Mental health conditions

Antidepressant prescribing increases by 35% in six years

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

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…

Pharmacies and opioid dependency: working together to better support recovery

One patient in particular led Rachel Britton to discover and develop the role of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in helping people with opioid dependency.…

NHS England to trial inclusion of depression in new medicine service

David Webb, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, told the 2022 Clinical Pharmacy Congress that the pilot was "just the tip of the iceberg in terms of opportunity" for pharmacy.…

Antidepressants do not improve quality of life long term, study finds

After two years of follow up, researchers found no statistical difference in health-related quality of life scores in those who took antidepressants compared with those who did not.…

A digital approach to improving valproate safety

The development of a virtual dashboard in Surrey has made it possible to identify women taking valproate who are approaching their annual review and highlight those who may need to see their GP.…

More than 1,000 patients stopped taking antidepressants after introduction of local deprescribing guidelines

Exclusive: Guidelines published in 2021 have helped Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group move from having the fifth highest antidepressant prescribing rate in the country to the eighth highest.…

Therapy combined with MDMA is effective in treating severe PTSD, phase III trial results suggest

Researchers concluded that MDMA-assisted therapy was highly efficacious, safe and well tolerated in those suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.…

Boots to provide mental health care service for £65 per month

The service has been launched in response to a rise in patients asking for mental health advice and support in Boots pharmacies.…

Combined treatment with mirtazapine linked to better outcomes in patients with acute depression, review shows

Combining a reuptake inhibitor with a presynaptic α2-autoreceptor antagonist was found to be the most effective combination in terms of treatment outcomes.…