The Lancet Psychiatry in conversation with

What does the science actually say about cannabis and mental health? In this episode of In Conversation With, hosted by Dustin Graham (Deputy Editor, The Lancet Psychiatry), three leading researchers unpack a landmark collection of papers on cannabis and mental health published in the journal. Dr. Jack Wilson (University of Sydney) breaks down a comprehensive meta-analysis of randomised controlled...

A Health Policy piece in our April issue by Tasdik Hasan and co-authors titled:  Co-designing a Bangla Mental Health Sign Language Bank in Bangladesh https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(25)00334-7/fulltext Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicalj...

How can you stop traumatic flashbacks in just one session? Intrusive memories are so common after experiencing traumatic events and are one of the hallmark features of PTSD, but what if you could take away the power of those images without having to discuss them at length in therapy? In this episode, Emily Holmes talks about a new randomised controlled trial of an imagery-competing task, where par...

Can personality disorder treatments be reduced to just a few months? The evidence base for personality disorder treatments, like dialectical behavioural therapy (DBT) or mentalisation-based treatment (MBT), points towards treatments that last at least a year. Within the mental health field in general, though, in many countries there's a drive towards offering shorter treatments. But how short is t...

How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect mental health?  Now that some years have passed since the pandemic's height, we can learn more from synthesising all the evidence about its shorter and longer term effects.  In this episode, Ethelreda Nakimuli and Peter Jones talk about two new papers that gather the past 5 years of work on the pandemic and mental health and policy approaches. They talk about t...

Body dissatisfaction has been rising among adolescents in recent years, and so have symptoms and diagnoses of mental disorders. To help us know what to do about increasing youth mental ill health, we need better understandings of what is driving it, but causal factors are hard to pin down.  In this episode, Ilaria Costantini and Francesca Solmi talk about their new study that uses a longitudinal t...

Weight gain is a typical side-effect of taking antipsychotics and can have a big impact on people. But for young people with bipolar disorder, metformin isn't commonly prescribed alongside an antipsychotic. In this episode, Melissa DelBello describes a huge randomised trial in the USA on metformin for young people with bipolar disorder taking antipsychotics, looking at its effects over a 2-year pe...

Up to 1 in 4 women and birthing parents experience perinatal mental health difficulties, but there isn't enough evidence around interventions that could help them, especially interventions that work with the parent-infant bond or that focus on a broad range of mental health difficulties rather than specific disorders.  Camilla Rosan talks about what's needed in perinatal mental health services, an...

People living with dementia often have behavioural and psychiatric symptoms, such as agitation, and when these are severe, antipsychotics can be prescribed. Guidelines recommend prescribing antipsychotics at the lowest possible dose for the shortest possible time, but does this really happen in practice?  Juan Carlos Bazo Alvarez and Claudia Cooper's research team looked at primary care data from...

Why is physical health so important for people with mental illness? In this episode, we talk about a new paper on lifestyle interventions for people with mental illness, covering which aspects of those interventions are beneficial for physical and mental health, and looking at key recommendations for how to implement these interventions in mental health settings.  Kasia Machaczek, Scott Teasdale,...

What if you could see the voice inside your head?  Auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia are often distressing, as the voices are often malicious and unrelenting. In a new type of immersive virtual reality-based therapy, a 3D avatar of the voice is built by the patient and therapist, and it is then confronted together during the sessions.  In this podcast, we discuss the randomised controlled t...

Transgender and gender diverse people experience disproportionately high levels of interpersonal violence, but they also face multiple barriers to receiving quality post-violence care, with knock-on effects for their mental health.  Katrina Kennedy and Rose Pollard Kaptchuk talk with Sophia Davis about the values and preferences of trans and gender diverse people around post-violence health sector...

Which medications should be the first choice for prescribing for anxiety in older adults? Anxiety is common in older adults, but a lot of research on medication for anxiety is done in younger adults and doesn't take into account the different needs of and side-effects risks for older adults. Andrea Iaboni talks with Sophia Davis about her group's review of medications for anxiety in older adults,...

Sophia Davis, senior editor at The Lancet Psychiatry, discusses research on a new digital therapy for borderline personality disorder with Philipp Klein from the University of Lubeck, Germany.  This episode delves into the core experiences of borderline personality disorder, the innovative schema therapy-based digital intervention, and the results from the new study. Learn about the effectiveness,...

Helene Speyer and Marte Ustrup talk with Sophia Davis about embracing dissensus in lived experience research. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(25)00003-3?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com...

Peter Fonagy talks with Sophia Davis about a trial of mentalization-based treatment for antisocial personality disorder in men on community probation. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00445-0/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https:/...

Sophia Davis talks to Mikkel Højlund about research into the prevalence and outcomes of antipsychotics polypharmacy. Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal https://linkedIn.com/company/the-lancet https://youtube.com/thelancettv

Nguyen Tran and David Kinitz talk with Sophia Davis about conversion practices for people of sexual and gender minorities and their mental health. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00251-7/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://ins...

Marco Solmi, Manish Sood, and Nicholas Fabiano join Sophia Davis to discuss electrolyte abnormalities in people with eating disorders and their association with physical health outcomes and mortality. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00244-X/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us...

Frank Padberg and Stephan Goerigk join Sophia Davis to discuss the effects of child maltreatment on psychotherapy for depression. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00209-8/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelan...

Ryan Van Patten joins Sophia Davis to discuss cognitive performance in functional seizures. Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelancetmedicaljournal https://linkedIn.com/company/the-lancet https://youtube.com/thelancettv

Sebastian Wolf joins Sophia Davis to discuss a transdiagnostic exercise intervention for mental health. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00069-5/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://twitter.com/thelancet https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.c...

Jinah Park and Whanhee Lee join Sophia Davis to discuss the effects of increasing ambient temperature on hospital admissions for people with mental disorders and developmental disabilities. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00067-1/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at......

Vincenzo Oliva joins Sophia Davis to discuss medications for psychotic depression. Read the full systematic review: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(24)00006-3/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup https://facebook.com/thelanc...

Maike Richter and Nils Opel join Sophia Davis to discuss narcissistic traits and depressive symptoms in psychotherapy. Read the full article: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(23)00293-6/fulltext?dgcid=buzzsprout_icw_podcast_generic_lanpsy Continue this conversation on social! Follow us today at... https://thelancet.bsky.social/ https://instagram.com/thelancetgroup ht...