It can be incredibly difficult to talk about mental health conditions like depression, both for the person going through the illness and the friends and family who are trying to offer support. We know that overcoming this fear and talking through mental health problems can be a real life-saver and this message runs through the [read the full story…]
The benefits of exercise for a healthy lifestyle are now well understood. However, there are issues relating to the physiology of people with Down syndrome which might suggest limitations to the extent to which they can engage in cardiovascular or resistance exercises. we also know that many people with Down syndrome are overweight or obese. [read the full story…]
The CoBalT trial was published last week in the Lancet. This important randomised controlled trial (RCT) examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as an add-on treatment to usual care for people with treatment resistant depression. Previous studies have shown that only around one third of people with depression respond well to treatment with [read the full story…]
Talking treatments are a key component of the therapy offered to people with borderline personality disorder and there are now a number of studies that point to the importance of these interventions for this complex and hard to manage condition. A new randomised controlled trial conducted by a research team from the Centre for Addiction [read the full story…]
A great deal of time and money has been spent on improving the diagnosis and management of depression and self-harm in primary care. The evidence tells us that collaborative care and case management can be effective approaches, which is all well and good, but these complex interventions are not always feasible. This new cluster randomised [read the full story…]
The impact of poor behaviour in schools can have wide-ranging detrimental affects on learning, wellbeing and social development. School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS or PBIS), originally created by Horner and Sugai (2006), is a whole-school behaviour intervention program. It has been widely implemented in more than 16,000 schools across the United States, with [read the full story…]
In my last blog I emphasised the importance of addressing recovery expectations during treatment sessions with individuals with low back pain (LBP) and highlighted a simple screening instrument. However, the question remains, if a person has ‘low scoring’ recovery expectations how can we go about helping them? With that question in mind, I was delighted [read the full story…]
NHS Evidence have published an evidence update on generalised anxiety disorder in adults. Evidence updates are summaries of selected high quality evidence that has appeared since the relevant guideline was published, in this case NICE clinical guideline 113 ‘Generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia) in adults: management in primary, secondary and community care’ [read the full story…]
The prevalence of depression goes up sharply in mid-adolescence and it’s estimated that by age 19 up to 20% of people will have suffered from at least one episode of clinical depression. So it makes sense that prevention programmes should be targeted at young people in schools, and indeed, published research has shown that classroom-based [read the full story…]
Postnatal (or postpartum) depression is moderate to severe depression that affects women just after they have given birth. It’s a relatively common illness, affecting 7-15% of childbearing women. Suffering from depression in the first few weeks of motherhood can have a significant impact, not just on the health of the mother, but also on her [read the full story…]
