headspace Evidence Summaries are prepared by
the Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. The series aims to
highlight for service providers the research evidence and best
practices for the care of young people with mental health and
substance abuse problems. The content is based on the best
available evidence.
Evidence summaries are available in the following
topics:
- Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in
Adolescence
- Treating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in
Adolescence
- Using SSRI Antidepressants to Treat Depression in Young People:
What are the Issues and What is the Evidence?
- The Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing for Young People
with Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders
- The Australian Clinical Guidelines for Early Psychosis 2nd
Edition- Evidence Map Quick Reference
The Diagnosing Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in
Adolescence summary examines the debate around whether it is
appropriate to diagnose BPD in adolescents aged under 18 years
specifically, and young people more generally. It also provides an
overview of the prognosis for adolescents with BPD and reviews
evidence-based recommendations around the key issues relating to
the assessment and diagnosis of BPD in adolescence. The resource
includes recommended links to further information and
recommendations for working with BPD in young people
The Treating Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in
Adolescence summary outlines the evidence about effective
treatments for BPD in adolescents and young people. As the evidence
for treating BPD in adolescence is quite limited, the summary also
explores what might be drawn from studies of treating BPD in
adults. It concludes with current recommendations about the general
treatment approaches for BPD in adolescence. The resource
includes recommended links to further information and
recommendations for working with BPD in young people.
"Using SSRI Antidepressants to Treat Depression in Young People:
What are the Issues and What is the Evidence?" aims to address the
key issues in the debate surrounding the use of SSRI medication in
the treatment of young people (aged 12-25 years) who have a major
depressive disorder. The Evidence Summary examines the evidence for
the effectiveness or SSRIs in this age group and the risks of using
this class of medication with young people. It concludes with
evidence based recommendations regarding a stepped care approach
for the management of depressive disorder in young people.
"The Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing for Young
People with Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders" summary
looks at Motivational Interviewing (MI) as a psychological
treatment for young people experiencing mental health and substance
use problems. This summary examines the evidence for using MI with
young people: what's known from research about how well it works,
who is most likely to benefit from it, and the skills needed to
apply MI.
The Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health, together with
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, developed the Evidence Map
Quick Reference as a wall-chart summary of the 2nd Edition of the
Australian Clinical Guidelines for Early Psychosis. It provides an
outline of evidence-based recommendations about treatment
interventions for emerging, early stage or established psychotic
illnesses, including schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychosis, and
schizoaffective disorder.
The Reference is divided across rows into clinical stages of
psychotic illness: (1) identified risk of developing a psychotic
disorder, (2) the first episode of a diagnosed psychotic disorder,
(3) preventing relapse after the first psychotic episode, and (4)
treating those who have not responded well to treatment of first
episode psychosis. The columns display an overview of the
'Evidence-Based Recommendations' (Column 1); a summary of the
research about Pharmacological (Column 2) and Psychosocial
interventions (Column 3); recommendations from expert consensus
(Column 4); and the settings for which the recommendation/research
applies (Column 5).