1. Arts and Arts Therapies Ease Depression and Anxiety in Children and Teens, Large Meta-Analysis Finds
A systematic review and meta-analysis published in eClinicalMedicine (Edge Hill University and University of Manchester) pooled 77 randomized controlled trials of music, visual arts, dance, drama, and other arts-based interventions in children and young people ages 5 to 24. Arts-based programs reduced depression scores (standardized mean difference 1.06, across 22 trials with 1,655 participants) and anxiety (0.75, across 48 trials with 3,898 participants), and resting heart rate fell by an average of 4.5 beats per minute — a physiological signal that self-reported gains were not purely expectation effects. Important caveats: heterogeneity was very high, only 4 of the 77 trials were rated low risk of bias, and the certainty of evidence was graded very low for depression and anxiety — so these results are promising rather than conclusive. Still, the average effects were broadly similar to those reported for talking therapies in comparable populations.
Source: ScienMag
2. First 90 Days After Starting Antipsychotics Are Critical for Diabetes Monitoring
A UCL study in The Lancet Psychiatry analyzed anonymized NHS records of nearly 97,000 adults ages 18–59 in England with severe mental illness who started an antipsychotic (olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, or aripiprazole) between 2000 and 2023, using an individual-level interrupted time series design. Blood sugar (HbA1c) rose about 14 times faster and weight about 9 times faster during the first 90 days after starting treatment than before — and the two changes did not always occur together, meaning weight monitoring alone could miss blood-sugar changes. Olanzapine showed the largest early increases; 19% of patients who had prediabetes at treatment start developed type 2 diabetes within two years (versus 3% of those with normal blood sugar); and women were disproportionately affected. The authors recommend checking both weight and blood sugar before treatment starts and again during the first few months. Because the study used routinely recorded health data, it could not account for diet, exercise, or other medications.
Source: Medical Xpress
3. Positive Childhood Experiences Independently Protect Mental Health Into Early Adulthood
Researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences followed 3,499 participants of the UK's "Children of the 90s" birth cohort (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children), tracking 10 types of positive experience from birth to age 17 — including good relationships with parents and teachers, supportive friendships, regular activities outside the home, and feeling safe in the neighborhood — and assessing mental health at age 24. Those with more positive experiences were significantly less likely to meet criteria for depression, anxiety, or another psychiatric disorder at 24, even after accounting for childhood trauma, socioeconomic circumstances, and genetic predisposition to mental illness, suggesting positive experiences make an independent contribution rather than simply marking lower risk. The association was strongest for depression; findings for psychosis were inconclusive. Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Source: Medical Xpress