Preterm babies are three times more likely to be admitted to hospital for a mental health problem as an adult than normal term babies, according to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry by researchers in the UK and Sweden. About 1 in every 13 children born in the UK are classified as [read the full story…]
Children with serious attention problems are three times more likely to experience socio-economic disadvantage in adulthood, according to a French study. The study, published today by the British Journal of Psychiatry, finds they are more likely to be employed in a lower grade job, and are less likely to be educated to university level. The [read the full story…]
NICE guidance recommends that all people who self-harm and are admitted to hospital are given mental health and risk assessment: Everyone who has self-harmed should have a comprehensive assessment of needs and risk; engaging the service user is a prerequisite. – Taken from NICE Self-harm guidance (CG16), Nov 2004 This new prospective cohort study conducted [read the full story…]
There is a clear need for specialist assessment and care for older people who self-harm, according to two papers published in the May issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers from the University of Manchester studied 1,177 people over the age of 60 who were admitted to six general hospitals in Oxford, Manchester and Derby [read the full story…]
People who take psychiatric drugs are well aware of the daily trade-off between the benefits and the harms of their medication. This is a key consideration for pregnant women with depression, who don’t just have to consider the side effects that may strike them, but also the impact they may have on their unborn child. [read the full story…]
The prescribing of benzodiazepines and ‘Z drugs’ in general practice in England has stayed pretty consistent or increased slightly over the last 5 years, despite safety warnings about the risks of these drugs. I blogged about this back in May last year when the Department of Health highlighted two new studies by National Addiction Centre [read the full story…]
Regular readers may recall previous blogs where I have written about the dangers associated with antipsychotic drugs in elderly patients. Many of you have responded simply and emotionally on Twitter by saying: “Stop prescribing these drugs!” Others have recognised that the issue is far from clear cut as a fair proportion of patients do have [read the full story…]
A number of concerns have arisen over recent years about the safety of the various drugs used to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in children and young adults. These central nervous system stimulants include methylphenidate, dexmethylphenidate, dextroamphetamines, amphetamine salts, atomoxetine and pemoline. Case reports have highlighted that sudden cardiac death can be brought on [read the full story…]
There is remarkably little research in this field. Epidemiological studies of suicidal behaviour in children and young people from the care system have previously come mainly from Scandinavia. A Swedish longitudinal national cohort study (ref 2) from last year concluded that every seventh girl (14%) who left long-term foster family care after age 17 was [read the full story…]
Our colleagues at the Mental Elf found this large cohort study from California which explored the risk of autism in children of families with one child already diagnosed with the condition. Previous research estimated the risk to be between 3-10%, but this evidence was always regarded as unreliable. This study looked siblings of children [read the full story…]
