Exploring digital cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia in an early intervention in psychosis service - A study protocol for an initial feasibility study with process evaluation - PubMed

From this study, we hope to better understand how to deliver digital CBT for insomnia within an early intervention in psychosis service. This study will help inform further research, including how best to support staff in using Sleepio, and inform the design of subsequent trials in this area.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

2026 Nicole Tang - Midlands Mental Health and Neurosciences PhD Programme

midlandsmhndtp.ac.uk

“I Don’t Think Anyone’s Ever Asked Me About the Two Before”: Making Sense of Co-occurring Autism and BPD in Inpatient Mental Health Settings - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Purpose Autistic individuals and individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are both more likely than the general population to require access to mental health services, specifically inpatient services. Both groups of individuals have reported difficulties when accessing inpatient services including stigma, lack of understanding and lack of adaptations. Recent research has suggested having diagnoses of both autism and BPD is becoming more common and that individuals with both diagnoses may be more at risk of suicidal thoughts and self-harm behaviours. The aim of this study is to understand the experiences of accessing inpatient mental health services for individuals with a diagnosis of autism and BPD. Methods Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results Seven participants were interviewed. Six themes were developed: (i) Never fully understood, (ii) Intense need for care and connection, (iii) Prisoner or patient? When care and punishment are intertwined, (iv) Necessary evil, (v) System always wins, (vi) Responsible for own care. Conclusions Autistic individuals with BPD require personalised care that integrates both their diagnoses into their identities. To provide this, staff on inpatient wards need appropriate support including reflective spaces and clinical supervision. Inpatient systems also need to shift away from prioritising the needs of the system and towards prioritising the needs of the individual, including adaptations for autistic individuals.

link.springer.com

Development of an Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ): Are most people really social addicts? - Behavior Research Methods

A growing number of self-report measures aim to define interactions with social media in a pathological behavior framework, often using terminology focused on identifying those who are ‘addicted’ to engaging with others online. Specifically, measures of ‘social media addiction’ focus on motivations for online social information seeking, which could relate to motivations for offline social information seeking. However, it could be the case that these same measures could reveal a pattern of friend addiction in general. This study develops the Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ) by re-wording items from highly cited pathological social media use scales to reflect “spending time with friends”. Our methodology for validation follows the current literature precedent in the development of social media ‘addiction’ scales. The O-FAQ had a three-factor solution in an exploratory sample of N = 807 and these factors were stable in a 4-week retest (r = .72 to .86) and was validated against personality traits, and risk-taking behavior, in conceptually plausible directions. Using the same polythetic classification techniques as pathological social media use studies, we were able to classify 69% of our sample as addicted to spending time with their friends. The discussion of our satirical research is a critical reflection on the role of measurement and human sociality in social media research. We question the extent to which connecting with others can be considered an ‘addiction’ and discuss issues concerning the validation of new ‘addiction’ measures without relevant medical constructs. Readers should approach our measure with a level of skepticism that should be afforded to current social media addiction measures.

link.springer.com