Despite being a rare phenomenon, children who kill galvanise extraordinary amounts of conversation about why they did it, how to deal with them and how to prevent recurrences. The debate quickly becomes polarised and occasionally politicised, often without nuanced consideration of the benefits and costs of proceeding in one direction or another. A scientific approach would begin with the question: ‘what do we actually want the outcomes to be?’, which might assist in relinquishing the less helpful desire for natural justice or revenge and move towards a more evidence-informed and inclusive approach to children who have committed very serious crimes.

The Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 to scale up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders for low- and lower-middle-income countries. Subsequently, an updated mhGAP intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG 2.0) was released in 2016. This study explores the use and effectiveness of mhGAP-IG 2.0 by mental health volunteers of two South Asian charities in the UK. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight volunteers. The core themes identified were mental health awareness, mental health education, empathy and care, social perception and bias within the South Asian community, and personal development. The study identified mhGAP as a tool with transformative potential. Although the WHO originally planned the mgGAP-IG as a tool for low- and middle-income countries with limited mental health resources, this study demonstrates its usefulness even in high-income countries, as a foundation to educate volunteers working in mental health.

To provide a useful contextual backdrop to an exhibition at the Royal College of Psychiatrists this summer, we used a question and answer format to summarise the thoughts of its curator, Gavin Miller. Gavin has chosen 12 books published by Penguin between 1949 and 1975 to illuminate the relationship between psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and the British media. He reflects on the opportunities and pitfalls that come with the association, the motivations of previous writers and provides practical advice for any media psychiatrists considering such a role in the future. The exhibition is open to visitors to the College building in London.

This study examines the representation of psychotic disorders in Spanish punk music over three decades, analysing 5647 songs from 177 bands. Content related to psychotic disorders appeared in 2.28% of the corpus, divided into songs with psychosis as a central theme and those using psychopathological terms incidentally. Schizophrenia and paranoia were the most referenced diagnoses, although frequently applied in ways that lacked clinical accuracy. Thematic analysis revealed two main dimensions: a clinical–therapeutic one, typically negative in tone, centred on symptoms, suffering, treatments, hospital admission and substance use; and a social dimension, highlighting stigma, rejection, loneliness and incomprehension. Although many songs linked psychosis to violence and crime, others framed it as a source of wisdom, freedom or creativity. Overall, punk music offers a complex and polarised discourse on mental illness, reflecting societal perceptions that oscillate between empathy and the reinforcement of stereotypes.

Clinicians across medical disciplines are intimately familiar with an unusual feature of descriptive diagnoses. The diagnostic terms, despite their non-aetiological nature, seem to offer an explanatory lens to many patients, at times with profound effects. These experiences highlight a striking, neglected and unchristened medical phenomenon: the therapeutic effect of a clinical diagnosis, independent of any other intervention, where clinical diagnosis refers to situating the person’s experiences into a clinical category by either a clinician or the patient. We call this the Rumpelstiltskin effect. This article describes this phenomenon and highlights its importance as a topic of empirical investigation.

Little has been written regarding the experience of training in medicine with a diagnosis of a personality disorder. The stigma of personality disorders, evidenced even within psychiatry, potentially marginalises affected students and resident doctors. This article provides a first-hand account of the lead author’s (E.M.) lived experience of being a medical student with a diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder (EUPD). Challenges that have been faced include a lack of understanding, limited literature about medical students and doctors with personality disorders, and derogatory attitudes. Despite this, the positive aspects of the diagnosis are recognised, through enhanced resilience and heightened emotional sensitivity, which can benefit patients.

As psychiatrists, we are hopefully especially attuned to the power of language, especially the words we use when discussing sensations, thoughts and bodies. This article explores some of the heritage of medical language of today, drawing on classical Latin and how this interfaces with our day-to-day practice, with special reference to eating disorders.

Mental health social care is an emerging and evolving field of practice and research within mental health care in the UK. It recognises the significant role played by social determinants in the development of mental illness and distress, and in recovery and well-being. By considering mental health social care as a distinct health and care research system, this paper outlines key priorities for research, funding and capacity building. It argues that mental health social care should be an essential component of mental health service delivery, and calls for a move towards holistic, person-centred care that addresses the social determinants of mental health, alongside biological and psychological factors.

Workforce planning aims to model and predict supply and demand in medical specialties. In Scotland it is undertaken jointly by the Scottish Government and the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland to ensure workforce sustainability. The survey described in this paper aimed to ascertain why doctors continue to choose to take a break from/delay training programmes or pursue alternative jobs and career pathways. Career breaks, time out of training, less than full-time working patterns, dual training and non-clinical careers need to be taken into account during workforce planning not only to make psychiatry an attractive specialty to work in, but to ensure robust future sustainability in the psychiatric workforce in Scotland and the UK.