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Recent research: CBT for a variety of conditions – back pain, PTSD, obsessions, bipolar disorder, schemas & social anxiety

Here are six recent papers on CBT treatment for a variety of disorders - for fuller details, abstracts and links, see further down this page.  Lamb et al explored the value of "Group cognitive behavioural treatment for low-back pain in primary care".  That their results were reported in the Lancet, highlights the importance of their findings.  The active treatment group received an additional assessment and then six 1.5 hour group therapy sessions (average group size, eight participants).  Therapy focused on "guided discovery, identifying and countering negative automatic thoughts, pacing, graded activity, relaxation, and other skills."   Outcomes demonstrated that "Over 1 year, the cognitive behavioural intervention had a sustained effect on troublesome subacute and chronic low-back pain at a low cost to the health-care provider."

Recent research: six papers on helping children & adolescents

Here are half a dozen papers on helping kids and adolescents.  The Fuligni et al paper found that adolescents experiencing frequent interpersonal stresses tended to have increased levels of C-reactive protein, " ... an inflammatory marker that is a key indicator of cardiovascular risk ... ".  Jackson et al showed that in preschool kids each extra hour of regular TV viewing is associated with an extra 1 kg of body fat.  This appeared to be due to increases in calorie intake rather than reduction in physical activity.  Decreased family accommodation is associated with improved outcome in paediatric OCD, Merlo et al found.  Naylor et al found that a six lesson teaching block on mental health benefitted young teenagers.  Proctor et al provide a free full text overview of teenage life satisfaction assessment measures, while Wilkinson and colleagues report on 28 week follow-up in a treatment trial for depressed adolescents.  The authors found "Depression at 28 weeks was predicted by the additive effects of severity, obsessive-compulsive disorder and suicidal ideation at entry together with presence of at least one disappointing life event over the follow-up period.

Handouts & questionnaires for obsessive compulsive disorder & body dysmorphic disorder

Here are a collection of downloadable forms, questionnaires and handouts that I use when working with people struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder and body dysmorphic disorder.

Normal intrusions - a list of 52 "normal intrusive thoughts" with the percentage of 293 students (none of whom had been diagnosed with a mental health problem) who reported that they had experienced this thought.  I often hand out this leaflet to help people realize that experiencing occasional disturbing intrusive thoughts is totally normal.

OCD diagnosis & prevalence - leaflet giving DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder and some details of prevalence rates.

Handouts & questionnaires for “outcomes toolkit” (IAPT)

The "Improving Access to Psychological Therapies" (IAPT) initiative is very ambitious and exciting.  It states its principal aim is to support English Primary Care Trusts in implementing "National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence" (NICE) guidelines for people suffering from depression and anxiety disorders.  IAPT go on to say that "At present, only a quarter of the 6 million people in the UK with these conditions are in treatment, with debilitating effects on society."

One aspect of this carefully planned initiative is strong encouragement to assess and monitor the progress of those who are getting help.  Visiting the IAPT "Outcomes Toolkit and FAQ" web page provides access to several freely downloadable documents.  The emphasis is on good assessment measures that are free to use.  See below:

IAPT Outcomes Toolkit 2008/9 PDF - this 81 page 1.1Mb Adobe PDF is the September 08 version with amended IAPT Paper Based Data Set Questionnaires.

Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 3rd post: herbs & supplements

This is the third in a series of blog posts on last Wednesday's SIGN draft guideline seminar on "Non-pharmacological management of mild to moderate depression."  The first session of the day was on "Lifestyle and Alternative/Complementary Therapies 1".  Yesterday's blog discussed the first presenter, Ian Ross's talk on the value of exercise in depression.  The second presentation was by Cliff Sharp, a psychiatrist from NHS borders.  He reviewed St John's Wort & Dietary Supplements.  He talked about the possible value of folate in treating depression when used to supplement conventional antidepressants.  He concluded that current evidence was insufficient to determine whether folate boosts response for those on antidepressants only if their initial folate levels are low, or whether it boosts response for anyone taking antidepressants.  See an

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder

    The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

    - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

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