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Sisti DA, Joffe S. JAMA. Published online October 04, 2018. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.13083 The zero suicide policy was developed by the US National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention in partnership with federal agencies and has been adopted by health systems worldwide.  This editorial debates the value of such an approach and the constraints that it implicitly places upon those involved in suicide research, including the assumption that every suicide is entirely preventable and that it rep...

Czyz EK, Horwitx AG, Arango A, et al.  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Published online 24 September 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12974 This study of over 600 young people who received daily texts to evaluate their mood and suicidal ideation demonstrates that suicidal thoughts fluctuate considerably during the post-hospitalisation period. Connectedness appeared to be protective and may worth fostering as an active component of treatment. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com...

Sams DP, Handley ED, Alpert-Gillis LJ. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Vol 23, Issue 4, pp. 582 – 591. First Published May 20, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104518775144 This study provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of iMatter (Improve Mindful ATTention, Enhance Relaxation), a group-based mindfulness intervention for adolescents aged 13-17 years who are receiving psychiatric inpatient care.  Improvements were noted in mood and heart rate. http://journ...

Jouroukhin Y, Zhu X, Shevelkin AV, et al. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Aug 16. pii: S0006-3223(18)31746-3. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.07.024. [Epub ahead of print] Why do only some people develop cognitive impairment with cannabis use? This biologically-oriented article for the interested shows that genetic predisposition within brain cells known as astrocytes may mediate the cognitive impairments via convergent inflammatory signalling. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30219209

Haabrekke, K, Siqveland, T, Nygaaard E, et al. Infant Ment. Health J., 2018: 39: 581-594. doi:10.1002/imhj.21733 This study of children born to mothers who had abused substances while pregnant compared their long-term development with those of mothers who had mental health problems and those without any issues.  No differences in cognitive functioning were identified between children from these groups.  However, socioemotional functioning was worse in children born to mothers with substance...

Pao M, et al. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , 511 – 526 This article provides useful advice about discussing death with children and adolescents faced with life-limiting illnesses and encourages their involvement in decision-making processes. https://www.childpsych.theclinics.com/article/S1056-4993(18)30636-9/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email

van der Pol TM, Hendricks V, Rigter H, et al. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health201812:44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-018-0248-x This multi-site European randomised controlled trial of 109 adolescents with cannabis use disorder and behaviour problems found that multidimensional family therapy (MFT), an expensive and systemically oriented treatment for conduct disorder and more cost-effective cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) were similarly effective in reducing criminal beh...

Kahn RS, Winter van Rossum I, et al. Lancet. Published online:August 13, 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30252-9 This three-phase study conducted in 27 European centres investigated the value of reducing a currently used three-step treatment algorithm for first episode psychosis (Amisulpiride to Olanzapine to Clozapine) to two steps (Amisulpiride to Clozapine). The authors conclude that the two-step algorithm leads to the same degree of remission as the three-step algorithm, su...

Cortese S, Adamo N, Del Giovane C, et al. Lancet 5(9): 727-738. Open Access Published: August 07, 2018 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30269-4 This large systematic review of 113 individual studies supports the value of using methylphenidate to treat ADHD in children and amphetamines to treat ADHD in adults. Most studies focussed on short-term outcomes and found medications to be variably tolerable. This article is a good one to recommend or from which to quote data to families who ...

Rowland T, Perry B, Upthegrove R, et al. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 213(3), 514-525. doi:10.1192/bjp.2018.144 This review of 53 studies investigated whether specific biomarkers could predict mood states in people with bipolar disorder. Although individual markers were unable to do so, the combination of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), tumour necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and soluble TNF-alpha receptor 1 was able to diff...