Schools spend the equivalent of three full-time staff managing phone use, whether or not students are allowed to have phones in school. This new study asks if banning smartphones actually improves pupils’ wellbeing or saves money for schools.
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Large pragmatic trial found metformin plus lifestyle intervention reduced weight gain in young people with bipolar disorder taking antipsychotics. Effect significant but modest at 6 and 24 months.
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Children who experienced food insecurity in early childhood had higher odds of binge eating and compensatory behaviours in adolescence, even when food insecurity resolved.
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Qualitative study reveals young people on CAMHS waiting lists feel alone and dismissed, with mental health deteriorating while they wait. Communication and interim support urgently needed.
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13% of vapes confiscated from English schools contained synthetic cannabinoids mis-sold as THC. Refillable vapes and social media platforms enable this dangerous trend.
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The Connected Belonging model argues that schools should support young people’s relationships to their community, culture and peers, rather than focusing on individual skills like “grit” and resilience. Should centre identity and relationships in our work with young people?
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Meta-analysis of 13 studies found school-based interventions reduced PTSD, depression and anxiety after natural disasters, with effects strongest immediately post-intervention.
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Mental health admissions to acute medical wards rose 65% for young people in England (2012-2022), with eating disorder admissions up 515% and anxiety admissions doubling in 10 years. Self-harm admissions accounted for more than half of the total. Adolescent girls by far the biggest group affected.
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PTSD in young people is common, complex, and often entangled with depression, anxiety, and multiple traumatic experiences. A major new UK trial (DECRYPT) tested whether a structured form of trauma-focused cognitive therapy (CT-PTSD) can work in real CAMHS settings for those with the most severe difficulties.
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Researchers pulled together evidence from more than half a million people to test a simple but important idea: if childhood maltreatment raises the risk of adult depression, could reducing maltreatment help prevent it? The answer, as always, is more complicated than it first appears.
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