Antibody longevity and waning following COVID-19 vaccination in a 1-year longitudinal cohort in Bangladesh.

COVID-19 vaccines have been effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization and death, however, the effectiveness diminishes with time. Here, we evaluated the longevity of antibodies generated by COIVD-19 vaccines and the risk of (re)infection in Bangladeshi population. Adults receiving two doses of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna or Sinopharm vaccines were enrolled at 2-4 weeks after second dosing and followed-up at 4-monthly interval for 1 year. Data on COVID-like symptoms, confirmed COVID-19 infection, co-morbidities, and receipt of booster dose were collected; blood was collected for measuring spike (S)- and nucleocapsid (N)-specific antibodies. S-specific antibody titers reduced by ~ 50% at 1st follow-up visit and continued to decline unless re-stimulated by booster vaccine dose or (re)infection. Individuals infected between follow-up visits showed significantly lower S-antibody titers at preceding visits compared to the uninfected individuals. Pre-enrolment infection between primary vaccination dosing exhibited 60% and 50% protection against reinfection at 5 and 9 months, respectively. mRNA vaccines provided highest odds of protection from (re)infection up to 5 months (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.08), however, protection persisted for 9 months in AstraZeneca vaccine recipients (OR = 0.06). In conclusion, vaccine-mediated protection from (re)infection is partially linked to elevated levels of S-specific antibodies. AstraZeneca vaccine provided the longest protection.

Serosurveillance among urban slum and non-slum populations immunized with COVID-19 vaccines in Bangladesh.

Using two rounds of serosurveillance, we aimed to observe the COVID-19 vaccination status and the dynamics of antibody responses to different vaccines among urban slum and non-slum populations of Bangladesh. Adults (>18 years) and children (10-17 years) were enrolled in March and October 2022. Data including COVID-19 vaccine types and dosage uptake were collected. SARS-CoV-2 spike (S)-specific antibodies were measured in blood. The proportion of vaccinated children was significantly lower among slum than non-slum populations. Two doses of vaccines showed an increase in the level of anti-S-antibodies up to 2 months, followed by reduced levels at 2-6 months and a resurgence at 6-12 months. Children showed significantly higher anti-S-antibodies after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than adults; however, after 6 months, the level of antibodies declined in younger children (10 - < 12 years). In a mixed vaccine approach, mRNA vaccines contributed to the highest antibody response whether given as the first two doses or as the third dose. Our findings emphasized the need for increasing the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination among slum children and booster dosing among all children. The use of mRNA vaccines in the mixed vaccination approach was found to be useful in boosting the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2.

Exercise improves depression through positive modulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). A review based on 100 manuscripts over 20 years.

The aim of this review was to explore the relevant neurobiology and the association between peripheral levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and acute and short to long-term exercise regimes, as well as its relation to depression and antidepressant treatment. A 20-year literature search was conducted. The screening process resulted in 100 manuscripts. Antidepressants as well as acute exercise, particularly high-intensity, elevates BDNF in healthy humans and clinical populations, as evidenced from aerobic and resistance-based studies. Although exercise is increasingly recognised in the management of depression, acute and short-term exercise studies have failed to establish a relationship between the severity of depression and changes in peripheral BDNF. The latter rapidly returns to baseline, possibly indicating a quick re-uptake by the brain, aiding its neuroplasticity functions. The timescale of administration needed for the antidepressants to stimulate biochemical changes is longer than similar increases with acute exercise.

How to attract and retain health workers in rural areas of a fragile state: Findings from a labour market survey in Guinea.

Most countries face challenges attracting and retaining health staff in remote areas but this is especially acute in fragile and shock-prone contexts, like Guinea, where imbalances in staffing are high and financial and governance arrangements to address rural shortfalls are weak. The objective of this study was to understand how health staff could be better motivated to work and remain in rural, under-served areas in Guinea. In order to inform the policy dialogue on strengthening human resources for health, we conducted three nationally representative cross-sectional surveys, adapted from tools used in other fragile contexts. This article focuses on the health worker survey. We found that the locational job preferences of health workers in Guinea are particularly influenced by opportunities for training, working conditions, and housing. Most staff are satisfied with their work and with supervision, however, financial aspects and working conditions are considered least satisfactory, and worrying findings include the high proportion of staff favouring emigration, their high tolerance of informal user payments, as well as their limited exposure to rural areas during training. Based on our findings, we highlight measures which could improve rural recruitment and retention in Guinea and similar settings. These include offering upgrading and specialization in return for rural service; providing greater exposure to rural areas during training; increasing recruitment from rural areas; experimenting with fixed term contracts in rural areas; and improving working conditions in rural posts. The development of incentive packages should be accompanied by action to tackle wider issues, such as reforms to training and staff management.

Pioneering an Innovative Intervention to Reduce Mental Health Related Stigma in Muslim Communities: A Protocol.

Despite the prevalence of mental health related stigma in Muslim communities, there are only a limited number of intervention studies reported in the literature. Digital interventions (i.e., YouTube clips, videos) are relatively cheap, highly accessible and easily disseminated and are increasingly being used to improve mental health literacy and reduce mental health related stigma. However, as far as the authors are aware, there are no stigma reduction programmes targeting Muslim communities that leverage digital interventions reported in the literature. This paper outlines a protocol for a digital intervention to challenge mental health related stigma in Muslim communities. The proposed intervention will be a 5 to 10-minute YouTube clip/video the active ingredients of which will be: [1] an interview with a Muslim expert by lived/living experience, [2] an Imam (Muslim faith leader) and [3] a psychiatrist. We will recruit members of Muslim communities living in Muslim minority countries in the Global North (United Kingdom, Unites States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to participate in the study (inclusion criteria: adults aged 18 years and over, Muslim background). The study will be comprised of two groups: an active group that will be exposed to the Muslim faith appropriate digital intervention and a control group that will be exposed to a digital intervention that is not Muslim faith appropriate. We will administer validated psychometric stigma scales on participants in both groups before and after exposure to the interventions. We hypothesize that viewing an anti-stigma clip/video that is Islamic faith appropriate will be associated with greater reductions in mental health related stigma in members of Muslim communities compared to viewing an anti-stigma clip/video that is not Islamic faith appropriate.

Innovative Interventions to Reduce the Stigma Attached to Intellectual Disabilities: A Narrative Review.

The stigma attached to intellectual disabilities (ID) can have profoundly adverse effects on the lives of people who suffer from these conditions. Stigma is also a major barrier to accessing specialist services and consequently many people with ID continue to suffer in silence. A confidential inquiry into the premature deaths of people with ID in England and Wales revealed the median age at death of individuals with this condition was 13 years (for males) to 20 years (for females) younger than the median age at death of the general population. It has been posited that stigma is a factor that contributes to the mortality gap between those with ID and those who don't have this condition. The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges for people with ID and has further fortified the barriers to specialist services. To reduce stigma, improve the quality of healthcare that is provided to people with this condition and to break down the barriers to specialist services, we must pioneer innovative interventions that leverage the power of technology and 'virtual' contact with people who live with these conditions.

Patriarchal Upbringing in the 21st Century: The Impact Emotional Abuse Related to Parental Styles Has on the Genesis of Gender Inequality and the Development of Unresolved Trauma in Children.

BACKGROUND: Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) (physical, sexual, and psychological/emotional) is a type of structural discrimination that violates the basic human rights of females on a global scale. Cultural norms that glorify male dominance, power imbalances, and abuse of authority are the most encountered reasons for VAWG. Emotional abuse, which can start in childhood, is widely recognised as the most prevalent form of VAWG. However, although victims of emotional abuse usually suffer terribly, perpetrators often evade accountability. Emotional abuse is underestimated in part because it is normalized by victims who are mostly women and girls. The normalization of VAWG is contributing to the propagation and perpetuation of biased perceptions of sexism. The intergenerational transmission of parenting styles - which is an important contributory factor for child development - often includes gender-stereotyping norms, or patriarchy. Hitherto, limited focus has been directed towards the consequences that emotional abuse related to patriarchal upbringing has on children. Aim - to investigate if emotional abuse related to patriarchal upbringing influences the perception of sexism and gender stereotyping across genders, and the development of unresolved trauma in children. METHODS: Participants were recruited via social media platforms to complete online questionnaires assessing parental emotional abuse, control, trauma, misogyny, and perceptions of sexism. Parametric analyses were conducted on the 188 participants (158 women and 30 men) recruited. Trauma and perceptions of sexism were statistically analysed using correlation and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Our findings show that parental emotional abuse and control in females predicted for unresolved traumatic experiences (16.6%). Misogynistic culture and male gender predicted for hostile sexism (9.9%), whereas emotional abuse predicted for benevolent sexism (40%). CONCLUSION: Emotional abuse related to patriarchal upbringing contributes to the genesis of gender inequality and unresolved trauma in children. Given that parental styles are transmitted from one generation to the next, to reduce sexism and improve mental health outcomes, the patriarchal parental cycle must be broken.

'Paris Thin': The Mental Health of Models.

Surprising it may seem, the mental health issues remains largely overlooked in the highly competitive and unforgiving industry of modelling and fashion. A substantial number of models experience mental health issues due to the nature of their occupation, however, most avoid speaking out due to fear of stigma and losing out on future work. Moreover, problematic eating behaviours in attempts to improve body image can have profoundly adverse effects on mental and physical health, even leading to death in extreme cases, yet these behaviours are being reinforced and rewarded with success and career progression. Indeed, the term 'Paris Thin' was used in relation to the deaths of models from starvation who were in pursuit of 'the perfect body' whilst working in France, the epicentre of the fashion world. Although improvements have been made over the past decade, conversations surrounding common mental disorders such as depression and anxiety remain minimal at best and discussions about other serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder are virtually absent. Campaigns that amplify the voices of models living with a mental health condition must therefore be supported to reduce mental health related stigma in the industry and encourage those who are suffering and struggling to seek professional help. Research in this area is urgently needed to yield new insights that will help to improve the mental health of models.

Emotional Abuse in Women and Girls Mediated by Patriarchal Upbringing and Its Impact on Sexism and Mental Health: A Narrative Review.

Sexism is a type of structural discrimination that can manifest as the subjugation of woman in familial and social roles. Gender-based violence often occurs in societies where patriarchal norms exist. Violence against women and girls (VAWG) includes physical, sexual and psychological/emotional abuse directed towards females. Emotional violence against women and girls is usually underestimated, if not overlooked. Patriarchal upbringing can predominantly result in the emotional abuse of female children. This narrative review will discuss the impact emotional abuse in women and girls mediated by patriarchal upbringing has on sexism and mental health. This paper will also explore how gendered upbringing can contribute to the normalization of VAWG and the victim-blaming of females.

Prefix Imputation of Orphan Events in Event Stream Processing.

In the context of process mining, event logs consist of process instances called cases. Conformance checking is a process mining task that inspects whether a log file is conformant with an existing process model. This inspection is additionally quantifying the conformance in an explainable manner. Online conformance checking processes streaming event logs by having precise insights into the running cases and timely mitigating non-conformance, if any. State-of-the-art online conformance checking approaches bound the memory by either delimiting storage of the events per case or limiting the number of cases to a specific window width. The former technique still requires unbounded memory as the number of cases to store is unlimited, while the latter technique forgets running, not yet concluded, cases to conform to the limited window width. Consequently, the processing system may later encounter events that represent some intermediate activity as per the process model and for which the relevant case has been forgotten, to be referred to as orphan events. The naïve approach to cope with an orphan event is to either neglect its relevant case for conformance checking or treat it as an altogether new case. However, this might result in misleading process insights, for instance, overestimated non-conformance. In order to bound memory yet effectively incorporate the orphan events into processing, we propose an imputation of missing-prefix approach for such orphan events. Our approach utilizes the existing process model for imputing the missing prefix. Furthermore, we leverage the case storage management to increase the accuracy of the prefix prediction. We propose a systematic forgetting mechanism that distinguishes and forgets the cases that can be reliably regenerated as prefix upon receipt of their future orphan event. We evaluate the efficacy of our proposed approach through multiple experiments with synthetic and three real event logs while simulating a streaming setting. Our approach achieves considerably higher realistic conformance statistics than the state of the art while requiring the same storage.

"Medical Student Syndrome"-A Myth or a Real Disease Entity? Cross-Sectional Study of Medical Students of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland.

The description of Medical Student Syndrome is based on the assumption that inexperienced medical students are prone to develop a pathological fear of medical conditions they are taught about. The aim of this study is to examine the sample of students (medical and non-medical) in order to assess and compare their level of hypochondriacal attitudes and health-related anxiety. We also examined other factors which might have had an influence on hypochondria and nosophobia attitudes among students. Methods: The study was conducted in two groups of students: 313 medical students at the Medical University of Silesia and 293 students at non-medical universities in Katowice, Poland. The study used the medical student syndrome self-explanatory questionnaire constructed for the study, taking into account the specificity of the group and the research problem. The research questionnaire was completed in an online survey by 606 students. Results: The results of the study showed that medical students obtained the same scores on a nosophobic scale as the non-medical students (p = 0.5). The analysis of hypochondriacal behavior showed significantly higher results in the non-medical student group (p = 0.02). In the entire study group, females and participants with mental disorders obtained higher scores in relation to nosophobia. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were more common in the group of medical students. Conclusions: Medical studies are not a risk factor for the occurrence of health anxiety and hypochondrial attitudes. Such factors are female gender and having a mental illness.

Experiences of a new cadre of midwives in Bangladesh: findings from a mixed method study.

BACKGROUND: Bangladesh did not have dedicated professional midwives in public sector health facilities until recently, when the country started a nation-wide programme to educate and deploy diploma midwives. The objective of the findings presented in this paper, which is part of a larger study, was to better understand the experience of the midwives of their education programme and first posting as a qualified midwife and to assess their midwifery knowledge and skills. METHODS: We applied a mixed method approach, which included interviewing 329 midwives and conducting 6 focus group discussions with 43 midwives and midwifery students. Sampling weights were used to generate representative statistics for the entire cohort of the midwives deployed in the public sector health facilities. RESULTS: Most of the midwives were satisfied with different dimensions of their education programme, with the exception of the level of exposure they had to the rural communities during their programme. Out of 329 midwives, 50% received tuition fee waivers, while 46% received funding for educational materials and 40% received free accommodation. The satisfaction with the various aspects of the current posting was high and nearly all midwives reported that a desire to work in the public sector in the long run. However, a significant proportion of the midwives expressed concerns with equipment, accommodation, transport and prospect of transfers. The scores on the knowledge test and self-reported skill levels were varied but reasonably high. CONCLUSION: While the midwives are highly motivated, satisfied with many aspects of their current jobs and have adequate knowledge and skills, there are some bottlenecks and concerns that, if unaddressed, may derail the success of this programme. To capture the career progress of these midwives, additional research, including a follow-up study with the same cohort of midwives, would be beneficial to this programme.

The Effect of Exercise on Mental Health: A Focus on Inflammatory Mechanisms.

A growing body of research suggests that neuropsychiatric disorders are closely associated with a background state of chronic, low-grade inflammation. This insight highlights that these disorders are not just localized to dysfunction within the brain, but also have a systemic aspect, which accounts for the frequent comorbid presentation of chronic inflammatory conditions and metabolic syndromes. It is possible that a treatment resistant subgroup of neuropsychiatric patients may benefit from treatment regimens that target their associated proinflammatory state. Lifestyle factors such as physical activity (PA) and exercise (i.e. structured PA) are known to influence mental health. In turn, mental disorders may limit health-seeking behaviors - a proposed "bidirectional relationship" that perpetuates psychopathology. PA is renowned for its positive physical, physiological and mental health benefits. Evidence now points to inflammatory pathways as a potential mechanism for PA in improving mental illness. Relevant pathways include modulation of immune-neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter systems, the production of tissue-derived immunological factors that alter the inflammatory milieu and neurotrophins that are critical mediators of neuroplasticity. In this paper, we will focus on the role of PA in positively improving mental health through potential modulation of chronic inflammation, which is often found in individuals with mental disorders. In a related paper by Edirappuli and colleagues (2020), we will focus on the role of nutrition (another significant lifestyle factor) on mental health. Thus, inflammation appears to be a central process underlying mental illness, which may be mitigated by lifestyle modifications. Lifestyle factors are advantageous as first-line interventions due to their cost efficacy, low side-effect profile, and both preventative and therapeutic attributes. By promoting these lifestyle modifications and addressing their limitations and barriers to their adoption, it is hoped that their preventative and remedial benefits may galvanize therapeutic progress for neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Effect of Nutrition on Mental Health: A Focus on Inflammatory Mechanisms.

Neuropsychiatric disorders are closely associated with a persistent low-grade inflammatory state. This suggests that the development of psychopathology is not only limited to the brain, but rather involves an additional systemic aspect, accounting for the large body of evidence demonstrating co-presentation of mental illness with chronic inflammatory conditions and metabolic syndromes. Studies have shown that inflammatory processes underlie the development of neuropsychiatric symptoms, with recent studies revealing not only correlative, but causative relationships between the immune system and psychopathology. Lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise may influence psychopathology, and this may occur via a bidirectional relationship. Mental illness may prevent health-seeking behaviours such as failing to maintain a balanced diet, whilst adopting a 'healthy' diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fish alongside nutritional supplementation correlates with a reduction in psychiatric symptoms in patients. Obesity and the gut microbiome have proven to be further factors which play an important role in inflammatory signalling and the development of psychiatric symptoms. In a related paper we focus on the role of exercise (another significant lifestyle factor) on mental health (Venkatesh et al. 2020). Lifestyle modifications which target diet and nutrition may prove therapeutically beneficial for many patients, especially in treatment-resistant subgroups. The current evidence base provides equivocal evidence, however future studies will prove significant, as this is a highly attractive therapeutic avenue, due to its cost efficacy, low side effect profile and preventative potential. By promoting lifestyle changes and addressing the limitations and barriers to adoption, these therapies may prove revolutionary for mental health conditions.

Reducing Mental Health Stigma in Medical Students and Doctors towards their Peers with Mental Health Difficulties: A Protocol.

Mental health problems are over-represented in doctors and medical students. However, stigma and 'a culture of shame' are formidable barriers to mental health services and consequently many doctors and medical students with mental health difficulties continue to suffer in silence despite the availability of effective treatment. Indeed, a recent study on over 2100 female physicians who met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder revealed that 50% were reluctant to seek professional help due to fear of exposure to stigma. Left untreated or undertreated, mental health problems in doctors can result in impairment of occupational functioning, compromise patient safety and place considerable strain on the economy (by increasing the amount of sick leave taken). Moreover, the consequences of mental health stigma in the medical profession can be fatal. Dr Daksha Emson, a psychiatrist with bipolar affective disorder, tragically killed herself and her baby daughter during a psychotic episode. An independent inquiry into Dr Emson's death concluded that she was the victim of stigma in the National Health Service. The mental health of medical students and doctors, in all of its aspects, must therefore be addressed with the urgency that it demands. Stephanie Knaak and colleagues conducted a data synthesis of evaluative studies on anti-stigma programmes for healthcare providers and identified six key ingredients one of which was a personal testimony from a trained speaker who has lived experience of mental illness. In this paper we outline a study protocol with the aim of answering the following research question, 'Does attending an anti-stigma programme comprised of a medic with first-hand experience of a mental health condition cause immediate and sustained reductions in mental health stigma from medical students and doctors towards their peers with mental health difficulties?'

A World Psychiatric Association Initiative to Increase Interest in Psychiatry as a Career in Qatar Medical Students: A Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: The World Health Organization identified a chronic shortage of psychiatrists in Low- Middle- and High-Income Countries. In Qatar, the situation is dire with reports there is one psychiatrist per 170,000 people in the population. A one-day, student-led mental-health conference was held in Doha, Qatar under the auspices of the World Psychiatric Association with the aim of increasing interest in psychiatry as a career. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this single-arm, pre-post comparison study, a questionnaire assessing interest in psychiatry as a career was administered on participants before and after attending the conference. Demographic information was obtained and response items were on a 5-point Likert scale. Statistical analysis was performed using a two-sample t-test with a significant p-value set at <0.05. RESULTS: The conference was attended by 102 individuals. Fifty-four attendees completed the pre-conference survey (53% response rate) and 36 participants completed the post-conference survey (35% response rate). Data for the 36 matched pre-post responses were included in our analyses. The average age of respondents was 22 years and 81% were female. There was improvement in post-conference results however these changes were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge this is the first intervention study on increasing interest in psychiatry as a career carried out in Qatar. It is likely that psychiatry enthusiasts attended the conference and therefore their interest in this medical specialty was already high as corroborated by the favorable pre-conference survey results. This might explain why there was a lack of statistical significance in comparison to post- intervention scores. We recommend that such an event be integrated into the medical school curricula throughout Qatar to include students with low baseline interest in psychiatry. Further research in this area with more robust methodology is urgently needed to help narrow the pervasive treatment gap.

A Brazilian Case of Treatment-Resistant Generalized Anxiety Disorder Successfully Treated with Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI).

In this brief report we present the case of a 53 year old man with a very debilitating Generalized Anxiety Disorder successfully treated with tranylcypromine. After several failed treatment attempts following international guidelines recommendations over the course of one year and a half, tranylcypromine was prescribed which led to effective and sustained remission of anxiety symptoms for this patient. We also briefly explore treatment options for resistant cases of generalized anxiety disorder, given the major negative impacts of untreated GAD in a person's daily functioning and quality of life.

Lifestyle Factors and Mental Health.

A number of lifestyle factors have been recognised to play an important role in positively modifying medical and psychiatric diseases and their associated morbidity and mortality. These include, eating healthy food, greater physical activity, cessation of smoking, avoidance of alcohol and illicit substances. Additional lifestyle factors for healthy living include, safe and peaceful environment, optimal sleep, de-stressing and enjoyable activities, social connections/support and healthy mental activities. Physicians from the ancient times, through the middle ages to the early 20th century have recommended adoption of healthy lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise to manage medical and psychiatric disorders without really understanding their scientific basis. In this short paper, we discuss the important role lifestyle factors play in morbidity and mortality related to many important and common medical and psychiatric diseases. We explore how and if positively modifying lifestyle factors can help to improve and or prevent medical and psychiatric disorders with particular emphasis on food, diet and exercise.

Serum Vitamin D and Magnesium levels in a psychiatric cohort.

BACKGROUND: Both Vitamin D deficiency and magnesium deficiency have an increased prevalence and have been associated with an increased risk of and increased severity of symptoms in both depression and schizophrenia (Boerman 2016, Tarleton & Littenberg 2015). This effect appears more pronounced in younger populations and is often apparent from the time of initial diagnosis and is present with adjustment for confounding factors. Thus, the evidence suggests that Vitamin D and magnesium deficiency reflects not only dietary or somatic aspects of health but also may have a role in the pathophysiology of depression and schizophrenia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A single site audit of serum Vitamin D and magnesium levels in patients at an Acute Day Treatment Unit was carried out. Blood tests were performed on admission and analysed in house. Data were collected between April - June 2019 and was analysed subsequently, as described below (n=73). RESULTS: Our data show that our psychiatric day treatment unit cohort (n=73) had a higher proportion of vitamin D deficiency (52%) than the general population (40%), although due to the limited sample size this was not significant (p=0.22, Chi-squared test). The percentage of patients who were magnesium deficient was 78.6% (n=22/28). However, the F60 subgroup of patients with personality disorders showed a high prevalence of vit D deficiency (p=0.07), highlighting a trend towards significance despite the limited size of this subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: We carried out a single-site audit of serum vitamin D and magnesium levels in a psychiatric day unit population in order to assess the extent of vitamin deficiency in such patients. These data indicate that that the proportion of patients with vitamin D deficiency is higher than in the general population. Further larger analysis is needed to establish the statistical significance of these data and whether treatment with vitamin D supplementation improves outcomes.

Using Experts by Personal and Professional Experience (EPPE) to increase interest in Psychiatry as a Career at Sixth-Form Level.

BACKGROUND: Psychiatrists play a multifaceted and critical role in improving the lives of people with mental illness. However, despite how rewarding, important and thrilling a career in mental health is, there continues to remain a shortage of psychiatrists in Low-, Middle- and High-Income Countries. There has been resurgence in interest in improving the image of psychiatry over recent years and several initiatives have been launched to increase recruitment into the specialty at Sixth Form level in the UK. DESIGN: We conducted a single-arm, pre-post, comparison study with Sixth Form students at an inner-city school in London. Students were invited to complete a survey before and after exposure to an assembly on mental health that was delivered by an Expert by Personal and Professional Experience (EPPE). Our aims were to detect and measure if there were any changes in perceptions of psychiatry and if there was an increase in interest in pursuing this profession as a career in this group. RESULTS: 63 out of 123 participants completed the before and after survey (51% response rate). Following exposure to the assembly, there were statistically significant improvements between the pre- and post- intervention means for, "Psychiatry has a positive impact on peoples' lives" (p value <0.0001), "People with mental illness can achieve success and be the best at what they do" (p value <0.0001) and, "I would consider psychiatry as a career" (p value <0.0001). CONCLUSION: Notwithstanding the limitations of this pilot study, our findings suggest that an assembly on mental health delivered by an EPPE (i.e. 'Wounded Healer') might be effective at increasing interest in psychiatry as a career at Sixth Form level. We suggest that assemblies on mental health and psychiatry be delivered by 'Wounded Healers' in schools and colleges nationwide to help drive recruitment into psychiatry.