The Mental Elf

09/09/2025

👀 Are you guiding self-help — or just winging it?

🧭 🛠️ Guided self-help is a widely used intervention in NHS Talking Therapies, but without clear support, delivery can vary wildly.

This new open-access paper sets out 🔟 best practice tools for PWPs and CWPs supporting self-help.

What’s inside:
🎯 Defines your role: what guiding is, and what it isn’t
🧾 Gives you a session-by-session ‘cheat sheet’ to follow
📊 Helps you make better use of outcome measures
⏰ Advises when to send homework for maximum effect
🚧 Introduces ‘self-help drift’ and how to prevent it
🧠 Helps you reflect on your skills and fill any gaps
😐 Gives strategies for low client engagement
🤝 Offers a supervision form to get more out of sessions
🔄 Explores anxiety and depression together and how to adapt support
📢 Promotes shared learning to improve outcomes for all

📖 Read the paper:
👉 elfi.sh/self-help-guides

Tag a colleague who supports self-help 🙌

08/09/2025

Under the skin: Childhood maltreatment & multimorbidity

Childhood maltreatment is linked to higher risks of both mental and physical illness later in life.

This new study used genetic data to test why:
📈 Triglycerides explained ~11% of the maltreatment–multimorbidity link
🍬 Blood sugar explained ~8%
🫀 HDL cholesterol explained ~7%

The findings support the idea that early adversity shapes metabolic health, which in turn increases the risk of depression, heart disease & diabetes occurring together.

👉 Read the full blog: https://buff.ly/Yg01u9k

05/09/2025

Through the mental lens: core beliefs and psychosis.

This new systematic review of 79 studies shows:

🧩 Negative self-beliefs (like “I’m worthless”) and negative other-beliefs (like “people can’t be trusted”) are linked to hallucinations, paranoia, and suicidality.

⚠️ Trauma plays a key role in shaping these schemas.

💡 Therapies that reduce negative beliefs and build positive ones may offer new hope.

Read more in our latest blog 👉 https://buff.ly/DIkiguL

04/09/2025

Nowhere to turn: Mental health and homelessness among women with severe mental illness.

Women who are homeless are three times more likely to face mental health problems than the general population. Their average age of death is just 43.

This new study developed a phased supported housing model to meet the complex needs of homeless women with severe mental illness. It integrates:
🏥 Hospital care
🏡 Transitional homes
🌍 Community reintegration

The model centres dignity, safety, and recovery — and offers lessons for services worldwide.

👉 Read the full blog: https://buff.ly/X16O1V4

03/09/2025

Mental Elf Monthly for August 2025 is now LIVE

Catch August’s most-read blogs, from trauma to CBT harms, and book your free spot at our difficult-to-treat depression webinar.

The Mental Elf Monthly - Your monthly dose of mental health research, evidence, and impact.

03/09/2025

Pragmatic prescribing: why GPs offer beta-blockers for anxiety, despite guideline gaps.

Beta-blockers like propranolol are being prescribed more often for anxiety in UK primary care — but they don’t feature in national guidelines.

This new qualitative study explored why GPs turn to them. They described:
💊 Pragmatic use for physical symptoms
🛡️ Safety compared to antidepressants or benzos
🗣️ Patient demand for quick relief & avoiding stigma

It raises important questions about evidence, guidelines, and patient choice.

Read the full blog 👉 https://buff.ly/BXcUIw4

Beta-blockers like propranolol are being prescribed more often for anxiety in UK primary care, even though they don’t appear in national guidelines. This new qualitative study explores why GPs turn to them, and what that says about evidence, safety, and patient choice.

01/09/2025

🍏 Psychotherapy or 🍊 medication for youth depression: what works better?

This new meta-analysis of 92 RCTs says the trials are just too different to compare:
⚠️ Therapy trials often include milder cases and use weaker controls
⚠️ Medication trials tend to involve more severe depression and more standardised protocols
🎯 NICE guidelines may oversimplify a complex picture.

Instead, we need treatment decisions that focus on:
✔️ Young people’s values and preferences
✔️ Collaborative decision-making
✔️ Personalised care, not one-size-fits-all solutions

Read the full blog 👇
🔗 https://buff.ly/xLUy7FT

29/08/2025

📚 Can mental health lessons in schools actually harm some students?

This new scoping review looked at over 100 studies of school-based CBT and mindfulness interventions. The majority reported positive outcomes, but 11 high-quality studies found evidence of harm.

❗ In some cases, students became more anxious, more impulsive, or more depressed
⚠️ Harms were more likely among boys, younger pupils, and those already showing signs of distress
💬 The authors suggest that universal, one-size-fits-all approaches may not be suitable for all

It’s a thought-provoking read for anyone working in schools, mental health, or youth policy.
🔗 https://buff.ly/fnuwTzC

27/08/2025

🧬 Are we treating the right targets in psychiatry?

This fascinating new study compares the genes linked to psychiatric disorders (like bipolar, depression, schizophrenia and ADHD) with the actual targets of medications used to treat them.

Some standout results:
✅ Bipolar disorder genes had strong overlap with anticonvulsant medications
❔ Depression showed some overlap
❌ Most other conditions showed no meaningful link

👉 But here’s the big question:
Should treatments have to align with risk genes? Or are we misunderstanding what “genetic risk” really means?

A great read for clinicians, researchers and policy folks.
🔗 https://buff.ly/3cgPEf4

25/08/2025

🌪️ Floods, fires, hurricanes.

Natural disasters can leave lasting mental health scars: PTSD, anxiety, depression. But can we prevent them from developing?

This new Mental Elf blog explores a major meta-analysis of preventative psychological and psychosocial interventions for disaster survivors and first responders. The findings? Not as strong as hoped.

📉 Limited effectiveness
⏱️ Some signs of long-term benefit
🚒 Slightly better results in first responders
📱 Digital tools hold promise, but need testing

We need more rigorous studies, better timing, and more tailored approaches. This is an urgent area of research, and the evidence must guide our response.

👉 Read more: https://buff.ly/lAstpQa

22/08/2025

✈️ Escaping war, persecution, or disaster doesn’t mean the struggle is over.

This new Mental Elf blog reviews the voices of 490 refugees, gathered across 27 qualitative studies, to explore the often hidden challenges of starting again in a new country.

🧠 Mental health difficulties
🏚️ Poor living conditions
💬 Language barriers
💔 Family separation
🚫 Discrimination & racism
⏳ Uncertain asylum systems

📣 The authors call for better policy, trauma-informed services, and truly holistic support.

Read the blog: https://buff.ly/3Midkt9

20/08/2025

🏳️‍⚧️⚧️ Trans and gender diverse people experience disproportionate rates of violence.
But when they seek help afterwards, they often face more barriers, mistreatment or silence.

This new Mental Elf blog breaks down a global review of what actually works in post-violence health care, according to TGD people and the professionals who serve them.

👩🏽‍🏫 Staff training
🏥 Inclusive policies
🗣️ TGD representation
📍 Accessible services
❤️ Trauma-informed, respectful care

Read the full blog here: https://buff.ly/BeI73kG