Walk this way: can a health coaching intervention increase physical activity in people with severe mental illness?

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Gordon Johnston and Michel Syrett prepare for the #HealthSMI event on 24th June by blogging about a recent pilot RCT of a health coaching intervention (Walk This Way) to reduce sedentary behaviour and increase physical activity in people with serious 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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Antipsychotics for schizophrenia: do they provide a longer, healthier life?

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Paul Heron from the Closing the Gap Network writes his debut blog about a 20‐year cohort study of physical morbidity and mortality in relationship to antipsychotic treatment in a huge group of people with schizophrenia in Finland.

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Psychological resilience to suicidal thoughts and behaviours in people with schizophrenia

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Emily Hielscher reviews a recent qualitative study that examines factors that contribute to psychological resilience to suicidal thoughts and behaviours in people with schizophrenia or psychosis.

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Flu pandemics, schizophrenia and the immune system: could history repeat itself?

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Sameer Jauhar summarises a recent narrative review about the risk of schizophrenia linked to the Spanish Influenza Pandemic over 100 years ago. He relates this work to our current pandemic and considers the possibility of a link between COVID-19 and an increased risk of psychosis.

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Towards a symptom-based diagnosis of psychotic spectrum disorders?

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Stefanie Sturm critically analyses a recent paper that suggests a symptom-based continuum of psychosis explains cognitive and real-world functional deficits better than traditional diagnoses.

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Risperidone and aripiprazole: genotype, metabolism and dosage

CYP2D6 genotyping before starting treatment might be valuable in clinical practice for individualising risperidone and aripiprazole treatment.

Dolly Sud writes her debut elf blog on a recent retrospective analysis, which compares dose changes of risperidone and aripiprazole with patients’ individual genotype.

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Service user experiences of dissociation

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A team of mental health staff from the University of Edinburgh write a joint blog on a recent qualitative study about the experience of dissociation in people with psychosis.

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Antipsychotics and metabolic function in people with schizophrenia

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Peter Haddad and Sami Ouanes review a network meta-analysis of the impact of antipsychotic drugs on metabolic function in people with schizophrenia.

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In harm’s way: psychiatric diagnosis and risks of being subjected to and perpetrating violence

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Sarah Steeg discusses a cohort study finding that people with a psychiatric diagnosis are 3-4 times more likely to be a victim or perpetrator of violence.

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