Can self help apps PROMOTE wellbeing or PREVENT illness in young adults?

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Kirsten Lawson summarises the ECoWeB PROMOTE and PREVENT trials in relation to self-helps apps for promoting wellbeing and preventing mental ill health among young adults.

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The impact of daylight saving time on life satisfaction

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We all had an extra hour in bed this weekend, but what impact does shifting the clocks back and forward each year have on our life satisfaction?

Melanie De Lange summarises a recent study on the welfare effects of time reallocation, which uses Daylight Saving Time evidence from Germany.

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Supporting the mental health of refugees: further evidence highlights the need for cultural awareness and competence

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Zuva Dengu reviews a German cross-sectional representative study exploring the psychological distress of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and other countries, which focuses on the individual and contextual risk factors and potential consequences for integration of refugees into German society.

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Locked wards vs open wards: does control = safety?

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André Tomlin summarises a 15 year observational study published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, which provides fascinating insight into suicide risk and absconding in psychiatric inpatient units with locked wards and open door policies.

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Web-based guided self-help can prevent or delay major depression

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Ioana Cristea is impressed by a large German randomised controlled trial published yesterday in JAMA, which shows web-based guided self-help to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of major depression.

This blog also features a podcast interview with the lead author of the research, Professor Pim Cuijpers.

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German cohort study finds no support for superiority of atypical antipsychotics in schizophrenia

It is possible that those who were disengaging from interventions such as medication were less likely to take part in the study.

Schizophrenia according to the NICE guidelines, is a relatively common illness and in the majority of cases takes a chronic course, requiring continued management and careful attention.  In the treatment and management of schizophrenia, antipsychotic medications – like olanzapine, quetiapine or clozapine – are the first line intervention. Antipsychotics can be loosely divided into “first-generation” (“typical”) and [read the full story…]