Young people with mental health conditions use social media differently

Adolescents with internalising conditions differed from their peers not only in how much they used social media, but also in how they experienced it, engaging more with social comparison and being more affected by feedback.

Adolescents with mental health conditions spend more time on social media and engage with it differently, especially those with internalising conditions like anxiety or eating disorders. Let’s avoid thinking of ‘mental health’ as one category when it comes to young people’s lives on social media.

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The role of shame in hairpulling: understanding adolescents’ experiences

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Around 1% of adolescents have clinically diagnosable trichotillomania, but what role does shame play in how hairpulling connects to anxiety and depression? A recent study explores this largely overlooked question.

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What lies beneath hair-pulling and skin-picking behaviours? The role of early maladaptive schemas

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Are hair-pulling and skin-picking disorders linked to deeper beliefs formed in childhood? This study found that early maladaptive schemas were common across trichotillomania, skin-picking and OCD, with stronger associations to focused (emotionally-driven) behaviours.

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Targeting teenage worry: network analysis of anxiety symptoms over time

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Nervousness, irritability, excessive worry, uncontrollable worry… not all anxiety symptoms weigh the same at different ages. This new Chineses study shows how anxiety networks tighten as young people grow older, and where the best intervention targets may lie.

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Psychological distress over 30 years in Great Britain: the times they are a changin’ (or are they?)

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Niamh Dooley summarises a 2023 paper that investigated trends in psychological distress in the UK across a 28-year period, using data from three representative surveys.

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Immigrants and eating disorders: the numbers might surprise you

In practice, it is important for clinicians to be aware that how eating disorders present in immigrants may differ from presentations in local populations.

Ella Bradley, a MSc Global Mental Health student from the University of Glasgow, summarises a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the prevalence of eating disorders in migrants compared to local populations.

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Smartphone bans in schools are not associated with better mental wellbeing or reduced screen-time out of school

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Emma Sullivan summarises a cross-sectional observational study investigating associations between school smartphone policies and mental wellbeing in young people.

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City limits: untreated psychosis in the Global South

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Izah Bowes considers a cross-sectional study exploring urbanicity and rates of untreated psychotic disorders in three diverse settings in the Global South: Trinidad, India and Nigeria.

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We need to improve sleep assessment and treatment in patients with severe mental illness

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Emiliana Tonini looks at how sleep is recorded and treated in people with serious mental illness—and how it affects their engagement with services. The study finds that sleep is rarely part of routine clinical assessment, and recommended sleep treatments are hardly ever used.

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Personal trauma is associated with secondary traumatic stress in mental health professionals

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Linda Gask blogs a systematic review finding that personal trauma is linked to onset of secondary trauma in mental health professionals.

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