Bariatric surgery can help improve depression, says new meta-analysis

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Emily Stapley reports on a new JAMA meta-analysis, which finds that mental illnesses such as depression and binge eating disorder are common among patients seeking and undergoing bariatric surgery.

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Does teenage cannabis use lower intelligence?

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Ian Hamilton presents his debut blog on a recent prospective cohort study on the relationship between teenage cannabis use, IQ and educational attainment.

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No sexual health history please, we’re British!

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Kirsten Lawson presents the results of a systematic review of observational cross-sectional studies, which looks at the worldwide prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C in people with severe mental illness.

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Childhood bullying and mental illness in young adulthood

The risk of psychotic experiences was found to be increased for both self-reported bullies and victims at age 8 and 10.

Jasmin Wertz appraises a recent Finnish cohort study, which explores how different forms of children’s bullying involvement are associated with mental illness and use of specialised psychiatric services in young adulthood.

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Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT)

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Sally Adams summarises a meta-analysis of specialty substance use disorder services following brief alcohol intervention, which finds a lack of evidence for SBIRTs despite the widespread public health support for this type of programme.

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Cigarette smoking may enhance vulnerability for cannabis dependence

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Andrew Jones considers the findings of a longitudinal study of young cannabis users in the UK, which highlights an association between cigarette smoking and cannabis dependence.

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Smoking and chronic mental illness: what’s the best way to quit or cut down?

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Meg Fluharty considers the findings of a BMJ State of the Art review, which looks at the evidence for smoking cessation in people with chronic mental illness such as schizophrenia, unipolar depression, bipolar depression, anxiety disorders and PTSD.

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Does parental drinking influence children’s drinking?

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Natasha Clarke helps us understand a recent systematic review of prospective cohort studies, which explores the links between parental alcohol drinking and alcohol consumption in their offspring.

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The scars of modern slavery: trafficked people with severe mental illness

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Yesterday was #AntiSlaveryDay, so today we are publishing a blog by Mina Fazel who considers the findings of an historical cohort study in the Lancet Psychiatry, which explores the characteristics of trafficked people with severe mental illness.

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Drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental illness

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Meg Fluharty summarises a recently updated Cochrane systematic review about interventions for drug-using offenders with co-occurring mental illness.

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