Here, Dr Ovais Badat talks to Professor Val Curran about a recently published study which aimed to investigate how varying levels of cannabidiol and THC have an impact on the acute effects of the drug in naturalistic settings.

The mental health needs of people require input at different levels: biological, psychological and social. Whilst a lot of attention is being paid to biological and psychological interventions, social interventions at a community level is still in its infancy. Dr Nusrat Husain and his colleagues have conducted a randomised control trial looking at social interventions for British Pakistani women with depression. In this podcast he talks about the study design, the findings and the way forward for social intervention.

Abreaction, or the ‘drug interview', was a relatively common therapeutic intervention in psychiatry in the middle to late 20th century. It is far less commonly practiced now, though there has been little investigation or understanding of why this decline in practice occurred. Dr Norman Poole and colleagues investigated the published English language reports on the process as applied to conversion disorder, and found that the reasons for its declining use were certainly not due to lack of evidence for its effectiveness.

Involuntary hospital admissions in psychiatric practice bring up many ethical dilemmas. Any process that restricts the autonomy of a person needs to be carefully thought about. Involving the people and getting their perception of the entire proceeding is a step in the right direction. Professor Stefan Priebe and his team have conducted the largest prospective study to date to find out how patients view involuntary hospital admission. Here, Dr Saliha Nazir talks to Professor Priebe about the study design, the findings and the outcomes from this study.

In this podcast we are discussing internet addiction, which has become a growing global phenomenon reported by professional anecdote and by mainstream media. Although internet addiction is not formally recognised by the ICD or DSM as yet, there is much research afoot to attempt to define it, and by so doing, develop specific and evidence-based ways to treat it. We discuss a two-wave prevalence study looking at how big the problem of internet addiction is, what it is comorbid with, and whether it can be seen to exist on its own as a diagnostic entity.

This podcast is about the concept and practice of supported employment programmes. We all have concerns about helping patients maximise their potential, and of course, meaningful work is one of the prime ways in which this is achieved. In an uncommon trial for the UK, Dr Louise Howard and colleagues conducted a randomised controlled trial of an American system called IPS or Individual Placement Support, to see if this evidence based programme would be as effective over here in the UK. Their paper helps shed a lot of light on the challenges that supported employment programme participants and professionals face.

The condition of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is one of the most distinctive psychiatric syndromes of adulthood. Environmental factors such as child sexual abuse, and other family influences such as maternal over involvement and inconsistency may have a role in its pathogenesis. Indeed, various forms of maternal psychopathology may be associated with patterns of mother–infant interaction that have an impact on infant development. In this podcast, Dr Margaret Murphy speaks with Professor Peter Hobson about his study which aimed to assess how women with BPD engage with their 12-18 month-old infants in separation-reunion episodes.

Autism has been the subject of intense public and professional attention in recent years. One of the biggest questions is what causes it. Like the discoveries made about schizophrenia in the late 20th century, we are learning that autism too has genetic and environmental determinants. Here Dr Daphne Keen discusses her paper which attempts to answer the question of whether maternal immigration and ethnicity, together or in tandem, are implicated as being risk factors in young children who develop autism.

In this podcast, Dr Kamran Ahmed talks to Professor Klaus Lieb about the Cochrane review conducted by his team on trials of pharmacological treatments for borderline personality disorder. The findings of the review and their implications are discussed.

The notion that genius and madness are closely related can be found in the writings of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. There is some modest, mostly historically collected scientific evidence for this. In this podcast, Dr Ovais Badat speaks to Dr James MacCabe about his latest article in which he explores the link between school performance and bipolar disorder in later life.