Andre Tomlin

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André Tomlin is an Information Scientist with 20 years experience working in evidence-based healthcare. He's worked in the NHS, for Oxford University and since 2002 as Managing Director of Minervation Ltd, a consultancy company who do clever digital stuff for charities, universities and the public sector. Most recently André has been the driving force behind the Mental Elf and the National Elf Service; an innovative digital platform that helps professionals keep up to date with simple, clear and engaging summaries of evidence-based research. André is a Trustee at the Centre for Mental Health and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London Division of Psychiatry. He lives in Bristol, surrounded by dogs, elflings and lots of woodland!

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My favourite bloggers in 2012

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I look at a lot of databases, journals, websites and feeds to find the evidence that goes into the Mental Elf.  There are about 500 separate sources in total and I sift through 200-300 items each day to find the single golden nugget of evidence that I highlight. You can read more about this process [read the full story…]

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Ten most popular Mental Elf blogs in 2012

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Greetings pop pickers! In this pre-Xmas week, it’s time to take stock and consider the most popular blogs on the Mental Elf in 2012. These are the movers and shakers, chosen by you (the readers) as you’ve clicked your way around the site: Here is the evidence for exercising if you are depressed (11 Jun [read the full story…]

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Non-pharmacological interventions can help prevent and reduce weight gain in people who take antipsychotics

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The reduced life expectancy (15-20 years less) often faced by many people with schizophrenia is frequently a result of cardiovascular disease. Lifestyle choices (smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet) can increase the risk of these diseases, but people who take antipsychotic drugs often have the additional problem of weight gain that is caused by [read the full story…]

National Schizophrenia Audit calls for improved monitoring of physical health in people with schizophrenia

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Back in 2010, NICE published an updated edition of their schizophrenia guideline, to guide the treatment and management of patients with schizophrenia in primary and secondary care. The National Schizophrenia Audit is a new initiative led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and involving 8 other partner organisations including various professional membership organisations and 2 [read the full story…]

Prazosin may help reduce nightmares in people with PTSD, but more evidence is needed

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People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often have nightmares that relive the experience and these can sometimes be as terrifying as the original trauma. These nightmares can be very difficult to treat effectively as there are few options available. A team of researchers from the Mayo Clinic have published a systematic review that [read the full story…]

CBT and other psychotherapies can help children with PTSD in the short-term, but more evidence is needed according to Cochrane

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Nearly a year ago I blogged about a promising but small RCT, which showed that Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy may help young children with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The blog generated a fair bit of feedback from readers and so I’ve been on the look out ever since for a systematic review that brings [read the full story…]

New RCT shows that adding CBT to usual care helps people with treatment resistant depression

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The CoBalT trial was published last week in the Lancet. This important randomised controlled trial (RCT) examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as an add-on treatment to usual care for people with treatment resistant depression. Previous studies have shown that only around one third of people with depression respond well to treatment with [read the full story…]

Progressive muscle relaxation may help reduce anxiety in schizophrenia

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People with schizophrenia often experience psychological distress and anxiety. This can have a knock on impact on the positive (delusions and hallucinations) and negative (apathy, social withdrawal, cognitive impairments) symptoms of schizophrenia. As a result, there’s lots of interest in psychosocial approaches that may help patients relax. These include talking treatments like CBT, as well [read the full story…]

People with mental illness are prescribed fewer drugs for physical disorders than the rest of the population

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A year ago this week I blogged about a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry that showed the dramatically reduced life expectancy of people with severe mental illness, who on average live 15-20 years less than the rest of the population. Twelve months on and a new study published in the same journal paints an equally [read the full story…]

Personal health budgets get the green light following positive independent evaluation

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Personal health budgets will be rolled out to thousands more people across England over the next 18 months. The scheme, which allows patients to choose between standard NHS community care or a budget to spend on services and goods of their choice, has been extensively piloted over the last 3 years and has generally been [read the full story…]