Child development impacts on later mental health

A review in the journal Current Opinion in Psychiatry explored how child development impacts on the mental health of people in later life. The findings also recommended more research into preventative interventions.

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Anti-psychotic drugs reduction pledge

A new coallition of forty organisations, The Dementia Action Alliance, has announced that one of its goals is to reduce the use of anti-psychotic drugs for dementia patients. A government review estimated these drugs are wrongly prescribed to approximately 145,000 sufferers, and have resulted in 1,800 needless deaths.

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Keep taking the tablets?

German scientists have released research that states the drug reboxetine (Edronax) which has been routinely prescribed for depression over the last thirteen years is no more effective than a placebo. The BMJ study furthermore states that it is possibly harmful and that the manufacturer has been guilty of suppressing trials results. It is implied that NICE will have to review their guidance on the prescribing of the drug.

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Not Minding the Gap

A study in the British Journal of Psychiatry maintains that young people are falling into a black hole when they become adults and leave child and adult mental health services (CAMHS). Researchers from the University of Warwick followed 154 service users who made the transition for a year and concluded that provision was in the main poor.

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Whole family therapy for anorexic teens

A study in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal states that whole family therapy rather than therapy centred on the anorexic teenager alone, may be more effective in the long term. The model of treatment shifts away from past treatments which insinuated parents were to blame for their children's eating disorders. Better results were established at the six month and twelve month intervals.

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