Dr Tom Freeman talks to us before his plenary talk at the Society of Mental Health Research conference in Hobart on "The role of cannabinoids in the development and treatment of addiction and mental health disorders".

Dr Tom Freeman is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Addiction and Mental Health Group in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, United Kingdom. He is a member of Council for the British Association for Psychopharmacology and was supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction as a Senior Academic Fellow. He has contributed clinical guideline development for the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and international projects for the European Union drugs agency. In his talk “The role of cannabinoids in the development and treatment of addiction and mental health disorders” he will firstly outline the effects of THC and CBD, which are distinct cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. Next, he will present data on how levels of cannabinoids have changed in cannabis over time, and the health impact of these changes. Finally, he will present new trial data investigating cannabinoids as treatments for addiction and mental health disorders.

Tom Freeman - Cannabis and mental health

Professor Willem Kuyken, Director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, discusses his new meta-analysis of mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for recurrent depression. This new study is an important step forward for MBCT which now deserves to be considered alongside other evidence-based treatments for preventing the recurrence of depression. 

Willem also told us about his own personal journey to becoming one of the world's leading mindfulness researchers, and along the way we talked about the evidence for mindfulness-based interventions, the safety and cost-effectiveness of mindfulness, researcher allegiance, mindfulness in schools and how he sees mindfulness fitting into care pathways for people with depression.

Mindfulness with Willem Kuyken

Pim Cuijpers, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, discusses his new RCT of web-based guided self-help for preventing depression, published yesterday in JAMA.

This high quality study found that Internet-based guided self-help can prevent the onset of depressive disorders in some people who have sub threshold depression.

Preventing depression with Pim Cuijpers

The COCAPP study is about mental health risk, care planning and therapeutic relationships. This podcast interview with Alan Simpson and Sarah Carr explores the importance of assessing and managing risk, how to make care planning work for staff and service users, and what constitutes a positive therapeutic relationship.

Along the way we talk about the impact that austerity is having on the lives of service users, carers and staff, and we discuss what needs to be done to make research a central component of frontline mental health practice.

Recovery-focused care planning with Alan Simpson

Clinical Psychologist, Psychotherapist and Activist Jay Watts talks to us about borderline personality disorder and trauma-informed care.

Jay Watts

Clinician, Academic and Writer, Professor Linda Gask speaks about her own experience living with depression and anxiety, whilst working as a psychiatrist in the NHS.

Linda Gask

The Director of Common Room talks about her work on coproduction and shared decision making with children and young people.

Kate Martin

The National Elf Service will help you keep up to date with the latest reliable health and social care research. Our podcasts feature interviews with leading experts in mental health: researchers, clinicians, practitioners and experts by experience.

Tom Freeman - Cannabis and mental health

National Elf Service

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