Welcome to a special World Encephalitis Day edition of the Encephalitis Podcast.

Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of the Encephalitis Society, is joined by Dr Thomas Pollak, from Kings College London, and Dr Jesus Ramirez-Bermudez, of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery of Mexico, to talk about some two new important research papers around mental health and encephalitis.

An important note for our viewers and listeners: this podcast will be touching on some difficult areas, including more broad mental health issues and difficult topics such as self-harm and suicide.

If this is something which may lead to difficult emotions for you or for someone you know, please know that our support team are here to help.

We also some other resources which we have put together around mental health which we believe will be helpful to anyone affected by encephalitis and also their family and friends.

This includes links to useful organisations around the world, a factsheet on mental health and lots of sources of support and information.

The Encephalitis Podcast is available on YouTube and all good podcast channels, including Apple, Google Play, Spotify and Podbean

Further Reading

The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences

Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours in Anti-NMDAR Encephalitis: Psychopathological Features and Clinical Outcomes is a research paper authored by Dr Jesus Ramirez-Bermudez, of the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Mexico City, and colleagues

The research paper describes the suicidal thoughts and behaviours in a large group of Mexican patients diagnosed with Anti-NMDAR encephalitis. 

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MedRxiv

Mental health outcomes of encephalitis: an international web-based study is a research authored by Dr Thomas Pollak, of Kings College London, and colleagues.

A total of 445 respondents from 31 countries completed a web-based questionnaire assessing a wide range of mental health symptoms and disorders.

Please note: this article is a preprint and has not yet been certified by peer review. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

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