Does a diagnosis of severe physical illness elevate suicide risk?

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Dona Matthews reviews a retrospective cohort study of 47 million people exploring the risk of suicide after diagnosis of severe physical illness, such as low-survival cancers, chronic ischaemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and degenerative neurological conditions such as Huntington’s disease.

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Autism and social anxiety: qualitative research shows how we can help

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Rachel Symons summarises a qualitative study that explores the relationship between autism and social anxiety in male adults.

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Cardiovascular risk in severe mental illness: is there a right intervention?

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A group of Masters Students from the University of Glasgow Global Mental Health MSc write about the Primrose trial, which looked at the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an intervention for reducing cholesterol and cardiovascular risk in severe mental illness.

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How can digital technology help close the mortality gap for people with severe mental illness?

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Lina Gega from the Closing the Gap Network explores a recent review of digital technology for health promotion, which looks at opportunities to address excess mortality in people living with severe mental illness.

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Lifestyle training for schizophrenia: STEPWISE fails to make a difference

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Ben Janaway writes his debut elf blog on the STEPWISE RCT which is out today in the British Journal of Psychiatry: Structured lifestyle education for people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and first-episode psychosis.

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In search of the sweet spot: the links between dysglycaemia and first episode psychosis

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Ben Perry publishes his debut blog on a recent systematic review of impaired glucose homeostasis in first-episode schizophrenia.

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Off to a good start. Are self-help interventions effective for people with comorbid physical and mental health problems?

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The ideal treatment for common mental health problems in those with chronic physical illness would have to be reliable, easy to deliver, inexpensive and accessible by a group of people whose physical impairment may affect treatment adherence. NICE guidelines (CG90 Depression; the treatment and management of depression in adults) recommend self-help interventions (SHIs) based on [read the full story…]

Systematic review shows higher quality RCTs needed on psychological effects of exercise for type 2 diabetes

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In the UK alone it’s estimated over two million adults have type 2 diabetes. That clearly warrants some serious research into its prevention and treatment, including the valuable role of exercise.  We also know the effects of diabetes are not confined to physical problems, linked as it is to reduced quality of life as well [read the full story…]

Healthy Active Lives (HeAL): tackling premature death in young people with psychosis

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The Healthy Active Lives (HeAL) international consensus statement aims to reverse the trend of people with severe mental illness dying early by tackling risks for future physical illnesses pro-actively and much earlier. The statement is being launched today by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, at a special event focusing on achieving parity between mental and [read the full story…]

Limited evidence suggests that co-morbid chronic physical illness may not increase risk for recurrence in depression

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There is a widespread clinical presumption that people who have both major depressive disorder (MDD) and a co-morbid chronic physical illness represent a ‘double trouble’ group. This leads to the expectation that the depression prognosis for these people would be poor with increasing likelihood of recurrence. Evidence supports the view that depression is prevalent among [read the full story…]