Linda Gask

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Linda Gask is Emerita Professor of Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Manchester and a retired consultant psychiatrist. Her research interests have included training professionals in mental health skills, improving quality of care for depression, and redesign of services at the interface between primary and specialist care. She has both provided and used mental health care, and her next book will be 'Out of Her Mind: How We Are Failing Women’s Mental Health and What Must Change?'.

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Antidepressants: what is the Smallest Worthwhile Difference?

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Linda Gask summarises findings from a cross-sectional online survey that investigated the Smallest Worthwhile Difference necessary for individuals with depression to consider taking antidepressants.

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Could a decision support tool help to guide mental health treatment in primary care?

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Linda Gask reviews a recent randomised controlled trial on the clinical efficacy of a Decision Support Tool (Link-me) to “guide the intensity of mental health care in primary practice”.

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“I mean, what is depression?” How GPs distinguish between emotional distress and depressive disorder

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Linda Gask reviews a recent qualitative exploration of UK general practitioners’ perceptions of distinctions between emotional distress and depression.

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Psychological interventions for grief: a systematic review

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Linda Gask summarise a systematic review which suggests that psychological interventions are efficacious in treating prolonged grief. She concludes that it’s time to pay more attention to the suffering caused by prolonged grief both in research and clinical practice.

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Person-centred care: challenges and changes to the training of psychiatrists

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“A significant number of people receiving psychiatric care are not treated with the utmost dignity within our services that a true ‘person-centred’ approach would ensure.”

Linda Gask summarises a new report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists on person-centred care and its implications for training in psychiatry.

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Preventive cognitive therapy when continuing or tapering off antidepressants

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Linda Gask is encouraged by the findings of a new high quality RCT (the DRD study), which compares preventive cognitive therapy while tapering antidepressants versus maintenance antidepressant treatment versus their combination in the prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence.

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What causes emotional blunting in people taking antidepressants? Results from a survey

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Linda Gask looks at a recent survey of people with depression that explores their experiences of emotional blunting. The research finds that nearly half of depressed patients on antidepressants report significant emotional blunting, but it’s impossible to say whether this is caused by their medication or the depression itself.

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Depression in later life: who benefits most from antidepressants plus exercise?

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Linda Gask explores an RCT of physical exercise for depression in later life, which considers the best way to customise the intervention for primary care.

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Training alone doesn’t improve outcomes for depression in primary care

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Linda Gask writes her debut Mental Elf blog on a recent systematic review, which evaluates healthcare team training programs that aim to improve depression in primary care.

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