Lucy Simons reports on a meta-ethnography that explores what facilitates peer support for perinatal mental illness. Her key finding from appraising the review is that women who experience perinatal mental illness need support from the right sort of peer (i.e. women who have had mental distress in the context of motherhood) to make the relationship beneficial and to aid recovery.
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This new report from the King’s Fund summarises available evidence from major reconfiguration programmes. A timely publication given the emphasis on the need for transformation in current policy.
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Clinical Psychologist Sarah McDonald writes her debut blog on a recent cohort study of breastfeeding and postpartum depression, which concludes that the effect of breastfeeding on maternal depression is extremely heterogeneous.
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Nikki Newhouse summarises a recent US health technology assessment of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy and the postpartum period, which concludes that the evidence remains inconclusive about the benefits and harms of antidepressants for depression in pregnancy.
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Amy Green summarises a retrospective observational study that finds prenatal antidepressant exposure is associated with risk for ADHD, but not autistic spectrum disorders. She considers this complex topic and works out what it all means for pregnant women with depression.
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Meg Fluharty summarises a recent systematic review looking at exercise for antenatal depression. The review finds preliminary evidence to suggest that exercise may be effective in reducing depression during pregnancy, but the quality of included trials is low to moderate.
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Amy Green summarises a population-based study of young children which looks at prenatal exposure to SSRI antidepressants and the social responsiveness symptoms of autism.
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. Peer support has been a hot topic in the woodland recently. Although there appears to be a lack of evidence to support the clinical effectiveness of peer support interventions for people with severe mental illness, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, it is an approach that is highly valued by many. It might be [read the full story…]
The impact of ethnicity on treatment and engagement with mental health services is well documented. John Baker’s recent Mental Elf post highlights the damning evidence behind murmurs of institutional racism within the NHS that just won’t go away: certain ethnic groups consistently experience lower quality care and poor outcomes across a wide range of health [read the full story…]
Research suggests that the risk of developing psychiatric problems (such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability or schizophrenia) may be linked to increased paternal age at the time of conception. This seems quite plausible given that advancing age in men is associated with increased genetic mutations in sperm. However, studies so far have generally not [read the full story…]
