CBT for insomnia in psychiatric populations: an effective alternative to hypnotics?

shutterstock_sheep asleep

Amy Green appraises a systematic review of CBT for insomnia (CBTi) in people with comorbid mental illness, which concludes that cognitive behaviour therapy could be an effective alternative to hypnotics. However, concerns about the review methodology cast some doubt on the findings.

[read the full story...]

Brain stimulation offers hope for depression, but don’t try it at home

shutterstock_53565424

Today’s blog is reposted from the excellent Conversation UK website. It’s written by Kerrie-Anne Ho and Colleen Loo from the University of New South Wales in Australia. They provide an overview of recent research looking at the efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation for depression.

[read the full story...]

Anti-inflammatory drugs for depression: new review points to benefits, but more research needed

shutterstock_95463775

Helge Hasselmann highlights a recent systematic review of anti-inflammatory drugs for depression, which concludes that NSAIDs, in particular celecoxib, decreases depressive symptoms without increased risk of adverse effects. However, the meta-analysis has a number of draw-backs, which make the study findings far from convincing.

[read the full story...]

Online and social networking interventions for depression in young people

shutterstock_153001655

Nikki Newhouse reports on a recent systematic review that brings together 22 studies which investigate a range of online CBT and social networking interventions designed to help young people with depression.

[read the full story...]

Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for all common mental health disorders?

shutterstock_171530327

For his ninth Mental Elf blog, Mark Smith reports on a Cochrane systematic review of the effectiveness of short term psychodynamic therapies on common mental health disorders.

[read the full story...]

Does depression make us lethargic, or does lack of exercise make us depressed?

shutterstock_106893050

Helge Hasselmann highlights a new cohort study in JAMA Psychiatry, which finds a bidirectional relationship between physical activity and depressive symptoms; strengthening the case for exercise as a recommended intervention for people with mild depression.

[read the full story...]

Collaborative care for depression: psychological interventions, alone or in combination with medication, offer additional benefits

collaborative care_blog8

Ioana Cristea reviews a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of collaborative care for depression, looking to identify factors predicting improvements. The study finds that collaborative care successfully improves both patient outcomes and the process of care for depression.

[read the full story...]

Depression and cancer: Lancet papers on prevalence and integrated collaborative care

double_dip__cvent

Kirsten Lawson highlights a trio of Lancet papers on the prevalence of depression in cancer patients and the efficacy of a new treatment programme called ‘Depression Care for People with Cancer’.

[read the full story...]

Collaborative care for adolescent depression: new RCT shows promise

shutterstock_125165846

Jennifer Laidlaw writes her debut blog on a recent RCT in JAMA about collaborative care for adolescent depression in primary care. The trial concludes that collaborative care is both feasible and effective in improving outcomes, but Jennifer highlights a number of limitations and questions for future research.

[read the full story...]

CBT versus psychodynamic psychotherapy for social anxiety disorder: long live the dodo or time for a change in research emphasis?

shutterstock_72639100

Andrew Shepherd appraises a study of the long-term outcomes of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy in social anxiety disorder, which finds both therapies are efficacious in treating social anxiety disorder in the short- and long-term.

[read the full story...]