A questionnaire was sent to all consenting doctors at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. It asked about their management of psychological problems in their clinical practice. Over 90% would welcome more time to talk to patients and agreed that psychological and social factors should be routinely assessed and recorded for patients. Most respondents would refer patients with depression or disturbed behaviours. ‘Ineffective treatment’ and ‘dislike of psychiatric referral’ were not the main reasons for non-referral. A majority of the doctors had initiated treatment for anxiety and insomnia but not for alcohol withdrawal, psychosis, acute confusional state or depression. Doctors' awareness of ‘the impact of psychological factors on the course of physical illness' was high. To sustain this high level of awareness and encourage referral, in-house psychoeducational training of hospital doctors should be intensified. In addition, an increased doctor/patient ratio, public education to reduce stigma and a well developed liaison psychiatric service are imperative.

We investigated the efficacy of aerobic exercise alongside antidepressant medication as an adjuvant maintenance treatment for depression. Fifty patients in remission were randomly assigned to either medication only or medication plus exercise. Assessment of psychopathology was made at 6-weekly intervals (for 24 weeks) using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. The medication-plus-exercise group showed significantly more improvement at 12 and 24 weeks than the medication-only group. This study adds to a growing evidence base that suggests aerobic exercise is worthy of further development in the treatment of depressive disorders.

Publications on mental health were collected using PubMed and PsychINFO for 21 Arab countries. The data were then categorised according to the first author's country of affiliation, the year of publication, the topic of research and the type of journal. In 2006–12, the Arab world published 1029 articles (an average of 147 per year). The estimated increase in yearly productivity during this period was about 25% over the 7 preceding years. When considering the research output per million population, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon were the top three producers, as they had been over the preceding four decades. After adjusting for gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the five top producers were Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco. Based on child and adolescent mental health research only, the Arab world's productivity was around one-sixth that of the United States and Europe.

This paper describes the evaluation of a pilot e-supervision programme, with a focus on feasibility. The findings suggest that e-supervision in mental health using the World Health Organization (WHO) Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide and case-based discussions is valued by participants and can improve the knowledge, confidence and beliefs of primary care doctors in low- and middle-income countries.