How do sexual assault services identify and treat mental health and substance misuse problems?

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Anjuli Kaul explores a recent systematic review on the identification and treatment of mental health and substance misuse problems in sexual assault services.

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Survivors of genocide more likely to develop dementia, according to new Israeli study

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Anna Sri explores a recent Israeli study which suggests that people exposed to genocide are more likely to develop dementia, even when a range of confounders are accounted for.

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Moral injury: the overlooked stressor of the NHS

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Heather McClelland summarises a recent BMJ article by Prof Neil Greenberg and colleagues, which looks to prevent moral injury and promote psychological growth in NHS staff working through the COVID-19 pandemic.

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COVID trauma response: pandemics require trauma-informed mental health support

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Sarah Steeg reviews the new trauma-informed guidance for healthcare workers, developed by the COVID Trauma Response Working Group from UCL and the Camden and Islington NHS Trust. The guidance aims to provide a coordinated, trauma-informed and evidence-based psychological response to the COVID outbreak.

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PTSD: the current picture #ISTSS2019

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Jon Bisson summarises an expert review written by Richard Bryant on post-traumatic stress disorder, which covers the current definitions of PTSD, its known prevalence and risk factors, the main models to explain the disorder, and evidence-supported treatments.

Readers who want to know more should follow the live coverage of the 35th annual International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference, taking place in Boston this week. The Twitter hashtag is #ISTSS2019.

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Treating PTSD in children and young people #ISTSS2019

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In Dr David Trickey’s debut blog for Mental Elf, he comments on the new ISTSS treatment guidelines for children and young people with post traumatic stress disorder.

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Younger mums may be at higher risk of mental health problems #ESMI

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Jennifer Burgess summarises the results of a small cross-sectional study of young pregnant women at risk of mental disorders, which found that young women had greater odds of having a common mental disorder and CMDs were associated with living alone and abuse.

Follow #ESMI today on Twitter for all of the updates from the ESMI study day (Effectiveness of Services for Mothers with Mental Illness).

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Can we screen-and-treat victims of terror attacks?

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Nia Oxbourgh summarises a recent study of the outcomes of mental health screening (the screen and treat programme) for UK nationals affected by the 2015-2016 terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Paris and Brussels.

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Trauma-informed approaches in mental health: co-optable and corruptible?

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Trauma survivors and mental health academics, Angela Sweeney and Danny Taggart take a serious look at the potential and risks for trauma-informed approaches as they are introduced into mainstream mental health systems and services.

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Brutalised child soldiers and traumatic distress

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Our blog today explores a new study in the British Journal of Psychiatry of post-traumatic stress disorder among former Yazidi child soldiers in northern Iraq.

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