Keeping you up to date with reliable mental health research, policy & guidance
Schizophrenia is a debilitating illness that affects an estimated 25 million people worldwide. People with the condition can experience a huge amount of disability (both social, physical and psychological), but we know that early intervention can help reduce the duration of the illness and prevent further episodes of relapse. People with schizophrenia usually experience a [read the full story...]
The research and campaigns relating to life outcomes for people with schizophrenia and psychosis are truly shocking. It seems unbelievable that people with schizophrenia face a lifespan 15-20 years shorter than the general population and that only 7% are able to hold down a job. Paul Jenkins from Rethink Mental Illness sums it up nicely: [read the full story...]
Early intervention services for psychosis are aimed at people aged 14-35 who are experiencing a first episode of psychosis or at risk of doing so. The teams that work in this area usually include psychiatrists, psychologists, community psychiatric nurses, social workers and support workers. The NICE schizophrenia guideline recommends that early intervention services are offered [read the full story...]
The two month consultation period for the new NICE guideline on psychosis and schizophrenia in children and young people has now begun. You must be registered as a stakeholder to comment on the guideline and you have until 27th September 2012 to make your views known. The guideline is aimed at clinicians and service commissioners [read the full story...]
The British Association for Psychopharmacology regularly publish consensus guidelines on the pharmacological treatment of mental health conditions. In the last two years these publications have included guidance on insomnia (PDF), dementia (PDF) and bipolar disorder (PDF). The latest guideline from the BAP is on the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia and as usual it’s available in full-text [read the full story...]
The Department of Health have published the quarterly Mental Health Community Teams activity data for 2010-11 and 2011-12 quarter 1. The data consists of a number of spreadsheets and a document available for download from the DH website. The main findings were: 2010-11 During 2010-11 10,311 new cases of psychosis were served by Early Intervention [read the full story...]
The Cochrane Scizophrenia Group have updated the systematic review that brings together all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) designed to prevent progression to psychosis in people showing prodromal symptoms, or to improve outcome for people with first-episode psychosis. The reviewers found 18 RCTs this time around, but (as is often the case with systematic reviews) the [read the full story...]
The NHS Confederation Mental Health Network have published another excellent briefing paper aimed at commissioners and providers. This time they are tackling how best to plan and deliver early intervention in psychosis services. Here’s the summary: In the current challenging financial climate, mental health organisations are looking at how they can do things differently to [read the full story...]
