Psychiatry receives less media coverage than general medicine, and the coverage it does receive is four times as likely to be negatively framed. In addition, coverage of mental health problems is often negative in tone and mental health research tends to be underrepresented in the media. As the media is likely to be a key source of information for the general public about mental health and psychiatry, this is worrying. There are opportunities, however, to change this landscape; the UK national news media are keen to cover more stories about mental health problems and to feature more psychiatrists' comments in their coverage. By engaging with the media, psychiatrists have the chance to create better-informed media narrative.

Case-based discussion has been a key element of the assessment programme for psychiatrists in training under the guidance of the Royal College of Psychiatrists since 2007. Its incorporation within systems for recertification and thus revalidation for psychiatrists in established practice has now been piloted. This article discusses the origins of the instrument in Canada and the USA before describing its use in the UK. Case-based discussion is placed within the context of contemporary postgraduate medical education and the curricula of the College, offering practical guidance on how best to use this method for the assessment of reasoning and judgement. Finally, some questions are posed regarding the potential use of case-based discussion in the proposals for revalidation.

Agitation in psychiatric settings, particularly in psychosis, presents a staggering challenge for clinicians, who must both manage the patient's acute symptoms and simultaneously make an accurate diagnosis. Too often, the management of the former confounds the latter. Patients are very often sedated medically, which masks their underlying condition, rendering accurate diagnosis delayed and inherently difficult. Significant data are available regarding both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for agitation that maximise symptom control while minimising confounding side-effects. In this article, a review of the historical evolution of agitation management in psychotic illness is presented, followed by an evidence-based clinical guideline for managing agitation in psychosis in the USA.

Treatment of psychotic agitation is an area that is very poorly evidenced, principally because research evidence from patients with moderate agitation may not generalise to the more severely agitated patients. There is a significant gap between current treatment recommendations and what is seen in clinical practice. There are also big differences in clinical practice between different units treating seemingly similar patient groups. This commentary considers possible reasons for these findings and also discusses non-pharmacological interventions, which probably contribute more to the management of psychotic agitation than does the choice of one antipsychotic drug over another.

This article is a brief review of the teaching role of psychiatrists and is directed at psychiatrists in the UK National Health Service who teach medical undergraduates. It reviews the responsibility of delivering teaching, the delineation of teaching duties, and the teaching roles of the psychiatrist in the changing environment of medical education. Application of good principles of clinical teaching and delivery of tomorrow's doctors in line with the General Medical Council's recommendations are discussed. The article also describes a recommended core curriculum in psychiatry for undergraduates, which lays out what should be taught.

This commentary discusses the key issues facing undergraduate psychiatry teaching and the factors inhibiting psychiatrists' roles as medical educators. Potential solutions to allow psychiatrists to fully embrace their teaching role are presented. A particular focus is on enhancing teaching skills, challenging student perceptions of psychiatry and ensuring that teaching is protected, valued and appropriately rewarded. This requires a concerted approach on individual, organisational and policy levels.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive investigation that can aid the diagnosis of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric disorders. A good predictor of an abnormal EEG recording is the presence of an organic factor identified during the clinical assessment. The non-invasiveness and low cost of the procedure and its ability to measure spontaneous brain activity appear to attract clinicians to utilise this investigative tool. However, studies have reported that EEGs arising from psychiatric referrals have the lowest abnormality detection rate. The focus of this article is to improve this by highlighting the current pitfalls and providing recommendations for appropriate utilisation of EEG. We describe specific EEG changes associated with major psychiatric disorders. We conclude by offering pragmatic considerations when referring a patient for EEG, emphasising the fact that the information provided to the neurophysiologist plays a crucial role in interpreting the EEG recording in a diagnostically meaningful way.

Complaints inevitably accompany clinical care. This article explores complaints primarily in the context of the UK National Health Service complaints system. However, much of the content will apply to other settings, such as the independent sector. The infrequent but serious ramifications of complaints are also considered, including retraining and suspension. The article is written from a medical perspective but considers the roles of other professionals, the organisation and the complainant.

Consultant psychiatrists are often called to work in teams that are functioning suboptimally. This is a major challenge, both professionally and personally. This article gives advice and strategies for working with struggling teams. It recommends combining objective-, data- and procedure-driven approaches to technical challenges with ‘softer’ person-centred and relational strategies matched to the learning needs of the team.

This case illustrates a clinical management problem in which a terminally ill psychiatric patient racially abuses the Black staff caring for him. The clinical team has to tread a fine line between supporting staff victimised by the patient and ensuring his quality of life and care. It is important that patients' (and staff's) sensitivities relating to race and ethnicity are openly discussed at an early stage, so that appropriate clinical management can be negotiated.

Body dysmorphic disorder is a distressing and often disabling condition characterised by a preoccupation with imagined or slight physical defects in appearance. It has been recognised as a mental disorder for many years (and named body dysmorphic disorder since 1980), but epidemiological studies and clinical trials have been few. To a large extent, the disorder has been ignored by the mental health community, who often fail to elicit the diagnosis. This article reviews the diagnostic criteria for the disorder, its validity and its relationship to other disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, social phobia and somatisation disorders. The course of the illness, its aetiology and treatment approaches are discussed. As research is growing alongside an increase in patient presentations, body dysmorphic disorder requires a coherent response from healthcare services.

Peer review in scientific journals has existed for over 200 years. This process is currently the accepted way of assessing scientific manuscripts prior to publication for most journals. Despite this, little has been written about the process of peer reviewing, with hardly anything specific to psychiatric journals. This article answers fundamental questions related to peer reviewing and includes practical tips to writing reviews. It will be helpful for those keen on improving their knowledge about the peer-review process. It will not only benefit those who are reviewers or thinking about becoming reviewers, but also authors, who can use the information to improve their chances of publication.