Antidepressants vs placebo for depression: forget the gap

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Ioana Cristea considers the possible causes responsible for the apparent narrowing of the drug-placebo gap, which over the last 30 years has seen estimates of depression symptom reduction from antidepressants fall from 70% to 30%.

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Choice and control for carers: How is personalisation working?

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Sarah Carr looks at a literature review assessing how choice is working for family carers in the context of social care personalisation.

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Review finds no link between stigma and intention to use mental health services in military personnel

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David Steele reports on a literature review that found no link between anticipated stigma and intention to seek help in military personnel with mental health problems.

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What contributes to adult children carers’ well-being?

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Jeanne Carlin discusses a review about influences on adult children carers’ well-being and thinks about what the evidence means for Care Act implementation.

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Staff training for challenging behaviour – what impact does it have?

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Training for staff in understanding and responding to challenging behaviour – must be a good thing… But how much do we know about the impact of this training on subsequent staff performance and levels of challenging behaviour?

Here, Louise Phillips looks at a review of the literature that set out to explore these questions in more detail.

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Can we model the development and maintenance of self-injury in children with developmental delay?

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Self-injurious behaviour can have a severe impact on the quality of life of some children with developmental delay.

Here, Alix Dixon looks at a review of an extensive body of literature around potential causal mechanisms and aggravating characteristics which aims to develop a clearer working model to inform practice.

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Micro providers at the margins: filling gaps, building bridges

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Jo Moriatry considers a literature review on how people who have been marginalised in mainstream services are creating and finding support from micro providers and community organisations.

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Placebo effect in psychiatry: what do we really know?

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David Steele summarises a review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which looks at the mediators and moderators of the placebo effect in psychiatry.

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Promoting smoking cessation in people with schizophrenia

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Meg Fluharty summarises a recent clinical overview of smoking cessation in people with severe mental illness, which provides useful practical advice to clinicians who are trying to help service users with schizophrenia, psychosis and other conditions to quit smoking

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Promoting social support and parenting skills in parents with an intellectual disability

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Research has documented negative attitudes to parents with learning disabilities and highlighted the need for supports.

Here Kate van Dooren looks at a review of literature exploring support interventions for parents with learning disabilities.

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