New anti-depressant guidelines for doctors
Doctors are to be given new NICE guidelines for prescribing anti-depressants, following claims that too many are being prescribed to people with mild to moderate depression.
Despite having relatively few side effects, doctors will be discouraged from prescribing seroxat and prozac and other Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), and will be advised instead to recommend alternative treatments.
For more on this story, go to: news.bbc.co.uk
To view the new NICE guidelines, go to: www.nice.org.uk
Cannabis link to psychosis
New research published in the British Medical Journal suggests a link between the use of cannabis in adolescence and young adulthood and later psychotic symptoms.
To view the article, go to: bmj.bmjjournals.com
Link made between discrimination and mental health
A team of researchers at Imperial College has suggested that discrimination could lead to an increase in mental health problems among gay men, lesbians and bi-sexual men and women.
The report, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, found that high levels of discrimination, including physical attacks and bullying, could be linked to high levels of mental disorder.
The team surveyed 1,285 gay, lesbian and bisexual respondents, and found that 42 per cent of gay men, 43 per cent of lesbians and 49 per cent of bisexual men and women had mental health problems as defined by the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS).
To read an abstract of the article, follow this link.