Author: saralindstedt

Physical activity benefits both physical and mental health. But how exactly does exercise aid in alleviating depression, anxiety, and stress? This is the question Lina Martinsson answers in the latest episode of KI’s podcast Medicinvetarna: Lyssnarfrågan.

– Among other things, exercise leads to increased activity and blood flow in the brain, as well as increased release of certain substances associated with the positive effects of depression treatment, such as dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin and a substance called bdnf, brain derived neurotrophic factor, which supports other cells in the brain, she says.

She advises engaging in enjoyable and sustainable forms of exercise. To promote physical activity among psychiatric patients, Dr. Martinsson and her colleagues have developed an initiative called “Braining” (training for the brain).

For a deeper dive into this topic, listen to episode #10 of KI’s popular science podcast, Medicinvetarna.

You can read more about the Braining project at their awesome website www.braining.nu.

We are looking for two research assistants to perform blinded clinical assessments with study participants in our projects on Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) chronic tics.

We are seeking two part-time research assistants for approximately 2 hours per week from August 2024 for one year.

Your Role (Swedish-speaking):

• Conduct clinical assessments with project participants via video calls.
• Work remotely from anywhere in Sweden, with occasional on-site work at Huddinge Hospital in Region Stockholm for training and quarterly team meetings.
• Ensure quick direct communication and supervision with the research team during remote assessments.

Apply by 13 June.

We want to highlight Sim Jamil who recently presented her Individual Study Plan (ISP) during a seminar, unveiling her doctoral project aimed at transforming PTSD treatment.

The project, which compares intensive exposure-based treatment with the standard weekly delivered prolonged exposure for PTSD. This research will assess the treatments’ efficacy, speed of response, and dropout rates through a pilot study, a randomized controlled trial, a cost-effectiveness analysis, and an investigation into treatment effect moderators. The intensive treatment holds the potential to accelerate patient recovery, reduce healthcare wait times, and optimize clinical resource allocation.

Sim is guided by Maria Bargesjö as the main supervisor and Christian Rück as the co-supervisor.

Stay tuned for updates on progress and findings ⚙️⚙️⚙️

Diana has been awarded 150 000 SEK from Innovationsfonden!

The project involves the development of a structured progressive sampling routine in psychiatric outpatient and inpatient care.

Congratulations 🎉

In the Swedish popular science magazine Forskning och Framsteg, Christian provides a historical review of animal suicid research. The question of whether animals commit suicide has long interested scientists, not least because it is an anomaly in the evolutionary principle of survival. However, it appears that suicide may be a phenomenon rooted in human comprehension of concepts like meaning and purposelessness, a kind of byproduct of higher cognitive abilities. Simultaneously, humans possess the resilience and capability to endure hardships and persist through challenges.

Read the article here (in Swedish).

Today, Seena Fazel, world-leading researcher in suicide prediction, from Oxford University held an intriguing seminar on risk assessment models for suicide. In the seminar, he talked about the OxSATS risk predictor model for suicide. The OxSATS is a part of OxRisk, a project by the Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology group at the University of Oxford that has developed a number of web-based risk calculators. The risk calculators are supposed to complement clinical decision-making.

Check out the OxRisk project here.

And read more about Seena Fazel and his research here.

We would like to highlight the fact that Manne Sjöstrand has become a Docent!

Manne’s research focuses on ethical questions in clinical psychiatry, specifically on the ethics of suicide prediction and ethical questions related to involuntary treatment. He also serves as a Consultant Psychiatrist at the Consultation Liaison Psychiatric Unit at Psykiatri Sydväst.

Congratulations, Manne! 👏

The Bergen 4-Day Treatment Trial has successfully recruited the required number of participants. This marks a significant step towards evaluating the effectiveness of the treatment in relation to standard treatment and brings us closer to potentially implementing it.

The study aims to assess the non-inferiority, speed of recovery, and cost-effectiveness of the Bergen 4-Day Treatment (B4DT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder in comparison to the gold-standard cognitive-behavioral therapy with exposure and response prevention through a randomized controlled trial (RCT). CBT, while effective, typically spans 3-4 months with approximately half of patients remaining impaired post-treatment. B4DT, a concentrated treatment developed by Gerd Kvale and Bjarne Hansen from Bergen, entails four consecutive days of ERP at a clinic. Previous uncontrolled trials and one RCT have shown B4DT to achieve remission in about 70% of patients. However, direct comparison with gold-standard CBT is lacking, prompting the current study to address this gap.

The Bergen team from the Rück group and OCD-programmet has done an outstanding job by successfully recruiting 120 participants 👏👏

A warm welcome to Sim Jamil, our new PhD student!

Sim will be working with the intensive exposure-based treatment RCT for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A thrilling project that will evaluate the effect, speed of recovery, and cost-effectiveness of a PTSD treatment delivered daily for five consecutive days. Preliminary research shows intensive trauma focused treatment (I-PE) to be as effective as when the treatment is delivered by weekly sessions, but with the advantage that the recovery rate is faster and the proportion of patients who drop out decreases. 

Maria Bragesjö is Sim’s principal supervisor.

Hear Max in the latest episode of OCD-podden talking about the current randomized controlled non-inferiority trial examining Bergen 4-day treatment (B4DT), an intensive treatment compared to gold standard psychological treatment delivered weekly.

Max Sannemalm is a lic. psychologist at OCD-programmet at Psykiatri Sydväst and also a PhD student working with the B4DT-study.

Read more about the project and the rest of the team here.