Only 55% of people with severe mental illness get an annual physical health check. 🩺 A new review of 12 studies found little robust evidence, though case management (2 studies) showed an early positive signal. #SevereMentalIllness #PhysicalHealth buff.ly/5UFhhpP

The July Mental Elf Monthly is OUT NOW: "What Did We Get Wrong?" Please share with anyone you might benefit from the latest mental health research updates 🙏🏽 #MentalHealth #ElfHelp #Research national-elf-service.kit.com/posts/mental...

Mental Elf Monthly: What Did We Get Wrong?

national-elf-service.kit.com

Chronic inflammation and a single immune challenge don't dent motivation the same way. Long-term inflammation cut effort for reward; a one-off immune hit blunted how motivating bigger rewards felt. Two mechanisms, not one. buff.ly/zKBgmGb #Immunopsychiatry #MentalHealth

Five children ask mental health researchers & clinicians about mental health: 😖 why we feel certain ways, 📲 the impacts of technology, and ✏️ how we can learn more about mental health.

Curious Minds - mental health researchers and clinicians interviewed by children and young people

Welcome to the Curious Minds video podcast, organised by the 2024 cohort of the Wellcome 4-year PhD in Mental Health Science at UCL as part of UCL’s Grand Challenge of Mental Health and Wellbeing!…

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Peer support workers want to help people recover. Low pay, thin funding and blurry job boundaries often get in the way, 35 interviews in England show. buff.ly/BBQMo4s #PeerSupport #MentalHealth

After Netflix's Adolescence aired, coverage of teens and social media in UK/Irish news got sharply more negative and alarmist, per a new mixed-methods analysis. Balanced reporting dropped. buff.ly/P7iydYO #MediaLiteracy #YouthMentalHealth

Teenage irritability looks strikingly similar across nine countries, from Bulgaria to the UAE. 🌍 Under 1% of the variation was down to nationality, individual differences like gender mattered more. buff.ly/3SorRSH #Irritability #GlobalMentalHealth

Semaglutide cut weight by around 11kg in people with schizophrenia, per a new meta-analysis, without destabilising mental health. But the evidence is just 3 trials, 258 people, and tirzepatide for weight loss in schizophrenia has zero published trials. buff.ly/6Vcqa0w #Schizophrenia #Semaglutide

👶 The riskiest window for depression isn't birth, it's the fortnight after. A global meta-regression correcting for measurement bias puts postpartum MDD at 8.3% in week two, staying elevated all year. buff.ly/YE0PvxT #PerinatalMentalHealth #GlobalHealth

Could a body clock app catch a mood episode before it starts? A year-long trial found pairing a circadian app with a Fitbit cut mood relapse in depression and bipolar disorder. buff.ly/8c3smsh #MentalHealth #Bipolar #Depression #RelapsePrevention #DigitalMentalHealth

A third of people with schizophrenia don't respond to antipsychotics, and we can't predict who. 🔬 A new mega-analysis links brain metabolite differences to treatment response. 🎯 Could this help personalise care? buff.ly/4WuGy2t #Psychosis #Schizophrenia

CBT dominates depression guidelines. Is that because it works best, or because it's been studied most? 🛋️ A new Norwegian RCT finds short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy matched CBT in routine outpatient care. buff.ly/5yeKf0a #Depression #Psychotherapy

New narrative inquiry: Windrush Generation elders often stayed silent about the racism they faced, not to avoid it, but to protect their children. Researchers call it intergenerational resistance over intergenerational trauma. buff.ly/n1GlIfo #Windrush #RacialTrauma

New podcast: Eileen Joyce and Trevor Robbins remember Sue Iversen, the scientist who fused psychopharmacology and neuropsychology. Previews a tribute session at BAP's Summer Meeting in Birmingham next week. #BAP2026 buff.ly/BKbBnRe

New 13-year study: violence's health effects show little sign of fading. 📊 ELSA data on 6,171 English adults 50+ found violence exposure linked to depression and long-term illness throughout, with no narrowing of the gap. #HealthyAgeing #PublicHealth buff.ly/Pne03Lp

If you're interested in mental health research / young people's mental health, check out these interviews from my @institutemh.org.uk colleagues and @thementalelf.bsky.social ⬇️

The Institute of Mental Health@institutemh.org.uk · 4w ago

Great insights from @thementalelf.bsky.social interviews at the Digital Youth X @nihrmindtech.bsky.social conference, exploring how digital innovation, co-production and young people’s lived experience can shape the future of mental health. #MentalHealth www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Hearing a therapist say "I've been there too" can have a big impact. 🤝 A new experimental study finds that when therapists share that they've had the same condition and come through it, clients see a model of who they could become. buff.ly/cE9OlDm #Therapy #LivedExperience #Disclosure

Endometriosis takes years to diagnose, and the psychological toll rarely features in the care plan. 💛 A prospective study from New Zealand finds self-compassion protects mental health and quality of life over six months. buff.ly/bB8aRxn #Endometriosis #Pain #MentalHealth #SelfCompassion

Great insights from @thementalelf.bsky.social interviews at the Digital Youth X @nihrmindtech.bsky.social conference, exploring how digital innovation, co-production and young people’s lived experience can shape the future of mental health. #MentalHealth www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Digital Youth - YouTube

Nurturing young digital minds. Understanding risk in the digital world and collaborating with young people to help develop resilience. https://digitalyouth.a...

youtube.com

Lithium is our best mood stabiliser. But what is it doing to our kidneys? A 10-year Dutch cohort found most long-term users lost kidney function faster than the general population. 🫘 Whether stopping reverses it is still unknown. #Lithium #KidneyHealth buff.ly/pwnChZR

This is the extraordinary story of a British invention, funded by the taxpayer, that's been widely adopted pretty much everywhere except here. It has huge potential for people whose lives have been blighted by difficult-to-treat #depression. And it will likely save costs in the long term.

The Mental Elf@thementalelf.bsky.social · 4w ago

Join our FREE Mental Elf webinar next Wednesday 15th at 12 noon. Recovery from #Depression: TMS is ready to go and can save the country money 🎤Lived experience 🔬Clinical evidence 💷Economic evaluation 💼Building the business case www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/recovery-f...

Join our FREE Mental Elf webinar next Wednesday 15th at 12 noon. Recovery from #Depression: TMS is ready to go and can save the country money 🎤Lived experience 🔬Clinical evidence 💷Economic evaluation 💼Building the business case www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/recovery-f...

Recovery from depression: TMS is ready to go & can save the country money

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) offers hope for people with depression that has not responded to first-line treatment.

eventbrite.co.uk

New #BAP2026 podcast 🎙️ Prof Brenda Penninx on "immuno-metabolic depression": the 20–30% of depressed patients with inflammation & metabolic dysregulation, why standard antidepressants work less well for them, and what precision psychiatry could offer instead. ▶️ buff.ly/d2KJQ1H

Immuno-metabolic depression & the future of precision psychiatry | Brenda Penninx (Amsterdam UMC)

Why does depression look so different from one person to the next, and why do standard antidepressants work less well for some? Prof Brenda Penninx (Amsterdam UMC / Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam),…

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People with social anxiety self-report worse executive functioning than cognitive tests actually show, according to a new meta-analysis of 49 studies. 💭 Perception and performance don't always match. buff.ly/mZXslNP #SocialAnxiety #MentalHealthResearch

Long-term ayahuasca and cannabis users showed no cognitive differences from non-users in a new Spanish study. What set the groups apart was personality, not memory or attention. Causation stays open. buff.ly/unNYitR #Psychedelics #Cannabis

🎙️ New podcast for #BAP2026 BAP presidents current and future - Catherine Harmer & Naomi Fineberg on bridging lab and clinic, getting guidelines to frontline clinicians, the leaky research pipeline, and why the future of mental health science looks "extremely rosy". ▶️ buff.ly/Djj1T7v

Inside the British Association of Psychopharmacology with Catherine Harmer and Naomi Fineberg

Bridging Lab Science, Clinical Care, and Lived Experience with the BAP Current and Future Presidents Catherine Harmer, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford and outgoing president of the…

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Great to see this paper from @bethlgriffin.bsky.social being blogged about by the @thementalelf.bsky.social

The Mental Elf@thementalelf.bsky.social · 4w ago

Being kept alive is not the same as feeling safe. 🛡️ New UK interview study: former patients define psychological safety as validation, fairness and protection from lasting harm. buff.ly/1xU1JTJ #MentalHealth #InpatientCare

Being kept alive is not the same as feeling safe. 🛡️ New UK interview study: former patients define psychological safety as validation, fairness and protection from lasting harm. buff.ly/1xU1JTJ #MentalHealth #InpatientCare

TMS for Depression Webinar 12pm July 15th We’ll hear from people with lived experience of depression and TMS treatment. It doesn’t work for everyone, but it does work really well for many. 🎟️ Get your webinar ticket now! buff.ly/twm9DuR #TMSforDepression #ElfHelp #Webinar

Immersive VR therapy for children and adolescents: better than waitlist, on a par with active treatments like CBT and roleplay. BUT - only 9 RCTs, high risk of bias, lots of heterogeneity in this review. 🥽 Promising, but early days. buff.ly/bKJQlUs #ChildMentalHealth #VirtualReality