Rachel Upthegrove reviews a new systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological and psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis.
This is the third in a new series of Mental Elf blogs produced in partnership with the British Journal of Psychiatry.
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I have been procrastinating about writing this blog for a while. This is, in part, caused by hesitancy about involving myself in the CBT for psychosis (CBTp) debate. Regular readers of the Mental Elf will be aware that in recent months Jauhar and colleagues presented results of a meta-analysis that called into question the effectiveness [read the full story…]
Over the past decade the term ‘wellbeing’ has made an increasing appearance in health and social care policy, with the Office for National Statistics undertaking the first UK national wellbeing survey in 2012. Although a lot of work has been done, there still doesn’t seem to be an agreed definition of what wellbeing is or [read the full story…]
Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) have shortened life expectancies compared to the general population. This is partly down to higher rates of chronic physical illness. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among patients using mental health services. It is assumed that interventions used to reduce CVD are similarly effective in patients with [read the full story…]
NICE Guidelines state that around three quarters of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia experience a chronic illness: with recurrent episodes of remission and relapse. One way that chronic physical health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, are managed is by using early warning signs (EWS) training and this prevention strategy is now often [read the full story…]
Schizophrenia is a debilitating illness that affects an estimated 25 million people worldwide. People with the condition can experience a huge amount of disability (both social, physical and psychological), but we know that early intervention can help reduce the duration of the illness and prevent further episodes of relapse. People with schizophrenia usually experience a [read the full story…]
Patients with first episode psychosis often relapse after initial remission, so it is perhaps surprising that treatment guidelines for the condition are generally based on poor quality evidence. Antipsychotic drugs are frequently discontinued, but clinicians don’t have ready access to information that shows how to determine which patients can be successfully tapered off of antipsychotic [read the full story…]
