Positive expressive writing for wellbeing: which techniques work best?

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Writing about your best possible self or things you’re grateful for showed strongest improvements in wellbeing, but most studies were poor quality and focused only on non-clinical populations.

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Coercive control and intimidation: stronger links to adult mental health than physical violence

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Non-physical domestic violence (intimidation, control, property damage) in childhood showed stronger associations with adult mental health disorders than physical violence in large Australian study.

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Prevention, screening and treatment of peripartum depression for women: new clinical guidelines

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International group developed 44 evidence-based recommendations for peripartum depression, supporting psychological interventions and universal screening with clear referral pathways.

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Cardiovascular screening for people with severe mental illness: still missing the full picture

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Only 35% of people with severe mental illness received all six cardiovascular risk factor checks within one month in this UK primary care study. Financial incentives temporarily increased comprehensive screening but effects were uneven and short-lived. Young men of non-White ethnicity were most likely to miss screening, highlighting persistent inequalities.

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Trauma and homelessness: Can we address the impacts of trauma without ensuring the home?

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This co-produced systematic review of 27 studies found that homelessness involves traumatic experiences affecting mental health, substance use, and leading to desensitisation. However, lived experience reviewers question whether the findings are new knowledge and critique the limited scope, inadequate explanation of co-production processes, and failure to address housing policy as the root cause of homelessness.

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Mental health impacts of sexual violence in older adults: a qualitative study

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This qualitative study interviewed 15 older adults (aged 70+) who had experienced sexual violence during their lifetimes. Participants reported anxiety, guilt, shame, disrupted identity and interpersonal distrust, yet most did not associate mental health difficulties with their trauma.

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Headbanging as self-injury in secure mental health settings: who is most affected?

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This descriptive study analysed five years of incident data from a private mental health provider, finding that headbanging incidents were most common among younger female patients with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder in low secure and CAMHS wards. However, the study only describes patterns without exploring why headbanging occurs or differentiating between self-harm, sensory regulation and communication.

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