Samei Huda

Profile photo of Samei Huda
Dr Samei Huda has been working as a Consultant Psychiatrist for over 20years including a year in Australia. He also completed a Diploma in Cognitive Therapy (though he doesn’t see patients for therapy) and a Master of Science in Psychiatry. He has been working with an Early Intervention in Psychosis team since 2007. Over his career he has directly assessed, managed and treated hundreds of patients with psychosis of different types. He recommends people with an interest in psychosis to read www.EASEnet.dk (he is not affiliated with them). He has written a book evaluating the evidence for diagnosis and treatment in psychiatry called “The Medical Model in Mental Health” published by Oxford University Press. He has recently completed an MA in Philosophy of Mental Health from UCLAN.

Website

Follow me here –

Just how good are antipsychotics at preventing relapse? Bridging the efficacy-effectiveness gap

pills-water

Samei Huda summarises a new network meta-analysis in the Lancet Psychiatry on the efficacy and effectiveness of antipsychotics for schizophrenia in research settings, such as randomised controlled trials, versus real-world and clinical settings.

[read the full story...]

CBTp changes the brain’s wiring? Extraordinary claims, ordinary evidence

mechanical-2033446_1280

Keith Laws and Samei Huda are not impressed by a study on brain connectivity changes following CBT for psychosis, which received a significant amount of press coverage when it was published back in January.

[read the full story...]

Antipsychotics for delirium in palliative care: new RCT suggests non-drug alternatives are needed

shutterstock_73696783

Samei Huda highlights a recent RCT of antipsychotics (risperidone and haloperidol) versus placebo for symptoms of delirium in palliative care, which suggests we need non-drug alternatives for this group of patients.

[read the full story...]

In praise of little: sponsorship bias in depression research

2737146722_8681e3711e_o

Samei Huda welcomes a new meta-analysis of sponsorship bias in the comparative efficacy of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy for adult depression.

[read the full story...]

Schizophrenia, antipsychotics and quality of life: measuring the important things

photo-1436124396594-54d90bf69c66

Samei Huda mulls over a recent RCT on the effects of older and newer antipsychotics on quality of life in schizophrenia. The study finds a different result to the 10-year old CUTLASS trial; namely that second generation antipsychotics may be superior to first generation antipsychotics in terms of improving quality of life for people with schizophrenia.

[read the full story...]

Schizophrenia and urban deprivation: When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?

photo-1430760814266-9c81759e5e55

Samei Huda reviews a recent study of schizophrenia and subsequent urban deprivation, which revisits the social drift hypothesis.

[read the full story...]

Prognosis of brief psychotic episodes

3917186281_bb24ceabb8_o

Samei Huda presents the findings of a new meta-analysis, which explores the prognostic significance of competing ways of defining and measuring brief psychotic episodes.

[read the full story...]

The harms of psychotherapy: are BME and LGBT communities more at risk?

532076662_e80dbd8ec1_o

Keith Laws and Samei Huda mull over a recent national survey looking at patients experiences of the harms of psychotherapy. The study reports that both black and minority ethnic people and lesbian, gay and bisexual people reported higher rates of long-lasting negative effects of psychotherapy.

[read the full story...]

Antidepressants: benefits and harms in children and adults

344574172_eaccb04842_o

Samei Huda discusses the findings of a recent review into suicidality and aggression during antidepressant treatment. The systematic review and meta-analyses were based on clinical study reports and included some important adverse effects of antidepressants in children and young people.

[read the full story...]

Microglial activity in psychosis and schizophrenia

Screen Shot 2016-01-12 at 17.15.42

Samei Huda summarises a small PET brain imaging study, which looks at two cohorts (Ultra High Risk of Psychosis v Controls and Schizophrenia v Controls) to compare relative levels of microglial activity.

[read the full story...]