Tom Lavender

Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist with Special Interest in Intellectual Disability/ASD, @kmptnhs, views my own.

[louis appleby @ProfLAppleby]

I gave evidence to the Nottingham Inquiry on Friday.

In my view the Inquiry will shape mental health care for the next decade, as did the inquiry into the killing of Jonathan Zito in 1992.

I made 3 points:

That in mental health we have a social responsibility…..

[Robert Howard @ProfRobHoward]

This is a well-researched and devastating take down of my UCL colleague and exposes an idiosyncratic and unbalanced approach to the interpretation and communication of Science.

[Tyler Black, MD @tylerblack32]

https://t.co/mys7LHuvhG

[Dr Sanil Rege FRANZCP | MRCPsych @sanilrege]

🧵What If Psychiatry ( and Neurology) Begins in the Retina? 👁️🚨

They say the eye is the window to the world BUT what if it’s the window to the brain itself.

Stay with me, this one’s a ride. 1/15 👇#WCP25 #WCP2025

[Seena Fazel @seenafazel]

Some observations on use of hospital orders in v. serious crimes.
Public safety is best served with a hospital order. Studies show that reoffending rates are clearly lower after discharge from secure hospitals than prison release. Systematic review: https://t.co/AAaRIeC8ee 1/

[Seena Fazel @seenafazel]

Just out! Series of 4 linked commentaries in @TheBJPsych on suicide risk asssessment and prediction models in mental health.

Papers bring together latest evidence, outline opportunities for clinical practice, address dated criticisms, and consider ethical implications. 🧵

[Dr Sanil Rege FRANZCP | MRCPsych @sanilrege]

🧵Masking is not performance. It is protection. 🚨1/16

Masking is ( or was) trending on Twitter.

It’s also increasingly heard in clinical practice.

As with most phenomena that suddenly become popular, it can be misunderstood ( and are applied broadly)

“Masking” is not one thing.
( yes it was originally described as social camouflaging in ASD)

It can be heterogeneous. ( in its functions)

Let’s explore it from a neurobiological and psychological perspective 👇

[Tom Lavender @tomlavender]

@tomfahy @mancunianmedic @ProfRobHoward @AlanCarson15 Not if they’re doing the painfully laborious MCA training I’ve just finally got to the end of though; it makes you watch every video and click on every picture in each of the 9 modules in order to get your certificate. Having the knowledge isn’t enough - pain is also compulsory

[Chris Daw KC @crimlawuk]

If you sign only one petition this year, please sign this one.

Don't let them remove the right to trial by jury.

It is the last part of the system we can completely trust.

#SaveJuryTrial
#NoToLammy

https://t.co/xono34jd6F

[Brandon Luu, MD @BrandonLuuMD]

Can’t fall asleep before 2 AM.
Hit snooze five times.
Wide awake at midnight.

This is likely a delayed circadian rhythm.

Morning light helps, but only if the timing, intensity, and delivery are right. Get it wrong and you delay your clock further.

Here’s what to do🧵1/13

[Ben Smith @bensmithlive]

A single night of sleep can now predict 130 future diseases with up to 93% accuracy.

Stanford researchers just released SleepFM.

This is a multimodal foundation model trained on 585,000 hours of physiological data from 65,000 participants.

And it's actually insane: (1/5)

[Lorwen Harris Nagle, PhD @LORWEN108]

"Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75." Benjamin Franklin

They're walking-dead stuck in someone else's dream, trapped in soulless jobs, and tangled in traumas.

Carl Jung Found 6 Laws for Finding Your Life’s Purpose: 🧵

1/ Your Purpose Has an Expiration Date

[Joanna Hardy-Susskind @Joanna__Hardy]

A few days ago, David Lammy wrote a letter to the Justice Committee answering some questions about his proposals to restrict jury trial.

This is a welcome step.

It’s a telling letter.

But not for the reasons you might think.

🪡 🧵

[Nicholas Fabiano, MD @NTFabiano]

ADHD is a circadian rhythm disorder.

We just published a new paper on the topic.

https://t.co/XymFxl1aBO

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

NEW BLOGPOST

Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?

https://t.co/a3I0uz1Mbf

[Richard Bentall #FBPE @richardbentall.bsky.social @RichardBentall]

1/24 So, with all the hysteria and shouting about the King's puberty blocker research, it seems that somebody should take the trouble to download and read the 113 page study protocol, and it will have to be me. Here are some preliminary thoughts.

[Adam Wagner KC @AdamWagner1]

I can’t remember a time when there has not been security outside my synagogue.

When I say “security”, this is mostly volunteers from the community, who stand in the sun or rain, each week, to be a first line of defence against potential attackers.

At the little synagogue in South Manchester where I grew up, I stood with my dad when he was on duty, then once I was a teenager, I volunteered myself.

As the years have gone by, the volunteers have been joined by the Community Security Trust, a charity dedicated to protecting Jews, not just at synagogues but schools and events (still staffed mostly by volunteers).

This morning, on Yom Kippur, at 9:30am, the same time Jihad Al-Shamie was murderously ramming his car through the gates at Heaton Park, I was running a service for toddlers at my synagogue in London.

I had refreshed myself on the evacuation and lockdown procedures, including when to barricade the doors even though there might be community members trying to get in - the guidance said this could be “distressing”.

As I have a few times since 7/10/23, I decided to bring my phone, switched off, to synagogue (we are not meant to). I thought I would want it with me in case there was a lockdown.

So, I was able to call my mum as soon as they announced that there had been an “incident” in Manchester. My family was safe, as far as we could tell, though I know plenty of people there including relatives.

Later on, I read that one of the people who had died had been on security (I don’t know if this is true) - it was at that moment that I wept.

Heaton Park Synagogue is close to where both of my parents grew up. I was there a few weeks ago when I spoke as part of the hugely moving event welcoming released hostage Eli Sharabi. The pictures below are of me and my mum (I know - she looks young!) standing beside the plaque in the entrance honouring my grandfather Fred Balcombe who was instrumental in building the synagogue and opened it in 1967.

The same entrance where members of the synagogue barricaded themselves in today, probably saving many lives.

Jewish people in the UK have been used to being under threat for so long that I guess we have always expected that this day would come; but it is still a wrenching shock.

There will be plenty of time to talk about causes. But I will say that the last couple of years has ebbed away at the Jewish community's characteristic resilience.

It has been especially hard to hear people marching through the streets calling for “intifada” (which any Jew would understand to mean murdering Jews).

When people support Hamas or Hizbollah, proscribed terrorist organisations, it's not ‘free expression’ - it’s encouraging attacks like today's.

And universities and hospitals should never be hostile to Jews.

I end by sending my love and thoughts to everyone in the Heaton Park community, especially those who have been injured and the families of those who have been killed. May their memories be a blessing.

[Indermeet Sawhney @InderSawhney1]

Narrow the gap, #PWID #health inequalities #inequity of access, reduced life expectancy @psychiatryofid @idtraineesuk @LadeSmith @hpft @RajAttavar @haritsa1 @modiyoor @regalexa

[Tom Lavender @tomlavender]

I never knew!

[Brian Butterfield @MrBButterfield]

DID YOU KNOW THE COUNTDOWN THEME HAS LYRICS? #CatsDoesCountdown #JimmyCarr #VowelsAndConsonants

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

We have people in power making broad claims around certain drugs and autism that have been continuously disproven. The degree to which those comments can undermine public health, do harm to women who are pregnant, create anxiety for parents who do have children who are autistic – is violence against the truth.