Lia Ali and colleagues from the IMPARTS project present the findings of their group discussions about a recent review of mortality in mental disorders. Along the way she discusses the staff training they carried out and the tweet chat they ran to consider the implications of this research, both to individuals and on the global burden of disease.
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Natasha Clarke summarises a recent Cochrane review of pharmacotherapy for anxiety and comorbid alcohol use disorders, which found only very low quality evidence about the effectiveness of medication (buspirone, paroxetine, sertraline) for treating patients with both conditions.
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Dr Kirsten Lawson reviews one of Dr Wayne Katons’ last cohort studies looking into depression and diabetes and it’s effect on the risk of dementia.
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Clinical Psychologist and Researcher Rachel Brand publishes her debut blog on a recent RCT of Prolonged Esposure vs Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing vs Waiting List for patients with PTSD and psychosis.
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Elena Marcus finds inconclusive results in this recent systematic review of psychological therapy for anxiety in bipolar spectrum disorders, which includes trials of CBT, mindfulness based cognitive therapy and stress management therapy.
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Amy Green appraises a systematic review of CBT for insomnia (CBTi) in people with comorbid mental illness, which concludes that cognitive behaviour therapy could be an effective alternative to hypnotics. However, concerns about the review methodology cast some doubt on the findings.
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Current NICE guidelines state that PTSD should not be dealt with unless alcohol dependence is first treated. Paul Christiansen summarises a systematic review of the comorbidity between PTSD and alcohol misuse and wonders where the guidance leaves patients and professionals.
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Kirsten Lawson highlights a trio of Lancet papers on the prevalence of depression in cancer patients and the efficacy of a new treatment programme called ‘Depression Care for People with Cancer’.
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The BRAIN-ICU prospective cohort study published in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine looks at mental health outcomes and functional disabilities in a general ICU population. It explores the hypothesis that depressive symptoms after discharge are more often somatic (i.e. bodily complaints) than cognitive-affective (i.e. thought-related and mood-related complaints).
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This new study estimates that there are approximately 3 million smokers in the UK with mental illness, and the direct cost of treatment to the NHS in this population was £719 million in 2010. The total smoking-attributable costs for this group are estimated at £2.34 billion.
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