Nervous system diseases

Boots to launch private mental health service soon, says chief pharmacist

Exclusive: Marc Donovan, chief pharmacist for Boots, said the multiple would be launching a mental health service to increase access for patients and ease pressure on the NHS.…

Case study: treatment-resistant schizophrenia

An examination of how a patient with schizophrenia, who is transferred from a mental health hospital to the community, is treated with clozapine effectively.…

Antidepressants should not be routinely offered to patients with ‘less severe’ depression, NICE says

In its first guideline on the management of depression in adults in 12 years, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends that antidepressants should only be offered to patients with "less severe" depression if that is their preference.…

Racial and ethnic disparities in mental health care

An overview of evident racial inequalities in mental health treatments across all ages, as well as discussion on how pharmacists can challenge and/or prevent this imbalance.…

Depression omitted from new medicine service extension despite increase in antidepressant prescribing during pandemic

The new medicine service has been expanded to cover 16 therapeutic conditions but depression, and its associated use of antidepressants, has not been included.…

COVID-19 vaccination could cause ‘red’ results in clozapine monitoring, pharmacists warn

Exclusive: Mental health pharmacists say that clozapine treatment has been discontinued in some patients because of a reduction in white blood cells following infection with COVID-19, but interrupting treatment is not necessarily the right course of action.…

Unplanned medicines and their link to mental health ward readmissions

The views expressed in this letter are those of the author’s. If you would like to submit a letter to The Pharmaceutical Journal, please click here. Readmission following discharge is relatively common in mental health services​[1]​. In 2016, Donisi et al. reported that the overall 30-…

Pharmacy’s mental health crisis: building back better post-pandemic (audio)

A closer look at how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted pharmacy professionals' mental health, both during and after the pandemic.…

Minocycline may improve depression in people with low-level inflammation

A study has found that patients with higher C-reactive protein levels had a larger improvement in their depressive symptoms when treated with add-on minocycline therapy.…

Almost 60% of frontline healthcare workers experienced mental health disorder during first lockdown

A study of 1,194 frontline healthcare staff, including pharmacists, found that 58% reported experiencing mental health problems…