Globally, there has not been a standardised approach to ensure that the growing number of people who are not licensed clinicians but are delivering psychological interventions and mental health services have the competencies to deliver those interventions and services safely. Therefore, WHO and UNICEF developed Ensuring Quality in Psychosocial and Mental Health Care (EQUIP). EQUIP is a free resource

Infection risk and mortality are increased in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, which was corroborated during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, evidence is lacking regarding the additional impact of antipsychotic drugs, and the highly debated safety of clozapine treatment during large-scale infection outbreaks. Therefore, we aimed to investigate risk of COVID-19 and non-COVID respiratory infections during

People with mental health conditions were potentially more vulnerable than others to the neuropsychiatric effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global efforts taken to contain it. The aim of this multinational study was to examine the changes in psychotropic drug prescribing during the pandemic among people with depressive and anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND Child maltreatment is a broadly confirmed risk factor for mental and physical illness. Some psychological treatments specifically target mental health conditions associated with child maltreatment. For example, the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) focuses on maladaptive interpersonal behaviours in chronic depression. However, how the assessment of child maltreatment

BACKGROUND Cognitive deficits might contribute to the elevated risk of life-course psychopathology observed in maltreated children. Leading theories about the links between childhood maltreatment and cognitive deficits focus on documented exposures (objective experience), but empirical research has largely relied on retrospective self-reports of these experiences (subjective experience), and the two

The focus of mental health research in emerging fields should be driven by the priorities of people with relevant lived experience. Autism and ADHD are childhood-onset neurodevelopmental conditions that are associated with a range of health inequalities, including increased risk for eating disorders. The evidence base for how best to support neurodivergent individuals who experience disordered eating

Older people admitted to hospital in an emergency often have prolonged inpatient stays that worsen their outcomes, increase health-care costs, and reduce bed availability. Growing evidence suggests that the biopsychosocial complexity of their problems, which include cognitive impairment, depression, anxiety, multiple medical illnesses, and care needs resulting from functional dependency, prolongs hospital

Reducing the use of coercive measures in inpatient child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) requires an understanding of current rates and associated factors. We conducted a systematic review of research published between Jan 1, 2010, and Jan 10, 2024, addressing rates and risk factors for mechanical, physical, or pharmacological restraint, seclusion, or forced tube feeding in inpatient

BACKGROUND Understanding of ethnic disparities in suicide in England and Wales is poor as ethnicity is not recorded on death certificates. Using linked data, we examined variations, by sex, in suicide rates in England and Wales by ethnicity and migrant and descendant status. METHODS Using the Office for National Statistics 2012-19 mortality data linked to the 2011 census from the Public Health Research

BACKGROUND Conduct disorder is associated with the highest burden of any mental disorder in childhood, yet its neurobiology remains unclear. Inconsistent findings limit our understanding of the role of brain structure alterations in conduct disorder. This study aims to identify the most robust and replicable brain structural correlates of conduct disorder. METHODS The ENIGMA-Antisocial Behavior Working

BACKGROUND Although studies have suggested a high risk of suicide in people with eating disorders, most studies have focused on suicidal ideation and attempts. There is little research on the characteristics of people with eating disorders who died by suicide, nor investigation of trends over time. We aimed to compare the characteristics of patients with eating disorders who died by suicide versus

COVID-19 is known to be associated with increased risks of cognitive and psychiatric outcomes after the acute phase of disease. We aimed to assess whether these symptoms can emerge or persist more than 1 year after hospitalisation for COVID-19, to identify which early aspects of COVID-19 illness predict longer-term symptoms, and to establish how these symptoms relate to occupational functioning. The

Friendships and peer relationships have an important role in the experience of self-harm ideation and behaviour in young people, yet they typically remain overlooked. This systematic review and narrative synthesis explores the extant literature on this topic to identify important relationships between these constructs. We did a keyword search of peer-reviewed empirical articles relating to friendships

Despite the frequent co-administration of antidepressants and benzodiazepines, the association between such concomitant use during pregnancy and the risk of congenital malformations remains inadequately explored. This study aims to examine the association between concomitant use of antidepressants and benzodiazepines during the first trimester and organ-specific congenital malformations. We conducted

Forensic mental health services provide crucial interventions for society. Such services provide care for people with mental disorders who commit violent and other serious crimes, and they have a key role in the protection of the public. To achieve these goals, these services are necessarily expensive, but they have been criticised for a high-cost, low-volume approach, for lacking consistent standards

Neurosurgery for intractable psychiatric conditions has seen a resurgence with the increasing use of deep brain stimulation (DBS). Although DBS promises reversible neuromodulation and has become more popular than older lesioning methods, lesioning might still be preferred in specific cases. Here, we review the evidence for DBS and lesions in the treatment of intractable neuropsychiatric conditions

Many patients with schizophrenia have symptoms that do not respond to antipsychotics. This condition is called treatment-resistant schizophrenia and has not received specific attention as opposed to general schizophrenia. Psychological and psychosocial interventions as an add-on treatment to pharmacotherapy could be useful, but their role and comparative efficacy to each other and to standard care

Cognition is a core component of functional seizures, but the literature on cognition in this disorder has been heterogeneous, with no clear unifying profile emerging from individual studies. The aim of this study was to do a systematic review and meta-analysis of cognitive performance in adults with functional seizures compared with epilepsy (including left temporal lobe epilepsy) and compared with

Antidepressant discontinuation symptoms are becoming an increasingly important part of clinical practice, but the incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms has not been quantified. An estimate of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms incidence could inform patients and clinicians in the discontinuation of treatment, and provide useful information to researchers in antidepressant treatments