Education and training in psychiatry in the U.K.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Recent training and education changes have raised important issues in delivery of psychiatric education at all levels. In this article, the authors describe the current status of mental health education in the training of all doctors and postgraduate training and education in psychiatry in the U.K. METHOD: The authors explore and describe some of the initiatives that are being used in order to increase exposure to mental health placements in the Foundation Program, and they then describe the existing specific mental health opportunities within general practice and other specialist training programs. DESCRIPTION: After graduation from medical school, a two-year Foundation training program is a must, and, at the end of the first year, trainees become eligible for full registration with the "regulator," the General Medical Council; after finishing the second year, they become eligible to undertake specialist training. Psychiatry training takes up to 6 years, and six specialties are recognized as leading to certificates for completion of training before independent practice. These six specialties are 1) general and community; 2) child and adolescent; 3) medical psychotherapy; 4) forensic psychiatry; 5) psychiatry of old age; and 6) psychiatry of learning disability. Also, three subspecialties-liaison psychiatry, addictions, and rehabilitation-form a part of the training in general and community psychiatry. CONCLUSIONS: The authors discuss advantages and disadvantages of such an approach and raise key issues related to ongoing work to improve recruitment, progression, and retention of trainee psychiatrists.

Translating biological parameters into clinically useful diagnostic tests.

Psychiatry has lagged behind other specialties in developing diagnostic laboratory tests for the purpose of confirming or ruling out a diagnosis. Biological research into the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders has, however, yielded some highly replicable abnormalities that have the potential for development into clinically useful diagnostic tests. To achieve this goal, a process for systematic translation must be developed and implemented. Building on our previous work, we review a proposed process using four clearly defined steps. We conclude that biological parameters currently face challenges in their pathways to becoming diagnostic tests because of both the premature release and premature abandonment of tests. Attention to a systematic translation process aided by these principles may help to avoid these problems.

Folate for depressive disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

The objective of this review was to determine the effectiveness, adverse effects and acceptability of folate in the treatment of depression. Electronic databases (Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register) and reference lists were searched, and authors, experts and pharmaceutical companies contacted to identify randomized controlled trials that compared treatment with folic acid or 5'-methyltetrahydrofolic acid to an alternative treatment, for patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder. Three randomized trials (247 participants) were included. Two studies assessed the use of folate in addition to other treatment, and found that adding folate reduced Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores on average by a further 2.65 points [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.38-4.93]. Fewer patients treated with folate experienced a reduction in their HDRS score of less than 50% at 10 weeks (relative risk 0.47, 95% CI 0.24-0.92). The remaining study found no statistically significant difference when folate alone was compared with trazodone. The identified trials did not find evidence of any problems with the acceptability or safety of folate. The limited available evidence suggests folate may have a potential role as a supplement to other treatment for depression. It is currently unclear if this is the case both for people with normal folate levels, and for those with folate deficiency.

Evidence-based medicine and neurophysiology.

Evidence-based medicine (EBM) was introduced to meet the increasing need of clinicians to keep up-to-date with the research evidence. EBM integrates advances in information technology with those in clinical epidemiology (the study of the distribution and determinants of disease) to provide a coherent strategy for the timely acquisition of the best available evidence on which to base clinical practice. A fundamental component of EBM has been the development of the methodology of research synthesis. Although the main driver of the development of EBM has been to get existing research into practice, the same approach can be used to inform the development of treatments.

Relapse prevention with antidepressant drug treatment in depressive disorders: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Antidepressant drugs can promote remission from acute depressive episodes. Our aim was to establish how long such treatments should be continued to prevent relapse. METHOD: We did a systematic overview of evidence from randomised trials of continuing treatment with antidepressants in patients with depressive disorders who have responded to acute treatment. Medline, Embase, Cinahl, PsycLIT, Psyndex, and Lilacs were searched. FINDINGS: Data were pooled from 31 randomised trials (4410 participants). Continuing treatment with antidepressants reduced the odds of relapse by 70% (95% CI 62-78; 2p<0.00001) compared with treatment discontinuation. The average rate of relapse on placebo was 41% compared with 18% on active treatment. The treatment effect seemed to persist for up to 36 months, although most trials were of 12 months' duration, and so the evidence on longer-term treatment requires confirmation. Significantly more participants allocated antidepressants withdrew from the trials than did those allocated to placebo (18% vs 15%, respectively; odds ratio 1.30, 95% CI 1.07-1.59): the treatment effect could be even greater in adherent patients. The two-thirds reduction in risk of depressive relapse seemed to be largely independent of the underlying risk of relapse, the duration of treatment before randomisation, or the duration of the randomly allocated therapy. INTERPRETATION: Antidepressants reduce the risk of relapse in depressive disorder, and continued treatment with antidepressants would benefit many patients with recurrent depressive disorder. The treatment benefit for an individual patient will depend on their absolute risk of relapse with greater absolute benefits in those at higher risk. Further trials are needed to establish the optimum length of therapy and should include patients who were not well represented in these trials, including those at low risk of relapse.