Little information is available on the costs of residential care for people with mental health problems, and there are very few research data on how or why the costs of provision vary.

As part of a broader study based on data collected from across the residential care sectors in eight districts and using multiple regression analysis, research has examined whether and which resident characteristics are associated with higher or lower costs.

Resident characteristics account for approximately 21% of the observed variation in inter-resident costs. Separate analyses were conducted for people in the London and non-London districts. The resident characteristics that were found to be significant predictors of cost include: age, gender, ethnic group, history of psychiatric admissions, diagnosis, emotional lability, daily living skills, social interaction and network, aggression, suicidal tendencies, drug abuse and legal status. Examination of the residual ('unexplained') costs found significant differences between facility types, sectors (private and voluntary being less costly than public, other things being equal) and districts.

The associations uncovered by these analyses can inform commissioners' planning and purchasing activities, at both the macro and micro levels, by revealing those resident needs and circumstances that are associated with higher costs.

Lung cancer risk factors, like tobacco smoking, are highly prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. Whether these patients have a higher risk of lung cancer remains unknown.

We aimed to investigate whether patients with schizophrenia have a higher incidence of lung cancer compared with general population, in a meta-analysis.

Eligible studies were searched from PubMed and EMBASE databases to identify cases of lung cancer in patients with schizophrenia and the general population. This meta-analysis utilised the random-effects model and prediction interval was used to calculate the heterogeneity of these eligible studies. We assessed the quality of evidence with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.

There were 12 studies, totalling 496 265 patients, included in this meta-analysis. The data showed that the baseline schizophrenia diagnosis was not associated with any changes in lung cancer incidence in the overall population, with a standardised incidence ratio of 1.11 (95% CI 0.90–1.37; P = 0.31), although there was a significant heterogeneity among these studies (I2 = 94%). Moreover, there was also a substantial between-study variance with wide prediction interval values (0.47–2.64). The data were consistent for both males and females.

Up-to-date evidence from epidemiological studies indicates the lack of certainty about the association between schizophrenia diagnosis and lung cancer incidence.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) typically involves a re-experiencing of traumatic events. In a previous P3 study it was found that PTSD patients react both selectively and involuntarily to combat-related pictures, exhibiting augmented P3 event-related potentials and thus providing a brain activity measure. The clinical application of these findings in differentiating PTSD patients from controls was tested.

Twenty Israeli combat veterans suffering from PTSD and 20 age-matched veterans without PTSD were evaluated. P3 potentials were recorded at Pz and Cz in response to visual motor-task target stimuli (pictures of domestic animals), non-target probe stimuli (combat-related pictures), and non-target irrelevant stimuli (pictures of furnishings and flowers).

Using the Fisher Linear Discrimination Method the P3 measures correctly classified 90% of the PTSD patients and 85% of the controls.

Visual P3s recorded in response to combat-related pictorial stimuli may introduce an efficient tool for studying higher brain activity in PTSD, complementing other behavioural and psychophysiological measurements.

Survivors of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) captivity are at high risk of developing mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This study looks at the correlation between sexual abuse, shame, somatoform or bodily distress disorders, and dissociative seizures (psychogenic non-epileptic seizures).

The psychological effects of traumatic events and dissociative seizure were assessed in Yazidi women who were held captive by ISIS in Northern Iraq between 2014 and 2018. These effects were examined comparing 64 women who were held captive and sexually abused by ISIS with 60 women suffering from PTSD who were not held captive and sexually abused by ISIS. Structured clinical-psychological interviews and established psychometric questionnaires were used to assess mental disorders especially dissociative seizures and somatoform disorders, and shame related to trauma.

Women who were held captive by ISIS showed a significantly higher prevalence of dissociative seizures (43.7%; P = 0.02) and somatisation disorder (38.7%; P = 0.02), as well as depressive (75.0%; P = 0.42) and anxiety disorders (62.5%; P = 0.44), than women who were not held captive and sexually abused by ISIS. Dissociative disorders were identified in 40.6% (P = 0.36) of those female Yazidi who experienced sexual violence while being held captive.

Shame in connection with sexual violence seems to play an important role in negative self-perception after rape. Dissociation not only plays an important role in unprocessed childhood trauma with feelings of shame, but also in more recent trauma experiences with shame.

There is a great deal of debate on the usefulness and accuracy of prodromal criteria in predicting schizophrenia. The risk of treating people who screen false positive with medication is considerable. Yet intervening during the prodromal stage of illness may reduce the burden caused by schizophrenia.

To draw together the evidence base for the predictive validity of prodromal criteria in identifying individuals at high risk of developing schizophrenia.

We conducted a systematic review of prospective studies investigating the predictive validity of prodromal criteria in schizophrenia.

Our study found two main criteria, ultra-high-risk criteria and basic-symptoms criteria, used in studies investigating the predictive validity of prodromal symptoms. The sensitivity and specificity of ultra-high-risk criteria was 0.81 (95% CI 0.76–0.85) and 0.67 (95% CI 0.64–0.70) respectively and for basic-symptoms criteria sensitivity and specificity was 0.97 (95% CI 0.91–1.00) and 0.59 (95% CI 0.48–0.70) respectively.

Both ultra-high-risk criteria and basic-symptoms criteria are useful in predicting the development of schizophrenia among high-risk populations.

The National Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys include English cross-sectional household samples surveyed in 1993, 2000 and 2007.

To evaluate frequency of common mental disorders (CMDs), service contact and treatment.

Common mental disorders were identified with the Clinical Interview Schedule – Revised (CIS-R). Service contact and treatment were established in structured interviews.

There were 8615, 6126 and 5385 participants aged 16–64. Prevalence of CMDs was consistent (1993: 14.3%; 2000: 16.0%; 2007: 16.0%), as was past-year primary care physician contact for psychological problems (1993: 11.3%; 2000: 12.0%; 2007: 11.7%). Antidepressant receipt in people with CMDs more than doubled between 1993 (5.7%) and 2000 (14.5%), with little further increase by 2007 (15.9%). Psychological treatments increased in successive surveys. Many with CMDs received no treatment.

Reduction in prevalence did not follow increased treatment uptake, and may require universal public health measures together with individual pharmacological, psychological and computer-based interventions.

Twin studies suggest that shared early family environment is of only minor importance in the aetiology of depression, most of the variance being attributable either to genetic or to individual ‘non-shared’ environmental factors.

To examine the respective roles of personality and social experiences on the risk for common mental disorders, with special reference to depression.

Analysis of preliminary findings from two large-scale British population surveys: (a) a multi-centre study of general practice patients, and (b) a study of working-class women in Manchester.

(a) Persons recently separated from their partners have raised mean scores for psychological distress, but the relative excess is due entirely to persons with high ratings for introversion; (b) while severe life events were associated with physiological responses characteristic of depression, the probability of experiencing such life events varied between 0.2 monthly for low scorers and 1.5 monthly for high scorers on a vulnerability measure.

Social factors do appear to influence the prevalence of depression, but this effect is not independent of genetically determined vulnerability.

Evidence on the impact of case management is contradictory.

To discuss two different systematic reviews (one conducted by the authors and one conducted through the Cochrane collaboration) that came to contradictory conclusions about the impact of case management in mental health services.

We summarised the findings of the two reviews with respect to case management effectiveness, examined key methodological differences between the two approaches and discuss the impact of these on the validity of the results.

The differences in conclusions between the two reviews result from the differences in inclusion criteria, namely non-randomised trials, data from unpublished scales and data from variables with skewed distributions. The theoretical and empirical effects of these are discussed.

Systematic reviewers may face a trade-off between the application of strict criteria for the inclusion of studies and the amount of data available for analysis and hence statistical power. The available research suggests that case management is generally effective.