Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry
October 2024
This study explored the mental health needs and strengths of young people (aged 11-18 years) living on the remote island of Saint Helena (SH). 24 young people and their carers completed standardised inventories assessing mental health and resilience, of whom 15 of the young people and their carers participated in semi-structured interviews enquiring into mental health awareness, contributing factors to young people's mental health and resilience, as well as experience with local mental health services. Descriptive data were reported based on the quantitative measures and thematic analysis was applied to the interview transcripts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Medical students have reported facing unique challenges in their academic journey that can have a significant impact on their mental health and wellbeing; therefore, their access to support services and wellbeing resources has been deemed crucial for dealing effectively with the various challenges they tend to face. While previous research has highlighted certain barriers affecting medical students' help-seeking and access to wellbeing support more generally, there is a pressing need for more in-depth research into the factors that may hinder or facilitate medical students' acceptability and uptake of the wellbeing resources available to them within institutional contexts. The current study aims to explore students' perceptions and utilization of wellbeing interventions and welfare resources within a medical school setting, as well as the factors influencing their help-seeking attitudes or behaviours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Levels of well-being are declining, whereas rates of mental health problems remain high in young people. The World Health Organization defines mental health as not merely the absence of mental disorder but also includes social and psychological well-being as integral to positive mental health, highlighting that mental health is applicable to young people with mental health conditions and those without a diagnosis of a mental health condition. Reduced mental well-being have been identified in studies of young people with clinical populations, as well as in populations consisting of nonclinical young people.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS17) is used world-wide as an observer-rated measure of depression in randomised controlled trials (RCTs) despite continued uncertainty regarding its factor structure. This study investigated the dimensionality of HDRS17 for patients undergoing treatment in UK mental health settings with moderate to severe persistent major depressive disorder (PMDD).
Methods: Exploratory Structural Equational Modelling (ESEM) was performed to examine the HDRS17 factor structure for adult PMDD patients with HDRS17 score ≥16.
Background: Cross-sectional studies show that transgender people are more likely than cisgender people to experience depression and anxiety before gender-affirming hormone treatment (GAHT). However, the effect of GAHT on mental health in transgender people, and the role of other factors that may have a predictive effect, is poorly explored.
Objectives: Using a longitudinal methodology, this study investigated the effect of 18-month GAHT on depression and anxiety symptomatology and the predictors on mental health outcomes in a large population of transgender people.
Previous observations of improvements in cognition in typically developing children following moderate to vigorous exercise (e.g., Budde, Voelcker-Rehage, Pietrabyk-Kendziorra, Ribeiro, & Tidow, 2008; Hillman et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by motor and phonic tics. For some, tics can be managed using medication and/or forms of behavioural therapy; however, adverse side effects and access to specialist resources can be barriers to treatment. In this sham-controlled brain stimulation study, we investigated the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on the occurrence of tics and motor cortical excitability in individuals aged 16-33 years with Tourette syndrome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBullying in the adult transgender population is well documented, but less is known about bullying in transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth. Studies have begun to explore experiences of bullying and the associated psychological distress in TGD youth; however, they often fail to distinguish among the separate groups within LGBT samples. This study sought to explore the prevalence, nature, and outcomes of bullying in TGD youth attending a transgender health service in the United Kingdom, taking into account birth-assigned sex and out and social transition status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Adaptive coping behaviors can improve well-being for young people experiencing life stressors, while maladaptive coping can increase vulnerability to mental health problems in youth and into adulthood. Young people could potentially benefit from the use of digital technology tools to enhance their coping skills and overcome barriers in help-seeking behaviors. However, little is known about the desired digital technology use for self-management of well-being among young people in the general population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn light of descriptive accounts of attenuating effects of physical activity on tics, we used an experimental design to assess the impact of an acute bout of aerobic exercise on tic expression in young people (N = 18) with Tourette Syndrome (TS). We compared video-based tic frequency estimates obtained during an exercise session with tic rates obtained during pre-exercise (baseline) and post-exercise interview-based sessions. Results showed significantly reduced tic rates during the exercise session compared with baseline, suggesting that acute exercise has an attenuating effect on tics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present study employed high-density ERPs to examine the effect of induced sad mood on the spatiotemporal correlates of conflict monitoring and resolution in a colour-word Stroop interference task. Neuroimaging evidence and dipole modelling implicates the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regions in conflict-laden interference control. On the basis that these structures have been found to mediate emotion-cognition interactions in negative mood states, it was predicted that Stroop-related cognitive control, which relies heavily on anterior neural sources, would be affected by effective sad mood provocation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious research demonstrates that our apparent mental flexibility depends largely on the strength of our prior intention; changing our intention in advance enables a smooth transition from one task to another (e.g., Astle DE, Jackson GM, Swainson R.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF