Reports linking the deinstitutionalisation of psychiatric care with homelessness and imprisonment have been published widely.

To identify cohort studies that followed up or traced back long-term psychiatric hospital residents who had been discharged as a consequence of deinstitutionalisation.

A broad search strategy was used and 9435 titles and abstracts were screened, 416 full articles reviewed and 171 articles from cohort studies of deinstitutionalised patients were examined in detail.

Twenty-three studies of unique populations assessed homelessness and imprisonment among patients discharged from long-term care. Homelessness and imprisonment occurred sporadically; in the majority of studies no single case of homelessness or imprisonment was reported.

Our results contradict the findings of ecological studies which indicated a strong correlation between the decreasing number of psychiatric beds and an increasing number of people with mental health problems who were homeless or in prison.

Tailored psychosocial interventions can help families to manage behavioural and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD), but carer responses to their relative's behaviours contribute to the success of support programmes.

To understand why some family carers have difficulty in dealing with BPSD, in order to improve the quality of personalised care that is offered.

A systematic review and meta-ethnographic synthesis was conducted of high-quality quantitative and qualitative studies between 1980 and 2012.

We identified 25 high-quality studies and two main reasons for behaviours being reported as challenging by family carers: changes in communication and relationships, resulting in ‘feeling bereft’; and perceptions of transgressions against social norms associated with ‘misunderstandings about behaviour’ in the relative with dementia. The underlying belief that their relative had lost, or would inevitably lose, their identity to dementia was a fundamental reason why family carers experienced behaviour as challenging.

Family carers' perceptions of BPSD as challenging are associated with a sense of a declining relationship, transgressions against social norms and underlying beliefs that people with dementia inevitably lose their ‘personhood’. Interventions for the management of challenging behaviour in family settings should acknowledge unmet psychological need in family carers.

People born in densely populated areas have a higher risk of developing schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether urban–rural differences in place of birth influence a broad range of mental disorders.

Population-based cohort study of everyone born in Denmark between 1955 and 2006 (n = 2 894 640). Main outcome measures were incidence rate ratios for five levels of urbanisation and summary estimates contrasting birth in the capital with birth in rural areas.

For all psychiatric disorders, except intellectual disability (ICD-10 ‘mental retardation’) and behavioural and emotional disorders with onset in childhood, people born in the capital had a higher incidence than people born in rural areas.

Birth in an urban environment is associated with an increased risk for mental illness in general and for a broad range of specific psychiatric disorders. Given this new evidence that urban–rural differences in incidence are not confined to the well-studied psychotic disorders, further work is needed to identify the underlying aetiopathogenic mechanisms.

Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD) are likely to be caused by multiple susceptibility genes, each with small effects in increasing the risk of illness. Identifying DNA variants associated with schizophrenia and MDD is a crucial step in understanding the pathophysiology of these disorders.

To investigate whether the SP4 gene plays a significant role in schizophrenia or MDD in the Han Chinese population.

We focused on nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) harbouring the SP4 gene and carried out case–control studies in 1235 patients with schizophrenia, 1045 patients with MDD and 1235 healthy controls recruited from the Han Chinese population.

We found that rs40245 was significantly associated with schizophrenia in both allele and genotype distributions (Pallele = 0.0005, Pallele = 0.004 after Bonferroni correction; Pgenotype = 0.0023, Pgenotype = 0.0184 after Bonferroni correction). The rs6461563 SNP was significantly associated with schizophrenia in the allele distributions (Pallele = 0.0033, Pallele = 0.0264 after Bonferroni correction).

Our results suggest that common risk factors in the SP4 gene are associated with schizophrenia, although not with MDD, in the Han Chinese population.

Accumulating evidence suggests that altered immunity contributes to the development of major depressive disorder (MDD).

To examine whether complement factor H (CFH), a regulator of activation of the alternative pathway of the complement cascade, confers susceptibility to MDD.

Expression analyses were tested in 53 unmedicated people with MDD and 55 healthy controls. A two-stage genetic association analysis was performed in 3323 Han Chinese with or without MDD. Potential associations between CFH single nucleotide polymorphisms and age at MDD onset were evaluated.

CFH levels were significantly lower in the MDD group at both protein and mRNA levels (P = 0.009 and P = 0.014 respectively). A regulatory variant in the CFH gene, rs1061170, showed statistically significant genotypic and allelic differences between the MDD and control groups (genotypic P = 0.0005, allelic P = 0.0001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that age at onset of MDD was significantly associated with the C allele of rs1061170 (log rank statistic χ2 = 6.82, P = 0.009). The C-allele carriers had a younger age at onset of MDD (22.2 years, s.d. = 4.0) than those without the C allele (23.6 years, s.d. = 4.3).

CFH is likely to play an important role in the development of MDD. rs1061170 has an important effect on age at onset of MDD in Han Chinese and may therefore be related to early pathogenesis of MDD, although further study is needed.

There are limited data on detection disparities of common mental disorders in minority ethnic women.

Describe the natural history of common mental disorders in primary care in the maternal period, characterise women with, and explore ethnic disparities in, detected and potentially missed common mental disorders.

Secondary analyses of linked birth cohort and primary care data involving 8991 (39.4% White British) women in Bradford. Common mental disorders were characterised through indications in the electronic medical record. Potentially missed common mental disorders were defined as an elevated General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) score during pregnancy with no corresponding common mental disorder markers in the medical record.

Estimated prevalence of pre-birth common mental disorders was 9.5%, rising to 14.0% 3 years postnatally. Up to half of cases were potentially missed. Compared with White British women, minority ethnic women were twice as likely to have potentially missed common mental disorders and half as likely to have a marker of screening for common mental disorders.

Common mental disorder detection disparities exist for minority ethnic women in the maternal period.

Although the incidence of suicide among women who have given birth during the past 12 months is lower than that of women who have not given birth, suicide remains one of the most common causes of death during the year following delivery in high-income countries, such as Sweden.

To characterise women who died by suicide during pregnancy and postpartum from a maternal care perspective.

We traced deaths (n = 103) through linkage of the Swedish Cause of Death Register with the Medical Birth and National Patient Registers. We analysed register data and obstetric medical records.

The maternal suicide ratio was 3.7 per 100 000 live births for the period 1980–2007, with small magnitude variation over time. The suicide ratio was higher in women born in low-income countries (odds ratio 3.1 (95% CI 1.3–7.7)). Violent suicide methods were common, especially during the first 6 months postpartum. In all, 77 women had received psychiatric care at some point, but 26 women had no documented psychiatric care. Antenatal documentation of psychiatric history was inconsistent. At postpartum discharge, only 20 women had a plan for psychiatric follow-up.

Suicide prevention calls for increased clinical awareness and cross-disciplinary maternal care approaches to identify and support women at risk.

Implementation intentions link triggers for self-harm with coping skills and appear to create an automatic tendency to invoke coping responses when faced with a triggering situation.

To test the effectiveness of implementation intentions in reducing suicidal ideation and behaviour in a high-risk group.

Two hundred and twenty-six patients who had self-harmed were randomised to: (a) forming implementation intentions with a ‘volitional help sheet’; (b) self-generating implementation intentions without help; or (c) thinking about triggers and coping, but not forming implementation intentions. We measured self-reported suicidal ideation and behaviour, threats of suicide and likelihood of future suicide attempt at baseline and then again at the 3-month follow-up.

All suicide-related outcome measures were significantly lower at follow-up among patients forming implementation intentions compared with those in the control condition (ds>0.35). The volitional help sheet resulted in fewer suicide threats (d = 0.59) and lowered the likelihood of future suicide attempts (d = 0.29) compared with patients who self-generated implementation intentions.

Implementation intention-based interventions, particularly when supported by a volitional help sheet, show promise in reducing future suicidal ideation and behaviour.

Randomised studies examining the effect on patients of training professionals in adherence to suicide guidelines are scarce.

To assess whether patients benefited from the training of professionals in adherence to suicide guidelines.

In total 45 psychiatric departments were randomised (Dutch trial register: NTR3092). In the intervention condition, all staff in the departments were trained with an e-learning supported train-the-trainer programme. After the intervention, patients were assessed at admission and at 3-month follow-up. Primary outcome was change in suicide ideation, assessed with the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation.

For the total group of 566 patients with a positive score on the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation at baseline, intention-to-treat analysis showed no effects of the intervention on patient outcomes at 3-month follow-up. Patients who were suicidal with a DSM-IV diagnosis of depression (n = 154) showed a significant decrease in suicide ideation when treated in the intervention group. Patients in the intervention group more often reported that suicidality was discussed during treatment.

Overall, no effect of our intervention on patients was found. However, we did find a beneficial effect of the training of professionals on patients with depression.

In Switzerland assisted suicide is legal if no self-interest is involved.

To compare the strength and direction of associations with sociodemographic factors between assisted and unassisted suicides.

We calculated rates and used Cox and logistic regression models in a longitudinal study of the Swiss population.

Analyses were based on 5 004 403 people, 1301 assisted and 5708 unassisted suicides from 2003 to 2008. The rate of unassisted suicides was higher in men than in women, rates of assisted suicides were similar in men and women. Higher education was positively associated with assisted suicide, but negatively with unassisted. Living alone, having no children and no religious affiliation were associated with higher rates of both.

Some situations that indicate greater vulnerability such as living alone were associated with both assisted and unassisted suicide. Among the terminally ill, women were more likely to choose assisted suicide, whereas men died more often by unassisted suicide.