Trauma affects how refugees feel about themselves and others, but how can clinicians help?

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UCL MSc students consider a longitudinal study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, which explores the underlying cognitive mechanisms that could explain the association between trauma exposure, mental health and social engagement in refugees.

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Inflammation and depression: new insights into sex differences in adolescents

Illustration set of 9 different faces of all sexes and races . Also available in other sets.

Sophie Fairweather explores a recent paper which suggests that the inflammatory cytokines IL-2 and IL-6 are associated with both the risk of developing depression, and with depression severity, although this relationship is modified by sex.

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Watch yourself! Investigating the efficacy of remotely delivered video feedback in Cognitive Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder (CT-SAD)

A young man suffering from Social Anxiety stands alone as people

KCL Masters student Katherine Jolly considers a study on internet-delivered compared to face-to-face video feedback to update negative self-perceptions in iCBT for social anxiety disorder.

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If you’ve got a mental health problem, who you gonna call?

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In her debut blog, Cara McErlain summarises a recent qualitative systematic review exploring patients’ perspectives on barriers and facilitators to accessing mental health support through primary care services in England.

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Is anxiety a gateway to other mental health problems? Comorbidities with depression and other anxiety disorders

Results from the current study largely replicated findings from the NESDA dataset in demonstrating that those with comorbid anxiety and/or depression have more severe presentations that anxiety or depression alone.

Nina Higson-Sweeney summarises a study using data from the UK-based GLAD and COPING NBR cohorts to investigate factors associated with anxiety disorder comorbidity with anxiety and depression.

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Self-stigma for people with depression: systematic review presents global prevalence data, risk factors and protective factors

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Pattie Gonsalves blogs about the stigma that people with depression can sometimes feel towards themselves; summarising a recent systematic review that estimates the global prevalence of depression self-stigma, alongside risk factors and protective factors.

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Using the highs to combat the lows: ketamine-assisted therapy for anxiety and depression

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In her debut blog, Gabrielle Williams reviews a US study on the safety and effectiveness of ketamine-assisted therapy (a digital intervention combining psychotherapy, journaling and ketamine) for moderate to severe anxiety and depression.

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There is a clear association between socioeconomic deprivation and self-harm

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A group of UCL masters student review a multi-centre study on socio-economic disparities in patients who present to hospital for self-harm in England, which found large variations in patients characteristics and pre-self-harm experiences.

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Long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression: not cost-effective compared to treatment as usual

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In her debut blog, Ella Tuominen considers the Tavistock Adult Depression Study (TADS), which evaluated the cost-effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment resistant depression compared to treatment as usual.

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Add on iCBT: weak evidence of modest benefits in depression and anxiety

iCBT can be effective in reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD and PTSD - could its accessibility help reach more people?

Liesbeth Tip and Antigone Lanitis reflect on a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that investigated internet-delivered psychological treatment as an add-on to treatment as usual in depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

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