Can we trust observational data? Keeping bias in mind

Gender diversity in the Journal of Mental Health – how are we doing and what do we need to do?

“…Gender diversity is importantwomen are half the worldbut it is not the only type of diversity we need to consider there is also ethnicity and now that gender is not a binary concept it is harder to identify this author attribute via publication. The JMH has emphasised the inclusion of people who use mental health services as authors (Byrne et al, 2019;Pinfold et al, 2019;Robertson et al, 2019;Robotham et al, 2016;Webber et al, 2014) and we have been successful on our editorial board, in our editorials (Carr, 2020;Sweeney & Taggart, 2018;Wykes et al, 2019) and in the types of research we accept (Farr et al, 2019;Happell et al, 2019b;Happell et al, 2019a;McCabe et al, 2018;Mulfinger et al, 2019). We want to continue to encourage these papers and particularly those led by service users.…”

Book Review: Our psychiatric future: The politics of mental health, Approach to the psychiatric patient: Case-based essays (2nd ed.) and Person centered approach to recovery in medicine: Insights from psychosomatic medicine and consultation-liaison psychiatry

“…A discussion of whether there is ‘Really an Epidemic of Mental Disorder’ raises the important point that ‘numbers are political’. Statistics are normally gathered with some objective in mind (Wykes et al, 2019). A chapter asking if it is ‘All the Fault of Neoliberal Capitalism?’ broadly supports the World Health Organization (WHO, 2014) report on Social Determinants of Mental Health conclusion that increased inequality, stress and loneliness, together with the cognitive overload imposed by the Internet, are contributory factors.…”

“…A discussion of whether there is 'Really an Epidemic of Mental Disorder' raises the important point that 'numbers are political'. Statistics are normally gathered with some objective in mind (Wykes et al, 2019). A chapter asking if it is 'All the Fault of Neoliberal Capitalism?'…”