This systematic review provided a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of a large volume of data, which has recently emerged since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a unique study, offering pooled prevalence estimates and focusing on doctors specifically as a high-risk group of the health workforce cohort. However, there was a wide variation in point prevalence and pooled prevalence estimates had broad confidence intervals.
The International Anxiety Questionnaire (IAQ) and International Depression Questionnaire (IDQ) are self-report measures of ICD-11 Generalized Anxiety Disorder (ICD-11 GAD) and ICD-11 Single Episode Depressive Disorder (ICD-11 DD). This study tested the psychometric properties of these scales in two samples of bereaved adults from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Dysfunctional attitudes (DA) are higher in depression; however, less is understood about their role in bipolar disorder (BD). This paper aimed to explore the presence of DA in BD in comparison to clinical and non-clinical groups. Also explored were the associations between DA and mood states of depression, mania or euthymia in BD.
Bouldering psychotherapy (BPT) for depression has proven effective, but nothing is known about its potential predictors of response. This study should identify predictors of response to BPT, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and an active control (home-based exercise programme; EP) using a literature-based model.
Concludes that there is little uptake of psychological interventions for depression. Strategies currently in development that could change this include single session interventions and task sharing which involves using lay counsellors to deliver the intervention. Digital interventions could improve access to treatment and have shown some positive outcomes.
This meta-analysis is very relevant for those working within mental health services and delivering mental health interventions with clients or community members. It suggests that transdiagnostic mental health interventions should be considered as an effective way of treating anxiety and depression, at least in the short term, as they might have an edge over other treatments, especially when treating co-morbidity or mixed anxiety and depression symptoms.
Too late to be included in this review, NICE Guideline Depression in adults, was issued in 2022 with more complete tapering information, including an exponential taper to be adjusted to the tolerance of the individual patient. It advised clinicians “slowly reduce the dose to zero in a step-wise fashion, at each step prescribing a proportion of the previous dose” and “consider using smaller reductions”. While this is still not very specific, it is a significant improvement over the guidance reviewed in this paper.
Individuals with physical comorbidities and polypharmacy may be at higher risk of depression relapse, however, they are not included in the ‘high risk of relapse’ group for whom longer antidepressant treatment durations are recommended. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This research provides reassuring evidence that DBS can have long-term benefits. This intervention is still only suitable for those with severe ‘treatment-resistant depression’, due to the highly invasive nature of the surgical procedure and the risk of complications.
This meta-analysis evaluated the relationship between overweight/obesity and depressive disorders in children and adolescents. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
As cannabis policies become more permissive, there is a reasonable concern that this may increase rates of CUD and contribute further to the incidence of other mental health disorders. However, several strategies can be implemented to offset these harms.
Clinical practice with young children benefits from knowledge about the prevalence of depressive disorders in childhood and that the well-established sex differences seen for depression in adulthood may not appear until adolescence.
Further research is needed to address possible changes in the prevalence of childhood depressive disorders around the world and following the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether these changes are differentially distributed across individuals and communities.
To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the possibilities and effects of imagery-based interventions that explicitly target negative images in (sub)clinical social anxiety. Open access article - no login required.
This study examines psychological, social and environmental risk and protective factors that may explain changes in depression and anxiety among adolescents. Open access article - no login required
Despite the widespread use and perceived efficacy of cannabidiol (CBD) as an anxiolytic, few controlled studies have evaluated the effects of CBD on anxiety-relevant indications, and only one has done so in the context of trauma-related symptoms. The current study was designed to address this gap in the literature. To read the full article, choose Open Athens “Institutional Login” and search for “Midlands Partnership”.
A. B, E. CR, F. T, G. FA, K. T, B. G, K. N, and M. S. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (2009)Art. No.: CD 007954. DOI: 10. 1002 / 14651858. CD 007954.