Amendment to NICE guideline on anxiety

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today issued an amendment to the guidelines on the management of depression and anxiety in primary and secondary care. The guidance, originally published in December 2004, has been updated following safety advice issued by the MHRA on the prescription of venlafaxine.

Cochrane Library 2007, issue 2 now available

The Cochrane Library 2007 issue 2 has been published. It contains 97 new reviews, 41 updated reviews, 139 new protocols and 3 updated protocols. New titles include:

* Collaborative care for depression and anxiety problems in primary care

* Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for adults with HIV

* Paroxetine versus other anti-depressive agents for depression

* Problem solving skills for schizophrenia

The Cochrane Library can be searched from the NHS Scotland eLibrary – go to www.elib.scot.nhs.uk and click on the “Cochrane Library” link in the left-hand margin. Information on the new edition can be found on the Cochrane website here.

New "Seminars" book

The Royal College of Psychiatrists have published another textbook in the "College Seminars Series". The latest title is "Seminars in the psychotherapies" edited by Jane Naismith and Sandra Grant. A copy is available for loan at the library.

Schizophrenia Knowledge Week

The Mental Health Specialist Library of the NHS National Library for Health has marked their "Schizophrenia Knowledge Week" by bringing together evidence-based guidelines, systematic reviews, important primary research, service development literature and patient information. Although part of the NHS in England the majority of the resources referenced are available for free on the internet or via the NHS Scotland E-library with an NHS Scotland Athens username and password.

Adult Support & Protection Act

The Scottish Executive have passed the Adult Support & Protection (Scotland) Act 2007. The Act defines and introduces measures to deal with adults at risk of abuse. It carries amendments to the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 and the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.

SE publications : CAMS conference summary and literature review on child abuse survivors

The Scottish Executive publications listings includes a summary report from a children and young people mental health services conference and details of a literature review on medically unexplained symptoms in people sexually abused in childhood.

The conference report is from the "Delivering for Mental Health: the mental health of children and young people: a framework for promotion, prevention and care: children and young people mental health services conference" held on 28 February 2007. The conference discussed the implementation of the agenda for change outlined in "The Mental Health of Children and Young People: A Framework for Promotion, Prevention and Care" and the report includes a summary of the presentation by Dr Graham Bryce, Chair of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Steering Group, and discusses the process of service change.


The literature review was carried out by researchers at the University of Dundee as part of the National Programme for Improving Mental Health and Well-Being - Small Research Projects Initiative 2006-07. The review "Mental health problems and medically-unexplained physical symptoms in adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse: a literature review and scoping exercise", is a 2 page summary of what is known, and what further research is needed, to understand medically unexplained symptoms in people sexually abused in childhood.