IAPT: does improved access lead to increased complexity?

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Mark Smith presents the early findings of the PROMPT naturalistic cohort study, which looks at the clinical characteristics of patients assessed within an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service.

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Antipsychotic overprescribing in people with learning disabilities #UCLJournalClub

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Tayla McCloud from the #UCLJournalClub presents the findings of a cohort study showing that antipsychotics are being over-prescribed in people with learning disabilities.

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Psychotropic medication in pregnancy: new evidence may help achieve a safe balance

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Joanne Wallace considers a recent health technology assessment on the risks and benefits of psychotropic medication in pregnancy, which supports previous associations between valproate and adverse child outcomes.

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Mental illness, challenging behaviour and psychotropic drugs #UCLJournalClub

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Join us at 2-3pm on Wednesday 18th May for the #UCLJournalClub, which will be live broadcasted on YouTube and live tweeted by the @LearningDisElf

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Smokescreen: smoking in the movies and initiation of smoking in adolescents

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Sally Adams on a new systematic review and meta-analysis which suggests that smoking imagery in films may increase the risk of smoking initiation in young people.

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Cannabis and mental illness: it’s complicated!

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Suzi Gage considers the findings of a big new US cohort study, which investigates the relationship between cannabis use and various substance use, mood and anxiety disorders.

The blog also features a podcast interview with Suzi Gage talking about this new study and her own work in this field, plus a short conversation with Ian Hamilton highlighting his forthcoming #CannabisMatters event.

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Self-harm in primary care: more prescribing than referrals

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Olivia Kirtley and Alys Cole-King present a major new cohort study, which includes worrying evidence about the clinical management of patients in primary care following self-harm.

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Eating disorders more common in schools with more girls or more educated parents

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Lucas Shelemy writes his debut Mental Elf blog about a paper by fellow Elf Helen Bould, which examines whether female student populations and higher levels of parental education are associated with changes in eating disorders prevalence.

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Increased vulnerability of migrants: non-affective psychosis in Sweden

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Mina Fazel considers the findings of a new Swedish cohort study, which looks at the risk of schizophrenia and other non-affective psychoses in refugee migrants and non-refugee migrants from across three continents.

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Do happy people live longer?

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Mark Horowitz looks at the prospective UK Million Women Study and wonders if happiness itself has a directly impact on mortality.

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