Towards a youth mental health paradigm: a perspective and roadmap.

Most mental disorders have a typical onset between 12 and 25 years of age, highlighting the importance of this period for the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of mental ill-health. This perspective addresses interactions between risk and protective factors and brain development as key pillars accounting for the emergence of psychopathology in youth. Moreover, we propose that novel approaches towards early diagnosis and interventions are required that reflect the evolution of emerging psychopathology, the importance of novel service models, and knowledge exchange between science and practitioners. Taken together, we propose a transformative early intervention paradigm for research and clinical care that could significantly enhance mental health in young people and initiate a shift towards the prevention of severe mental disorders.

Diabetes Treatment and Mental Illness: A Call for an Integrated Health Care System in Underserved Semi-Rural Malaysia.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) management imposes a tremendous psychological burden on patients. The study investigates the association between DM treatment with blood glucose (BG) control and common mental health conditions. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1821 individuals with DM in a community-based survey conducted in 2013. Information on respondents' sociodemographic, mental health, DM treatment, and BG levels was collected. Multinomial logistic regression was employed to examine the association of diabetes treatment with controlled BG levels (<11.1 mmol/L) (42.5%, n = 774) or uncontrolled BG levels (34.3%, n = 625) compared with those not undergoing treatment (23.2%, n = 422) on depression anxiety, and stress. Having DM treatment and controlled BG was associated with high depressive symptoms (Relative Risk Ratio, RRR: 2.42; 95% CI 1.33−4.41) and high anxiety symptoms (1.66; 1.08−2.56) but not with perceived stress. However, treated DM with uncontrolled BG was associated with anxiety (high: 1.64; 1.05−2.56; low: 2.59; 1.10−6.09) but not depression or perceived stress. Our results suggest that being treated for DM, regardless of glucose control status, was associated with anxiety symptoms, whereas being treated with controlled BG was associated with high depressive symptoms. This situation highlights the need for integrative, multidisciplinary care for DM patients with mental health comorbidities.

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of body psychotherapy in the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia--a multi-centre randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Negative symptoms of schizophrenia are frequently associated with poor long term outcomes. Established interventions have little, if any, positive effects on negative symptoms. Arts Therapies such as Body Psychotherapy (BPT) have been suggested to reduce negative symptoms, but the existing evidence is limited. In a small exploratory trial a manualised form of group BPT led to significantly lower negative symptom levels both at the end of treatment and at 4 months follow-up as compared to supportive counseling. We designed a large multi-site trial to assess the effectiveness of a manualised BPT intervention in reducing negative symptoms, compared to an active control. METHODS/DESIGN: In a randomised controlled trial, 256 schizophrenic outpatients with negative symptoms will be randomly allocated either to BPT or Pilates groups. In both conditions, patients will be offered two 90 minutes sessions per week in groups of about 8 patients over a period of 10 weeks. Outcomes are assessed at the end of treatment and at six months follow-up. The primary outcome is severity of negative symptoms, as measured by the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), whilst a range of secondary outcome measures include general psychopathology, social contacts, and quality of life. We will also assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. DISCUSSION: The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a promising form of group therapy which may help alleviate negative symptoms that are associated with unfavourable long-term outcomes and have so far been difficult to treat. If the trial is successful, it will add a new and effective option in the treatment of negative symptoms. Group BPT is manualised, might be attractive to many patients because of its unusual approach, and could potentially be rolled out to services at relatively little additional cost. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN84216587.