Mental Health Awareness Week is a yearly campaign that focuses on increasing understanding about mental health. This year the theme is “Action”, arising as a natural extension of awareness, and encouraging us to take the first steps towards a society that prioritises good mental health.
BMJ Open publishes research across a wide range of topics and study designs, and in this blog post we highlight recently published papers that illustrate the importance of good mental health and the impact of access to mental healthcare across diverse populations.
A nationwide cross-sectional study by Fujii et al, evaluated regional disparities in insurance-covered cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in Japan, finding that the services were underused and suggested that fundamental system reforms are necessary to ensure equitable access to evidence-based psychological treatments.
Thapa et al, assessed the prevalence of depression and anxiety amongst LGBT individuals in Nepal. They found that 18.27% of participants reported depression, 25.38% reported anxiety, and over a third of participants had previously attempted suicide, highlighting the need for inclusive and culturally sensitive mental health interventions and targeted support strategies.
Further highlighting the need for tailored interventions, Palmer et al, analysed data collected over 19 years in order to assess physical and mental symptoms by ethnicity of a UK Armed Forces cohort. They found that whilst all samples reported signs of general distress and common mental disorders, there were some differences in the prevalence of PTSD symptoms across samples, which could be explained by differential levels of traumatic exposures and culturally nuanced expressions of distress.
Finally, in order to evaluate how the risk of suicide and non-suicidal self-injury is assessed, monitored and managed in interventional trials of youth depression, Hudson et al, performed a scoping review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The authors found that RCTs involving young people with depression often do not adequately consider the risk of suicide or self-injury, and identified a lack of clarity across trials in how to best report risk. This can lead to challenges in ensuring that RCTs in this population are reliable, safe, and replicable in clinical settings.
You can read more in our BMJ Open’s full Mental health topic collection.
| Author(s) | Title |
| Fujii et al. | Regional disparities in insurance-covered cognitive behavioural therapy in Japan: a nationwide cross-sectional study using National Database Open Data, 2015–2023 |
| Thapa et al. | Prevalence and correlates of anxiety and depression among LGBT individuals in Nepal: a cross-sectional study |
| Palmer et al. | Physical and mental health of ethnic minority service personnel in the UK Armed Forces: a retrospective pooled cross-sectional analysis |
| Hudson et al. | How the risk of suicide and non-suicidal self-injury is assessed, monitored and managed in randomised controlled trials of interventions for youth depression: a scoping review |
This text was written without any assistance from AI.