The Impact of Stopping Risk Assessment Checklists at a Specialist Personality Disorder Unit.

Aim This study was conducted in Springbank Ward, a specialist ward for patients with emotionally unstable personality disorder, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. We aimed to assess any change in incident frequency following the introduction of a new protocol for leaving the ward, in which patients are offered an optional conversation with staff in place of a formal risk assessment checklist. We also aimed to assess patient and staff perceptions of the change.

The Effect of Clozapine on Self-reported Duration of Sleep and Its Interaction With 23 Other Medications: A 5-Year Naturalistic Study.

Background: Sedation is a common and incapacitating clozapine adverse effect, but the factors associated with sedation and its pharmacological management remain poorly studied.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study based on deidentified electronic clinical records of clozapine-treated patients from the secondary mental health care provider for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, United Kingdom. We first evaluated cross-sectionally the influence of clozapine dose, clozapine, and norclozapine plasma levels on self-reported hours slept, as a proxy for sedation, using bivariate correlation and then the longitudinal effect of changes in clozapine dose and other 23 medications using linear mixed effect models.

Rethinking Risk Assessments in a Borderline Personality Disorder Unit: Patient and Staff Perspectives.

Background The present study was undertaken in a borderline personality disorder unit in Cambridge, UK. Our aim was to evaluate patient and staff perspectives on the current risk assessment procedure and to assemble opinions on a proposed change to this procedure. Methodology Structured interviews were conducted with patients and risk-assessing staff.

Treatment of Severe Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder with Comorbid Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder in an Inpatient Setting: A Case for Specialist Units without Restrictive Interventions.

We present the case of a young woman with an Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD) diagnosis suffering from high-risk self-injurious behaviour. She was also diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Functional Neurological Disorder, manifesting as nonepileptic seizures and immobility. Our patient, "A," endured traumatic childhood abuse and became highly dependent on services in her late teens.

Attitudes towards a borderline personality disorder unit - a small-scale qualitative survey.

Background: Springbank Ward, Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, is a Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) unit employing positive risk-taking, allowing for relevant psychological therapies to be carried out. The aim of this survey was to identify staff and patient attitudes to Springbank Ward. Previous research has not addressed the question of patient and staff perception of these therapeutic approaches.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of treatments for clozapine-induced obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic complications are commonly found in people treated with clozapine. Reviews on the management of this problem have generally drawn conclusions by grouping different types of studies involving patients treated with various different antipsychotics. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for clozapine-induced obesity or metabolic syndrome.

Pre-morbid fertility in psychosis: findings from the AESOP first episode study.

Individuals with psychotic illnesses are known to have a reduced fertility. It is unclear whether this is due to biological or social factors. Most fertility studies have been conducted in chronic schizophrenia, where confounders like medication and hospitalisation make this difficult to elicit.

Comparison of high and low intensity contact between secondary and primary care to detect people at ultra-high risk for psychosis: study protocol for a theory-based, cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: The early detection and referral to specialized services of young people at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis may reduce the duration of untreated psychosis and, therefore, improve prognosis. General practitioners (GPs) are usually the healthcare professionals contacted first on the help-seeking pathway of these individuals.

Methods/design: This is a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) of primary care practices in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, UK.

Childhood infection and adult schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of population-based studies.

Objective: To determine whether exposures to infectious illness during childhood involving the CNS or elsewhere is associated with adult schizophrenia or other psychoses.

Method: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature identified by electronic and manual search meeting three inclusion criteria: population-base, objective assessment of childhood infection at the individual level, standard definition of adult psychotic outcomes. We calculated risk ratio for all CNS infection, and separately for viral and bacterial infection in relation to non-affective psychosis and schizophrenia, which was combined in meta-analysis.