Welcome to our July newsletter! What happens when we look again at something we thought we already understood? A huge Nordic registry study asks whether clozapine’s benefits reach beyond its usual role in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, while a real-world Norwegian trial finds psychodynamic therapy holds its own against CBT for depression, outside the tightly controlled conditions of a typical randomised trial.
Elsewhere in our Top 5 this month: what former inpatients say psychological safety on mental health wards actually feels like, a nine-country study of teenage irritability, and semaglutide’s surprising second act as a treatment for antipsychotic-related weight gain.
And don’t miss our TMS for difficult-to-treat depression videos and webinar, the latest British Association for Psychopharmacology podcast episodes, and new guidance for researchers who want The Mental Elf as their dissemination partner.
📈 Top 5 blogs this month
1. Could clozapine reduce psychiatric admissions beyond schizophrenia?
Clozapine is the gold standard for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, but could it help beyond that? A huge Nordic registry study of over 500,000 people asks whether its benefits stretch across other psychiatric disorders.
🤓 Read the BLOG by Kirsten Little, Anam Kazmi and Laura Karanikoli 🗣️ Join the LinkedIn CONVERSATION
2. CBT and psychodynamic therapy work equally well for depression
A real-world trial from Norway compares short-term psychodynamic therapy with CBT for depression outside the tightly controlled conditions of a typical randomised trial, and finds the two approaches perform equally well.
🤓 Read the BLOG by Bianca Kewlani
🗣️ Join the LinkedIn CONVERSATION
3. Psychological safety on mental health wards: more than preventing harm
Restraint, seclusion and locked doors may contain physical risk, but at what psychological cost? New qualitative research asks former inpatients what psychological safety means, and how restrictive practices helped or harmed it.
🤓 Read the BLOG by Charis Palmer
🗣️ Join the LinkedIn CONVERSATION
4. Irritability in teenagers: a universal experience across cultures?
A nine-country study finds adolescent irritability is remarkably consistent worldwide, more common in girls, and strongly linked to depression, anxiety and bullying, wherever you look.
🤓 Read the BLOG by Shannon Shaughnessy and Spencer Evans
🗣️ Join the LinkedIn CONVERSATION
5. New heavyweight contender against antipsychotic weight gain? Semaglutide enters the ring
Semaglutide cuts weight and improves blood glucose in people with schizophrenia, a new meta-analysis finds, without harming mental health.
🤓 Read the BLOG by Jasmine Snowden
🗣️ Join the LinkedIn CONVERSATION
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for difficult-to-treat depression
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for difficult-to-treat depression videos and webinar Catch up on our #ElfHelp videos and webinar on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS): safe, effective, cost-effective, and invented in the UK, TMS still isn’t widely available on the NHS. Watch the full session to hear from researchers, clinicians and people with lived experience on how we can build the case for better provision.
🎥 Watch the TMS videos and webinar now 🎥
British Association for Psychopharmacology podcast
British Association for Psychopharmacology podcast The latest episode from the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) podcast is out now, part of our ongoing coverage from BAP’s summer conference sessions.
🎧 Listen now to the BAP podcast 🎧
NEW: Guidance for researchers to include The Mental Elf in their funding applications
We’ve put together new guidance for researchers who want to write The Mental Elf into their next grant application as a dissemination partner, making it easier to build evidence-sharing into your funding bid from the start.
🔗 Read the guidance and join the conversation 🔗
