Mental health
Medicines are a primary treatment tool for many mental health conditions. For pharmacists to use their expert skills to help patients who have mental health challenges, it is vital for them to have a good understanding of those conditions.
The mental health and wellbeing of the UK population is an urgent priority for the health service, with 1 in 6 people estimated to experience a common mental health condition each week. Pharmacists can provide support to these people in a variety of ways; for example, helping to identify people at risk, providing mental health education and giving medicines advice.
Our collection of mental health content has been organised into nine categories, covering the common mental health conditions as well as the main themes, debates and context. We have also developed a self-assessment quiz below to test your knowledge and help you to identify areas of interest.
If you have further topics that you would like to see included in the mental health collection, please contact the research and learning team.
Test your knowledge of mental health conditions
Depression & anxiety
Do antihypertensive medicines increase the risk of depression?
Depression in adults: screening, treatment and management
Switching antidepressants: advice and practicalities
Encouraging self-care and positive lifestyle changes in patients with depression
Antidepressants in the treatment of major depression: a changing landscape for clinical decision making
Case-based learning: anxiety disorders
Women’s mental health
Mental health considerations in older women
Case-based learning: postnatal depression
Postnatal depression: recognition and diagnosis
Depression and ‘the pill’: untangling the evidence
Everything you need to know about sodium valproate and other antiepileptic drugs in pregnancy
Testosterone for menopause: why women face difficulties accessing treatment
Managing menopause: treating hot flushes without hormones
Paediatric mental health
Anxiety disorders in children
Assessing the integration of pharmacist independent prescribers in child and adolescent mental health services
Emotional wellbeing in children and young people with diabetes
A perfect storm: the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of young people
Forgotten children: scheme to improve medicines use in young people with learning disabilities has lost momentum
Suicide and patients at risk of harm
Management of poisonings: the pharmacist’s role
Suicide: how to recognise the warning signs and deal with disclosure
Pharmacy’s role in supporting adults who self-harm
What could UK pharmacy teams learn about suicide prevention from North America?
Addiction and drug misuse
Misuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs to obtain illicit highs: how pharmacists can prevent abuse
Opioid use disorder: adherence to prescribed medicines in community pharmacy
Catriona Matheson: ‘I support decriminalisation of illegal drugs for personal use’
Is a complete ban on OTC opioids the solution?
Can drug consumption rooms reduce drug-related harm?
‘Pandemic of tragedy’: the deaths caused by gaps in online drug supply regulations
Neurodevelopmental conditions
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: characteristics and diagnosis
Autism: identification, management and support
Forgotten children: scheme to improve medicines use in young people with learning disabilities has lost momentum
Special report: charting the rise in ADHD prescribing
Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
Case study: treatment-resistant schizophrenia
Schizophrenia case studies: putting theory into practice
Schizophrenia: recognition and management
How COVID-19 increased antipsychotic prescribing in care homes
The rising price of antipsychotics and what it means
Other disorders
Eating disorders: identification, treatment and support
Recognising and managing body dysmorphic disorder
Antisocial personality disorder: diagnosis and management
Untangling anorexia: psychedelics offer hope for a neglected condition
Insomnia: the great melatonin delusion
In figures: the science of stress
Debates and future directions
Making the case for pharmacogenomics in the management of mental health conditions
Social prescribing in community pharmacy: a systematic review and thematic synthesis
Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care
Psilocybin: a psychedelic alternative to antidepressants?
Just out of reach: why the UK must rethink its barriers to novel medicines
Untangling anorexia: psychedelics offer hope for a neglected condition
