There is a widespread clinical presumption that people who have both major depressive disorder (MDD) and a co-morbid chronic physical illness represent a ‘double trouble’ group. This leads to the expectation that the depression prognosis for these people would be poor with increasing likelihood of recurrence. Evidence supports the view that depression is prevalent among [read the full story…]
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has today published what they are calling a landmark report on achieving parity between mental and physical health. The report, Whole-Person Care: From Rhetoric to Reality, defines parity as valuing mental health equally with physical health. It highlights the significant inequalities that exist between physical and mental health care, including [read the full story…]
Published yesterday in the Lancet, the Multicentre Study of Self-harm in England is a large (30,950 patients) cohort study of people presenting to hospital emergency departments in Oxford, Manchester and Derby, with self-poisoning or self-injury during 2000-2007. We know that people who self-harm have an increased risk of dying early, but this study tries to [read the full story…]
The charity Rethink Mental Illness has launched a comprehensive range of new tools to help mental health professionals address the physical health needs of the people they work with. The tools have been developed as part of the 20 Years Too Soon campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the fact that people affected by [read the full story…]
A new systematic review conducted by a research team from Leicester suggests that psychiatrists are failing to carry out physical health checks for metabolic complications common in patients with mental illness, in particular those who are prescribed antipsychotics. Many hospitals now have guidelines in place to ensure that patients on antipsychotics are monitored to check [read the full story…]
Some of the risk factors for suicide are well known. Research shows that mental illness is the most significant risk factor and we also know that gender plays a big part (men are at greater risk). However, some of the other potential risk factors are less well study, such as the impact that serious physical [read the full story…]
This systematic review conducted by the UK National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health set out to review the efficacy of non-pharmacological treatment for depression in people with depression and chronic physical health problems. They found 35 RCTs that met their inclusion criteria and ended up conducting a meta-anlalysis of 22 studies using a random-effects model. The bulk [read the full story…]
