News | Mental health

Opinion

Pharmacogenomics is the future of prescribing in psychiatry

Patients' pharmacogenetic data could be used to improve adherence to antipsychotic medication by increasing the likelihood of therapeutic response and reducing the prevalence of adverse drug reactions.…

Published: 10 August 2022

News

Discontinuation of antidepressant could affect tapering patients, say experts

Exclusive: Paroxetine 20mg/10mL oral suspension is being discontinued, but experts have highlighted how these liquid formulations of antidepressants are "essential" for successfully tapering patients.…

Published: 27 July 2022

Feature

Antidepressants: the people behind the prescriptions

It has been widely reported that antidepressant prescribing increased during the pandemic, but what do we know about the people behind the prescriptions, where do they live and which antidepressants are they taking?…

Published: 21 July 2022

Opinion

How we dropped down from being in the top five highest prescribers of antidepressants in England

Starting with care homes, before moving on to the community, deprescribing work by Sunderland Primary Care Network's pharmacy team led to a 3.2% reduction in the number of patients prescribed antidepressants in Sunderland.…

Published: 18 July 2022

News

‘Deep disappointment’ as government rules out proposals for a national prescribed drug dependence helpline

Exclusive: A recommended national prescribed drug dependence helpline will not be taken forward by the government, meeting minutes have revealed.…

Published: 15 July 2022

Opinion

We must start using pharmacogenomic information to optimise medicines for older people

Training in pharmacogenomic testing needs to be prioritised so that the NHS can benefit from the many advantages it has to offer, especially for older people at higher risk from adverse drug reactions.…

Published: 13 July 2022

News

Pharmacogenomic testing may aid antidepressant prescribing, study results show

Researchers found that patients with major depressive disorder whose treatment was guided by genetic testing were more likely to receive an antidepressant with no drug–gene interaction.…

Published: 13 July 2022

News

Antidepressant prescribing increases by 35% in six years

Prescriptions of antidepressants rose by 5.1% in 2021/2022, the sixth consecutive annual increase.…

Published: 8 July 2022

Feature

Personalising antidepressants: should we be genetic testing?

Some health systems are already using pharmacogenomic testing to help tailor treatment for depression, but experts say the evidence for this approach is not quite there yet.…

Published: 7 July 2022

Letter

Developing the clinical pharmacy technician role for mental health triaging

NHS England & NHS Improvement are building on the 'NHS long-term plan', focusing on the mental health provision within mental health services. Against this context, we wanted to improve the therapeutic inpatient mental health care within our service by developing a clinical pharmacy technic…

Published: 4 July 2022