Global alcohol consumption: why the world is failing to meet the WHO’s reduction target

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Alcohol causes 2.6 million premature deaths each year, yet remains the world’s favourite drug. This new global analysis exposes how weak policy, powerful industry lobbying and slow action are undermining WHO’s efforts to reduce alcohol-related harm.

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How to deliver trauma-informed perinatal mental healthcare

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One in four women experience mental health difficulties during the perinatal period, yet trauma often goes unrecognised. This new review highlights eight clear recommendations for trauma-informed care and reminds us that creating safe, compassionate spaces may matter more than any new intervention.

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Bundle of joy, bundle of nerves: What do we really know about postpartum anxiety?

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Postpartum anxiety affects more than 1 in 10 new mothers worldwide, yet researchers still can’t agree on how to define or measure it. This new review in The Lancet Psychiatry takes stock of what we know so far and why the field urgently needs consensus.

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Inside the diagnostic grey zone: using machine learning to separate bipolar and major depression

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High misdiagnosis rates between bipolar and major depressive disorder cause real harm to patients and services. This new neuroimaging study tested whether brain connectivity and machine learning could do a better job of telling the two apart, with interesting but limited results.

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Is it a gut feeling? How the microbiome may shape perinatal mental health in women with higher body weight

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What if perinatal mental health started in the gut? New research from Finland suggests certain bacteria may be associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms during pregnancy and after birth, raising questions about inflammation, causality, and the future of microbiome-based screening and treatment.

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Targeting distressing mental imagery in psychosis: a neglected but promising area for intervention

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What if therapy focused not on thoughts or voices, but on the vivid images that often accompany them? The iMAPS-2 trial tested a novel imagery-focused therapy for psychosis, showing it’s safe, acceptable, and ready for a full-scale trial.

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Doubling of respiratory deaths in people with severe mental illness

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People with severe mental illness are more than twice as likely to die from respiratory disease than those without. This new systematic review highlights the scale of the problem and why action on public health and social inequality is just as vital as stop-smoking advice.

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Do hobbies protect against adolescent substance misuse? Not so fast…

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A new study claims hobbies reduce substance misuse in adolescents, but are we mistaking correlation for causation? Before we start fiddling with interventions, this blog explores the risks of jumping to conclusions.

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Should you start metformin whenever you start antipsychotics?

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Guidelines say metformin can help prevent weight gain from antipsychotics like olanzapine, but this large UK study shows it’s rarely prescribed. What’s stopping us?

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Solastalgia and the mental health impacts of environmental loss

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Climate change is reshaping not just the planet but our emotional lives. Could solastalgia (“solace” (comfort) and “nostalgia” (homesickness)) be a key pathway linking environmental loss to mental distress? This new scoping review of global studies investigates.

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