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Psychology & Psychiatry news

Psychology & Psychiatry

Reducing social media use for just a week can improve mental health

In a new study, published in JAMA Network Open, 295 participants report promising mental health benefits after reducing their social media usage for a week. The cohort consisted of young adults from the ages of 18 to 24—the ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Psychological distress in Gaza has tripled over the past 5 years amid ongoing conflict, surveys suggest

A new study tracking the mental health of adults in the Gaza Strip suggests that psychological distress has tripled over the past five years, with a sharp increase following the conflict escalation in October 2023.

Psychology & Psychiatry

What can DMT psychedelic teach us about the sense of self?

When people use a psychedelic called dimethyltryptamine (DMT), they experience a temporary loss of their sense of self. DMT interacts with a frequency of brain activity associated with self-referential processes (alpha waves), ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Decision tree distinguishes closely related psychotic disorders

How can closely related mental illnesses with similar symptoms be reliably distinguished from one another? As part of a German-Chinese collaboration, researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich and Heinrich Heine University ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Brain circuit controlling compulsive behavior mapped

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified a brain circuit that can drive repetitive and compulsive behaviors in mice, even when natural rewards such as food or social contact are available. The study ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

A two-minute fix for procrastination

You know that assignment, message or email you keep avoiding—the one that lingers in the back of your mind even as you scroll, tidy or "just check one more thing"? New research from UC Santa Barbara offers a science-backed ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Depression tied to immune system imbalance, not just brain chemistry

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by a lowered mood and loss of interest, contributing not only to difficulties in academic and professional life but also as a major cause of suicide in South Korea. However, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Decoding real-life fear for precision social anxiety treatments

Researchers at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have unveiled a transformative approach to understanding and treating social anxiety, challenging decades of laboratory-based assumptions and opening doors to targeted therapies.

Psychology & Psychiatry

AI and psychosis: What to know, what to do

Psychiatrist Stephan Taylor, M.D., has treated patients with psychosis for decades. He's done research on why people suffer delusions, paranoia, hallucinations and detachment from reality, which can drive them to suicide ...

Medical research

Research unveils new insights on face blindness

For most of us, it happens automatically: we recognize a face in a split second. But for people with developmental prosopagnosia—also known as face blindness—recognizing people is a daily challenge.

Psychology & Psychiatry

How watching dance activates your brain

Dance styles engage the brain in different ways depending on the movements, aesthetics, and emotions associated with the dance, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The findings offer insights into the ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Psychedelic decriminalization hasn't increased ER visits, study finds

A study published in JAMA Network Open analyzed national hospital admission data from 2016 to 2023 to assess whether decriminalizing psychedelics—such as psilocybin ("magic mushrooms")—has led to more people needing emergency ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

'Breathing' robots reveal how fear spreads through touch

Humans can "catch" fear from robots, new research has shown. The findings—by a team of psychologists from the University of Amsterdam and the University of British Columbia—shed new light on how emotions can spread through ...