In her debut blog, Delia Ciobotaru explores a network meta-analysis which finds that psychological treatments are effective in reducing PTSD symptoms experienced by people with complex trauma.
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This review of the side effects of medications prescribed for the management of mental health highlights their potential impact on oral health. The commonest problems being xerostomia.
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This update of a 2005 Cochrane review identified 23 RCTs but a limited number at low risk of bias so there is insufficient evidence to support or refute the use of any interventions in managing burning mouth syndrome.
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Michael Ostacher considers the findings of the CEQUEL trial, which asks: Does lamotrigine treat bipolar depression when added to quetiapine, and does adding folic acid help any more?
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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.
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Elena Marcus summarises a recent network meta-analysis published in The Lancet of the comparative efficacy and tolerability of medication for the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder.
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Bipolar disorder is an affective disorder marked by cycles between mania and depression. It has an early onset, with mean age ranging from 19 to 29 (Offord, 2012) and a prevalence of 0.5% – 4.3% in primary care alone, stretching to 9.3% in some settings (Cerimele, Chwastiak, Dodson, & Katon, 2013). With its problematic recurring [read the full story…]
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition that has recently been given a significant amount of TV airplay and media coverage, perhaps most notably in the Channel 4 documentary Jon Richardson: A little bit OCD, which received mostly good reviews from mental health groups. Despite this reasonable public profile, our knowledge about the best way [read the full story…]
There’s an interesting review in the British Journal of Psychiatry this week, which compares the effectiveness of psychiatric drugs with those used to treat physical health problems. The headline from the review is that ‘psychiatric drugs are as effective as other drugs’. Professor Stefan Leucht who led the review team claims that: There is a [read the full story…]
This systematic literature review and meta-analysis conducted by researchers from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, will be of interest to all clinicians who treat paediatric bipolar disorder. Treatment decisions for young people have previously been based on extrapolation from adult trials, case reports, open label trials or expert opinion. This new study provides a [read the full story…]
