It has been three years since Muses, the art blog of BJPsych International, was launched. Although time travels fast, reflection is an active process of slowing time down to take stock of what time has bequeathed us.
Sally Osborn is a ceramic artist who lives and works in Berlin and Glasgow. Her art is compelling in its abstract structure and which requires great skill to create. The roughness of the unglazed ceramic adds beauty to its sensuous shape.
It was a grey, overcast day, and the steady rain outside seemed to reflect my own sense of unease as I walked through the dimly lit corridor into the main hall of Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Having recently relocated to this new country, every step felt like a mix of excitement and discomfort as I tried to adjust to the unfamiliar. I stopped beneath Sophie Cave's Expression installation
I’ve heard many psychiatrists giving evidence. And, maybe hundreds of experts in multiple cases over a 45 year career as barrister and judge. Some experts are routine – the treating doctor in a road accident claim – while others are indispensable – the psychiatrist testifying that the murder accused did not know the nature and quality of their action.
Ahmed Emad Eldin is a digital artist, with a background in pharmacy and psychology, recognized globally for his work on Pink Floyd’s “The Endless River” album cover and listed in Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2023.
When Fontane suggested an artistic collaboration portraying the struggles of identity in modern motherhood to Priya, Priya entered the words 'Bharatanatyam' and 'harp music' into an online search engine. The search result was unsatisfactory, hence the realisation of creating everything from scratch. A herculean task, it seemed. But isn't motherhood as well? From when a crying baby is placed in our hands, we fumble along the way, often uncertain of what we are doing.
Ikebana, a floral art tradition dating back to the 7th century in Japan, literally translates as "making flowers alive" in Japanese. With 25 years of teaching experience, Ikuyo has played a vital role in promoting Ikebana in the U.K. In 2007, she founded and became the Founding Director of the Sogetsu London Branch, currently serving as the Honorary Advisor. She holds the “Riji" highest teaching grade.
In the September edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – Dr Dami Ajayi reviews Nigerian writer Tukura John Daniel’s memoir about his lived experience with Bipolar Affective Disorder, How to Spell Bipolar.
There has been a rightful focus on equity in healthcare systems, and drives to co-produce services in a culturally informed manner with those who use them. In my experience, this has not been equal in approach, and a group, or groups of people, who remain particularly excluded are Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller (GRT) communities.
This edition of Muses celebrates the artwork of visual artist and psychiatrist Lakshmi Sravanti’s Embrace Yourself: Nurture the Inner Sufferer. It is the second in her ongoing series contemplating the human condition as it pertains to mental illness.
Writing was refreshing to me because I was communicating again. However, I didn’t fully understand the extent until I watched Dead Poets Society, where the late Robin Williams delivered this moving monologue. He said, “We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
It is widely known that autistic children are frequently anxious. However, while a number of interventions exist in high-income countries, they remain scarce in South Asia. The inspiration for this work began at an international meeting of the North East England South Asia Mental Health Alliance (NEESAMA.org) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2019. During the meeting participants identified an unmet need for an intervention to support autistic children experiencing anxiety in South Asia.
When the editorial board of BJPsych International acceded to the launch of a web-based monthly arts blog, I volunteered as the commissioning editor. I did this partly because I already straddled the worlds of psychiatry and the creative arts. But also because it was an opportunity to be a part of something new.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ values and behaviours, Courage, Innovation, Respect, Collaboration, Learning and Excellence combine into the CIRCLE acronym. In the list under Excellence, a link takes you to core values for psychiatrists. One of those is humility.
In the March 2024 edition of Magnify – the Journal Club blog from BJPsych – Dr Angharad de Cates and Dr Merryn Anderson chair a journal club in collaboration with Cornwall Partnership Trust, discussing ‘Suicide and other causes of death among working-age and older adults in the year after discharge from in-patient mental healthcare in England: matched cohort study’. They are joined by a group of early career psychiatrists who presented an appraisal of the paper, and who have written a blog post discussing their reflections on the process. An expert panel, including the senior author of the paper, also joined the discussions.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the youngest population of any region in the world with 70% under the age of 30 years. This youthful demographic profile can be both a blessing and a challenge. While the youth have the potential to drive economic development, meeting their educational, social, and health needs can over-stretch already limited human and material resources.
Alison Wilding has always been fascinated by deadly, beautiful things, either found in nature or when manufactured, and specifically in regard to the latter, the realm of the military machine.
Electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation is not classically the psychiatrists’ natural habitat; yet, psychiatrists are required to obtain and interpret ECGs in certain clinical scenarios.
Sue Morgan completed a doctorate in German philosophy and worked in the city as a corporate tax lawyer before being forced to retire in 1998 because of a diagnosis of schizo-affective disorder.
Puzzle was created during a admission It's a self-portrait, but the question is of what? Throughout my life, painting and the canvas have given me the the opportunity to let go and thus art has helped in my recovery.
The Akan people of Ghana, like many other collectivist cultures, have deeply engrained concepts of interdependence and support for each other. These concepts have been passed on for generations in the Adinkra symbols. Each symbol possesses an intrinsic meaning and represents virtues, values or beliefs critical to the Akan experience of life.
As Pictures Editor, I selected Peter Eddie's art for the August cover because of his intriguing drawings of faces and his enthusiastic use of any surface, here water cups. The rows of faces appear like an audience, looking out on us the viewer and reader of this journal.
Canada is debating expanding its medical assistance in dying law to include mental illness as the sole underlying condition. Initially planned for March 2023, the rollout has now been paused, yet the discussion continues.
The July 2023 edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features an article by Dr Olasunkanmi Onifade, Oral Medicine Consultant, Nigeria.
BJPsych Bulletin is delighted to announce Dr Jonathan Monk-Cunliffe as the winner of the 2022 Praxis Editorial Award competition. Read his complementary blog post on his winning article: "How can we overcome health inequalities in psychiatry?"
My life as I knew it changed in the autumn of 2019. I started a new job in a new city in a new country. To further tip the scale, my aisle-destined engagement began to fail that summer, with unresolved conflicts sporadically rearing their heads in five cities on three continents. That summer, my laptop (and all my precious writing and dissertation) was stolen on a flight from London to Lagos.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is ‘Breaking out of the citadel: social theory and psychiatry' and the blog is written by authors Rob Poole and Catherine A. Robinson and the article is published in BJPsych Bulletin.
This research with a vulnerable clinical population, who are experiencing significant distress, gives us an important insight into whether music therapy may be helpful for patients and staff on NHS inpatient psychiatric dementia wards by reducing distress and improving wellbeing.
As pictures editor, I selected Peter Grundy's art for the February cover because of his striking designs that simply portray complicated issues. Peter Grundy is one of the world's leading information designers. Peter Grundy states his designs and illustrations aim to turn complex information into simple visual stories in a world of modern messiness.
The April edition of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International – features an interview with Tunmise Kuku, a Nigerian radio broadcaster and mental health advocate who has been open about her diagnosis of Type II Bipolar Affective Disorder. Three years ago, she took a deliberate career break to write Living Mindfully: A Journey of Being, a memoir that draws from her experiences and stories. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
In the March edition of Magnify – the Journal Club blog from BJPsych – Dr Angharad de Cates and Dr Mariana Pinto da Costa chair a journal club in collaboration with the WPA, discussing ‘Efficacy of interventions to reduce coercive treatment in mental health services: umbrella review of randomised evidence’.
Anna Munks, Managing Editor of BJPsych Advances and BJPsych Open, speaks to us about the importance of peer review for the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych).
BJPsych Bulletin is delighted to announce Dr Simon Williamson as the winner of the 2021 Praxis Editorial Award competition. Read his complementary blog post on his winning article: “‘Is the biopsychosocial model dead?”.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for May is ‘Undergraduate psychiatric education: current situation and way forward’ and the blog is written by author Gaia Sampogna published in BJPsych International.
University College London People who had higher pre-pandemic levels of depression or anxiety have been more severely affected by disruption to jobs and healthcare during the pandemic, according to a new study co-led by UCL researchers.…
BJPsych Bulletin is delighted to announce Dr Daniel Romeu as the winner of the 2020 Praxis Editorial Award competition. Read his complementary blog post on his winning article: “Is the climate a mental health crisis?“.…
Researchers at King’s College London have found prevalent and harmful harassment and discrimination committed by and against NHS staff working in London trusts. Furthermore, women, Black ethnic groups and migrant NHS staff were more likely to experience harassment and discrimination.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for January is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Antipsychotic and antidepressant prescribing for 704 297 children and young people with and without intellectual disabilities: record linkage study’ by Angela Henderson, Deborah Kinnear, Michael Fleming et al.
Recent policy campaign Personal tragedies, public crisis led by Autistica, the UK’s leading autism medical research charity, emphasises that investigating rates and causes of premature mortality in autistic people is of paramount importance.
This week at London’s Central Criminal Court, or the Old Bailey as it is known, I was asked by another expert why the judges all wear black robes instead of the colourful dress of other circuit judges and why they are addressed as ‘My Lord’ or ‘My Lady’ instead of ‘Your Honour’.…
A new research study, published in BJPsych Open, finds that loneliness experienced during the UK lockdown increased the risk of depression in family caregivers.…
The RCPsych Article of the Month for October is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Placing poverty-inequality at the centre of psychiatry’ by Peter Byrne and Adrian James
In this book I mention the patient who first inspired me to become a psychiatrist. He was an elderly gentleman admitted to a vascular ward for an elective repair of his aortic aneurysm.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for September is from BJPsych Open and is entitled ‘A psychiatrist's perspective from a COVID-19 epicentre: a personal account’ Isabella Pacchiarotti, Gerard Anmella, Giovanna Fico, Norma Verdolini and Eduard Vieta
The RCPsych Article of the Month for August is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Cardiac structure and function in schizophrenia: cardiac magnetic resonance imaging study’ by Emanuele F. Osimo, Stefan P. Brugger, Antonio de Marvao et al.
This is not an easy time for many children and parents. We hope our book ‘So Young, So Sad, So Listen’ can help parents recognise depression in their children, work out why this is happening and what can be done about it.
For many years we have cared for people with severe eating disorders. Sometimes we’ve had to come to terms with tragic deaths, sometimes we’ve rejoiced to see patients and whole families enjoying renewed quality of life. All too often we’ve been frustrated to see that treatment might have been earlier, more effective or more equitable, if more of our professional colleagues better understood the nature of eating disorders.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for July is from BJPsych Advances and is entitled ‘Fluctuating capacity: the concept of micro- and macro-decisions’ by Martin Curtice.
A new study by King’s College London, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry has shown an association between increases in alcohol related hospital admissions and decreases in spending on alcohol services since they came under the responsibility of local authorities in 2012.
Worldwide suicide is most common in young people, and in many places rates of self-harm and suicide are rising, especially in girls. With this in mind, we wanted to explore the characteristics of suicide in young people, including gender differences and contacts with services that could play a part in prevention.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘The Parliamentary Scholar Scheme: a way to engage doctors in healthcare policy and politics’ by Jen Perry, Paul Lomax, Fiona Taylor, Susan Howson and Kathleen McCurdy.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, new research from The British Journal of Psychiatry finds that past stressors and traumatic events increase vulnerability to mental illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD).
The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) has collaborated with the World Psychiatric Association to examine the mental health aspects of disasters and trauma, aiming to strengthen the contribution of psychiatrists to reduce distress, illness and suicidal behaviour among vulnerable populations.
What is Nidotherapy? Peter Tyrer Author of 'Nidotherapy: Harmonising the Environment with the Patient' tells us more.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for May is from BJPsych International and is entitled ‘Mental Health in Malawi’ by Philippa Lilford.
Understanding the basic science of our brain’s endogenous cannabinoid chemistry–the natural marijuana-like chemistry that regulates the brain’s other neurotransmitters—is the critical and essential foundation needed to understand cannabis.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for March is from BJPsych Open and is entitled ‘Social gradients in the receipt of medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and young people in Sheffield’ by Samuel Nunn.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for February is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Addressing shame: what role does shame play in the formation of a modern medical professional identity?’ by Sandy Miles.
Children with ADHD from the poorest areas are significantly more likely to receive medication as children with ADHD from the most affluent areas, according to the first UK study of its kind published in BJPsych Open.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for January is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Clinical effectiveness of the START (STrAtegies for RelaTives) psychological intervention for family carers and the effects on the cost of care for people with dementia: 6-year follow-up of a randomised controlled trial’
The RCPsych Article of the Month for December is from BJPsych International and is entitled ‘Headaches in Moria: a reflection on mental healthcare in the refugee camp population of Lesbos' by Tom Nutting.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for November is from BJPsych Advances and is entitled ‘Functional cognitive disorders: identification and management’ by Norman Poole, Sarah R. Cope, Cate Bailey and Jeremy D. Isaacs.
The Mental Capacity Act was always meant to be an enabling piece of legislation, providing carers, health and social care professionals, a legal umbrella to support what they have been doing for years when supporting individuals who lack capacity to make such decisions for themselves.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for October is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Personal resilience in psychiatrists: systematic review’ by Ranjita Howard, Catherine Kirkley and Nicola Baylis.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for September is from BJPsych Open and is entitled the 'Emerald Series'.
Patients, carers and advocates say better evidence is needed on the safety of ketamine for depression after long-term use, and that those prescribed it must be closely monitored.
We were delighted to welcome delegates to our Cambridge University Press/RCPsych Publishing stand during Congress where they were able to explore our impressive portfolio of books and journals and meet the Journal Editors-in-Chief and Managing Editors during “Meet the Editor” sessions.
In 2005, I received a phone call from Patricia Casey, Professor (now Emeritus) of Psychiatry at University College Dublin. Would I be interested in working on a new edition of Fish’s Clinical Psychopathology with her? I stood up at once - the gravity of the occasion clearly required this - and I answered with the most emphatic Yes that I have ever uttered (apart from my wedding vows, of course). Certainly, I would revise Fish with her. Could we start today?
The RCPsych Article of the Month for July is from BJPsych Advances and is entitled ‘Collaborative diagnosis between clinician and patient: why to do it and what to consider’ by Authors Corinna Hackmann, Jon Wilson, Amorette Perkins Hannah Zeilig.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for June is from BJPsych Bulletin and is entitled ‘Do patients get better? A review of outcomes from a crisis house and home treatment team partnership’ by Authors Mohsin Faysal Butt, David Walls, Rahul Bhattacharya.
Treatment-resistant depression is the most unfavourable outcome for patients suffering from depression: one-third of depressed patients do not respond to at least two different treatments and they continue to suffer from depression and its consequences, including social isolation, decline in work functioning and – in the worst case – suicide.
RCPsych Article of the Month for April is from The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych) and is entitled ‘Involving patients with dementia in decisions to initiate treatment: effect on patient acceptance, satisfaction and medication prescription’ by Authors Jemima Dooley, Nick Bass, Gill Livingston and Rose McCabe.
The RCPsych Article of the Month for March is from BJPsych Open and is entitled ‘Discrediting experiences: outcomes of eligibility assessments for claimants with psychiatric compared with non-psychiatric conditions transferring to personal independence payments in England'
A major Australian study from BJPsych Open shows that most people who died of suicide dismissed expressing suicidal thoughts to health professionals, prompting calls to review the way treatment is managed and resourced.
New study from The British Journal of Psychiatry finds clear link between cultural engagement and lower risk.
Computers can ‘spot the difference’ between healthy brains and the brains of people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as ‘multiple personality disorder’.
Research from King’s College London, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry suggests that reorganisation of mental health services can have a negative effect on the health of people with severe mental illness, due to the disruption of relationships between patients and carers.
Adults on the autism spectrum are being prescribed mental health drugs in instances where there is limited supporting evidence to do so according to a new study published in BJPsych Open
New research from King’s College London, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may have led to an increase in the rate of probable Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among members of the UK Armed Forces.
I wrote this short article to correct a widespread prejudice among mental health practitioners and the general public alike to the effect that psychoanalytic theory and therapy are not ‘evidence based’ -- in the sense that, say, CBT and psychopharmacology are considered to be.
The newly published second edition of Where There is No Psychiatrist is a practical manual of mental health care for community health workers, primary care nurses, social workers and primary care doctors, particularly in low-resource settings. Authors Vikram Patel and Charlotte Hanlon discuss the importance of this manual below.
11.3% of young people report having attempted suicide and 16.2% report self-harm at some stage in their lives, according to a new study led by the University of Glasgow and published in BJPsych Open.…
Involuntary psychiatric hospital admissions have increased steadily from 70.7 per cent of all psychiatric admissions in 2009 to 77.1 per cent in 2013. In a new study published in BJPsych Open, researchers found nearly three-quarters of all psychiatric hospital admissions in Ontario are involuntary.
Until now, UK Biobank, a health data resource aiming to help scientists discover why some people develop particular diseases and others do not, had limited mental health data to work with. Following 157,366 responses to an online mental health questionnaire (MHQ) developed by researchers from King’s College London, alongside collaborators from across the UK, it now has unparalleled potential for further biomedical research in mental health, dramatically expanding potential research into mental disorders. The findings have been published in BJPsych Open.
Compared to new mothers, the mental health of new fathers has been overlooked. Yet one in ten men experience mental health problems during their partner’s pregnancy. New research published in BJPsych Open by the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) sheds light on these neglected problems.
Alcohol is fast becoming one of the most common causes of illness in over-50-year-olds, according to an editorial published in The British Journal of Psychiatry (BJPsych)
A new King’s College London study published Thursday 4 January in The British Journal of Psychiatry, found that 1 in 4 pregnant women have mental health problems. This is more common than previously thought – but two simple questions can help identify these problems so that women can be treated.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) and Cambridge University Press are pleased to announce the formation of a new publishing partnership beginning in January 2018.
This is the first post in our new series: “Conversations with Authors.” For our inaugural post, we asked Dr. Vesla Weaver to meet (virtually) with Dr.…
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
The March article of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International is the first blog of the series. The blog is written by Dr Dami Ajayi, Specialty Doctor, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Trainee/Blog Editor, BJPsych International.…
The English language contains a wealth of insults and terms of abuse. Personal insults attack the core and immutable aspects of a person, such as their race, ethnicity, appearance, age, or a disability.…
Long before Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, or Kamala Harris became the first woman vice president and launched her own presidential bid in 2024, another woman set her sights on the White House, at a time when women couldn’t even vote.…
Plenty has been written about the dog. Slobbery, goofy, embarrassingly friendly, with… well, everyone. Dogs are prominently featured in historic accounts and paintings, loaded down with ingratiating platitudes like “man’s best friend”.…
Some disability-related names have dropped out of usage, because they are now considered to be offensive due to their origins. Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) is one example.…
It is an article of faith among ordinary Filipinos that American troops will die with Filipino troops defending Philippine claims to the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea (SCS).…
More and more research is finding inflammation as a potential contributing factor towards to the development of various mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in various African populations. Two parasite groups were evaluated; helminths and protozoans, and four mental illness classifications; depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses.
The March article of Muses – the arts blog from BJPsych International is the first blog of the series. The blog is written by Dr Dami Ajayi, Specialty Doctor, Barnet Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Trainee/Blog Editor, BJPsych International.…
The opportunity to showcase some of the exciting archaeological research currently underway on medieval Ethiopia in a journal as widely read as Antiquity is important.
This is the first post in our new series: “Conversations with Authors.” For our inaugural post, we asked Dr. Vesla Weaver to meet (virtually) with Dr.…
Q&A with Editor-in-Chief of the Precision Medicine Journal, Dame Anna Dominiczak, for International day of Women and Girls in Science
At the end of the Greek Bronze Age, between c.1400-1200 BCE, the Mycenaean palaces of Crete and mainland Greece used small clay tablets to keep their accounting documents.
Listen to @BBCRadio4's Start the Week, featuring @NineDotsPrize winner @jkkusiak, talking about her book, 'Radically Legal'. Learn how a group of ordinary people inspired the book when they reclaimed over 240,000 apartments back from corporate landlords 🔗
Start the Week - ‘Left behind’, but not forgotten - BBC Sounds
Tom Sutcliffe with Paul Collier, Joanna Kusiak and Matthew Xia.
cup.org
Sparking curiosity from geopolitics in Japan to the cultural implications of AI!
Explore the seven new titles we are welcoming to Cambridge and the seven #OpenAccess titles we are launching in 2025 🚀 🔗 https://cup.org/3yhAuAx
Our Flip it Open programme has published titles from authors @GibbsSpike, @liederfollower and Inés Valdez!
Discover how we are funding the publication of #OpenAccess books without changing purchasing habits 🔗 https://cup.org/4diDHii
;
