The Truth Project: survivor experiences of sharing their testimonies following childhood sexual abuse

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Kirsten Barnicot explores research that shows how trauma-informed enquiries can be part of the healing process for survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

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We need a whole system approach to tackling early childhood inequality: new research on health and educational outcomes in adolescence

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In her debut blog, Dr Huong Le evaluates a UK population-based retrospective cohort study investigating the impact of early childhood disadvantage on a variety of adverse health and educational outcomes in adolescence.

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Barriers to PTSD care for US veterans: new evidence highlights importance of an intersectional approach

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Dr Ana Veic explores the barriers to mental health care reported by over 17,000 US veterans with PTSD, and how these barriers differ between demographic groups (e.g., by race and by sex).

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How do friendships influence adolescent self-injurious thoughts and behaviours?

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In her debut blog, Bella Brereton writes with Rasanat Fatima Nawaz to summarise a systematic review that explored the associations between self-injurious thoughts and behaviours and school-based friendship networks in adolescents, using sociometric data.

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What’s the relationship between stressful life events and psychosis?

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Kris Deering considers a 2-year prospective observational study published in the Lancet Psychiatry which found strong links between stressful life events and relapse in first-episode psychosis.

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Sitting in the waiting room: what happens when anxiety disorders are left untreated?

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In her debut blog, Beth Hindhaugh summarises a systematic review and meta-analysis of 173 studies examining the untreated course of anxiety disorders, which finds that for some people, anxiety disorders can improve without treatment.

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The burden of perinatal mental illness in migrant women: new evidence on prevalence and risk factors

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In her debut Mental Elf blog, Gilda Spaducci explores the global prevalence of perinatal mental disorders among migrant women; summarising a recent review which finds that “one in four experience perinatal depression, one in five perinatal anxiety, and one in eleven perinatal PTSD”.

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Sharpening the focus: viewing self-harm images online – harmful and protective?

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Jo Lockwood, Camilla Babbage and Ellen Townsend consider a systematic review exploring the impact of viewing self-harm images online, which finds that images can trigger powerful emotions and may relate to a change in cognition, affect and behaviour.

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Is persistent anxiety and depression in childhood a one-way road to adverse outcomes in adulthood?

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In her latest blog, Laura Hankey summarises a longitudinal study using ALSPAC data that explored associations between anxiety, depression, and comorbid anxiety/depression in childhood and adverse outcomes in young adulthood.

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Genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with changes in heart structure and function

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Nadine Parker and Ole Andreassen summarise a recent UK population-based cohort study, which looks at the impact of polygenic risk for schizophrenia on cardiac structure and function in over 32,000 people.

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