Little is known about the mental health consequences of severe COVID-19 illness because it is caused by a new coronavirus. Previous outbreaks caused by other coronaviruses (severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, and Middle East respiratory syndrome, MERS) may provide insights into ongoing problems after recovery from severe illness.  Researchers looked at reports of psychiatric problems ...

Around two-thirds of family carers of people with dementia experience loneliness. Almost half are moderately lonely and a fifth are severely lonely, reports one of the first large scale studies to look at this issue. Carers who felt lonely tended to have lower wellbeing, smaller social networks, and more stress associated with caregiving. A poor-quality ...

One-third of people with mild-to-moderate dementia experience loneliness. 30% are moderately lonely and 5% are severely lonely, reports one of the first major studies to look at the issue. These figures are comparable to the general population of older people. People with dementia who live alone, and who experience social isolation, depression and lower quality ...

Strategies to reduce the harm to homeless people who inject drugs rarely focus on their lack of access to clean water. This matters because injecting drugs prepared with unclean water or alternatives to water can lead to serious infections and illness. A study explored how people who inject drugs typically prepare injections, including when they ...

A new study of asthma patients with and without a history of drug misuse found that rates of attendance at an annual asthma review were poor across the whole group. Rates of flu vaccination, which is recommended for people with asthma, were also generally low. However, patients with a history of opioid use disorders (OUD) ...

The most effective treatment for adults with moderate depression is likely to be a combination of antidepressant drugs and psychological interventions. A new summary provides the strongest evidence to date that the combination of treatments work better than either alone. The most recent advice from National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) comes in ...

UK ambulance staff report lasting and troubling memories of being called to suicides. But in a small qualitative study, they said there was little acknowledgment in the workplace that such events are traumatic. This is important since someone exposed to suicide is known to be themselves at greater risk of suicide. Each worker interviewed had ...

Public health messages about alcohol could be more effective if they reflect how and why patients drink, rather than simply focusing on how much alcohol is being consumed. There may be a need for more relevant public health campaigns to raise awareness of the long-term consequences of heavy drinking.   GPs can help patients reduce their ...

The quality of interactions between therapists and their patients is as good by telephone as in face-to-face sessions. A review of the evidence found little difference in the interaction regardless of how therapy was delivered. Telephone sessions were shorter but measures such as empathy and attentiveness, as well as patients’ readiness to disclose information, was ...

Older people who feel lonely and have few close relationships may have an increased chance of developing dementia. Perhaps surprisingly, being socially isolated with few or infrequent social contacts does not seem to predict dementia risk, researchers found. This study was carried out before the coronavirus pandemic but the findings are relevant now, when the ...