The Mental Elf

20/03/2026

🏥 FINCH feasibility trial explored crisis planning to reduce repeat sectioning under Mental Health Act.

80 participants across three NHS Trusts:
🌟 74% in FINCH group avoided repeat detention
🌟 68% in usual care avoided repeat detention
🌟 Study not designed to prove effectiveness

Key finding: Crisis plans often written once and forgotten. FINCH made planning active, ongoing process with regular check-ins.

Implementation challenges: Limited time and capacity constraints affected delivery.

Promising enough to justify larger trial.

https://buff.ly/kqoNcpo

19/03/2026

💊 Large trial of 1,565 young people with bipolar disorder found metformin plus lifestyle intervention reduced antipsychotic-related weight gain.

Key findings:
🌟 At 6 months: BMI increased 0.05 (metformin) vs 0.64 (lifestyle only)
🌟 At 24 months: BMI increased 0.58 vs 1.07
🌟 Strongest effect at 6 months, modest at 24 months

Gastrointestinal events 2-4 times more common in metformin group.

Authors recommend metformin should be routinely prescribed when young people start or continue antipsychotics.

https://buff.ly/n4xAinz

18/03/2026

🌟 New Hope For Bipolar Disorder
🗓️ Webinar, 11:00-12:30 BST, Mon 30 March
🎟️ Get your tickets now! https://buff.ly/XZ7l6a8

Free webinar! Join us on World Bipolar Day for an evidence-based update on bipolar disorder.

18/03/2026

💊 Study of 3 million adults prescribed opioids found:
🌟 84% of self-harm events didn't involve an op**te
🌟 81% of su***des didn't involve an op**te
🌟 Most su***des attributed to other methods

Greater op**te access doesn't straightforwardly increase self-harm or su***de risk.

Caveat: Higher doses and longer exposure did show association with increased risk.

Clinicians who withhold op**tes to protect patients from self-harm may be doing more harm than good by denying needed pain relief.

https://buff.ly/rDfzB4m

17/03/2026

Two patterns linked to higher dementia risk:
🌙 Shifting from optimal to non-optimal sleep duration
🛌 Stopping habitual napping

Important context: Sleep has bidirectional relationship with dementia. Changing patterns may be symptom of neurodegeneration, not cause.

Take care not to 'blame' dementia on poor sleep. Many who sleep well develop dementia; those who sleep poorly may never develop it.

Sleep offers promising avenue for cognitive health, but more research needed.

https://buff.ly/mvEa5yV

16/03/2026

🧡 Can compassion-focused therapy groups support people in CMHTs?

Small service evaluation of 12 participants found:
🌟 Some improved on self-compassion and depression measures
🌟 Participants valued supportive, non-judgemental environment
🌟 Results not consistent across all measures

Important: This was a service evaluation without comparison group, not evidence of effectiveness.

May offer pragmatic support while people wait for individual therapy in overstretched CMHTs, but larger, more rigorous studies needed.

https://buff.ly/wgs33Il

13/03/2026

🏥 First evaluation of specialist psychology in NHS Major Trauma Centre finds psychologists improve recovery outcomes.

Clinicians reported:
✅ Improved patient engagement with treatment
✅ Better emotional adjustment
✅ Essential support for frontline staff facing emotional toll

Gaps identified: staffing pressures, lack of family support.

Services should allocate protected time for psychologists to be physically present during ward rounds, not just referral-based models.

Psychological support strengthens team resilience, not just patient outcomes.

https://buff.ly/FvDWUu0

12/03/2026

🍽️ Children who experienced food insecurity in early childhood had higher odds of binge eating and compensatory behaviours in adolescence, even when food insecurity resolved.

ALSPAC cohort tracked 6,700 children from pregnancy to age 18. About 1 in 4 experienced food insecurity. Even when it resolved by age 5, elevated risk remained.

Early childhood is a sensitive window for shaping future relationships with food.

Clinical practice should include routine screening for food insecurity in eating disorder and mental health settings.

https://buff.ly/w5N7iZ0

11/03/2026

💔 Boys and men take 15-20 years on average to disclose sexual trauma.

Systematic review found masculine norms, shame, and fear of disbelief create unique barriers. Nearly two-thirds of men in some studies said shame prevented help-seeking.

Disclosure was less likely when the perpetrator was someone close. Betrayal and loyalty complicate help-seeking.

Services must adopt gender-sensitive, trauma-informed approaches. Screening protocols should explicitly include boys and men.

Trauma does not discriminate by gender. Our practices must reflect this reality.

https://buff.ly/ELBKXzx

11/03/2026

🧬 There's no single "depression gene" or "schizophrenia gene". Psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders involve complex genetic influences.

Study of 1 million+ cases found genetic variants shared across 14 psychiatric disorders, clustered into five main factors.

Understanding shared biology could improve treatment; potentially enabling interventions that target shared genetic pathways across related conditions.

However, findings largely based on European ancestry data. Variants differ across populations. Relying on these results risks marginalising service users from underrepresented ancestries.

More diverse genetic datasets urgently needed.

https://buff.ly/EMh5UJW

09/03/2026

How do people with lived experience vs professionals define anorexia recovery?

Lived experience: Absence of disordered thoughts and symptoms
Professionals: Living well despite residual symptoms

Key finding: Overemphasis on weight as recovery marker may disincentivise weight gain—service users concerned about losing support.

Both groups agreed psychological markers (disordered thoughts about body image/food) should be primary recovery indicators.

Treatment plans should incorporate individual's definition of recovery, not just clinical markers.

https://buff.ly/J6wj4m8

06/03/2026

📊 Measuring paranoia accurately without increasing burden on people experiencing distress is challenging.

Simulation study suggests computerised adaptive testing could reduce assessment from 10 items to 4 tailored questions—maintaining accuracy across severity levels.

However, this was simulated using existing data, not real-world implementation. Practical issues—patient engagement, clinician acceptance, integration into electronic health systems—remain untested.

Real-world clinical feasibility needs demonstration before this approach can support routine measurement-based care in psychosis services.

https://buff.ly/79dVoo6