The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network have published another excellent briefing paper aimed at commissioners and providers. This time they are tackling how best to plan and deliver early intervention in psychosis services. Here’s the summary: In the current challenging financial climate, mental health organisations are looking at how they can do things differently to [read the full story…]
This review of the literature searched Medline and PsychInfo to find clinical trials and case reports which were published between 1975 and 2009, focusing on pharmacological interventions for sleep disturbance in children with developmental disabilities. The authors found 58 articles that met the inclusion criteria, including 25 controlled trials in typical children and children with [read the full story…]
The age old debate over antidepressant use rolls on this week with the publication of a new provisional review by Davis et al in the Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine journal. They are responding to the Ioannidis paper from 2008: Effectiveness of antidepressants; an evidence based myth constructed from a thousand controlled trials, which [read the full story…]
NICE guidance has sometimes suffered from poor accessibility and usability, and as a result, it has not always been implemented at the coalface as well as it could have been. NICE have responded to this criticism by creating a set of interactive online pathways that bring together all of their content around a specific topic. [read the full story…]
Aripiprazole is a second-generation antipsychotic that is widely used as a maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder in the US. It was approved by the FDA as a drug for this purpose in 2005. A new systematic review, published in the online journal PLOS medicine, sought to critically review the evidence supporting the use of aripiprazole [read the full story…]
Physical restraints were found to be in use for nearly 20% of more than 500 adults living in group homes in Sweden in the week preceding the study. 99.2% of these had been subjected to more than one type of restraint. The authors concluded physical restraints are frequently used in Sweden and that physical impairments [read the full story…]
A three phase project to develop, implement, and evaluate a palliative care training programme responsive to learning needs of staff providing services and supports for individuals with learning disabilities living in long-term care settings was evaluated. Participants in the programme were asked to rate their levels of preparation and confidence, before and after receiving the [read the full story…]
An examination of the quality of life and changes in behaviour for a cohort of 49 people with intellectual disabilities and self injurious behaviour (SIB) over time. 84% of the sample continued to self-injure nearly 20 years on, and whilst a number of people had moved from hospital in the period their SIB had not reduced. More [read the full story…]
New generation anti-psychotic medications are being used to treat aggressive behaviours in people with learning disabilities, whether or not individuals have a formal diagnosis of a mental health problem. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of two such new generation anti-psychotic medications, olanzapine and risperidone. The study looked at how effective these [read the full story…]
The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with learning disabilities is very difficult to ascertain with studies varying in their definitions and inclusion criteria. Estimates suggest that it may be as low as 3%, but despite this, antipsychotic medications comprise between 30–50% of all psychotropics prescribed for people with learning disabilities. This literature review set [read the full story…]
