UK Biobank is a well-characterised cohort of over 500 000 participants that offers unique opportunities to investigate multiple diseases and risk factors.

An online mental health questionnaire completed by UK Biobank participants was expected to expand the potential for research into mental disorders.

An expert working group designed the questionnaire, using established measures where possible, and consulting with a patient group regarding acceptability. Case definitions were defined using operational criteria for lifetime depression, mania, anxiety disorder, psychotic-like experiences and self-harm, as well as current post-traumatic stress and alcohol use disorders.

157 366 completed online questionnaires were available by August 2017. Comparison of self-reported diagnosed mental disorder with a contemporary study shows a similar prevalence, despite respondents being of higher average socioeconomic status than the general population across a range of indicators. Thirty-five per cent (55 750) of participants had at least one defined syndrome, of which lifetime depression was the most common at 24% (37 434). There was extensive comorbidity among the syndromes. Mental disorders were associated with high neuroticism score, adverse life events and long-term illness; addiction and bipolar affective disorder in particular were associated with measures of deprivation.

The questionnaire represents a very large mental health survey in itself, and the results presented here show high face validity, although caution is needed owing to selection bias. Built into UK Biobank, these data intersect with other health data to offer unparalleled potential for crosscutting biomedical research involving mental health.

G.B. received grants from the National Institute for Health Research during the study; and support from Illumina Ltd. and the European Commission outside the submitted work. B.C. received grants from the Scottish Executive Chief Scientist Office and from The Dr Mortimer and Theresa Sackler Foundation during the study. C.S. received grants from the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust during the study, and is the Chief Scientist for UK Biobank. M.H. received grants from the Innovative Medicines Initiative via the RADAR-CNS programme and personal fees as an expert witness outside the submitted work.

Behavioural activation is an efficient treatment for depression and can improve intrinsic motivation. Previous studies have revealed that the frontostriatal circuit is involved in intrinsic motivation; however, there are no data on how behavioural activation affects the frontostriatal circuit.

We aimed to investigate behavioural activation-related changes in the frontostriatal circuit.

Fifty-nine individuals with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to either the intervention or non-intervention group. The intervention group received five weekly behavioural activation sessions. The participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning on two separate occasions while performing a stopwatch task based on intrinsic motivation. We investigated changes in neural activity and functional connectivity after behavioural activation.

After behavioural activation, the intervention group had increased activation and connectivity in the frontostriatal region compared with the non-intervention group. The increased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus was correlated with an improvement of subjective sensitivity to environmental rewards.

Behavioural activation-related changes to the frontostriatal circuit advance our understanding of psychotherapy-induced improvements in the neural basis of intrinsic motivation.

None.

Many clinical studies including mental health interventions do not use a health state utility instrument, which is essential for producing quality-adjusted life years. In the absence of such utility instrument, mapping algorithms can be applied to estimate utilities from a disease-specific instrument.

We aim to develop mapping algorithms from two widely used depression scales; the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K-10), onto the most widely used health state utility instrument, the EQ-5D-5L, using eight country-specific value sets.

A total of 917 respondents with self-reported depression were recruited to describe their health on the DASS-21 and the K-10 as well as the new five-level version of the EQ-5D, referred to as the EQ-5D-5L. Six regression models were used: ordinary least squares regression, generalised linear models, beta binomial regression, fractional logistic regression model, MM-estimation and censored least absolute deviation. Root mean square error, mean absolute error and r2 were used as model performance criteria to select the optimal mapping function for each country-specific value set.

Fractional logistic regression model was generally preferred in predicting EQ-5D-5L utilities from both DASS-21 and K-10. The only exception was the Japanese value set, where the beta binomial regression performed best.

Mapping algorithms can adequately predict EQ-5D-5L utilities from scores on DASS-21 and K-10. This enables disease-specific data from clinical trials to be applied for estimating outcomes in terms of quality-adjusted life years for use in economic evaluations.

None.

Involuntary admissions to psychiatric hospitals are common; however, research examining the trends in prevalence over time and predictors is limited.

To examine trends in prevalence and risk factors for involuntary admissions in Ontario, Canada.

We conducted an analysis of all mental health bed admissions from 2009 to 2013 and assessed the association between patient sociodemographics, service utilisation, pathway to care and severity characteristics for involuntary admissions using a modified Poisson regression.

We found a high and increasing prevalence of involuntary admissions (70.7% in 2009, 77.1% in 2013, 74.1% overall). Individuals with police contact in the prior week (risk ratio (RR) = 1.20) and immigrants both experienced greater likelihood of being involuntarily admitted, regardless of control for other characteristics (RR = 1.07) (both P < 0.0001).

We identified numerous modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for involuntary admissions. The prevalence of involuntary admissions was high, linearly increasing over time.

The authors have completed the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported. This study was conducted using funding entirely from public sources. P.K. has received operational support via an Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) Health Services Research Fund Capacity Award to support this project. The Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) is funded by the Ontario MOHLTC. The study results and conclusions are those of the authors, and should not be attributed to any of the funding agencies or sponsoring agencies. No endorsement by ICES or the Ontario MOHLTC is intended or should be inferred. All decisions regarding study design, publication, and data analysis were made independent of the funding agencies.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Despite policy and practice mandates for patient involvement, people with serious mental illness often feel marginalised in decisions about antipsychotic medication.

To examine stakeholder perspectives of barriers and facilitators to involving people with serious mental illness in antipsychotic prescribing decisions.

Systematic thematic synthesis.

Synthesis of 29 studies identified the following key influences on involvement: patient's capability, desire and expectation for involvement, organisational context, and the consultation setting and processes.

Optimal patient involvement in antipsychotic decisions demands that individual and contextual barriers are addressed. There was divergence in perceived barriers to involvement identified by patients and prescribers. For example, patients felt that lack of time in consultations was a barrier to involvement, something seldom raised by prescribers, who identified organisational barriers. Patients must understand their rights to involvement and the value of their expertise. Organisational initiatives should mandate prescriber responsibility to overcome barriers to involvement.

None.

Research suggests that a significant minority of hospital in-patients could be more appropriately supported in the community if enhanced services were available. However, little is known about these individuals or the services they require.

To identify which individuals require what services, at what cost.

A ‘balance of care’ (BoC) study was undertaken in northern England. Drawing on routine electronic data about 315 admissions categorised into patient groups, frontline practitioners identified patients whose needs could be met in alternative settings and specified the services they required, using a modified nominal group approach. Costing employed a public-sector approach.

Community care was deemed appropriate for approximately a quarter of admissions including people with mild-moderate depression, an eating disorder or personality disorder, and some people with schizophrenia. Proposed community alternatives drew heavily on carer support services, community mental health teams and consultants, and there was widespread consensus on the need to increase out-of-hours community services. The costs of the proposed community care were relatively modest compared with hospital admission. On average social care costs increased by approximately £60 per week, but total costs fell by £1626 per week.

The findings raise strategic issues for both national policymakers and local service planners. Patients who could be managed at home can be characterised by diagnosis. Although potential financial savings were identified, the reported cost differences do not directly equate to cost savings. It is not clear whether in-patient beds could be reduced. However, existing beds could be more efficiently used.

None.

Although many studies suggest that religiosity is a protective factor against drug use, there is little information on its effect on drug consumption patterns of those who do use drugs.

We aimed to examine if there is any relationship between religiosity during childhood and adolescence, and drug consumption in adult crack users.

We performed a cross-sectional study of adults addicted to crack cocaine. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio for the association between religious history in the age groups 8–11, 12–14 and 15–17 years and outcome variables.

From a total of 531 respondents, religious involvement during childhood and adolescence was correlated to less frequent onset of drug consumption before 18 years (odds ratio 0.95, 95% CI 0.92–0.98) and less craving (odds ratio 0.95, 95% CI 0.91–0.99), mainly between the ages of 15 and 17 years.

Religiosity provides some protection against drug consumption patterns in crack cocaine addicts.

None.

Magnesium (Mg2+) has received considerable attention with regards to its potential role in the pathophysiology of the mood disorders, but the available evidence seems inconclusive.

To review and quantitatively summarise the human literature on Mg2+ intake and Mg2+ blood levels in the mood disorders and the effects of Mg2+ supplements on mood.

Systematic review and meta-analyses.

Adherence to a Mg2+-rich diet was negatively associated with depression in cross-sectional (odds ratio = 0.66) but not in prospective studies. Mg2+ levels in bodily fluids were on average higher in patients with a mood disorder (Hedge's g = 0.19), but only in patients treated with antidepressants and/or mood stabilisers. There was no evident association between Mg2+ levels and symptom severity. Mg2+ supplementation was associated with a decline in depressive symptoms in uncontrolled (g = −1.60) but not in placebo-controlled trials (g = −0.21).

Our results provide little evidence for the involvement of Mg2+ in the mood disorders.

None.

Community mental health services in the UK have struggled to measure the clinical effectiveness of their services.

To measure clinical outcomes for different diagnostic clusters.

Clinicians measure the clinical status of patients by the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS), and HoNOS scores should be recorded annually after treatment. Clinical outcomes were measured by changes in HoNOS for diagnostic clusters.

In two time periods (2014 and 2016), the health of patients with mild to moderate common mental disorders deteriorated after intervention. Patients with severe common mental disorders and psychoses improved in their clinical status.

British community mental health teams may be effective in improving the clinical status of people with severe mental illness, but may have a negative effect on people with mild to moderate illnesses. These teams need to focus on the severely mentally ill and build on this demonstrable effectiveness.

None.

There is a clear gender gap in scientific authorship. Although the proportions of female authors in medicine and psychiatry have increased over the past decades, women are still underrepresented.

To analyse authorship gender trends in eating disorder research.

First and last author gender in research articles on eating disorders during the period 1997–2016 were assessed in eating disorder specialty journals, high-impact psychiatry journals and high-impact clinical psychology journals.

The total number of papers on eating disorders increased substantially over the observation period, although a decrease was observed in high-impact psychiatry journals. Female authorship increased in both specialty journals and high-impact psychiatry journals. Authors were significantly less likely to be female in high-impact psychiatry and clinical psychology journals than in speciality journals.

Eating disorder research has been increasingly allocated to specialty journals over the past 20 years. A consistent gender gap between specialty and high-impact journals exists.

C.M.B is a grant recipient from Shire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and has participated as a member of their scientific advisory board. These positions are unrelated to the content of this article.

None.

Population-based examination of comorbidity is an emerging field of study.

The purpose of the present population level study is to expand our understanding of how cancer and mental illness are temporally associated.

A sample of 83 648 056 physician billing records for 664 838 (56% female) unique individuals over the age of 18 was stratified on ages 19–49 years and 50+ years, with temporal order of mental disorder and cancer forming the basis of comparison.

Mental disorders preceded cancers for both genders within each age strata. The full range of cancers and mental disorders preceding or following each pivot ICD class are described in terms of frequency of diagnosis and duration in days, with specific examples illustrated.

The temporal comorbidity between specific cancers and mental disorders may be useful in screening or clinical planning and may represent indicators of disease mechanism that warrant further screening or investigation.

None.

The authors have no competing financial interests to declare in relation to the current work. Sarah McAllister was supported by a King's Undergraduate Research Fellowship.

There is a lack of good-quality instruments measuring stigma experienced by family members of stigmatised people.

To develop a self-report measure of stigma among families of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and examine associations between family stigma and other variables.

The new Family Stigma Instrument (FAMSI) was tested with 407 family carers, 53% of whose offspring had an autism spectrum disorder in addition to intellectual disability. They also completed measures of subjective well-being, caregiver burden, self-esteem and social support.

The FAMSI yielded a five-factor structure and had good reliability. Perceived family stigma, caregiver burden and subjective well-being were the strongest predictors of family stigma.

This instrument can advance our understanding of the impact of stigma on family members. It can also help us understand sociodemographic, psychosocial and contextual variables of both the carer and cared for person that may influence family members' experiences.

None.

Expert-consensus guidelines have been developed for how members of the public should assist a person with a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis.

This review aimed to examine the range of guidelines that have been developed and how these have been implemented in practice.

A narrative review was carried out based on a systematic search for literature on the development or implementation of the guidelines.

The Delphi method has been used to develop a wide range of guidelines for English-speaking countries, Asian countries and a number of other cultural groups. The primary implementation has been through informing the content of training courses.

Further work is needed on guidelines for low- and middle-income countries.

A.F.J. is an unpaid member of the Board of Mental Health First Aid International (trading as Mental Health First Aid Australia), which is a not-for-profit organisation.

The serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) has previously been associated with hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis function. Moreover, it has been suggested that this association is moderated by an interaction with stressful life experiences.

To investigate the moderation of cortisol response to psychosocial stress by 5-HTTLPR genotype, either directly or through an interaction with early life stress.

A total of 151 women, 85 of which had personality psychopathology, performed the Trier Social Stress Test while cortisol responsivity was assessed.

The results demonstrate a main effect of genotype on cortisol responsivity. Women carrying two copies of the long version of 5-HTTLPR exhibited stronger cortisol responses to psychosocial stress than women with at least one copy of the short allele (P = 0.03). However, the proportion of the variance of stress-induced cortisol responsivity explained by 5-HTTLPR genotype was not further strengthened by including early life adversity as a moderating factor (P = 0.52).

Our results highlight the need to clarify gender-specific biological factors influencing the serotonergic system. Furthermore, our results suggest that childhood maltreatment, specifically during the first 15 years of life, is unlikely to exert a moderating influence of large effect on the relationship between the 5-HTTLPR genotype and cortisol responsivity to psychosocial stress.

None.

Externalising problems are among the most common symptoms of mental health problems in preschool children.

To investigate the development of externalising problems in preschool children over time, and the way in which conduct problems are linked to hyperactivity problems.

In this longitudinal study, 195 preschool children were included. Latent growth modelling of conduct problems was carried out, with gender and hyperactivity at year 1 as time-invariant predictors.

Hyperactivity was a significant predictor for the intercept and slope of conduct problems. Children with more hyperactivity at year 1 had more conduct problems and a slower reduction in conduct problems. Gender was a significant predictor for the slope of conduct problems.

Children with more initial hyperactivity have less of a reduction in conduct problems over time. It is important to consider the role of hyperactivity in studies of the development of conduct problems.

None.

Black and minority ethnic (BME) groups are known to have higher prevalences of psychotic disorders and are over-represented in western penitentiaries and forensic psychiatric institutions. Research from regular mental healthcare settings suggests that they could show different and more severe psychotic symptoms.

To explore ethnic variations in severity of symptomatology of BME and non-BME detainees with psychotic disorders.

In this study, 824 patients with psychotic disorders from seven different ethnic groups, imprisoned in a penitentiary psychiatric centre in the Netherlands, were compared on symptom severity and symptom representation using the BPRS-E clinical interview. Data were analysed by means of a multilevel analysis.

BME patients with psychotic disorders are over-represented in forensic psychiatry, and symptom profiles of prisoners with psychotic disorders vary by ethnicity. Additionally, severity levels of overall psychopathology differ between ethnic groups: patients with an ethnic majority status show more severe levels of psychopathology compared with BME patients.

There are differences in symptom severity and symptom profiles between BME patients and non-BME patients. Disregarding these differences could have an adverse effect on the outcome of the treatment. Possible explanations and clinical impact are discussed.

None.