Just how good are antipsychotics at preventing relapse? Bridging the efficacy-effectiveness gap

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Samei Huda summarises a new network meta-analysis in the Lancet Psychiatry on the efficacy and effectiveness of antipsychotics for schizophrenia in research settings, such as randomised controlled trials, versus real-world and clinical settings.

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Individual, group and guided self-help CBT for panic disorder: most delivery formats equally effective, but more evidence needed

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Hannah Wallace summarises a network meta-analysis comparing four different formats of CBT for panic disorder, which finds “no efficacy differences between CBT delivered as guided self-help, or in the face-to-face individual or group format in the treatment of panic disorder”.

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Risperidone and aripiprazole: genotype, metabolism and dosage

CYP2D6 genotyping before starting treatment might be valuable in clinical practice for individualising risperidone and aripiprazole treatment.

Dolly Sud writes her debut elf blog on a recent retrospective analysis, which compares dose changes of risperidone and aripiprazole with patients’ individual genotype.

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Antipsychotic effectiveness: the numbers don’t lie, check the scoreboard

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Students and Teachers from the King’s College London PNoMH Distance Learning MSc summarise a major new meta-analysis that brings together the last 60 years of placebo-controlled antipsychotic drug trials in acute schizophrenia.

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Parent training works for child and adolescent mental health

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Tony McGinn presents a high-level overview of the state of parent training evidence. His blog draws on over 30 systematic reviews with meta-analyses, to bring you a handy summary of what works.

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Comparing applets and oranges: barriers to evidence-based practice for app-based psychological interventions

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A repost of Simon Leigh’s excellent recent article in Evidence-Based Mental Health on the clear need for consensus and guidance for app developers, as to which patient-reported outcome measures should be used when developing mental health apps.

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Atomoxetine for adult ADHD: the harms outweigh the benefits, according to new systematic review

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Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a developmental neurological condition affecting functioning in a number of domains, but in particular, the ability to focus and concentrate, and regulate activity levels.  This is a common disorder with 2.5-4.0% of adults meeting diagnostic criteria for ADHD (Fayyad et al, 2007), and this condition has significant impact on a persons [read the full story…]

Cochrane review finds quetiapine is equivalent in efficacy to typical antipsychotics and possibly causes fewer side effects

Antipsychotic medication is the standard treatment for schizophrenia and psychosis in the UK.  Given that psychosis is commonly a chronic condition and therefore that medication used to treat it often needs to be taken for several years, getting the medication “right” is important. As I mentioned in my first blog post for the Mental Elf, [read the full story…]