Dose equivalents of antidepressants: standardising prescribing between different drugs

shutterstock_125648294

Andrew Shepherd summarises a meta-analysis, which looks at the dose equivalents of antidepressants by bringing together data from 83 trials of 23 different antidepressants.

[read the full story...]

Understanding depressive symptoms in adults with mild intellectual disability

Comfort

Whilst rates vary in the literature, depression is probably more common in people with learning disabilities than in the general population, though it can be easily missed.

Here Louise Phillips looks at a study which set out to look at differences between self-report and carers’ descriptions of depressive symptoms.

[read the full story...]

The value of family meals

shutterstock_134780708

Helen Bould appraises a recent systematic review, which investigates the effects of family meal frequency on psychosocial outcomes in young people.

[read the full story...]

Another negative trial of cognitive bias modification: a case for Occam’s razor

William of Ockham

Ioana Cristea reviews a recent RCT that found no effects of positive imagery-based cognitive bias modification, delivered as a web-based treatment for people with depression.

[read the full story...]

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to prevent depression

In April 2015 we blogged PREVENT and concluded that mindfulness based cognitive therapy is a promising intervention for preventing depression.

André Tomlin presents the results of the PREVENT RCT published today in The Lancet, which investigates the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in the prevention of depressive relapse or recurrence.

[read the full story...]

Dementia risk factors in people with mild cognitive impairment

People with a learning disability and family carers are able to talk about end-of-life care and healthcare professionals need to acknowledge and respect this expertise

Akshay Nair summarises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of modifiable predictors of dementia in mild cognitive impairment. The meta-analysis finds that diabetes and the presence of any neuropsychiatric symptoms significantly predicted the conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

[read the full story...]

Varenicline and the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events and death

shutterstock_56791702

Natasha Clarke publishes her debut Mental Elf blog about a new systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the risk of neuropsychiatric adverse events associated with the smoking cessation drug varenicline.

[read the full story...]

Do we stigmatise mental illness more as we age?

shutterstock_186330554

Raluca Lucacel writes her debut blog about an age-period-cohort analysis, which investigates how attitudes towards people with mental illness worsen during the course of life.

[read the full story...]

The antidepressant effects of ketamine are confirmed by a new systematic review and meta-analysis

shutterstock_18453376

Helge Hasselmann summarises a new systematic review and meta-analysis, which confirms the antidepressant effects of ketamine.

[read the full story...]