BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2025-05-13DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.20
Jane Whittaker
{"title":"Speaking and thinking in Latin: some dead languages are alive and thriving in some very modern disorders.","authors":"Jane Whittaker","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.20","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2025.20","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As psychiatrists, we are hopefully especially attuned to the power of language, especially the words we use when discussing sensations, thoughts and bodies. This article explores some of the heritage of medical language of today, drawing on classical Latin and how this interfaces with our day-to-day practice, with special reference to eating disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"84-87"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150514/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143974672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Use of the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) by mental health volunteers in the UK: examples from South Asian diaspora charities.","authors":"Leya Luhar, Aditi Arya, Raeesah Rafiq, Nandini Chakraborty","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2024.116","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2024.116","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 to scale up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders for low- and lower-middle-income countries. Subsequently, an updated mhGAP intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG 2.0) was released in 2016. This study explores the use and effectiveness of mhGAP-IG 2.0 by mental health volunteers of two South Asian charities in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight volunteers. The core themes identified were mental health awareness, mental health education, empathy and care, social perception and bias within the South Asian community, and personal development. The study identified mhGAP as a tool with transformative potential. Although the WHO originally planned the mgGAP-IG as a tool for low- and middle-income countries with limited mental health resources, this study demonstrates its usefulness even in high-income countries, as a foundation to educate volunteers working in mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"78-83"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150516/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142943742","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.29
Joseph Harris, Isabel Clarke, Pedro Aniceto, Lydia Baxter, Marisol Cavieres, Helen Courtney, Catherine Donaldson, Mark Draper, Alison Farr, Kathryn Gaussen, Elke Haworth, Rose Hooper, Holly Jones, Hasina Khatun, Lorna Lennon, Matthew McNaught, Hazel Nicholls, Katherine Pearson, Jodi Pitt, Megan Wilkinson-Tough, Davina Wong, Simon Riches
{"title":"Comprehend, Cope and Connect: a trauma-informed holistic approach to address mental health crisis as a team.","authors":"Joseph Harris, Isabel Clarke, Pedro Aniceto, Lydia Baxter, Marisol Cavieres, Helen Courtney, Catherine Donaldson, Mark Draper, Alison Farr, Kathryn Gaussen, Elke Haworth, Rose Hooper, Holly Jones, Hasina Khatun, Lorna Lennon, Matthew McNaught, Hazel Nicholls, Katherine Pearson, Jodi Pitt, Megan Wilkinson-Tough, Davina Wong, Simon Riches","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.29","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2025.29","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Comprehend, Cope and Connect (CCC) is a trauma-informed, transdiagnostic and evidence-based psychological intervention for mental health crises that can be applied cross-culturally. CCC has been implemented in acute and crisis mental health settings across the South of England and in services elsewhere in the UK. More recently, it has been taken up and adapted for specialist community settings, including perinatal services, addiction services and primary care settings. A continuously growing evidence base indicates that CCC could be the next step towards solving the national problem of mental health crises. It is now time for CCC to be piloted and researched nationally.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"56-61"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150492/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144636027","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-02-01Epub Date: 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10187
Rob Poole
{"title":"'Diagnostic terms are consequential'.","authors":"Rob Poole","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10187","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10187","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Patients find the term 'borderline personality disorder' offensive and, from a list of alternative labels, prefer 'emotional intensity disorder'. It is suggested that any term will take on a pejorative connotation if professional attitudes do not change as well; and that this requires an alteration in the environment in which professionals operate. This should not look so strongly to compulsion to prevent suicide, but should allow therapeutic relationships to flourish. Blaming clinicians for incidents when they have few choices is counterproductive. The problem reflects a systemic impatience with patients who get better slowly or not at all.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150500/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145628779","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Damodar Chari, Tamara Chithiramohan, Ina Sawhney, Elizabeta B Mukaetova-Ladinska, Lucy Beishon, Hari Subramaniam
{"title":"Risk of venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in older in-patients with mental illness: systematic review.","authors":"Damodar Chari, Tamara Chithiramohan, Ina Sawhney, Elizabeta B Mukaetova-Ladinska, Lucy Beishon, Hari Subramaniam","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.9","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2025.9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims and method: </strong>Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a fatal condition affecting older people. This study aims to identify specific risk factors for VTE in older psychiatric in-patients within mental hospital settings. Using predefined search terms, we searched five databases to capture studies evaluating risk factors associated with the occurrence of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in older psychiatric in-patients.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Thirteen studies were identified, and a narrative synthesis performed. Increasing age was a consistent risk factor for VTE. Diagnosis and psychotropic medication use were inconsistent. Depression, catatonia and use of restraint in people with dementia were associated with higher risks.</p><p><strong>Clinical implications: </strong>Older psychiatric in-patients differ from medical and surgical in-patients in their risk profiles. Screening tools used in general hospital patients are of limited use among older adults in psychiatric hospital settings. An exclusive screening tool to identify VTE risk factors in older psychiatric in-patients is needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"36-48"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13150511/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143596031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-01-26DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10210
Howard Ryland, Rahul Bhattacharya, Jonathan Richardson
{"title":"Use of outcome measures in psychiatry: Royal College of Psychiatrists' survey of members.","authors":"Howard Ryland, Rahul Bhattacharya, Jonathan Richardson","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10210","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10210","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims and method: </strong>This study sought to obtain the views of doctors associated with the Royal College of Psychiatrists on the use of outcome measures in mental health services. An online survey was developed by the College's working group on outcome measures and widely disseminated to psychiatrists through College channels.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 339 completed responses were received. Respondents were mostly consultant psychiatrists; based in England; and working in the National Health Service with working-age adults. Almost half said they used outcome measures routinely, with almost half finding outcome measures clinically useful. Lack of time and inadequate information technology systems were identified as the top barriers to using outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Clinical implications: </strong>Based on our results, psychiatrists are generally keen to use outcome measures, but are often prevented from doing so effectively by pressures on services and lack of appropriate support. The Royal College of Psychiatrists and other relevant organisations could enhance the use of outcome measures in mental health services through improved guidance, providing additional resources and integration of measures into electronic patient records.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-8"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146045900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-01-20DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10205
Bharadwaj V Chada, Robert Stewart, James Lai
{"title":"Development and validation of a predictive model for high-intensity mental health service use using electronic health record data.","authors":"Bharadwaj V Chada, Robert Stewart, James Lai","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10205","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims and method: </strong>This study aimed to develop and evaluate a predictive model using electronic health record (EHR) data from a large south London mental health service, in order to identify patients 3 months following first referral who are at risk of subsequent high-intensity service use over the subsequent 12 months. Early identification of such patients may support proactive and personalised care planning, reducing the need for high-cost episodes of care. Predictive models were developed using information from 18 869 patients newly referred between 2007 and 2011. High-intensity use was defined as the top 10% of estimated mental healthcare expenditure. The model was developed using demographic, clinical and service use variables, and was validated on data from the periods 2012-2017 and 2018-2023.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A logistic regression model achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) of 0.79 in development (sensitivity 0.82, specificity 0.54), with robust performance in validation sets (AUROC 0.81, 0.83, respectively). Key predictors included first 3 months service use, schizophrenia or eating disorder diagnoses and living alone. Natural language processing-derived features did not improve performance.</p><p><strong>Clinical implications: </strong>Routine EHR data performed well in predicting the risk of high-cost care, potentially enabling targeted interventions and more efficient resource allocation.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146002924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-01-20DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10206
Mark L Ruffalo
{"title":"The validity of borderline personality disorder: Robins and Guze applied.","authors":"Mark L Ruffalo","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10206","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10206","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Debate about borderline personality disorder (BPD) has intensified, with some proposing its absorption into complex post-traumatic stress disorder and others questioning whether the diagnosis is harmful. These debates often obscure the central issue of construct validity. This paper evaluates whether BPD constitutes a coherent clinical entity. Drawing on Robins and Guze's classic diagnostic validators - symptom specificity, heritability, course of illness, biological markers and treatment response - the evidence demonstrates that BPD is a robustly validated psychiatric disorder that should be retained in future classification systems. Concerns about stigma and dimensional models are considered but do not undermine its empirical grounding.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146002965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-01-15DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10209
Stanley Lyndon, Vineeth P John
{"title":"Serendipity in psychiatric discoveries: historical lessons and future imperatives for clinical observation.","authors":"Stanley Lyndon, Vineeth P John","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10209","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2025.10209","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims and method: </strong>Serendipity has driven many of psychiatry's most important treatments, yet contemporary systems may undermine clinicians' ability to notice and develop unexpected therapeutic effects. This selective narrative review synthesises landmark discovery stories, conceptual accounts of serendipity and contemporary case examples to clarify how chance observations become robust advances.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Across historical and modern examples, serendipitous discoveries consistently reflected the interaction of unexpected events with prepared observers working in supportive institutional and research systems. We identify current barriers created by standardised care, funding and trial structures, and professional fragmentation, and outline a multi-level framework for cultivating serendipity through phenomenological training, technology-enabled detection of anomalous responses, flexible funding and innovative designs such as adaptive platform and rapid-fail proof-of-concept trials.</p><p><strong>Clinical implications: </strong>Deliberately creating pathways that move rare, surprising responses from bedside observation to formal evaluation could accelerate more precise, personalised treatments while preserving rigor in psychiatric care.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
BJPsych BulletinPub Date : 2026-01-15DOI: 10.1192/bjb.2025.10211
Carlos De Las Cuevas
{"title":"Psychiatry is not the science of unhappiness.","authors":"Carlos De Las Cuevas","doi":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10211","DOIUrl":"10.1192/bjb.2025.10211","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Psychiatry risks losing its conceptual boundaries as the scope of its concern expands to include all forms of human unhappiness. This editorial argues that the discipline must distinguish clearly between illness and adversity, recognising that not all suffering is pathological. Drawing on historical and contemporary debates - from Jaspers' foundational dualism to Engel's biopsychosocial model, and from diagnostic inflation to the medicalisation of social distress - the paper contends that integration without limits leads to dissolution. Psychiatry's legitimacy depends not on the eradication of unhappiness but on the understanding of illness and the protection of those whose suffering has crossed the threshold of disease.</p>","PeriodicalId":8883,"journal":{"name":"BJPsych Bulletin","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.9,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13386281/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145970517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}