Psychology

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which involves passing electricity through the brain under general anesthesia to cause a seizure, usually between six and twelve times, is used to varying degrees around the world for patients with depression and other mental conditions.

Vince Lahey of Carefree, Arizona, embraces chatbots. From Big Tech products to "shady" ones, they offer "someone that I could share more secrets with than my therapist."

Researchers created a new questionnaire to measure major life changes linked to psychedelic use and found that most surveyed adults reporting naturalistic psychedelic use said psychedelics had influenced at least one major change in their lives. These changes most often involved goals, values, and spirituality, were usually rated positively, and were more commonly reported by people with more frequent use.

A landmark international clinical trial led by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, has found that magnetic seizure therapy (MST) is as effective as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)-the current gold-standard treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression-with significantly fewer cognitive side effects. The study is the first large-scale, randomized clinical trial to directly compare MST with ECT, marking an important step toward a new treatment option for patients.

New research shows that the threat-response in the brain's amygdala (which processes emotions) is linked to different patterns of drinking by sex.

Psychology students who will work with patients during supervised professional training can benefit from observing experienced therapists at work.

An advanced version of a procedure using magnetic fields to stimulate brain nerve cells in treating depression was significantly effective for 85% of active military and veterans suffering from combat post-traumatic stress disorder enrolled in a recent study, when added to psychotherapy.

Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed and evaluated a new eight-week training program that enables psychology trainees to effectively CBT by applying its techniques to themselves.

Psychotherapy has always been a deeply human endeavor: a patient talking, a therapist listening and responding, and healing happening through words. But with the rapid rise of conversational artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs), that paradigm is shifting fast.

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai today announced the enrollment of its first patient in a U.S. Department of Defense-funded pivotal clinical trial to evaluate whether a fast-acting, drug-free brain stimulation therapy can safely and quickly relieve symptoms of postpartum depression.

Stress is a constant companion in the oncologist's office. It appears at the time of diagnosis, increases with each stage of treatment, and often does not resolve even after therapy formally ends. It accompanies therapeutic decisions, waiting for test results, fear of recurrence, and changes in daily functioning. Studies show that chronic stress can trigger biological processes that promote disease progression and weaken the body's defenses.

New research indicates that the long-term neurological impact of childhood trauma is not permanently etched onto the brain.

People with mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression or bipolar disorder die on average ten to 20 years earlier than the general population.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not only characterized by strongly encoded traumatic memories, but also by disrupted coordination across brain networks.

Adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as autism and Down syndrome, experience substantially higher rates of anxiety and depression than the general population of adults, researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open.

Delirium is a sudden onset of acute confusion in which those affected are disoriented, have impaired attention, and experience altered perception -often accompanied by hallucinations or sleep disturbances.