Cannabis use and its legalisation: analysing chronic pain in US veterans using electronic health records

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In their debut blog, Grace Williamson and Daniel Leightley review a US study on chronic pain, cannabis legalisation, and cannabis use disorder in US veterans.

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Psychosocial interventions for survivors of human trafficking: a realist review

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In her debut blog, Shivangi Talwar explores this realist review of psychosocial interventions for survivors of human trafficking, which aims to determine what works for whom, in what contexts, and how.

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Clinical severity and instability as predictors for psychiatric hospitalisation: can one size fit all? 

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Florian Walter summarises a retrospective cohort study published in The Lancet Psychiatry that investigates whether early trajectories of clinical global impression severity can transdiagnostically predict later psychiatric hospitalisation.

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How can we provide integrated care for people with co-occurring addiction and severe mental health problems?

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Akansha Naraindas considers a new review which offers insights to support the evaluation and restructuring of services for people with comorbid severe mental problems and substance use conditions.

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New meta-analysis finds methadone better than buprenorphine for treatment retention in opioid dependence

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Ian Hamilton considers a new Lancet Psychiatry systematic review and meta-analysis that examines the effectiveness of buprenorphine versus methadone for the treatment of opioid dependence, drawing from observational and randomised controlled studies.

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What’s the relationship between stressful life events and psychosis?

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Kris Deering considers a 2-year prospective observational study published in the Lancet Psychiatry which found strong links between stressful life events and relapse in first-episode psychosis.

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Genetic risk for schizophrenia is associated with changes in heart structure and function

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Nadine Parker and Ole Andreassen summarise a recent UK population-based cohort study, which looks at the impact of polygenic risk for schizophrenia on cardiac structure and function in over 32,000 people.

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Mapping the trajectory of psychiatric diagnoses: Danish study finds that mental health diagnoses may change over time

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In her latest blog, Dona Matthews summarises a recent publication in The Lancet Psychiatry, which mapped the psychiatric diagnostic trajectories of 184,949 Danish patients over a 10-year period.

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Suicide and self-harm in children: prevalence rates cause for concern

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In Mahmoud Arif’s debut blog, he and Rasanat Fatima Nawaz summarise a meta-analysis published in The Lancet Psychiatry, which estimated the prevalence rates of self-harm behaviours and suicidal ideation in children aged 12 years and under.

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