Kathryn Walsh
Alcohol use confounds the relationship between cannabis use and conversion to psychosis
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Kathryn Walsh presents a study of ‘high risk’ young people, which found that cannabis abuse or dependence significantly increased the risk of conversion to psychosis. The research also found that alcohol use weakened the relationship between cannabis use and conversion to psychosis.
[read the full story...]Pharmacotherapies for reducing cannabis dependence
Kathryn Walsh reports on a recent Cochrane systematic review of pharmacotherapies for cannabis dependence, which concludes that there is a lack of evidence for all medications reviewed.
[read the full story...]Cannabis and mania: what’s the link?
Kathryn Walsh summarises a systematic review which finds that cannabis use may exacerbate symptoms of mania in those with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and trigger symptoms of mania in the general population.
[read the full story...]Can environmental changes reduce fear of crime and improve mental health and well-being?
Kathryn Walsh summarises a recent systematic review on crime, fear of crime and mental health, which highlights a number of interventions that are not effective in reducing the fear of crime.
[read the full story...]Exercise for severe mental illness: new review finds few benefits
This new systematic review concludes that exercise programmes can lead to an improvement in exercise activity, but have no significant effect on mental health symptoms or body weight in people with severe mental illness.
[read the full story...]Acamprosate and oral naltrexone may improve consumption related outcomes for people with alcohol use disorders
A new systematic review suggests that, when used alongside psychosocial interventions, medication can result in better alcohol consumption outcomes for people with drinking problems.
[read the full story...]NICE evidence update: Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have recently searched for any new evidence that may be relevant to a public health guideline published in 2007; ‘Interventions to reduce substance misuse among vulnerable young people’. In this blog I summarise the new evidence that has emerged and highlight whether or not it is likely [read the full story…]
Interventions for drug using offenders: What works in reducing drug use and criminal activity?
It is estimated that between 10% (Gunn 1991) and 39% (Brooke 1996) of prisoners in the UK are dependent on illicit drugs; and that 14.5% of male and 31% of female prisoners have serious mental health problems (Steadman 2009). Drug use can be associated with many health, social and criminological consequences; and when mental health [read the full story…]
D-cycloserine does not improve CBT for social anxiety disorder, but may accelerate early treatment gains
Clinical trials in the field of social anxiety to date have primarily focussed on the effect of either anxiolytic medication or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). At best these trials have demonstrated only moderate efficacy for either treatment independently (Davidson et al, 2004; Clark et al, 2003; Heimberg et al, 1998; Stein et al, 1998), and [read the full story…]
Systematic review of fluphenazine for schizophrenia: 50 years of learning not that much
Antipsychotic medications are often the first line of treatment for schizophrenia and have been effective at treating florid symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations. Fluphenazine was one of the first antipsychotics to become available on the market and has now been appearing on prescriptions for over 5 decades. Despite the arrival of newer generations of [read the full story…]
