schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a long-term mental health condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms. These include: hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that do not exist), delusions (unusual beliefs that are not based on reality and often contradict the evidence), muddled thoughts based on the hallucinations or delusions, and changes in behaviour. Doctors describe schizophrenia as a psychotic illness. This means that sometimes a person may not be able to distinguish their own thoughts and ideas from reality.

Our schizophrenia Blogs

Physical activity participation in severe mental illness: one step closer? #ClosingTheGapSMI

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Suzan Hassan writes her debut elf blog on a recent research paper that highlights the factors associated with regular physical activity participation among people with severe mental illness.

Today sees the launch of the new Closing The Gap Network in York. Follow #ClosingTheGapSMI on Twitter for live updates throughout the day.

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Lifestyle training for schizophrenia: STEPWISE fails to make a difference

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Ben Janaway writes his debut elf blog on the STEPWISE RCT which is out today in the British Journal of Psychiatry: Structured lifestyle education for people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and first-episode psychosis.

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Decision-making capacity of inpatients with schizophrenia: don’t assume people are incapable

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Mental Health Masters Students from UCL summarise a recent cross-sectional study on the association of decision-making capacity for treatment and research in inpatients with schizophrenia and related psychoses.

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What are mental health staff doing to address the sexual health needs of service users? It’s complicated.

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Sarah Watts explores a small qualitative study that asked NHS staff about the sexual health and sexuality needs of people with serious mental illness.

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Physical health inequalities in primary care

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Andy Bell from Centre for Mental Health and the Equally Well UK collaborative, calls for action in response to the Public Health England briefing on severe mental illness and physical health inequalities.

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Victims of crime with mental illness: differences between Denmark and the US

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Chris Millar writes his debut blog on a recent paper that explores the link between mental illness and being subjected to crime in Denmark and the United States. This blog asks: how much do poverty and the safety net matter? There are some important implications for policy makers.

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Is the incidence of schizophrenia in South-East London really 10 times higher than in Santiago, Spain?

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Vishal Bhavsar reviews an EU study of nearly 3,000 people across 6 EU countries, looking at the treated incidence of schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. It helps us better understand who gets psychosis, when, and where.

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What can genetics tell us about the link between cannabis and schizophrenia? #MHQT

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Suzi Gage summarises a recent GWAS of lifetime cannabis use, which reveals new risk loci, genetic overlap with psychiatric traits, and a causal influence of schizophrenia. Interesting new evidence ahead of our Mental Health Question Time #MHQT event in London tomorrow.

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Systematic review of recovery may leave more questions than answers

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Simon Bradstreet is left feeling frustrated by this systematic review of person-oriented recovery in people living with severe mental illness, which neglected to include a significant amount of relevant research.

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Is Cannabidiol (CBD) an effective antipsychotic?

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Luke Sheridan Rains publishes his debut blog on a recent multicentre RCT of Cannabidiol (CBD) as an adjunctive therapy for people with schizophrenia, which suggests that CBD had a beneficial, but modest impact on positive psychotic symptoms and severity of illness when used alongside existing antipsychotics.

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