Can brain scans tell us how successful CBT for anxiety will be? Meta-analysis of task-based fMRI studies shows promise

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Millie Lowther, Isabel Luetkenherm, Carlos Mena and Alexandra Pike summarise a recent fMRI meta-analysis, which finds that activation in brain circuits related to salience, interoception and emotional processing were found to predict a positive response to CBT in anxiety disorders.

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Youth mental health interventions: umbrella review presents efficacy and acceptability data

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In his debut blog, Nick Meader tackles a huge umbrella review of youth mental health interventions, which presents the efficacy and acceptability of 72 different approaches to help children and young people.

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Diagnostic labels: helpful or harmful?

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In her debut blog, Carla Kundert explores a systematic review which looks at how diagnostic labels affect social responses to people with mental illness.

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Understanding atypical social reward anticipation in psychopathology

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Francesca Bentivegna summarises a meta-analytic review exploring atypical social reward anticipation as a transdiagnostic characteristic of psychopathology.

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Learning to focus on smiles not frowns: challenging unhelpful attention and interpretation patterns #ActiveIngredientsMH

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Jennifer Lau summarises a recent systematic review relating to her own Wellcome Trust funded research into promoting helpful attention and interpretation patterns to reduce anxiety and depression in young people.

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Poor school attendance and anxiety: what’s the link?

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Lucinda Powell summarises a recent systematic review about the association between anxiety and poor attendance at school, which suggests links between anxiety and unexcused absences/truancy, and school refusal.

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Medical cannabis for mental illness: current use is not supported by research #MHQT

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As we prepare for our Cannabis #MHQT event on Wed 26 Sep, Luke Sheridan Rains dissects a narrative review that asks: Is cannabis treatment for anxiety, mood, and related disorders ready for prime time?

His answer is that current evidence does not support the use of medical cannabis for mental illnesses such as anxiety or depression.

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Loneliness in psychosis and related psychological and social factors

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Jingyi Wang publishes her debut blog on a recent systematic review of loneliness in psychosis, which shows that the relationship between loneliness and psychosis remains poorly understood due to a lack of high quality studies.

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CBT for anxiety: new meta-analysis confirms significant improvements to target symptoms

CBT plus taper is effective at reducing benzodiazepine use in the short term (3 months) but this effect is not sustained at 6 months.

Inês Pote summarises a recent meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials of cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety and related disorders.

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Poor social communication in children may be a risk factor for social anxiety

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Carla McEnery appraises a new study that asks: are social and communication difficulties a risk factor for the development of social anxiety?

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