Mental health expenditure associated with higher quality care and better service user experience

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Kwame McKensie publishes his debut Mental Elf blog on a recent cross-sectional study, which explores the relationship between national mental health expenditure and quality of care in longer-term psychiatric and social care facilities in Europe.

This is the fourth in a new series of Mental Elf blogs produced in partnership with the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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Tobacco smoking, cognition and first episode psychosis: time for a rethink?

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Marcus Munafo appraises a recent cross sectional study of tobacco smoking and its association with cognition in first episode psychosis patients.

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Is there still a digital divide in mental health?

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Lisa Marzano writes her debut elf blog on a recent cross-sectional survey of Internet use in people with psychosis and depression, which explores the extent of the digital divide in mental health.

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Trauma and psychotic symptoms: clear association, but do we really understand why?

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#UCLJournalClub students worked collaboratively on this blog, which appraises and summarises a recent cross sectional study looking at the psychological mechanisms that mediate effects between trauma and psychotic symptoms.

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The side-effects of antipsychotics: let’s systematically assess, discuss and act! #NPNR2016

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A live blog published at the 22nd International Network for Psychiatric Nursing Research conference in Nottingham.

Written by John Baker, Lucy Brazener, Wendy Cross, Vanessa Garrity, Andrew Grundy, Cher Hallett, Ben Hannigan, Elaine Hanzak and Alan Simpson.

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Treatment is uncommon for common mental disorders

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Suzanne Dash reviews a cross-sectional study of the prevalence and treatment of common mental disorders in the English national population, which inspires her to host a mental health epidemiology quiz. Fingers on buzzers…

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Associations between video game use, academic performance and mental health issues in European primary school children

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Pete Etchells posts his debut Mental Elf blog on a recent study, which explored whether video games were associated with mental illness, cognition or social skills in young children.

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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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Stigma increases psychological distress in people with intellectual disabilities

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David Steele reports on a recent cross-sectional study, which found that stigma was linked with increased psychological distress and poorer quality of life in people with intellectual disabilities.

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Can social networking alleviate loneliness in later life?

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Farhana Mann appraises a cross-sectional survey of social networking site usage, loneliness and mental health in community-dwelling older adults.

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