Link between sleep and depression in adolescents

Self‐reported sleep patterns and quality amongst adolescents: cross‐sectional and prospective associations with anxiety and depression. A mere 30 minutes extra sleep a day can make all the difference to a teenager’s lifelong mental health and wellbeing. A new international study of almost 5000 adolescents found those who generally slept 30 minutes less per night reported […]

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Link between alcohol abuse and anxiety identified

alcohol

New research from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh has identified how differences in sections of DNA might contribute to the risk of alcohol abuse in men. Published in Molecular Psychiatry, the study found a section of DNA that switches on key genes in parts of the brain that control alcohol intake […]

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Managing Anxiety at Work

Anxiety is a common concern in the UK, with an estimated one in six of us experiencing an episode of anxiety or depression a week. Many of us will be at work, struggling to get through the day, with the condition more common in people from the ages of 35 to 59. It can have […]

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Social Anxiety at School

What’s it like – and what to do about it: A leading Oxford-based child psychiatrist explains The mental health charity Mind says there should be more help for students affected by social anxiety disorder – which is sometimes known as school phobia or school refusal – in which a child will not go to school […]

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Cannabis is fuelling psychoses

New NHS figures showed there were 125,290 cannabis and spice-related hospital admissions in England from April 2013 to March 2018, including 14,888 under-20s. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Niall Campbell, who treats 18-year-olds and older, at Priory’s Roehampton Hospital, said 25% of paranoid psychosis cases were caused by the use of marijuana. “I am seeing an increasing […]

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Patient-centred care does not improve quality of life

Patients who are involved in the planning and delivery of their care for multiple conditions say that they are more satisfied, but it doesn’t seem to make any difference to their quality of life. In the largest ever trial of an intervention to treat people with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity) in primary care, researchers at […]

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Functional medicine: treating depression

The conventional therapeutic approach to dealing with a problem like depression is to wait for the problem to set in and then give you a drug to stop you feeling depressed. GPs often have less than 15 minutes for a single appointment so they just don’t have the time to ask a patient about the […]

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Ten ways a parent can help a child avoid self-harming

Self-harming is a highly complex issue but from friendships to body dissatisfaction to social media and exam pressures, there is little doubt that life as a 21st century teenager can feel stressful – especially without a healthy coping strategy. Priory child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Hayley van Zwanenberg offers her insight – and advice. A […]

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NHS complaints system harming doctors and patients

The NHS complaints system is putting patients at risk and harming doctors’ mental health, according to a new study published in the journal BMJ Open. Researchers at Imperial College, London, have shown, for the first time, an association between the way complaints are handled and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and defensive medical practice in doctors. […]

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Game of Thrones – dealing with phobias

The penultimate episode of the current series of Game of Thrones (G.O.T) has just finished and personally I am counting the months until the final season. George R. R. Martin has created a scary and traumatic world, and it’s amazing that every character in it isn’t suffering from phobias, anxiety issues or major trauma. Sandor […]

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