Adapting to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Psychological Crisis Support Call Service Within a Community Mental Health Team.

To mitigate potential mental health crises within a Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) the psychology department implemented a short-term, rapid access, crisis telephone support service for clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability. Data was collected on who the service was offered to and whom engaged. Demographic information, referral and crisis support call information was collected from the service's electronic database. Forty-four participants were referred to the service. Seventy seven percent of participants engaged in one or more telephone sessions. Participants rated the service as highly useful, with simply 'talking to someone' seen as the most important aspect of the calls. A number of age differences were noted regarding the content that was discussed in sessions. The psychological crisis telephone support service was feasible and acceptable to service users during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effectiveness of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy for reducing suicide attempts and self-harm: systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Preventing suicide and self-harm is a global health priority. Although there is a growing evidence base for the effectiveness of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapies for a range of disorders, to date there has been no systematic review of its effectiveness in reducing suicidal and self-harming behaviours.AimsTo systematically review randomised controlled trials of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapies for suicidal attempts and self-harm. METHOD: We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Psycharticles, CINAHL, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials for randomise controlled trials of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapies for reducing suicide attempts and self-harm. RESULTS: Twelve trials (17 articles) were included in the meta-analyses. Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies were effective in reducing the number of patients attempting suicide (pooled odds ratio, 0.469; 95% CI 0.274-0.804). We found some evidence for significantly reduced repetition of self-harm at 6-month but not 12-month follow-up. Significant treatment effects were also found for improvements in psychosocial functioning and reduction in number of hospital admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapies are indicated to be effective in reducing suicidal behaviour and to have short-term effectiveness in reducing self-harm. They can also be beneficial in improving psychosocial well-being. However, the small number of trials and moderate quality of the evidence means further high-quality trials are needed to confirm our findings and to identity which specific components of the psychotherapies are effective.Declaration of interestNone.

Are Callous-Unemotional Traits Associated with Conflict Adaptation in Childhood?

This study examined associations between childhood callous-unemotional (CU) traits and cognitive control using a conflict adaptation paradigm. Participants were (N = 158) children aged 9 to 12 years (M = 10.42, SD = 1.05; 57 % boys), who completed a modified color-word Stroop task. CU traits and conduct problems were indexed via self-reports on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits. CU traits were found to be uniquely associated with reduced conflict adaptation, however, this significant association was specific to boys. Conversely, conduct problems were associated with increased conflict adaptation, but among girls only. These findings contribute to evidence of atypical goal directed behavior in boys with CU traits by providing preliminary evidence that the specific impairments in cognitive control that characterize these boys include those concerning dynamic adjustments in cognitive control. Findings are discussed in relation to accounts of childhood CU traits based on the Response Modulation hypothesis.