Psychiatry

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How hormonal contraceptives shape stress responses

The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is ‘Subjective, behavioural and physiological correlates of stress in women using hormonal contraceptives‘ and the blog is written by authors Zoé Bürger and the article is published in The British Journal of Psychiatry Despite their widespread use, we still know surprisingly little about how hormonal contraceptives affect the body’s response to stress.…

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Between Seen and Felt: The Paradox of Expression

It was a grey, overcast day, and the steady rain outside seemed to reflect my own sense of unease as I walked through the dimly lit corridor into the main hall of Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Having recently relocated to this new country, every step felt like a mix of excitement and discomfort as I tried to adjust to the unfamiliar. I stopped beneath Sophie Cave's Expression installation

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Treating the Whole Family When Child Maltreatment and Intimate Partner Violence Occurs

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a global health and mental health issue. When children are involved, their own mental health and safety may be at risk. Even very young children under the age of 5 may show signs of developmental regression in environments where IPV is present. Children’s Services in the UK, much like Child Protective Services (CPS) in the United States, have reported increases in IPV among the families they support, often resulting in children being placed in out-of-home care. Without treatment that addresses the entire family, resolving safety concerns and supporting healing for both adults and children may not occur.

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The MHA versus DoLS Dilemma

This article was our attempt to ease an uneasy feeling that seems to stalk psychiatrists. It is the feeling of not being entirely sure where we stand legally. Or, perhaps better put, a feeling that there must bea clear legal answer, but it is just a little beyond us or out of sight. What are we missing here?

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What is that creature in the judicial robes thinking?

I’ve heard many psychiatrists giving evidence. And, maybe hundreds of experts in multiple cases over a 45 year career as barrister and judge. Some experts are routine – the treating doctor in a road accident claim – while others are indispensable – the psychiatrist testifying that the murder accused did not know the nature and quality of their action.

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Decolonising our Minds: What UK Psychiatry needs to (un)learn

Mental healthcare in the UK is in crisis. As many of us know and have experienced, psychiatry in the UK has formed a bias towards reductive, individualistic and superficial approaches to defining mental distress. All whilst failing to foster deep, long-term authentic, caring relationships, and defaulting to an overly biomedical approach to management.

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Cover Artwork: “An aspect of Ikebana” by Ikuyo Munakata-Morrison

Ikebana, a floral art tradition dating back to the 7th century in Japan, literally translates as "making flowers alive" in Japanese. With 25 years of teaching experience, Ikuyo has played a vital role in promoting Ikebana in the U.K. In 2007, she founded and became the Founding Director of the Sogetsu London Branch, currently serving as the Honorary Advisor. She holds the “Riji" highest teaching grade.

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No Mental Health Without Physical Health

Deaths from physical illnesses account for most of the scandalous toll of premature deaths in people with severe mental disorders that include psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder or severe depression. But it is not clear whether they die too soon because physical illnesses are more common in this group, or whether those illnesses are more likely to be fatal when they develop them.

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To Be Bipolar

In the September edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International  – Dr Dami Ajayi reviews Nigerian writer Tukura John Daniel’s memoir about his lived experience with Bipolar Affective Disorder, How to Spell Bipolar.

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Creating More Pathways to Wellness: Harnessing EMDR Therapy

My journey into EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) therapy was sparked by a poignant experience during my core psychiatry training in Ireland. A colleague, calling from England, shared a compelling case with me one evening. A patient on his ward faced the daunting task of testifying in court against her assailant. Gripped by fear, she was hesitant until her Consultant Psychiatrist suggested EMDR therapy and conducted it with her. The patient not only mustered the courage to attend court but also secured a conviction, marking a profound turning point in her recovery and resilience.

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Muses at 2: Reflections by Dami Ajayi

When the editorial board of BJPsych International acceded to the launch of a web-based monthly arts blog, I volunteered as the commissioning editor. I did this partly because I already straddled the worlds of psychiatry and the creative arts. But also because it was an opportunity to be a part of something new.

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Humility

The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ values and behaviours, Courage, Innovation, Respect, Collaboration, Learning and Excellence combine into the CIRCLE acronym. In the list under Excellence, a link takes you to core values for psychiatrists. One of those is humility.

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Remarks on amelioration

The March edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features Nigerian poet Pamilerin Jacob who writes about being diagnosed with mental illness, his recourse to poetry, poetics and poetic language for therapy, meaning and vocation. He also pays a moving tribute to a friend who was instrumental to his survival.

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From a small seed to a giant Iroko tree: A postgraduate training programme in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the youngest population of any region in the world with 70% under the age of 30 years. This youthful demographic profile can be both a blessing and a challenge. While the youth have the potential to drive economic development, meeting their educational, social, and health needs can over-stretch already limited human and material resources.

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We Were In The Pits, But At Least There Was Company

In March 2017, a medical doctor ordered his driver to stop on the Third Mainland Bridge, came down from his car and jumped into the Lagos Lagoon. Traditional media platforms and social media buzzed with this tragic news. It was not the usual fare: that cocktail of pernicious poverty, drug use, and wanton criminality; this was a gentleman. It unveiled a severe concern about that taboo subject, mental health. 

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Uniting in Resilience: How Collective Belief Heals War’s Hidden Wounds

War doesn't merely result in physical devastation. The mental and emotional aftermath, particularly from modern warfare that targets civilians, is profound. Civilians suffer alongside combatants, facing deaths, injuries, chronic disability, multiple displacements with uprooting of whole communities, loss of homes, destruction of essential services, infrastructure and environment. These traumatic experiences lead to a wide range of mental health issues, from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse to family and collective trauma impeding personal and community recovery.

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Computational neuroscience and clinical perspective: Approaching negative symptomatology

We are honoured that our paper “Longitudinal trajectories in negative symptoms and changes in brain cortical thickness: 10-year follow-up” has been chosen as RCPsych Article of the Month. During recent years, our team has been part of the “Programa de Atención a Fases Iniciales de Psicosis (PAFIP)”. PAFIP is a three-year early intervention initiative designed for individuals who have experienced their first episode of psychosis (FEP). Those who willingly joined this program received comprehensive care from a team of professionals, including psychiatric nursing, psychology, psychiatry, and social work. A decade after the onset of psychotic disorders, the PAFIP team reconnected with the participants for a follow-up evaluation.

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Wairua and Psychiatry: healing partners  

From my Māori world view, wairua or spirituality is our essence. Everything else flows out from there. If we don’t get spiritual wellbeing right, other approaches will have only limited benefit. It seems to me that psychiatry offers treatments that are focused on the brain, addressing physical and psychological wellbeing. I notice that western talking therapies often don’t address spiritual values that are of critical importance to Māori and other Indigenous peoples.

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So Young, So Sad, So Listen

This is not an easy time for many children and parents. We hope our book ‘So Young, So Sad, So Listen’ can help parents recognise depression in their children, work out why this is happening and what can be done about it.

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Building confidence in working with patients with an eating disorder

For many years we have cared for people with severe eating disorders. Sometimes we’ve had to come to terms with tragic deaths, sometimes we’ve rejoiced to see patients and whole families enjoying renewed quality of life. All too often we’ve been frustrated to see that treatment might have been earlier, more effective or more equitable, if more of our professional colleagues better understood the nature of eating disorders.

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What leads to young people taking their own lives?

Worldwide suicide is most common in young people, and in many places rates of self-harm and suicide are rising, especially in girls. With this in mind, we wanted to explore the characteristics of suicide in young people, including gender differences and contacts with services that could play a part in prevention.

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Doctors in Parliament

The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘The Parliamentary Scholar Scheme: a way to engage doctors in healthcare policy and politics’ by Jen Perry, Paul Lomax, Fiona Taylor, Susan Howson and Kathleen McCurdy.

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Shame and the medical identity

The RCPsych Article of the Month for February is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Addressing shame: what role does shame play in the formation of a modern medical professional identity?’ by Sandy Miles. 

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Q&A with Melissa Birkett, Reviewing Editor of Experimental Results, Psychology & Psychiatry Section

This is the latest of an ongoing series of interviews with people involved with our new Open Access journal, Experimental Results – a forum for short research papers from experimental disciplines across Science, Technology and Medicine, providing authors with an outlet for rapid publication of small chunks of research findings with maximum visibility.…

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Strategies for RelaTives (START) – family carers of people with dementia mood is improved by START but does it continue to make a difference years later?

The RCPsych Article of the Month for January is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Clinical effectiveness of the START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) psychological intervention for family carers and the effects on the cost of care for people with dementia: 6-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial’

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A mental health crisis in Lesbos

The RCPsych Article of the Month for December is from BJPsych International and is entitled ‘Headaches in Moria: a reflection on mental healthcare in the refugee camp population of Lesbos' by Tom Nutting.

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To Decide or Not to Decide- That is the Question

The Mental Capacity Act was always meant to be an enabling piece of legislation, providing carers, health and social care professionals, a legal umbrella to support what they have been doing for years when supporting individuals who lack capacity to make such decisions for themselves.

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Round up of #RCPsychIC

We were delighted to welcome delegates to our Cambridge University Press/RCPsych Publishing stand during Congress where they were able to explore our impressive portfolio of books and journals and meet the Journal Editors-in-Chief and Managing Editors during “Meet the Editor” sessions.

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Fish’s Clinical Psychopathology

In 2005, I received a phone call from Patricia Casey, Professor (now Emeritus) of Psychiatry at University College Dublin. Would I be interested in working on a new edition of Fish’s Clinical Psychopathology with her? I stood up at once - the gravity of the occasion clearly required this - and I answered with the most emphatic Yes that I have ever uttered (apart from my wedding vows, of course). Certainly, I would revise Fish with her. Could we start today?

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Patients in Crisis

The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Do patients get better? A review of outcomes from a crisis house and home treatment team partnership’ by Authors Mohsin Faysal Butt, David Walls, Rahul Bhattacharya.

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What makes a decision ‘shared’?

RCPsych Article of the Month for April is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Involving patients with dementia in decisions to initiate treatment: effect on patient acceptance, satisfaction and medication prescription’ by Authors Jemima Dooley, Nick Bass, Gill Livingston and Rose McCabe.

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Discrediting Experiences

The RCPsych Article of the Month for March is from BJPsych Open and is entitled ‘Discrediting experiences: outcomes of eligibility assessments for claimants with psychiatric compared with non-psychiatric conditions transferring to personal independence payments in England'

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Is Psychoanalysis evidence based?

I wrote this short article to correct a widespread prejudice among mental health practitioners and the general public alike to the effect that psychoanalytic theory and therapy are not ‘evidence based’ -- in the sense that, say, CBT and psychopharmacology are considered to be.

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Where There Is No Psychiatrist

The newly published second edition of Where There is No Psychiatrist is a practical manual of mental health care for community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in low-resource settings. Authors Vikram Patel and Charlotte Hanlon discuss the importance of this manual below.

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UK Biobank gives unparalleled potential for future biomedical research in mental health

Until now, UK Biobank, a health data resource aiming to help scientists discover why some people develop particular diseases and others do not, had limited mental health data to work with. Following 157,366 responses to an online mental health questionnaire (MHQ) developed by researchers from King’s College London, alongside collaborators from across the UK, it now has unparalleled potential for further biomedical research in mental health, dramatically expanding potential research into mental disorders. The findings have been published in BJPsych Open.

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1 in 4 pregnant women have mental health problems

A new King’s College London study published Thursday 4 January in The British Journal of Psychiatry, found that 1 in 4 pregnant women have mental health problems. This is more common than previously thought – but two simple questions can help identify these problems so that women can be treated.

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Police-Public Interactions in U.S. Cities

Concern over the nature of police interactions with civilians has long been lurking beneath the surface of public discourse, recently capturing national attention with the advent of smartphone technology and real-time footage of numerous violent incidents.…

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Good days and bad days in dementia

The August International Psychogeriatrics Article of the Month is entitled ‘Good days and bad days in dementia: a qualitative chart review of variable symptom expression’ by Kenneth Rockwood, Sherri Fay, Laura Hamilton, Elyse Ross and Paige Moorhouse.…

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Criminal behavior: Older siblings strongly sway younger siblings close in age | VCU Across the Spectrum

Findings illustrate impact of family environment on violent criminal behavior If a sibling commits a violent criminal act, the risk that a younger sibling may follow in their footsteps is more likely than the transmission of that behavior to an older sibling, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.…

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