Time to stop prescribing antidepressants to young people with depression?

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Andrew Shepherd considers the implications of a recent network meta-analysis of the efficacy and tolerability of antidepressants for children and adolescents with depression.

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Bipolar disorder in older men linked to increased risk of dementia

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Elena Marcus presents a recent study that shows how older Australian men with bipolar disorder have an increased risk of dementia and early death.

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Lithium for bipolar disorder: the best maintenance mood stabiliser protection against self-harm and suicide?

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Michael Ostacher provides a robust appraisal of a recent UK cohort study that suggests bipolar disorder patients taking lithium had reduced self-harm and unintentional injury rates, when compared with patients taking valproate, olanzapine or quetiapine.

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The vexing challenge of suicide prevention: a research informed perspective on a recent systematic review

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Stanley Kutcher and Yifeng Wei provide an in-depth analysis of a recent systematic review of suicide prevention strategies.

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Locked wards vs open wards: does control = safety?

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André Tomlin summarises a 15 year observational study published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, which provides fascinating insight into suicide risk and absconding in psychiatric inpatient units with locked wards and open door policies.

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safeTALK for youth suicide prevention: new review finds no evidence of safety or efficacy

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Olivia Kirtley and Alys Cole-King appraise a new systematic review of the safeTALK school and community based youth suicide prevention intervention, which finds no evidence of safety or efficacy for this well established programme.

The blog also features a podcast featuring Olivia and Alys, along with Professor Stanley Kutcher, the lead author of this new review.

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Self-harm in primary care: more prescribing than referrals

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Olivia Kirtley and Alys Cole-King present a major new cohort study, which includes worrying evidence about the clinical management of patients in primary care following self-harm.

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Mondays and New Year’s Day associated with peaks in suicide incidence

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Emily Stapley reports on a recent study of the timing of general population and patient suicide in England. She discovers that Springtime, Mondays and New Year’s Day are all associated with peaks in suicide incidence.

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What happens to people after discharge from secure psychiatric hospital?

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Laura Hemming considers a recent systematic review of patient outcomes following discharge from secure psychiatric hospitals. The review finds that patients from secure units have a higher chance of mortality and suicide following discharge, than people from other settings.

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Suicide during the perinatal period

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Katrina Witt reviews a new UK study, which finds that women who ended their own lives during the perinatal period were significantly more likely to have a recent onset of depression, and were less likely to be receiving active treatment, and particularly medication, at their time of their death.

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