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The practitioners are lay health workers known as community "Grandmothers," trained to listen to and support patients living with anxiety, depression and other common mental disorders. But the impact, measured in a ground-breaking study, shows that this innovative approach holds the potential to significantly improve the lives of millions of people with moderate and severe mental health problems in countries where access to treatment is limited or nonexistent. Funded by the Government of Canada through Grand Challenges Canada, the randomised controlled trial was conducted by the University of Zimbabwe, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and King's College London. The study is published today in  JAMA. Six months after undergoing six weekly "problem solving therapy" sessions on the Friendship Benches, participants showed significant differences in severity of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts based on locally validated question...

Using a nationwide insurance database, the researchers identified 10.3 million patients who filed insurance claims for opioid prescriptions between 2004 and 2013. The study looked at whether pre-existing psychiatric and behavioral conditions and use of psychoactive medications were predictors of later opioid use. "We found that pre-existing psychiatric and behavioral conditions and psychoactive medications were associated with subsequent claims for prescription opioids," write Patrick D. Quinn, PhD, of Indiana University, Bloomington, and colleagues. The association appears stronger for long-term opioid use, and especially for patients with a previous history of substance use disorders. The results also suggest that some outcomes viewed as harmful outcomes of opioid use -- substance use disorders, depression, suicidal or self-injuring behavior, and motor vehicle crashes -- are also  predictors  of which patients are at risk of long-term use of prescription opioids. I...