Are chatbots the answer to minimising inequalities in treatment access?

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Robert Meadows considers the findings of a recent paper on the use of artificial intelligence chatbots in increasing self-referrals to mental health services.

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Accessing and engaging with NHS Talking Therapies: what can we learn from the pandemic?

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Jake Grange and Sarah Watts summarise a study using observational retrospective cohort data to investigate factors associated with access and engagement with NHS Talking Therapies services before, during, and after lockdown.

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Are e-cigarettes more addictive than tobacco?

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Tuba Saygin Avsar reviews a study on the perceived addiction of e-cigarettes, which used data from the International Tobacco Control Smoking and Vaping England Survey, to suggest that most UK vapers consider e-cigarettes less addictive than tobacco.

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Parenting in the smartphone age: there may be technoference on the picture #CAMHScampfire

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Douglas Badenoch helps us prepare for another CAMHS Around the Campfire session by tuning into the real effect of smartphone use on parenting; a multiverse analysis carried out by Kathryn L. Modecki and colleagues from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.

Follow #CAMHScampfire on Twitter at 9.30am BST on Wednesday 23rd June for an online journal club discussing this paper. Or sign up now to join the free webinar hosted by ACAMH.

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Young offenders with developmental language disorder were twice as likely to reoffend after 12 months

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Douglas Badenoch summarises a prospective cohort study, which looked at whether a developmental language disorder in first time young offenders is associated with a higher rate of reoffending, independently from other known causes.

Follow #CAMHScampfire on Twitter at 5pm GMT on Monday 1st March for an online journal club discussing this paper.

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How has the COVID-19 lockdown affected our mental health?

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Marco Solmi and Samuele Cortese review a recent longitudinal study exploring the trajectories of anxiety and depression during the COVID-19 lockdown in England.

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Dementia ward inpatients need better protection from COVID-19

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Clarissa Giebel summarises a recent study on the prevalence, management, and outcomes of COVID-19 infections in older people and dementia patients on mental health wards.

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Suicide risk in young people who self-harm and visit emergency departments

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Katerina Kavalidou reviews a prospective observational cohort study on mortality and suicide risk in young people after they present to hospital emergency departments following episodes of self-harm.

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Survivors of genocide more likely to develop dementia, according to new Israeli study

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Anna Sri explores a recent Israeli study which suggests that people exposed to genocide are more likely to develop dementia, even when a range of confounders are accounted for.

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Quarantine: infection prevention, but at what cost for mental health?

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As the COVID-19 lockdown enters its second week in the UK, Matthew Iveson and Andrew McIntosh consider the psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it.

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