reduce agitation in people with [read the full story…]
