Psychology

For some people, extreme stressors like psychiatric disorders or childhood neglect and abuse can lead to a range of health problems later in life, including depression, anxiety and cardiovascular disease. A new study identified genetic indicators that can predict another health problem, the decline of cognitive abilities, among people who have been affected by these extreme stressors.

It is well known that people who have lived through traumatic events like sexual assault, domestic abuse, or violent combat can experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including terrifying flashbacks, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the incident. But what exactly happens in the brains of PTSD patients as they recall these traumatic events? Are they remembered the same way as, say, the loss of a beloved pet -- or, for that matter, a relaxing walk on the beach?

A novelpilot study incorporating mindfulness into exposure therapy shows promise for reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stressin cardiacarrest survivors.One in three survivors ofcardiac arrest survivors develop PTSD, increasing their risk of mortality, yet no specific treatment has been developedfor this population.

A new analysis of the genomes of more than 1 million people has shed light on the underlying biology of cannabis use disorder and its links to psychiatric disorders, abuse of other substances such as tobacco, and possibly even an elevated risk of developing lung cancer.

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world, but current anti-depressants have yet to meet the needs of many patients. Neuroscientists recently discovered a small molecule that can effectively alleviate stress-induced depressive symptoms in mice by preventing aversive memory formation with a lower dosage, offering a new direction for developing anti-depressants in the future.

Children whose mothers are highly stressed, anxious or depressed during pregnancy may be at higher risk for mental health and behavior issues during their childhood and teen years, according to new research.

Researchers have shed new light on why electroconvulsive therapy has such a high success rate, a mystery that has puzzled doctors and scientists for almost a century. Findings could help improve this controversial treatment.

New research shows promise in treating addiction cravings by combining eye movements and guided instructions to process memories. Researchers transformed dysfunctional memories stored in the brain through processing and integration. EMDR was as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for cravings with the combination of both resulting in more reduction in craving than cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) alone. Both groups (experimental group and control group using only CBT) had clinically significant reductions in cravings, repetitive negative thoughts, and irrational cognitions, with the experimental group showing greater decreases overall.

Research and treatment of psychiatric disorders are stymied by a lack of biomarkers -- objective biological or physiological markers that can help diagnose, track, predict, and treat diseases. In a new study, researchers use a very large dataset to identify predictive brain imaging-based biomarkers of mental illness in adolescents.

Two new studies highlight how brain imaging can be used to predict and identify cognitive outcomes and psychiatric risk in young people.

A team of researchers has found that slightly higher, but mild anxious or depressive symptoms in fathers were associated with fewer behavioral difficulties in the first years of elementary school and better scores on a standardized IQ test in their children.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a widespread mental health condition that for many is disabling. It has long been appreciated that MDD has genetic as well as environmental influences. In a new study researchers identify a gene that interacted with stress to mediate aspects of treatment-resistant MDD in an animal model.

A research team has identified the most widespread genetic contribution by Denisovans to date. The study reveals that the genetic variant observed, which affects zinc regulation, could have signified an evolutionary advantage in our ancestors' adaptation to the cold. The study also reveals that this genetic adaptation may have predisposed modern humans to neuropsychiatric disorders.

People who have experienced traumatic events in childhood such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction may be more likely to experience headache disorders as adults, according to a meta-analysis. This research does not prove that such experiences cause headaches; it only shows an association.

Researchers have developed a new way of improving diagnosis of bipolar disorder that uses a simple blood test to identify biomarkers associated with the condition.

Researchers have conducted a large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to investigate the genetic architecture of PPD.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a time-intensive and often stress-inducing fertility procedure. Yet how does that stress impact its success? Investigators have now assessed the effects of anxiety and depression in men on fertility and IVF outcomes.

Schizophrenia, a neurodevelopmental disorder that features psychosis among its symptoms, is thought to arise from disorganization in brain connectivity and functional integration. Now, a new study finds differences in functional brain connectivity in people with and without psychosis and schizophrenia that could help researchers understand the neural underpinnings of this disease.

A new study lets patients practice letting go of treasured objects in simulations of their own homes.

Scientists have developed new tools, based on AI language models, that can characterize subtle signatures in the speech of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

One treatment each of two psychedelic drugs lowered depression and anxiety and improved cognitive functioning in a sample of U.S. special operations forces veterans who sought care at a clinic in Mexico, according to a new analysis.The treatment included a combination of ibogaine hydrochloride, derived from the West African shrub iboga, and a psychedelic substance secreted by the Colorado River toad.

Researchers have published a study that addresses possible associations between chronic stress, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease. The study shows how people aged between 18 and 65 with a previous diagnosis of chronic stress and depression were more likely than other people to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease.

Young people who are in higher education in England face a small increased risk of depression and anxiety, compared to their peers who are not attending higher education, finds a new study.

Inflammation is the sign that our body is defending itself against an aggression. But when this response escalates, for example in the brain, it can lead to serious neurological or psychiatric diseases. A team investigated a marker protein targeted by medical imaging to visualize cerebral inflammation, but whose interpretation was still uncertain. The team reveals that a large quantity of this protein goes hand in hand with a large quantity of inflammatory cells, but its presence is not a sign of their overactivation. These results pave the way for optimal observation of neuroinflammatory processes and a re-reading of previous studies on the subject.

New research is painting a clearer picture of the early signs of multiple sclerosis (MS), showing that people are nearly twice as likely to experience mental illness in the years leading up to the onset of the diseases. The study suggests that psychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression may be part of a prodromal phase of MS -- a set of preliminary symptoms and clues that arise before classic MS symptoms.

After a traumatic experience, most people recover without incident, but some people -- between 2% and 10% -- develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental health condition that can cause debilitating symptoms of anxiety due to emotional dysregulation. PTSD symptoms are present in up to 40% of trauma survivors in the acute aftermath of trauma, but full-blown PTSD develops in only a small subset of cases. Early identification of those at risk is critical for both early treatment and possible prevention.

The commonly-held belief that attempting to suppress negative thoughts is bad for our mental health could be wrong, a new study suggests. Researchers trained 120 volunteers worldwide to suppress thoughts about negative events that worried them, and found that not only did these become less vivid, but that the participants' mental health also improved.

New research has found that depression and the risk of depression are linked to different inflammatory proteins in boys and girls.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neurological disorder characterized by repeated behaviors such as cleaning and checking despite clear objective evidence of cleanliness, orderliness, and correctness. Although the disease is often mischaracterized as a disorder of 'fussiness,' the disorder actually stems from difficulty in processing uncertainty. However, the neural underpinnings of that aberrant processing remains unknown. Now, a new study uses brain imaging to get a closer look at the underpinnings of uncertainty processing in OCD.

When you're under stress, your brain may release its own cannabinoid molecules to calm you, activating the same brain receptors as THC derived from cannabis plants. But the brain activity regulated by these cannabinoid molecules were not well known. A new study in mice has discovered a key emotional brain center, the amygdala, releases cannabinoid molecules under stress that dampen the incoming stress alarm from the hippocampus, a memory and emotion center in the brain. The finding may reveal novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of stress-related disorders.