Psychosis and loneliness: overcoming the practical, social and emotional barriers to better relationships

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Hosana Tagomori and Dafni Katsampa review a qualitative study exploring the experience of loneliness among people diagnosed with psychosis.

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Can social recovery therapy improve social disability in young people?

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In her debut blog, Jude Madani summarises the findings of the PRODIGY trial, which looked at the clinical and cost-effectiveness of social recovery therapy for the prevention and treatment of long-term social disability among young people with emerging severe mental illness.

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Sex and schizophrenia: what determines sexual interest and confidence?

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In her debut blog, Beccy White summarises a secondary analysis which explored predictors of sexual interest amongst older adults with schizophrenia.

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Loneliness and the psychosis continuum: can loneliness be a target for mental health services?

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Laurie Hare-Duke writes his debut elf blog on a recent meta-analysis on loneliness and the psychosis continuum, which finds that loneliness is associated with both positive and negative psychotic symptoms, and is more strongly associated with paranoia than with hallucinations.

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#UnderstandingPsychosis?

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Sameer Jauhar and Paul Morrison consider the revised Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia report from the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology, which includes updated sections on definitions, aetiology and treatment.

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Psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis

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Rachel Upthegrove reviews a new systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological and psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis.

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

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Cannabis and psychosis: it’s high time for a review

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Joe Barnby considers the findings of a recent meta-analysis of cannabis use and symptoms severity in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis.

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Adding antidepressants to antipsychotics in schizophrenia: do they work, for what, and are they safe?

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Alex Langford explores the emerging findings from a recent meta-analysis looking at the efficacy and safety of antidepressants added to antipsychotics for people with schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like psychosis.

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ITI-007 for schizophrenia

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Murtada Alsaif summarises a recent 4-week long phase II randomised controlled trial of ITI-007 for the treatment of schizophrenia, which contains some positive results for this novel intervention.

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Group body psychotherapy for negative symptoms of schizophrenia

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Raphael Underwood reports on the findings of a recent RCT of group body psychotherapy for negative symptoms of schizophrenia, which finds that body psychotherapy did not have a clinically beneficial effect on reducing emotional withdrawal or improving social functioning.

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