Smoking cessation for people with severe mental illness

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Sally Adams appraises and summarises the SCIMITAR pilot RCT, which investigates smoking cessation for people with severe mental ill health. The paper presents a highly promising bespoke intervention for smokers with bipolar disorder, psychosis or schizophrenia.

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CBTp and medication in the treatment of psychosis: summarising the best evidence

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Clive Adams presents a summary of the latest evidence for CBTp and medication in the treatment of psychosis. This blog was published alongside Clive’s talk at the Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia conference in Bath on 11 June 2015

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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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Alcohol use confounds the relationship between cannabis use and conversion to psychosis

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Kathryn Walsh presents a study of ‘high risk’ young people, which found that cannabis abuse or dependence significantly increased the risk of conversion to psychosis. The research also found that alcohol use weakened the relationship between cannabis use and conversion to psychosis.

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Epidemiological tools help commissioners allocate resources more effectively, suggests research

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Caroline De Brun highlights the Psymaptic epidemiological prediction tool, which helps commissioners make evidence-based decisions about mental health service provision, specifically early intervention in psychosis.

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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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Support to enhance social networks for mental health

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Ian Cummins examines research on how mental health workers can support the generation of social capital through social networks for people recovering from psychosis and finds links with the recovery model.

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Trauma-focused psychotherapies for PTSD in people with experiences of psychosis: A change in the status quo?

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Clinical Psychologist and Researcher Rachel Brand publishes her debut blog on a recent RCT of Prolonged Esposure vs Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing vs Waiting List for patients with PTSD and psychosis.

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