Recovery-focused interventions, especially those that involve collaborations between mental health professionals and peer providers, may serve to foster increased recovery, hope, and empowerment among individuals with serious mental illnesses.

A randomized controlled trial assessed the efficacy of group psychological first aid (PFA) by comparing the Johns Hopkins RAPID-PFA model with a group conversation condition in 119 participants using the state version of State Trait Anxiety Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedules. Both groups showed similar baseline scores, and after watching a distressing 5-minute video, both groups showed similar significant increases in state anxiety scores and negative affect scores, as well as similar decreases in positive affect scores. However, compared with the group conversation condition, the RAPID-PFA group evidenced significantly lower state anxiety scores at postintervention and at 30-minute delay. RAPID-PFA, compared with the group conversation condition, was also more effective in lowering negative affect scores postintervention, and significantly increasing positive affect scores at 30-minute delay. These results support the two primary goals of PFA, which are mitigating acute distress and instilling hope.

Objective: More women veterans than men use Veterans Health Administration (VHA) mental health services. Some psychiatric medications are associated with weight gain and other metabolic side effects, with women more susceptible and reporting more distress than men. We sought to explore how women experience and manage medication-induced weight gain to identify strategies for improving its prevention and management in women. Method: We completed semistructured, qualitative interviews with 30 female veterans with serious mental illnesses prescribed antipsychotic or mood stabilizer medications and 18 mental health prescribers. Interview transcripts were summarized and coded via principles of phenomenological inquiry to develop themes reflecting the study purpose. Results: We identified 5 themes related to females’ experiences with medication-induced weight gain. Female veterans described considerable psychological and physical distress associated with weight gain. However, many expressed a willingness to accept weight gain as a trade-off for medications’ therapeutic effects, a theme echoed by prescribers. Both described primarily using reactive rather than proactive or preventative weight management approaches and described the limited effectiveness of reactive approaches. Other contributing factors, including the multiple and uncertain causes of weight gain, uneven quality and quantity of weight loss information, lack of social support, and environmental barriers, add to the difficulty and complexity of their struggles. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: These findings improve our understanding of numerous veteran-, prescriber-, and environmental-level factors in the management of medication-associated weight gain in women that may be useful in designing gender-specific interventions.