How has the covid-19 pandemic affected individuals with pre-existing mental illnesses?

There has been a welcome growth in cross-disciplinary research integrating social, cultural and community engagement (SCCE) to positively have an impact on mental health.

Predicting future suicide attempts is a challenging area for psychiatrists.

Individuals with dementia seek intimacy and companionship just like everyone else, but in the face of cognitive decline there are inevitably concerns about their vulnerability.

Among the criticisms of diagnostic systems is ‘diagnostic inflation’: with time criteria relax, the number of conditions expands and everything is pathologised.

Measurement matters in depression, but ‘average global changes’ in depression scales can mask important individual symptom improvements.

We're all familiar with the mantra that while self-harm is common, suicide is ‘rare’ and prediction ‘difficult’. Can we at least have confidence in suicide-prevention interventions?

Perceptions 1. #BlackLivesMatter has reinforced the depth of societal inequities; minority ethnic status is linked with psychosis, but disentangling discrimination from other factors is challenging.

Tell your story…a challenging prospect if you are a vulnerable refugee.

Different clinical, behavioural and neuropathological patterns are seen in the dementias; our ability to subtype them has remained somewhat crude, but their secrets are beginning to unravel.

The practical implications of neuroscience research are often not immediately obvious; we examine post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a potential exemplar.

Given our reliance on evidence-based decision-making, we need confidence in scientific publishing. There are increasing concerns about difficulties publishing negative results, and non-publication of ‘inconvenient’ data.

‘Compared with treatment as usual (TAU), the active intervention showed…’: well what is TAU?

Preventing recurrence after recovery from a major depressive episode is a key clinical goal: but what are the best strategies?

This month's Highlights column (A3) notes a reversing of clinical emphasis to sociopsychobio, but we never fully escape biology: why do psychoses persist?