Can pharmacotherapy help smokers with severe mental disorders?

25470348902_cd8daa9fed_k

Andrew Jones reports on an ecological pragmatic clinical trial, which suggests that it is feasible to support smoking cessation in people with severe mental disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

[read the full story...]

Outcomes in first episode manic psychosis

photo-1423420634464-89006b3454a8

Matthew Broome writes his debut Mental Elf blog on a three-year clinical and functional outcome comparison between first episode manic psychosis and first-episode schizophrenia.

[read the full story...]

Schizophrenia and urban deprivation: When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?

photo-1430760814266-9c81759e5e55

Samei Huda reviews a recent study of schizophrenia and subsequent urban deprivation, which revisits the social drift hypothesis.

[read the full story...]

Group body psychotherapy for negative symptoms of schizophrenia

12264934986_6288d4ee70_k

Raphael Underwood reports on the findings of a recent RCT of group body psychotherapy for negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which finds that body psychotherapy did not have a clinically beneficial effect on reducing emotional withdrawal or improving social functioning.

[read the full story...]

Psychiatric disorders: what’s the significance of non-random mating?

7960674098_2070f1fe64_b

Marcus Munafo considers the implications of a recent Swedish population study, which explores patterns of non-random mating within and across 11 major psychiatric disorders.

[read the full story...]

Long-acting injectable paliperidone palmitate for schizophrenia

2195975039_d957bacec2_b

Tracey Roberts summarises a recent RCT of the efficacy and safety of paliperidone palmitate 3-month formulation for patients with schizophrenia.

[read the full story...]

Pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in severe mental illness

photo-1429035429336-ad854ea8a720

Andrew Jones reports on a recent systematic review and network meta-analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of pharmacotherapy for smoking cessation in severe mental illness, which finds a promising but low quality result for bupropion and varenicline.

[read the full story...]

Psychotropic medication in pregnancy: new evidence may help achieve a safe balance

pregnant with ipad

Joanne Wallace considers a recent health technology assessment on the risks and benefits of psychotropic medication in pregnancy, which supports previous associations between valproate and adverse child outcomes.

[read the full story...]

Implementation intentions: helping people achieve their goals

3500171739_3a41443b32_b

Alan Underwood highlights a new meta-analysis, which suggests that people with mental health problems can benefit if they are prompted to form if-then plans, which specify when, where and how they will achieve their goals.

[read the full story...]