#counseling — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #counseling, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: New study reveals how running trains the body to handle psychological stress
A study examining the effects of exercise on mental health symptom severity found that these effects are mediated by reductions in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking. In other words, exercise reduced perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking, and these led to the reduction of other mental health symptoms. The paper was published in Psychological Medicine.
Regular physical exercise is increasingly recognized as an important tool for supporting mental health as well as physical health. Research suggests that exercise can reduce symptoms of several mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and insomnia. Yet, researchers are still trying to understand exactly why moving the body can produce such broad psychological benefits.
One possibility is that exercise acts as a transdiagnostic treatment—meaning it influences processes that are shared across many different mental disorders rather than acting on symptoms unique to a particular diagnosis. These common processes include how strongly people perceive and experience stress, how much they become caught in repetitive negative thoughts, and how well they sleep.
Each of these factors can contribute to the development and persistence of psychological difficulties, and they can also reinforce one another over time. Exercise may help interrupt this cycle by improving the ability to cope with stress, reducing patterns of persistent negative thinking, and supporting better sleep.
Study author Anna Katharina Frei and her colleagues conducted a study in which they investigated how perceived stress, repetitive negative thinking, and sleep quality jointly mediate the effect of exercise on mental health symptom severity. They conducted a secondary analysis of the ImPuls trial data (using existing data from an already completed trial to answer this new question) that included 6- and 12-month follow-ups along with data collection at the start of the study.
The ImPuls trial was a study conducted across 10 study sites in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Participants were randomly assigned into two parallel groups – one receiving the ImPuls exercise treatment plus treatment as usual (for the disorder participants suffered from) and one receiving only treatment as usual, which acted as a control group.
Study participants were 400 physically inactive individuals suffering from major depressive disorder, agoraphobia, panic disorder, PTSD, or insomnia. Nearly 72% of them suffered from major depressive disorder. Participants’ average age was 42 years, and about 71% of them were women.
The ImPuls treatment consisted of supervised group meetings and 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise performed as outdoor running two to three times per week. The group meetings were focused on behavioral change techniques (e.g. goal setting, barrier management) delivered by qualified exercise therapists to increase motivation and commitment to maintaining an exercise routine.
The supervised portion of the treatment lasted for 4 weeks, after which participants were instructed to continue nonsupervised aerobic exercises for five more months, making it a 6-month intervention overall. The adherence to this regimen was monitored through phone calls with the exercise therapist. The treatment as usual condition (the control condition) included standard interventions typically provided in German outpatient settings, such as psychological treatments and medications.
Study authors assessed participants’ overall symptom severity (using the Global Severity Index, which measures combined distress from depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms), sleep quality (the German version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), perceived stress (the Perceived Stress Scale), and repetitive negative thinking (the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire).
Results showed that at the 6- and 12-month assessments, participants undergoing the ImPuls treatment showed significantly reduced repetitive negative thinking and perceived stress compared to the control group. However, contrary to initial expectations, the exercise intervention did not lead to improved sleep quality at either time point. The authors suggest this may be because while exercise is known to improve sleep for depression, its impact on the sleep of those with PTSD and anxiety disorders—who were also included in this mixed group—is historically less conclusive.
Study authors tested a statistical model proposing that reductions in repetitive negative thinking and perceived stress (caused by the ImPuls treatment) led to reductions in disorder symptoms. Results confirmed this relationship, showing that changes in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking fully mediated the treatment’s effect on overall symptom severity.
“Our results suggest that changes in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking may be key transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying the treatment effect of exercise on global symptom severity,” study authors concluded.
The researchers theorize that exercise reduces stress by safely mimicking physical stress responses (like a raised heart rate and cortisol release), effectively training the body to handle actual psychological stressors better over time. Furthermore, the physical exertion of exercise may act as a deliberate distraction, forcing the brain to shift focus away from symptoms and break the cycle of repetitive negative thinking.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the effects of exercise on mental health symptoms. However, the study participants were likely aware of what the study was investigating and what the expected results were, while outcome measures were based on self-reports. This could have created expectancy effects that may have affected the results.
The paper, “Changes in repetitive negative thinking and stress perception mediate treatment effects of a transdiagnostic exercise intervention,” was authored by Anna Katharina Frei, Thomas Studnitz, Britta Seiffer, Jana Welkerling, Johanna-Marie Zeibig, Eva Herzog, Mia Maria Günak, Thomas Ehring, Keisuke Takano, Tristan Nakagawa, Leonie Sundmacher, Sebastian Himmler, Stefan Peters, Anna Lena Flagmeier, Lena Zwanzleitner, Ander Ramos-Murguialday, Gorden Sudeck, and Sebastian Wolf.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ExerciseMentalHealth #TransdiagnosticTreatment #StressReduction #RepetitiveNegativeThinking #SleepQuality #ImPulsTrial #MentalHealthResearch #DepressionAnxietyPTSD #RunningForWellness #PsychologicalMedicine
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: New study reveals how running trains the body to handle psychological stress
A study examining the effects of exercise on mental health symptom severity found that these effects are mediated by reductions in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking. In other words, exercise reduced perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking, and these led to the reduction of other mental health symptoms. The paper was published in Psychological Medicine.
Regular physical exercise is increasingly recognized as an important tool for supporting mental health as well as physical health. Research suggests that exercise can reduce symptoms of several mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and insomnia. Yet, researchers are still trying to understand exactly why moving the body can produce such broad psychological benefits.
One possibility is that exercise acts as a transdiagnostic treatment—meaning it influences processes that are shared across many different mental disorders rather than acting on symptoms unique to a particular diagnosis. These common processes include how strongly people perceive and experience stress, how much they become caught in repetitive negative thoughts, and how well they sleep.
Each of these factors can contribute to the development and persistence of psychological difficulties, and they can also reinforce one another over time. Exercise may help interrupt this cycle by improving the ability to cope with stress, reducing patterns of persistent negative thinking, and supporting better sleep.
Study author Anna Katharina Frei and her colleagues conducted a study in which they investigated how perceived stress, repetitive negative thinking, and sleep quality jointly mediate the effect of exercise on mental health symptom severity. They conducted a secondary analysis of the ImPuls trial data (using existing data from an already completed trial to answer this new question) that included 6- and 12-month follow-ups along with data collection at the start of the study.
The ImPuls trial was a study conducted across 10 study sites in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Participants were randomly assigned into two parallel groups – one receiving the ImPuls exercise treatment plus treatment as usual (for the disorder participants suffered from) and one receiving only treatment as usual, which acted as a control group.
Study participants were 400 physically inactive individuals suffering from major depressive disorder, agoraphobia, panic disorder, PTSD, or insomnia. Nearly 72% of them suffered from major depressive disorder. Participants’ average age was 42 years, and about 71% of them were women.
The ImPuls treatment consisted of supervised group meetings and 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise performed as outdoor running two to three times per week. The group meetings were focused on behavioral change techniques (e.g. goal setting, barrier management) delivered by qualified exercise therapists to increase motivation and commitment to maintaining an exercise routine.
The supervised portion of the treatment lasted for 4 weeks, after which participants were instructed to continue nonsupervised aerobic exercises for five more months, making it a 6-month intervention overall. The adherence to this regimen was monitored through phone calls with the exercise therapist. The treatment as usual condition (the control condition) included standard interventions typically provided in German outpatient settings, such as psychological treatments and medications.
Study authors assessed participants’ overall symptom severity (using the Global Severity Index, which measures combined distress from depression, anxiety, and physical symptoms), sleep quality (the German version of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index), perceived stress (the Perceived Stress Scale), and repetitive negative thinking (the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire).
Results showed that at the 6- and 12-month assessments, participants undergoing the ImPuls treatment showed significantly reduced repetitive negative thinking and perceived stress compared to the control group. However, contrary to initial expectations, the exercise intervention did not lead to improved sleep quality at either time point. The authors suggest this may be because while exercise is known to improve sleep for depression, its impact on the sleep of those with PTSD and anxiety disorders—who were also included in this mixed group—is historically less conclusive.
Study authors tested a statistical model proposing that reductions in repetitive negative thinking and perceived stress (caused by the ImPuls treatment) led to reductions in disorder symptoms. Results confirmed this relationship, showing that changes in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking fully mediated the treatment’s effect on overall symptom severity.
“Our results suggest that changes in perceived stress and repetitive negative thinking may be key transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying the treatment effect of exercise on global symptom severity,” study authors concluded.
The researchers theorize that exercise reduces stress by safely mimicking physical stress responses (like a raised heart rate and cortisol release), effectively training the body to handle actual psychological stressors better over time. Furthermore, the physical exertion of exercise may act as a deliberate distraction, forcing the brain to shift focus away from symptoms and break the cycle of repetitive negative thinking.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the effects of exercise on mental health symptoms. However, the study participants were likely aware of what the study was investigating and what the expected results were, while outcome measures were based on self-reports. This could have created expectancy effects that may have affected the results.
The paper, “Changes in repetitive negative thinking and stress perception mediate treatment effects of a transdiagnostic exercise intervention,” was authored by Anna Katharina Frei, Thomas Studnitz, Britta Seiffer, Jana Welkerling, Johanna-Marie Zeibig, Eva Herzog, Mia Maria Günak, Thomas Ehring, Keisuke Takano, Tristan Nakagawa, Leonie Sundmacher, Sebastian Himmler, Stefan Peters, Anna Lena Flagmeier, Lena Zwanzleitner, Ander Ramos-Murguialday, Gorden Sudeck, and Sebastian Wolf.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ExerciseMentalHealth #TransdiagnosticTreatment #StressReduction #RepetitiveNegativeThinking #SleepQuality #ImPulsTrial #MentalHealthResearch #DepressionAnxietyPTSD #RunningForWellness #PsychologicalMedicine
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Mentally engaging parenting linked to better working memory development
URL: https://www.psypost.org/mentally-engaging-parenting-linked-to-better-working-memory-development/
Children from wealthier families tend to start school with a better ability to hold and use information in their minds, but engaging kids in activities like reading or puzzles is associated with bridging this gap. A large study tracking students from kindergarten through fifth grade found that mentally engaging parenting practices are linked to protected cognitive development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research was published in Learning and Individual Differences.
Working memory is the mental capacity to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It acts as a mental workspace for tasks like reasoning, planning, and understanding language. In a classroom, a child uses working memory to remember multi-step instructions or to solve mental math problems. This cognitive skill is strongly linked to how well children learn when they enter formal schooling.
During early childhood, this mental capacity grows rapidly. A family’s socioeconomic status, which encompasses household income, parental education, and job prestige, is closely tied to this early cognitive development. Children raised in families with fewer resources often face chronic stress and have less access to educational materials. These factors are frequently associated with slower cognitive growth compared to peers from wealthier backgrounds.
Past research has shown mixed results about whether these early cognitive gaps widen, remain the same, or shrink as children progress through school. Researchers Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong wanted to map exactly how working memory changes across childhood. They also examined whether specific parenting behaviors could alter the statistical relationship between a family’s socioeconomic background and a child’s cognitive growth.
The team analyzed data from a large study of 15,437 children in the United States. The information came from a national education database that followed a representative group of students from their kindergarten year in 2010 through the fifth grade. To measure working memory, the original survey administrators used a backward digit span task. Children listened to a sequence of numbers and had to repeat them back in reverse order.
The number sequences grew longer as the children succeeded, testing the limits of their mental capacity. This test was given to the students multiple times between kindergarten and the fifth grade. During the kindergarten year, parents answered survey questions about their household income, education levels, and occupations.
Parents also reported on three dimensions of their parenting behavior. They answered questions about cognitive stimulation, which included how often they read, sang, or did arts and crafts with their children. The survey also asked about parental warmth, such as how often parents expressed affection or felt close to their child. Finally, parents reported on negative discipline, specifically whether they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week.
Using all these data points, the researchers built statistical models to track cognitive growth over time. Overall, working memory increased steadily for most children as they progressed through elementary school. The growth happened fastest in the early years and began to level off as the children approached the fifth grade.
A family’s socioeconomic status was linked to exactly how this growth happened. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds started kindergarten with better working memory scores than their less wealthy peers. However, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds actually showed a faster initial rate of cognitive growth during the early school years.
This early burst of growth allowed disadvantaged children to narrow the cognitive gap slightly. The researchers suspect that entering a structured school environment provides an initial boost to children who lacked resources at home. Yet, their working memory growth started to plateau much earlier than that of their wealthier peers. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds experienced a steadier, more prolonged period of working memory development.
Because of this longer growth period, the cognitive gap remained evident by the end of fifth grade. Over time, cumulative disadvantages like limited access to enriching extracurricular activities can continue to restrict cognitive development. Wealthier children keep benefiting from sustained access to enriched resources, allowing their mental capacities to grow for a longer period.
The researchers then looked at how parenting behaviors altered these trends. They found that cognitive stimulation was associated with a buffering effect against the negative impacts of a lower socioeconomic background. Children whose parents frequently engaged them in reading, puzzles, and nature activities tended to start kindergarten with higher working memory scores.
These engaging activities were also linked to changes in the trajectory of the children’s cognitive growth. Children receiving high levels of cognitive stimulation experienced a delayed plateau in their working memory development. This means their cognitive skills continued growing for a longer time, following a pattern more similar to the growth of children from wealthier families.
Other parenting behaviors did not alter the relationship between family wealth and cognitive growth. The results were not statistically significant for parental warmth modifying the socioeconomic disparities in working memory. The researchers noted that most parents in the survey reported very high levels of warmth, which might have made it difficult to detect any subtle statistical variations.
Spanking also failed to change the trajectory of socioeconomic disparities. While spanking was generally linked to poorer working memory across all groups, it did not uniquely associate with a change in the cognitive gap tied to socioeconomic status. Physical discipline appeared to be negatively linked to cognitive development regardless of a family’s income or education level.
There are a few limitations to the study design. All data on parenting behaviors were reported by the parents themselves. People often answer surveys in ways that make them look better, which can introduce bias into the results. Future projects could use direct observations of parent-child interactions to get more objective measurements.
Additionally, the researchers only used data on family income and parenting behaviors from the children’s kindergarten year. Families experience financial changes, and parenting styles evolve as children grow. By only looking at a single point in time, the study cannot account for how shifting family dynamics over the next five years might have shaped the students’ development.
The measurement of physical discipline was also quite narrow. The survey asked parents if they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week. This short timeframe makes it hard to capture chronic patterns of harsh discipline. A longer assessment period would be needed to see how consistent physical discipline associates with cognitive growth over years.
The backward digit span task only assesses one specific type of cognitive processing. Working memory has multiple components, including the ability to remember spatial information. Using a wider variety of cognitive tests would provide a more complete picture of a child’s mental capabilities.
Finally, the data came exclusively from a sample of children in the United States. Educational systems and cultural parenting norms vary widely around the world. The ways that wealth and parenting interact to shape cognitive growth might look different in other countries.
The study, “Development of working memory through childhood: The interplay of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors,” was authored by Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/mentally-engaging-parenting-linked-to-better-working-memory-development/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #WorkingMemory #CognitiveDevelopment #EarlyChildhoodEducation #ParentingTips #SocioeconomicStatus #CognitiveStimulation #ReadingWithKids #MentalEngagement #ChildDevelopment #LearningDifferences
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Mentally engaging parenting linked to better working memory development
URL: https://www.psypost.org/mentally-engaging-parenting-linked-to-better-working-memory-development/
Children from wealthier families tend to start school with a better ability to hold and use information in their minds, but engaging kids in activities like reading or puzzles is associated with bridging this gap. A large study tracking students from kindergarten through fifth grade found that mentally engaging parenting practices are linked to protected cognitive development in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research was published in Learning and Individual Differences.
Working memory is the mental capacity to temporarily hold and manipulate information. It acts as a mental workspace for tasks like reasoning, planning, and understanding language. In a classroom, a child uses working memory to remember multi-step instructions or to solve mental math problems. This cognitive skill is strongly linked to how well children learn when they enter formal schooling.
During early childhood, this mental capacity grows rapidly. A family’s socioeconomic status, which encompasses household income, parental education, and job prestige, is closely tied to this early cognitive development. Children raised in families with fewer resources often face chronic stress and have less access to educational materials. These factors are frequently associated with slower cognitive growth compared to peers from wealthier backgrounds.
Past research has shown mixed results about whether these early cognitive gaps widen, remain the same, or shrink as children progress through school. Researchers Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong wanted to map exactly how working memory changes across childhood. They also examined whether specific parenting behaviors could alter the statistical relationship between a family’s socioeconomic background and a child’s cognitive growth.
The team analyzed data from a large study of 15,437 children in the United States. The information came from a national education database that followed a representative group of students from their kindergarten year in 2010 through the fifth grade. To measure working memory, the original survey administrators used a backward digit span task. Children listened to a sequence of numbers and had to repeat them back in reverse order.
The number sequences grew longer as the children succeeded, testing the limits of their mental capacity. This test was given to the students multiple times between kindergarten and the fifth grade. During the kindergarten year, parents answered survey questions about their household income, education levels, and occupations.
Parents also reported on three dimensions of their parenting behavior. They answered questions about cognitive stimulation, which included how often they read, sang, or did arts and crafts with their children. The survey also asked about parental warmth, such as how often parents expressed affection or felt close to their child. Finally, parents reported on negative discipline, specifically whether they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week.
Using all these data points, the researchers built statistical models to track cognitive growth over time. Overall, working memory increased steadily for most children as they progressed through elementary school. The growth happened fastest in the early years and began to level off as the children approached the fifth grade.
A family’s socioeconomic status was linked to exactly how this growth happened. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds started kindergarten with better working memory scores than their less wealthy peers. However, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds actually showed a faster initial rate of cognitive growth during the early school years.
This early burst of growth allowed disadvantaged children to narrow the cognitive gap slightly. The researchers suspect that entering a structured school environment provides an initial boost to children who lacked resources at home. Yet, their working memory growth started to plateau much earlier than that of their wealthier peers. Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds experienced a steadier, more prolonged period of working memory development.
Because of this longer growth period, the cognitive gap remained evident by the end of fifth grade. Over time, cumulative disadvantages like limited access to enriching extracurricular activities can continue to restrict cognitive development. Wealthier children keep benefiting from sustained access to enriched resources, allowing their mental capacities to grow for a longer period.
The researchers then looked at how parenting behaviors altered these trends. They found that cognitive stimulation was associated with a buffering effect against the negative impacts of a lower socioeconomic background. Children whose parents frequently engaged them in reading, puzzles, and nature activities tended to start kindergarten with higher working memory scores.
These engaging activities were also linked to changes in the trajectory of the children’s cognitive growth. Children receiving high levels of cognitive stimulation experienced a delayed plateau in their working memory development. This means their cognitive skills continued growing for a longer time, following a pattern more similar to the growth of children from wealthier families.
Other parenting behaviors did not alter the relationship between family wealth and cognitive growth. The results were not statistically significant for parental warmth modifying the socioeconomic disparities in working memory. The researchers noted that most parents in the survey reported very high levels of warmth, which might have made it difficult to detect any subtle statistical variations.
Spanking also failed to change the trajectory of socioeconomic disparities. While spanking was generally linked to poorer working memory across all groups, it did not uniquely associate with a change in the cognitive gap tied to socioeconomic status. Physical discipline appeared to be negatively linked to cognitive development regardless of a family’s income or education level.
There are a few limitations to the study design. All data on parenting behaviors were reported by the parents themselves. People often answer surveys in ways that make them look better, which can introduce bias into the results. Future projects could use direct observations of parent-child interactions to get more objective measurements.
Additionally, the researchers only used data on family income and parenting behaviors from the children’s kindergarten year. Families experience financial changes, and parenting styles evolve as children grow. By only looking at a single point in time, the study cannot account for how shifting family dynamics over the next five years might have shaped the students’ development.
The measurement of physical discipline was also quite narrow. The survey asked parents if they spanked their child and how many times they had done so in the past week. This short timeframe makes it hard to capture chronic patterns of harsh discipline. A longer assessment period would be needed to see how consistent physical discipline associates with cognitive growth over years.
The backward digit span task only assesses one specific type of cognitive processing. Working memory has multiple components, including the ability to remember spatial information. Using a wider variety of cognitive tests would provide a more complete picture of a child’s mental capabilities.
Finally, the data came exclusively from a sample of children in the United States. Educational systems and cultural parenting norms vary widely around the world. The ways that wealth and parenting interact to shape cognitive growth might look different in other countries.
The study, “Development of working memory through childhood: The interplay of family socioeconomic status and parenting behaviors,” was authored by Li Zhao, Stephanie W.Y. Chan, and Shuyang Dong.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/mentally-engaging-parenting-linked-to-better-working-memory-development/
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #WorkingMemory #CognitiveDevelopment #EarlyChildhoodEducation #ParentingTips #SocioeconomicStatus #CognitiveStimulation #ReadingWithKids #MentalEngagement #ChildDevelopment #LearningDifferences
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:20AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Scientists discover a hidden brain rhythm that could improve Parkinson’s treatment
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
Scientists have pinpointed a brain network—and its distinctive electrical rhythm—that appears to drive the benefits of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. The discovery could lead to more precise, personalized stimulation settings and better results for patients.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ParkinsonsDisease #DeepBrainStimulation #DBS #BrainRhythms #Neurology #Neuroscience #PersonalizedMedicine #BrainNetwork #ParkinsonsResearch #NeuralStimulation
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Ozempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
Ozempic-like drugs appear to weaken more than hunger—they may also reduce cravings for alcohol and other addictive substances. Scientists are increasingly tracing this effect to the lateral septum, a brain region that helps connect memories and surroundings with rewarding experiences. Packed with GLP-1 receptors, it may act as a crucial control point between thinking about a reward and feeling compelled to pursue it. The discovery could open new approaches to treating addiction as well as obesity.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Ozempic #cravingcenter #GLP1 #addictiontreatment #weightloss #brainresearch #lateralseptum #rewardsystem #neuroscience #oberstandingcravings
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:20AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Scientists discover a hidden brain rhythm that could improve Parkinson’s treatment
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
Scientists have pinpointed a brain network—and its distinctive electrical rhythm—that appears to drive the benefits of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. The discovery could lead to more precise, personalized stimulation settings and better results for patients.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ParkinsonsDisease #DeepBrainStimulation #DBS #BrainRhythms #Neurology #Neuroscience #PersonalizedMedicine #BrainNetwork #ParkinsonsResearch #NeuralStimulation
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHOLOGY FEEDTITLE: Ozempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
Ozempic-like drugs appear to weaken more than hunger—they may also reduce cravings for alcohol and other addictive substances. Scientists are increasingly tracing this effect to the lateral septum, a brain region that helps connect memories and surroundings with rewarding experiences. Packed with GLP-1 receptors, it may act as a crucial control point between thinking about a reward and feeling compelled to pursue it. The discovery could open new approaches to treating addiction as well as obesity.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Ozempic #cravingcenter #GLP1 #addictiontreatment #weightloss #brainresearch #lateralseptum #rewardsystem #neuroscience #oberstandingcravings
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 11:00AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEEDTITLE: Look Up at the Sky Tonight. The Perseid Meteor Shower Will Awe You.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/opinion/perseid-meteor-shower-awe-inspiring.html
Experiencing awe makes us happier, healthier and more fulfilled. Why not watch the Perseid meteor shower to have a bit more awe in your life?
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/opinion/perseid-meteor-shower-awe-inspiring.html
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PerseidMeteorShower #LookUpAtTheSky #AweInspiration #SkyWatching #MeteorShower2024 #NightSkyMagic #AstronomyLovers #CosmicWonder #Stargazing #FeelInspired
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 11:00AM
SOURCE:
NEW YORK TIMES PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGISTS FEEDTITLE: Look Up at the Sky Tonight. The Perseid Meteor Shower Will Awe You.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/opinion/perseid-meteor-shower-awe-inspiring.html
Experiencing awe makes us happier, healthier and more fulfilled. Why not watch the Perseid meteor shower to have a bit more awe in your life?
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/opinion/perseid-meteor-shower-awe-inspiring.html
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:20AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists discover a hidden brain rhythm that could improve Parkinson’s treatment
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
Scientists have pinpointed a brain network—and its distinctive electrical rhythm—that appears to drive the benefits of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. The discovery could lead to more precise, personalized stimulation settings and better results for patients.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:43AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: The adult brain can repair itself better than scientists thought
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015158.htm
The adult brain may be far better at repairing itself than scientists once believed. In mice, researchers discovered a special group of support cells called astrocytes that respond to damaged brain tissue by rebuilding lost cellular networks. Rather than simply moving into the injured area, these cells perform a remarkable maneuver: they create new nuclei and send them traveling through long cellular extensions to repopulate damaged regions.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015158.htm
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 09:12AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: MIT neuroscientists discover the brain can reason without words
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011140.htm
MIT neuroscientists have found striking evidence that language and logical reasoning are powered by separate systems in the brain. Even people with severe language impairments caused by stroke were able to solve challenging logic puzzles as well as people without those impairments, while brain scans showed that language-processing regions stayed largely quiet during reasoning tasks.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011140.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Ozempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
Ozempic-like drugs appear to weaken more than hunger—they may also reduce cravings for alcohol and other addictive substances. Scientists are increasingly tracing this effect to the lateral septum, a brain region that helps connect memories and surroundings with rewarding experiences. Packed with GLP-1 receptors, it may act as a crucial control point between thinking about a reward and feeling compelled to pursue it. The discovery could open new approaches to treating addiction as well as obesity.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:20AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Scientists discover a hidden brain rhythm that could improve Parkinson’s treatment
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
Scientists have pinpointed a brain network—and its distinctive electrical rhythm—that appears to drive the benefits of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease. The discovery could lead to more precise, personalized stimulation settings and better results for patients.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011148.htm
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 09:12AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: MIT neuroscientists discover the brain can reason without words
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011140.htm
MIT neuroscientists have found striking evidence that language and logical reasoning are powered by separate systems in the brain. Even people with severe language impairments caused by stroke were able to solve challenging logic puzzles as well as people without those impairments, while brain scans showed that language-processing regions stayed largely quiet during reasoning tasks.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011140.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:43AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: The adult brain can repair itself better than scientists thought
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015158.htm
The adult brain may be far better at repairing itself than scientists once believed. In mice, researchers discovered a special group of support cells called astrocytes that respond to damaged brain tissue by rebuilding lost cellular networks. Rather than simply moving into the injured area, these cells perform a remarkable maneuver: they create new nuclei and send them traveling through long cellular extensions to repopulate damaged regions.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260812015158.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:36AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Ozempic may have revealed the brain’s hidden “craving center”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
Ozempic-like drugs appear to weaken more than hunger—they may also reduce cravings for alcohol and other addictive substances. Scientists are increasingly tracing this effect to the lateral septum, a brain region that helps connect memories and surroundings with rewarding experiences. Packed with GLP-1 receptors, it may act as a crucial control point between thinking about a reward and feeling compelled to pursue it. The discovery could open new approaches to treating addiction as well as obesity.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260811011138.htm
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Ozempic #glp1 #cravingcenter #addictionresearch #brainbiology #lateralseptum #rewardsystem #obesitytreatment #neuroscience #drugdevelopment
-
DATE: August 10, 2026 at 09:49PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Exercise may help the aging brain “take out the trash”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260810015719.htm
Regular exercise may help the brain clear away harmful waste that can build up with age. Researchers found that physical activity supports several processes linked to the brain’s glymphatic cleanup system, including better sleep, lower inflammation, and healthier blood vessels. Because this waste-removal system becomes increasingly important as we get older, exercise could play a meaningful role in protecting against cognitive decline.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260810015719.htm
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DATE: August 10, 2026 at 09:49PM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEEDTITLE: Exercise may help the aging brain “take out the trash”
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260810015719.htm
Regular exercise may help the brain clear away harmful waste that can build up with age. Researchers found that physical activity supports several processes linked to the brain’s glymphatic cleanup system, including better sleep, lower inflammation, and healthier blood vessels. Because this waste-removal system becomes increasingly important as we get older, exercise could play a meaningful role in protecting against cognitive decline.
URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260810015719.htm
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:51AM
SOURCE: STAT NEWS MENTAL HEALTHTITLE: Opinion: The Lindsay Clancy case shows the limits of postpartum psychiatry
The Lindsay Clancy case has become one of the most painful and polarizing stories in recent American memory. At its center are the unimaginable deaths of three young children and a mother whose mental state has become the subject of intense legal, medical, and public scrutiny. The criminal justice system will determine legal responsibility, but regardless of the trial’s outcome, the case exposes a larger and uncomfortable truth: Our understanding and treatment of postpartum psychiatric illnesses remain profoundly inadequate.
For many observers, the debate has become a binary one. Either Clancy was suffering from a severe postpartum psychiatric disorder, or she was not. Either she is guilty of murder or she is not. Either the system failed her or it did not. And, despite numerous attempts to seek medical care, she was either inappropriately medicated or not.
Read the rest…
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STAT News reports "from the frontiers of health and medicine".
Learn more at https://www.statnews.com/topic/mental-health/ .
See also their complete Mastodon account at @STAT .
This robot is NOT affiliated with STAT news and merely rebroadcasts from their site. Responses posted here are not monitored.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LindsayClancy #PostpartumPsychiatry #PostpartumPsychosis #MentalHealthAwareness #MaternalMentalHealth #CriminalJusticeAndMentalHealth #PerinatalMentalIllness #HealthcareGaps #StigmaInMentalHealth #PublicSafetyAndPsychology
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:51AM
SOURCE: STAT NEWS MENTAL HEALTHTITLE: Opinion: The Lindsay Clancy case shows the limits of postpartum psychiatry
The Lindsay Clancy case has become one of the most painful and polarizing stories in recent American memory. At its center are the unimaginable deaths of three young children and a mother whose mental state has become the subject of intense legal, medical, and public scrutiny. The criminal justice system will determine legal responsibility, but regardless of the trial’s outcome, the case exposes a larger and uncomfortable truth: Our understanding and treatment of postpartum psychiatric illnesses remain profoundly inadequate.
For many observers, the debate has become a binary one. Either Clancy was suffering from a severe postpartum psychiatric disorder, or she was not. Either she is guilty of murder or she is not. Either the system failed her or it did not. And, despite numerous attempts to seek medical care, she was either inappropriately medicated or not.
Read the rest…
-------------------------------------------------
STAT News reports "from the frontiers of health and medicine".
Learn more at https://www.statnews.com/topic/mental-health/ .
See also their complete Mastodon account at @STAT .
This robot is NOT affiliated with STAT news and merely rebroadcasts from their site. Responses posted here are not monitored.
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #LindsayClancy #PostpartumPsychiatry #PostpartumPsychosis #MentalHealthAwareness #MaternalMentalHealth #CriminalJusticeAndMentalHealth #PerinatalMentalIllness #HealthcareGaps #StigmaInMentalHealth #PublicSafetyAndPsychology
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Newly engineered psychedelic shows therapeutic promise without gastrointestinal distress
A recent study published in Science Signaling provides evidence that a newly engineered psychedelic compound can produce antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects in mice without causing gastrointestinal side effects. By altering the chemical structure of an existing psychedelic drug, researchers created a variant that targets specific brain receptors linked to mental health benefits but avoids receptors associated with nausea and physical discomfort.
“Psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD are showing therapeutic potential for individuals with severe psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety and PTSD,” explained study co-authors Javier González-Maeso, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and Malgorzata Dukat, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy. “However, like most therapeutic drugs, psychedelics can also produce unwanted side effects.”
“Another interesting aspect of this field is that essentially all psychedelics currently being studied clinically belong to three major chemical classes: phenethylamines, such as mescaline; tryptamines, such as psilocybin; and ergolines, such as LSD,” the authors noted. “Despite their chemical differences, many of their hallucinogenic and potentially therapeutic effects are mediated through the serotonin 2A receptor (or 5-HT2A receptor) in the brain, as first proposed by Prof. Richard A. Glennon (coauthor of the manuscript) in 1984.”
The serotonin 2A receptor mediates positive mood and neural adaptability, but the drugs that target it often lack specificity. “We became interested in quipazine, a serotonergic compound first described in the 1960s and originally investigated as a potential antidepressant,” the authors explained. “Quipazine was never developed for routine medical use, in part because it also activates another serotonin receptor, the 5-HT3 receptor, which is highly expressed in the gastrointestinal system and can produce significant gastrointestinal side effects.”
To separate the therapeutic benefits from adverse physical reactions, the authors sought to chemically redesign quipazine. “Our goal was to combine medicinal chemistry in Dr. Dukat’s laboratory with molecular and behavioral pharmacology in Dr. Maeso’s laboratory to design, synthesize and test new compounds derived from quipazine,” the researchers said.
“The Dukat team had already investigated 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 structure-activity relationships and found that quinazolines bind at, but are devoid of, 5-HT3 receptor activation,” the authors told PsyPost. “We wanted compounds that retained activity at the 5-HT2A receptor while minimizing activity at the 5-HT3 receptor; hence, investigation of quipazine/quinazoline hybrid molecules. That effort led us to design VCU-1012, a novel quinazoline compound that activates the 5-HT2A receptor while showing minimal activity at the 5-HT3 receptor.”
The authors synthesized several variations of the quipazine molecule and tested these new compounds on human embryonic kidney cells. When the scientists screened VCU-1012 against a panel of over 40 other receptors, it showed minimal off-target activity. VCU-1012 completely failed to activate the serotonin 3 receptor, indicating it might bypass the physical distress seen with the original drug.
This broad testing approach relied on multiple areas of scientific specialty. “This study was a highly collaborative effort,” González-Maeso and Dukat noted. “It brought together the medicinal chemistry expertise of Dr. Dukat’s laboratory and the molecular and behavioral pharmacology expertise of the Maeso laboratory, along with important contributions from other teams at VCU. These included the laboratory of Scott Ramsey, which helped characterize effects at the 5-HT3 receptor; the laboratory of Imad Damaj, which contributed expertise in mouse behavioral models, and the laboratory of Hamid Akbarali, which evaluated gastrointestinal motility.”
To test the physical side effects in a living organism, the researchers evaluated gastrointestinal function in male mice, using six to eight animals per group. They fed the mice a harmless charcoal solution and measured how far the charcoal traveled through the small intestine over a 30-minute period. Mice injected with the original quipazine drug at a dose of 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight experienced a severe slowdown in digestion. In contrast, mice given VCU-1012 at 1 milligram per kilogram showed normal intestinal movement that was indistinguishable from mice given a plain saline vehicle injection.
Next, the team evaluated behavioral effects by measuring a specific head-twitch behavior in groups of six mice. This rapid side-to-side head movement is a standard animal proxy for hallucinogenic effects. VCU-1012 prompted a robust increase in head twitches within the first 15 minutes of administration, which was completely blocked when mice were pretreated with a drug that selectively prevents serotonin 2A receptor activation.
To evaluate potential antidepressant properties, the researchers used a forced-swim test. Mice were placed in a beaker of water for a short time to induce a passive coping state, which is characterized by floating rather than swimming. Twenty-four hours after receiving VCU-1012, the classical psychedelic psilocybin, or a saline vehicle, the mice were retested. The researchers also performed this test on a separate group of eight to ten genetically modified mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor.
Both psilocybin and VCU-1012 reduced floating time in normal mice, which suggests an antidepressant-like effect lasting well beyond the drug’s immediate hallucinogenic window. In the genetically modified mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor, VCU-1012 had no behavioral effect. Psilocybin still reduced floating time in the modified mice, which indicates psilocybin relies on additional biological pathways that VCU-1012 does not engage.
The researchers also explored whether the compound could alleviate anxiety caused by medical treatments. They repeatedly administered the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel to groups of seven or eight mice to induce a prolonged state of anxiety. Anxiety was measured by observing how much time the mice spent in the brightly lit section of a specialized testing box.
Paclitaxel noticeably reduced the time mice spent in the light area. A single dose of VCU-1012 given 24 hours prior restored normal exploratory behavior, countering the chemotherapy-induced anxiety without altering the animals’ general movement levels.
To understand how the drug alters the brain on a microscopic level, the scientists examined dendritic spines. These are tiny protrusions on the branches of brain cells that help form synapses, or connections, with other neurons. The team used a fluorescent virus to visually highlight neurons in the frontal cortex, analyzing 40 to 106 neurons from three or four mice per group.
Both psilocybin and VCU-1012 increased the density of mature, mushroom-shaped dendritic spines 24 hours after a single dose. This change indicates enhanced brain plasticity and stronger neural connections. Just as in the behavioral tests, this structural brain plasticity did not occur in mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor.
Finally, the researchers used computer modeling and mutated receptor cells to see exactly how VCU-1012 fits into the serotonin 2A receptor. “One particularly interesting finding came from examining how VCU-1012 interacts with the 5-HT2A receptor,” the authors observed. “You can think of the receptor’s binding pocket as a small three-dimensional lock. A drug with the right shape and chemical properties can fit into that lock and change how the receptor behaves.”
“We found that VCU-1012 occupies this binding pocket in a different three-dimensional orientation from serotonin, the neurotransmitter that naturally activates the receptor,” they continued. “That finding suggests that there may be additional ways to chemically engage the 5-HT2A receptor beyond those used by classical psychedelics. This opens new possibilities for designing chemically distinct classes of psychedelic compounds and investigating how different interactions with the same receptor influence their biological and behavioral effects.”
The data suggests that VCU-1012 fits into the receptor’s primary binding pocket in a slightly different orientation than the body’s natural serotonin, relying on a specific network of hydrogen bonds. “Our study shows that it is possible to design a psychedelic-like compound from a new chemical class that produces potentially beneficial behavioral and brain-plasticity effects in mice while avoiding an important receptor associated with gastrointestinal side effects,” the researchers said.
Animal models of anxiety and depression, such as the forced-swim test and the light-dark box, cannot fully capture the complexity of human psychiatric disorders. A mouse’s physical responses do not perfectly translate to the subjective emotional experiences or hallucinogenic trips reported by humans. The therapeutic efficacy observed in these experiments might not completely predict actual clinical outcomes in human patients.
“These findings are preclinical, and VCU-1012 is not ready for use in humans,” the authors noted. “Although we were able to greatly reduce its activity at the 5-HT3 receptor, VCU-1012 still interacts with other receptors, including the 5-HT2B receptor. Activation of this receptor can be associated with peripheral side effects, including cardiac valvulopathy.”
Because cardiac valvulopathy involves damage to the heart’s valves, avoiding this off-target receptor is an important safety consideration. “Therefore, additional medicinal chemistry will be necessary to improve the selectivity and safety profile of this new class of compounds before considering clinical development,” they added. All behavioral and neurological tests in this study were conducted exclusively on male mice. Because biological sex often influences how bodies process drugs, future research will need to include female animals to determine if these effects apply universally.
“One major goal is to conduct additional structure-activity relationship studies to design compounds with greater selectivity for the 5-HT2A receptor and fewer off-target effects,” the authors explained. They also hope to answer fundamental questions about how these drugs work. “A broader question we hope to address is whether the hallucinogenic effects produced by classical psychedelics, and by compounds such as VCU-1012, are necessary for their potentially beneficial effects on behavior and brain plasticity.”
“Understanding whether these properties can be separated could help guide the development of the next generation of psychedelic-inspired therapeutics,” they concluded. “The study illustrates how combining medicinal chemistry, molecular pharmacology and animal models can help us understand how psychedelic drugs work and, ultimately, guide the design of compounds with improved therapeutic and safety profiles.”
The study, “Design of a new psychedelic quipazine analog with therapeutic efficacy and potentially fewer side effects,” was authored by Jason Younkin, Ajay H. Bansode, Somdatta Saha, Archana Paymode, Jessica L. Maltman, Charles B. Jones, Justin M. Silverman, Belle Buzzi, Alaina M. Jaster, Michael Fiorillo, Jeremy Rolquin, George D. Miller, Roya Abedi, Minho Kang, Maya Gaines-Smith, Enrique I. Valenzuela Lesme, Mattias Embretsen, Jennifer T. Wolstenholme, Richard A. Glennon, Hamid I. Akbarali, M. Imad Damaj, I. Scott Ramsey, Małgorzata Dukat, and Javier González-Maeso.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #psychedelics #VCU1012 #5HT2A #mentalhealthresearch #antidepressant #anxietytherapy #drugdesign #serotoninreceptors #brainplasticity #quipazine
-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 10:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Newly engineered psychedelic shows therapeutic promise without gastrointestinal distress
A recent study published in Science Signaling provides evidence that a newly engineered psychedelic compound can produce antidepressant and anti-anxiety effects in mice without causing gastrointestinal side effects. By altering the chemical structure of an existing psychedelic drug, researchers created a variant that targets specific brain receptors linked to mental health benefits but avoids receptors associated with nausea and physical discomfort.
“Psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD are showing therapeutic potential for individuals with severe psychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety and PTSD,” explained study co-authors Javier González-Maeso, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and Malgorzata Dukat, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy. “However, like most therapeutic drugs, psychedelics can also produce unwanted side effects.”
“Another interesting aspect of this field is that essentially all psychedelics currently being studied clinically belong to three major chemical classes: phenethylamines, such as mescaline; tryptamines, such as psilocybin; and ergolines, such as LSD,” the authors noted. “Despite their chemical differences, many of their hallucinogenic and potentially therapeutic effects are mediated through the serotonin 2A receptor (or 5-HT2A receptor) in the brain, as first proposed by Prof. Richard A. Glennon (coauthor of the manuscript) in 1984.”
The serotonin 2A receptor mediates positive mood and neural adaptability, but the drugs that target it often lack specificity. “We became interested in quipazine, a serotonergic compound first described in the 1960s and originally investigated as a potential antidepressant,” the authors explained. “Quipazine was never developed for routine medical use, in part because it also activates another serotonin receptor, the 5-HT3 receptor, which is highly expressed in the gastrointestinal system and can produce significant gastrointestinal side effects.”
To separate the therapeutic benefits from adverse physical reactions, the authors sought to chemically redesign quipazine. “Our goal was to combine medicinal chemistry in Dr. Dukat’s laboratory with molecular and behavioral pharmacology in Dr. Maeso’s laboratory to design, synthesize and test new compounds derived from quipazine,” the researchers said.
“The Dukat team had already investigated 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 structure-activity relationships and found that quinazolines bind at, but are devoid of, 5-HT3 receptor activation,” the authors told PsyPost. “We wanted compounds that retained activity at the 5-HT2A receptor while minimizing activity at the 5-HT3 receptor; hence, investigation of quipazine/quinazoline hybrid molecules. That effort led us to design VCU-1012, a novel quinazoline compound that activates the 5-HT2A receptor while showing minimal activity at the 5-HT3 receptor.”
The authors synthesized several variations of the quipazine molecule and tested these new compounds on human embryonic kidney cells. When the scientists screened VCU-1012 against a panel of over 40 other receptors, it showed minimal off-target activity. VCU-1012 completely failed to activate the serotonin 3 receptor, indicating it might bypass the physical distress seen with the original drug.
This broad testing approach relied on multiple areas of scientific specialty. “This study was a highly collaborative effort,” González-Maeso and Dukat noted. “It brought together the medicinal chemistry expertise of Dr. Dukat’s laboratory and the molecular and behavioral pharmacology expertise of the Maeso laboratory, along with important contributions from other teams at VCU. These included the laboratory of Scott Ramsey, which helped characterize effects at the 5-HT3 receptor; the laboratory of Imad Damaj, which contributed expertise in mouse behavioral models, and the laboratory of Hamid Akbarali, which evaluated gastrointestinal motility.”
To test the physical side effects in a living organism, the researchers evaluated gastrointestinal function in male mice, using six to eight animals per group. They fed the mice a harmless charcoal solution and measured how far the charcoal traveled through the small intestine over a 30-minute period. Mice injected with the original quipazine drug at a dose of 5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight experienced a severe slowdown in digestion. In contrast, mice given VCU-1012 at 1 milligram per kilogram showed normal intestinal movement that was indistinguishable from mice given a plain saline vehicle injection.
Next, the team evaluated behavioral effects by measuring a specific head-twitch behavior in groups of six mice. This rapid side-to-side head movement is a standard animal proxy for hallucinogenic effects. VCU-1012 prompted a robust increase in head twitches within the first 15 minutes of administration, which was completely blocked when mice were pretreated with a drug that selectively prevents serotonin 2A receptor activation.
To evaluate potential antidepressant properties, the researchers used a forced-swim test. Mice were placed in a beaker of water for a short time to induce a passive coping state, which is characterized by floating rather than swimming. Twenty-four hours after receiving VCU-1012, the classical psychedelic psilocybin, or a saline vehicle, the mice were retested. The researchers also performed this test on a separate group of eight to ten genetically modified mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor.
Both psilocybin and VCU-1012 reduced floating time in normal mice, which suggests an antidepressant-like effect lasting well beyond the drug’s immediate hallucinogenic window. In the genetically modified mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor, VCU-1012 had no behavioral effect. Psilocybin still reduced floating time in the modified mice, which indicates psilocybin relies on additional biological pathways that VCU-1012 does not engage.
The researchers also explored whether the compound could alleviate anxiety caused by medical treatments. They repeatedly administered the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel to groups of seven or eight mice to induce a prolonged state of anxiety. Anxiety was measured by observing how much time the mice spent in the brightly lit section of a specialized testing box.
Paclitaxel noticeably reduced the time mice spent in the light area. A single dose of VCU-1012 given 24 hours prior restored normal exploratory behavior, countering the chemotherapy-induced anxiety without altering the animals’ general movement levels.
To understand how the drug alters the brain on a microscopic level, the scientists examined dendritic spines. These are tiny protrusions on the branches of brain cells that help form synapses, or connections, with other neurons. The team used a fluorescent virus to visually highlight neurons in the frontal cortex, analyzing 40 to 106 neurons from three or four mice per group.
Both psilocybin and VCU-1012 increased the density of mature, mushroom-shaped dendritic spines 24 hours after a single dose. This change indicates enhanced brain plasticity and stronger neural connections. Just as in the behavioral tests, this structural brain plasticity did not occur in mice lacking the serotonin 2A receptor.
Finally, the researchers used computer modeling and mutated receptor cells to see exactly how VCU-1012 fits into the serotonin 2A receptor. “One particularly interesting finding came from examining how VCU-1012 interacts with the 5-HT2A receptor,” the authors observed. “You can think of the receptor’s binding pocket as a small three-dimensional lock. A drug with the right shape and chemical properties can fit into that lock and change how the receptor behaves.”
“We found that VCU-1012 occupies this binding pocket in a different three-dimensional orientation from serotonin, the neurotransmitter that naturally activates the receptor,” they continued. “That finding suggests that there may be additional ways to chemically engage the 5-HT2A receptor beyond those used by classical psychedelics. This opens new possibilities for designing chemically distinct classes of psychedelic compounds and investigating how different interactions with the same receptor influence their biological and behavioral effects.”
The data suggests that VCU-1012 fits into the receptor’s primary binding pocket in a slightly different orientation than the body’s natural serotonin, relying on a specific network of hydrogen bonds. “Our study shows that it is possible to design a psychedelic-like compound from a new chemical class that produces potentially beneficial behavioral and brain-plasticity effects in mice while avoiding an important receptor associated with gastrointestinal side effects,” the researchers said.
Animal models of anxiety and depression, such as the forced-swim test and the light-dark box, cannot fully capture the complexity of human psychiatric disorders. A mouse’s physical responses do not perfectly translate to the subjective emotional experiences or hallucinogenic trips reported by humans. The therapeutic efficacy observed in these experiments might not completely predict actual clinical outcomes in human patients.
“These findings are preclinical, and VCU-1012 is not ready for use in humans,” the authors noted. “Although we were able to greatly reduce its activity at the 5-HT3 receptor, VCU-1012 still interacts with other receptors, including the 5-HT2B receptor. Activation of this receptor can be associated with peripheral side effects, including cardiac valvulopathy.”
Because cardiac valvulopathy involves damage to the heart’s valves, avoiding this off-target receptor is an important safety consideration. “Therefore, additional medicinal chemistry will be necessary to improve the selectivity and safety profile of this new class of compounds before considering clinical development,” they added. All behavioral and neurological tests in this study were conducted exclusively on male mice. Because biological sex often influences how bodies process drugs, future research will need to include female animals to determine if these effects apply universally.
“One major goal is to conduct additional structure-activity relationship studies to design compounds with greater selectivity for the 5-HT2A receptor and fewer off-target effects,” the authors explained. They also hope to answer fundamental questions about how these drugs work. “A broader question we hope to address is whether the hallucinogenic effects produced by classical psychedelics, and by compounds such as VCU-1012, are necessary for their potentially beneficial effects on behavior and brain plasticity.”
“Understanding whether these properties can be separated could help guide the development of the next generation of psychedelic-inspired therapeutics,” they concluded. “The study illustrates how combining medicinal chemistry, molecular pharmacology and animal models can help us understand how psychedelic drugs work and, ultimately, guide the design of compounds with improved therapeutic and safety profiles.”
The study, “Design of a new psychedelic quipazine analog with therapeutic efficacy and potentially fewer side effects,” was authored by Jason Younkin, Ajay H. Bansode, Somdatta Saha, Archana Paymode, Jessica L. Maltman, Charles B. Jones, Justin M. Silverman, Belle Buzzi, Alaina M. Jaster, Michael Fiorillo, Jeremy Rolquin, George D. Miller, Roya Abedi, Minho Kang, Maya Gaines-Smith, Enrique I. Valenzuela Lesme, Mattias Embretsen, Jennifer T. Wolstenholme, Richard A. Glennon, Hamid I. Akbarali, M. Imad Damaj, I. Scott Ramsey, Małgorzata Dukat, and Javier González-Maeso.
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Early giftedness rarely lasts into adulthood, large developmental study finds
Children identified as highly intelligent at an early age rarely maintain their high cognitive scores by the time they reach adulthood. A large study of child development suggests that early gifted programs may be relying on unstable measures, as cognitive ability shifts dramatically before stabilizing in adolescence. The research was published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities.
General cognitive ability represents a broad measure of how well a person acquires knowledge, solves problems, and processes information. This trait is typically assessed using standardized intelligence tests that yield a cumulative score spanning verbal and non-verbal skills. Psychologists have debated how early in life this trait becomes a permanent fixture of an individual’s psychological profile.
High scores on early childhood intelligence tests frequently lead to placements in specialized gifted programs. Educational systems often assume that a child who demonstrates advanced reasoning skills at age four or seven will maintain that same intellectual advantage into adulthood. Researchers wanted to test the reality of this assumption by mapping out the actual cognitive trajectories of thousands of developing children.
The study was led by Angel Blanch, a psychologist at the Universitat de Lleida in Spain. Blanch collaborated with Sergio Escorial at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Roberto Colom at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The research team sought to identify what specific personal and situational factors predict whether a child will keep or lose a high cognitive score over time.
To answer this, the researchers analyzed data from the Twins Early Development Study. This cohort includes detailed longitudinal data on child development spanning thousands of families in the United Kingdom. The researchers focused on a large sample of 11,119 participants who had their cognitive abilities tested repeatedly at ages four, seven, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-one.
The cognitive assessments changed as the participants matured to capture age-appropriate skills. Early testing involved parent-administered vocabulary and grammar scales alongside non-verbal puzzles. By age twenty-one, the participants were completing complex web-based gamified tests measuring advanced verbal reasoning and matrix-based problem-solving.
The participants were divided into two main groups based on their test scores at age seven. The normative group consisted of 3,958 individuals who scored in the average range, between 99 and 115 points. The high-ability group included 1,580 individuals who scored above 115 points on the standardized assessments.
The research team used statistical tools called latent curve models to track how each participant’s scores changed as they aged. This method allowed the scientists to map average starting points and the rate of change over a period of fourteen years. They then introduced several predictive variables into the models to see what related to these cognitive shifts.
These predictive variables included a mix of biological and environmental factors. On the biological side, the team looked at polygenic scores, which estimate an individual’s genetic likelihood for a certain trait based on variations across their entire genome. Environmental factors included the socioeconomic status of the parents, home chaos, behavioral problems, school engagement, and stressful life events.
The data revealed a high degree of cognitive mobility among the children. Only 16 percent of the participants who scored in the high-ability tier at age seven maintained that high status by age sixteen. The vast majority of early high-scorers saw their cognitive scores drift downward toward the average range as they matured.
Cognitive stability increased as the children reached early adolescence. Of the participants who showed high cognitive ability at age twelve, about 23 percent kept their high scores into their late teens. A similar stability rate was observed for those scoring high at age sixteen, indicating that age twelve might be a more reliable time for identifying sustained intellectual advancement.
Upward mobility was also relatively rare for the children who started with average scores. Among the normative group at age seven, only 8 percent experienced enough cognitive growth to cross into the high-ability tier by age sixteen. It was statistically three times more likely for a high-ability child to maintain their rank than it was for an average-ability child to climb into the top tier.
When examining predictors of these shifts, the researchers found that genetic and personal factors showed stronger associations than situational metrics. Higher polygenic scores and parental socioeconomic status were robustly associated with maintaining higher cognitive scores and experiencing positive developmental trajectories. In contrast, environmental variables like a chaotic home life or early behavioral problems had very little association with the rate of cognitive change.
This insulation from environmental factors was particularly pronounced in the high-ability group. These individuals were largely unaffected by negative life events or a disorganized home environment when it came to their long-term intellectual growth. For the average-scoring group, stressful life events did show a mild negative association with cognitive scores at older ages, though the impact was secondary to genetic predictors.
School engagement was one of the few situational variables that positively predicted cognitive growth across both groups. Adolescents who reported higher engagement with their schoolwork and teachers tended to experience greater upward shifts in their cognitive scores. Even so, the biological markers remained the strongest overall predictors of intellectual development.
These findings align with a developmental concept known as the Wilson effect, which describes how the heritability of intelligence increases as people age. Children’s brains dynamically mature according to intrinsic genetic programs that express themselves differently across various developmental stages. As individuals grow older, they naturally gravitate toward the intellectual levels predicted by their genomes, overriding many early environmental advantages or disadvantages.
The strong association between socioeconomic status and cognitive maintenance comes with a biological caveat. Socioeconomic status in this study was based on the educational and occupational credentials of the parents. Because parents pass down both their genes and their social standing, separating the purely environmental impact of wealth from inherited cognitive traits remains a persistent challenge in developmental psychology.
The study relied entirely on behavioral tests and questionnaires rather than direct physical measurements. The researchers did not collect brain imaging data, preventing them from observing the physical cortical changes that accompany these cognitive shifts. Identifying specific neural markers could help explain why some children lose their early cognitive advantages while others retain them.
The statistical models required participants to have consistent data points across multiple ages, which limited the types of variables the team could include. Certain developmental milestones might have been missed between the specific testing ages of seven, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-one. Future studies tracking these cognitive transitions on a year-by-year basis could provide a more detailed map of intellectual maturation.
The results suggest that educational systems should exercise caution when relying on cognitive assessments administered in early childhood. Placing young children into rigid educational tracks based on preschool or early elementary testing often results in misclassification. Regular re-evaluation throughout adolescence presents a much more accurate picture of a student’s long-term intellectual potential.
The study, “Developmental changes in high cognitive ability children: The role of nature and nurture,” was authored by Angel Blanch, Sergio Escorial, and Roberto Colom.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #EarlyGiftedness #CognitiveDevelopment #IntelligenceTrajectories #WilsonEffect #GeneticsAndIQ #SocioeconomicStatusIQ #EducationalTracking #AdolescentCognition #CognitiveMobility #TwinStudyInsights
-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 09:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Early giftedness rarely lasts into adulthood, large developmental study finds
Children identified as highly intelligent at an early age rarely maintain their high cognitive scores by the time they reach adulthood. A large study of child development suggests that early gifted programs may be relying on unstable measures, as cognitive ability shifts dramatically before stabilizing in adolescence. The research was published in the journal Intelligence & Cognitive Abilities.
General cognitive ability represents a broad measure of how well a person acquires knowledge, solves problems, and processes information. This trait is typically assessed using standardized intelligence tests that yield a cumulative score spanning verbal and non-verbal skills. Psychologists have debated how early in life this trait becomes a permanent fixture of an individual’s psychological profile.
High scores on early childhood intelligence tests frequently lead to placements in specialized gifted programs. Educational systems often assume that a child who demonstrates advanced reasoning skills at age four or seven will maintain that same intellectual advantage into adulthood. Researchers wanted to test the reality of this assumption by mapping out the actual cognitive trajectories of thousands of developing children.
The study was led by Angel Blanch, a psychologist at the Universitat de Lleida in Spain. Blanch collaborated with Sergio Escorial at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Roberto Colom at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The research team sought to identify what specific personal and situational factors predict whether a child will keep or lose a high cognitive score over time.
To answer this, the researchers analyzed data from the Twins Early Development Study. This cohort includes detailed longitudinal data on child development spanning thousands of families in the United Kingdom. The researchers focused on a large sample of 11,119 participants who had their cognitive abilities tested repeatedly at ages four, seven, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-one.
The cognitive assessments changed as the participants matured to capture age-appropriate skills. Early testing involved parent-administered vocabulary and grammar scales alongside non-verbal puzzles. By age twenty-one, the participants were completing complex web-based gamified tests measuring advanced verbal reasoning and matrix-based problem-solving.
The participants were divided into two main groups based on their test scores at age seven. The normative group consisted of 3,958 individuals who scored in the average range, between 99 and 115 points. The high-ability group included 1,580 individuals who scored above 115 points on the standardized assessments.
The research team used statistical tools called latent curve models to track how each participant’s scores changed as they aged. This method allowed the scientists to map average starting points and the rate of change over a period of fourteen years. They then introduced several predictive variables into the models to see what related to these cognitive shifts.
These predictive variables included a mix of biological and environmental factors. On the biological side, the team looked at polygenic scores, which estimate an individual’s genetic likelihood for a certain trait based on variations across their entire genome. Environmental factors included the socioeconomic status of the parents, home chaos, behavioral problems, school engagement, and stressful life events.
The data revealed a high degree of cognitive mobility among the children. Only 16 percent of the participants who scored in the high-ability tier at age seven maintained that high status by age sixteen. The vast majority of early high-scorers saw their cognitive scores drift downward toward the average range as they matured.
Cognitive stability increased as the children reached early adolescence. Of the participants who showed high cognitive ability at age twelve, about 23 percent kept their high scores into their late teens. A similar stability rate was observed for those scoring high at age sixteen, indicating that age twelve might be a more reliable time for identifying sustained intellectual advancement.
Upward mobility was also relatively rare for the children who started with average scores. Among the normative group at age seven, only 8 percent experienced enough cognitive growth to cross into the high-ability tier by age sixteen. It was statistically three times more likely for a high-ability child to maintain their rank than it was for an average-ability child to climb into the top tier.
When examining predictors of these shifts, the researchers found that genetic and personal factors showed stronger associations than situational metrics. Higher polygenic scores and parental socioeconomic status were robustly associated with maintaining higher cognitive scores and experiencing positive developmental trajectories. In contrast, environmental variables like a chaotic home life or early behavioral problems had very little association with the rate of cognitive change.
This insulation from environmental factors was particularly pronounced in the high-ability group. These individuals were largely unaffected by negative life events or a disorganized home environment when it came to their long-term intellectual growth. For the average-scoring group, stressful life events did show a mild negative association with cognitive scores at older ages, though the impact was secondary to genetic predictors.
School engagement was one of the few situational variables that positively predicted cognitive growth across both groups. Adolescents who reported higher engagement with their schoolwork and teachers tended to experience greater upward shifts in their cognitive scores. Even so, the biological markers remained the strongest overall predictors of intellectual development.
These findings align with a developmental concept known as the Wilson effect, which describes how the heritability of intelligence increases as people age. Children’s brains dynamically mature according to intrinsic genetic programs that express themselves differently across various developmental stages. As individuals grow older, they naturally gravitate toward the intellectual levels predicted by their genomes, overriding many early environmental advantages or disadvantages.
The strong association between socioeconomic status and cognitive maintenance comes with a biological caveat. Socioeconomic status in this study was based on the educational and occupational credentials of the parents. Because parents pass down both their genes and their social standing, separating the purely environmental impact of wealth from inherited cognitive traits remains a persistent challenge in developmental psychology.
The study relied entirely on behavioral tests and questionnaires rather than direct physical measurements. The researchers did not collect brain imaging data, preventing them from observing the physical cortical changes that accompany these cognitive shifts. Identifying specific neural markers could help explain why some children lose their early cognitive advantages while others retain them.
The statistical models required participants to have consistent data points across multiple ages, which limited the types of variables the team could include. Certain developmental milestones might have been missed between the specific testing ages of seven, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-one. Future studies tracking these cognitive transitions on a year-by-year basis could provide a more detailed map of intellectual maturation.
The results suggest that educational systems should exercise caution when relying on cognitive assessments administered in early childhood. Placing young children into rigid educational tracks based on preschool or early elementary testing often results in misclassification. Regular re-evaluation throughout adolescence presents a much more accurate picture of a student’s long-term intellectual potential.
The study, “Developmental changes in high cognitive ability children: The role of nature and nurture,” was authored by Angel Blanch, Sergio Escorial, and Roberto Colom.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #EarlyGiftedness #CognitiveDevelopment #IntelligenceTrajectories #WilsonEffect #GeneticsAndIQ #SocioeconomicStatusIQ #EducationalTracking #AdolescentCognition #CognitiveMobility #TwinStudyInsights
-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Frequent cannabis use is linked to higher morning cortisol levels
URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-cannabis-use-is-linked-to-higher-morning-cortisol-levels/
New research published in the journal Cannabis indicates that adults who frequently use cannabis tend to have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol immediately upon waking compared to non-users. The findings suggest that higher morning cortisol levels might act as a biological marker for problematic cannabis use, though the overall daily rhythm of cortisol release appears similar between users and non-users.
The human body manages stress through a network called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. This neuroendocrine system coordinates a chain of chemical signals that result in the release of cortisol, a primary hormone that helps mobilize energy and respond to environmental demands. In a typical daily cycle, cortisol levels rise sharply within the first thirty minutes after waking up. This spike is known as the cortisol awakening response.
The cortisol awakening response acts as a physiological indicator of how well the body prepares for the day ahead. Repeated activation of the HPA axis from chronic stress or heavy substance use can cause physiological wear and tear, eventually disrupting this natural rhythm. Disruptions in daily cortisol patterns often accompany mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression.
Research into other conditions, such as alcohol use disorder, indicates that chronic substance consumption can blunt this natural morning spike. Because cannabis is frequently used as a coping mechanism for daily stressors, scientists wanted to understand whether frequent marijuana consumption alters the body’s natural cortisol rhythms in a similar way.
“There had been limited research on whether frequent cannabis use is associated with changes in individuals’ diurnal stress activity, which can be measured by examining the cortisol awakening response,” said Anita Cservenka, an associate professor and director of the Substance Use Neurocognition Lab in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University.
“However, some previous studies had shown that the typical rise of cortisol in the morning, which is thought to be a marker of our body’s preparation for managing the stressors of the day, may be blunted among individuals with alcohol use disorder,” Cservenka added. “A recent study by Glodosky et al., 2026, also suggested this may be the case among those with chronic cannabis use, so we attempted to replicate those findings.”
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 82 adult participants. The sample included 39 frequent cannabis users who consumed the substance at least three days a week over the past year and reported past-month use. The remaining 43 participants were healthy controls who used cannabis no more than one day a month and had no past-month use.
To prevent outside variables from influencing the stress hormone readings, the authors excluded individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of any psychiatric disorder, severe medical conditions, and those taking psychotropic or steroid medications.
Participants visited a laboratory to provide a urine sample and complete a breathalyzer test to ensure they were not acutely intoxicated. They then completed several surveys assessing their sleep quality, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress over the previous month. The frequent cannabis use group also completed a questionnaire evaluating recent negative consequences related to their consumption, such as social or occupational problems.
After the lab visit, participants collected their own saliva samples at home on two consecutive weekdays. They were instructed to avoid eating, drinking, consuming caffeine, or brushing their teeth right before sampling. They took saliva samples at the exact time of awakening, thirty minutes after waking, and in the evening at 9:00 PM. Along with each sample, participants recorded their momentary subjective stress levels on a scale from zero to ten.
The frequent cannabis users reported higher rates of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and poorer sleep quality compared to the healthy controls. However, both groups reported nearly identical average sleep durations of roughly seven and a half hours, alongside similar wake times. The majority of the frequent use group consumed marijuana flower, most commonly using a water pipe.
Laboratory analysis of the saliva samples showed no statistically significant group differences in the cortisol awakening response. Both groups experienced a similar relative increase in cortisol during the first thirty minutes after waking. The researchers also found no group differences in the evening cortisol levels.
“We were surprised that we were unable to replicate the findings by Glodosky et al., 2026 who found a blunted cortisol awakening response in individuals with chronic cannabis use relative to controls, as our study showed no group differences,” Cservenka said. “However, it is possible that differences in statistical approaches or other demographic differences could explain the lack of replication. Thus, these nuances may be very important and sensitive to assessing the cortisol awakening response.”
Despite having a similar thirty-minute morning spike, frequent cannabis users had higher absolute baseline levels of cortisol at the exact moment of awakening. Within the frequent cannabis use group, the elevated morning cortisol levels were positively associated with the severity of cannabis-related consequences. The self-reported number of cannabis use days in the past month did not predict morning cortisol. Instead, the specific score of negative life consequences related to cannabis use corresponded with the higher cortisol readings at waking.
“Although we did not find group differences in the cortisol awakening response (the difference in cortisol 30 minutes post-awakening and at the time of awakening) between individuals who engaged in frequent cannabis use relative to controls, we did find that cannabis use may be related to higher levels of cortisol at the time of awakening and this was significantly related to cannabis use consequences,” Cservenka said. “These findings could inform treatment efforts aimed at trying to reduce the negative consequences individuals may experience from their cannabis use that could also have potential beneficial effects on their physiological stress systems.”
When examining subjective stress, the researchers found that higher self-reported stress correlated with higher cortisol levels across all participants during the morning hours. This positive association between perceived stress and cortisol release tended to be stronger in the healthy control group than in the cannabis use group.
Exploratory analyses separating the participants by sex indicated that the positive link between subjective stress and morning cortisol was present in males. However, the statistical models for females did not show this association.
Observational studies of this nature cannot determine cause and effect. It is not possible to conclude whether frequent cannabis use directly increases basal morning cortisol levels, or if individuals with naturally higher baseline cortisol are more drawn to heavy cannabis consumption to cope with stress. The relationship between neurobiology and substance use often involves complex interactions.
“It remains to be seen whether these stress neuroaxis alterations are a predisposing factor for frequent cannabis use or if frequent cannabis use can lead to these changes, as there is very limited research in this area,” Cservenka said. “Future longitudinal studies that track individuals over time before and after engaging in cannabis use will be needed to answer the question related to the neuroendocrine changes that are preexisting or a result of chronic cannabis use.”
The frequent cannabis users in the sample were older on average, at roughly 25 years old, than the healthy controls, who averaged 21 years of age. Age differences can sometimes influence hormonal rhythms, though statistical models in this study did not find age to be a driving factor for cortisol levels. The sample size was also relatively small, with only 82 total participants.
When the researchers separated the data by sex for exploratory analyses, the statistical power dropped. This reduction makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about how male and female stress systems might react differently to heavy cannabis use. Future research using larger sample sizes and comparing different methods of cannabis consumption is needed to build a more complete picture of hormonal stress responses.
The study, “Subjective Stress and Diurnal Salivary Cortisol in Adults with Frequent Cannabis Use,” was authored by Julia Donner, Alexia N. Obrochta, and Anita Cservenka.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-cannabis-use-is-linked-to-higher-morning-cortisol-levels/
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-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Frequent cannabis use is linked to higher morning cortisol levels
URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-cannabis-use-is-linked-to-higher-morning-cortisol-levels/
New research published in the journal Cannabis indicates that adults who frequently use cannabis tend to have higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol immediately upon waking compared to non-users. The findings suggest that higher morning cortisol levels might act as a biological marker for problematic cannabis use, though the overall daily rhythm of cortisol release appears similar between users and non-users.
The human body manages stress through a network called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, or HPA axis. This neuroendocrine system coordinates a chain of chemical signals that result in the release of cortisol, a primary hormone that helps mobilize energy and respond to environmental demands. In a typical daily cycle, cortisol levels rise sharply within the first thirty minutes after waking up. This spike is known as the cortisol awakening response.
The cortisol awakening response acts as a physiological indicator of how well the body prepares for the day ahead. Repeated activation of the HPA axis from chronic stress or heavy substance use can cause physiological wear and tear, eventually disrupting this natural rhythm. Disruptions in daily cortisol patterns often accompany mental health challenges, such as anxiety and depression.
Research into other conditions, such as alcohol use disorder, indicates that chronic substance consumption can blunt this natural morning spike. Because cannabis is frequently used as a coping mechanism for daily stressors, scientists wanted to understand whether frequent marijuana consumption alters the body’s natural cortisol rhythms in a similar way.
“There had been limited research on whether frequent cannabis use is associated with changes in individuals’ diurnal stress activity, which can be measured by examining the cortisol awakening response,” said Anita Cservenka, an associate professor and director of the Substance Use Neurocognition Lab in the School of Psychological Science at Oregon State University.
“However, some previous studies had shown that the typical rise of cortisol in the morning, which is thought to be a marker of our body’s preparation for managing the stressors of the day, may be blunted among individuals with alcohol use disorder,” Cservenka added. “A recent study by Glodosky et al., 2026, also suggested this may be the case among those with chronic cannabis use, so we attempted to replicate those findings.”
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 82 adult participants. The sample included 39 frequent cannabis users who consumed the substance at least three days a week over the past year and reported past-month use. The remaining 43 participants were healthy controls who used cannabis no more than one day a month and had no past-month use.
To prevent outside variables from influencing the stress hormone readings, the authors excluded individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of any psychiatric disorder, severe medical conditions, and those taking psychotropic or steroid medications.
Participants visited a laboratory to provide a urine sample and complete a breathalyzer test to ensure they were not acutely intoxicated. They then completed several surveys assessing their sleep quality, depression, anxiety, and perceived stress over the previous month. The frequent cannabis use group also completed a questionnaire evaluating recent negative consequences related to their consumption, such as social or occupational problems.
After the lab visit, participants collected their own saliva samples at home on two consecutive weekdays. They were instructed to avoid eating, drinking, consuming caffeine, or brushing their teeth right before sampling. They took saliva samples at the exact time of awakening, thirty minutes after waking, and in the evening at 9:00 PM. Along with each sample, participants recorded their momentary subjective stress levels on a scale from zero to ten.
The frequent cannabis users reported higher rates of depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and poorer sleep quality compared to the healthy controls. However, both groups reported nearly identical average sleep durations of roughly seven and a half hours, alongside similar wake times. The majority of the frequent use group consumed marijuana flower, most commonly using a water pipe.
Laboratory analysis of the saliva samples showed no statistically significant group differences in the cortisol awakening response. Both groups experienced a similar relative increase in cortisol during the first thirty minutes after waking. The researchers also found no group differences in the evening cortisol levels.
“We were surprised that we were unable to replicate the findings by Glodosky et al., 2026 who found a blunted cortisol awakening response in individuals with chronic cannabis use relative to controls, as our study showed no group differences,” Cservenka said. “However, it is possible that differences in statistical approaches or other demographic differences could explain the lack of replication. Thus, these nuances may be very important and sensitive to assessing the cortisol awakening response.”
Despite having a similar thirty-minute morning spike, frequent cannabis users had higher absolute baseline levels of cortisol at the exact moment of awakening. Within the frequent cannabis use group, the elevated morning cortisol levels were positively associated with the severity of cannabis-related consequences. The self-reported number of cannabis use days in the past month did not predict morning cortisol. Instead, the specific score of negative life consequences related to cannabis use corresponded with the higher cortisol readings at waking.
“Although we did not find group differences in the cortisol awakening response (the difference in cortisol 30 minutes post-awakening and at the time of awakening) between individuals who engaged in frequent cannabis use relative to controls, we did find that cannabis use may be related to higher levels of cortisol at the time of awakening and this was significantly related to cannabis use consequences,” Cservenka said. “These findings could inform treatment efforts aimed at trying to reduce the negative consequences individuals may experience from their cannabis use that could also have potential beneficial effects on their physiological stress systems.”
When examining subjective stress, the researchers found that higher self-reported stress correlated with higher cortisol levels across all participants during the morning hours. This positive association between perceived stress and cortisol release tended to be stronger in the healthy control group than in the cannabis use group.
Exploratory analyses separating the participants by sex indicated that the positive link between subjective stress and morning cortisol was present in males. However, the statistical models for females did not show this association.
Observational studies of this nature cannot determine cause and effect. It is not possible to conclude whether frequent cannabis use directly increases basal morning cortisol levels, or if individuals with naturally higher baseline cortisol are more drawn to heavy cannabis consumption to cope with stress. The relationship between neurobiology and substance use often involves complex interactions.
“It remains to be seen whether these stress neuroaxis alterations are a predisposing factor for frequent cannabis use or if frequent cannabis use can lead to these changes, as there is very limited research in this area,” Cservenka said. “Future longitudinal studies that track individuals over time before and after engaging in cannabis use will be needed to answer the question related to the neuroendocrine changes that are preexisting or a result of chronic cannabis use.”
The frequent cannabis users in the sample were older on average, at roughly 25 years old, than the healthy controls, who averaged 21 years of age. Age differences can sometimes influence hormonal rhythms, though statistical models in this study did not find age to be a driving factor for cortisol levels. The sample size was also relatively small, with only 82 total participants.
When the researchers separated the data by sex for exploratory analyses, the statistical power dropped. This reduction makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about how male and female stress systems might react differently to heavy cannabis use. Future research using larger sample sizes and comparing different methods of cannabis consumption is needed to build a more complete picture of hormonal stress responses.
The study, “Subjective Stress and Diurnal Salivary Cortisol in Adults with Frequent Cannabis Use,” was authored by Julia Donner, Alexia N. Obrochta, and Anita Cservenka.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/frequent-cannabis-use-is-linked-to-higher-morning-cortisol-levels/
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:01AM
SOURCE: STAT NEWS MENTAL HEALTHTITLE: STAT+: Definium Therapeutics says its LSD therapy eased anxiety in late-stage trial
URL: https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/definium-lsd-treatment-anxiety-study/?utm_campaign=rss
Definium Therapeutics said Wednesday that its LSD therapy significantly helped patients with generalized anxiety disorder in the first of two large trials.
It’s the second major win for Definium in the past two months, following a Phase 3 success in major depression.
In the Phase 3 anxiety study, 214 patients were randomly assigned to receive a single dose of DT120 — Definium “proprietary, pharmaceutically optimized” LSD pill — or a placebo.
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
URL: https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/definium-lsd-treatment-anxiety-study/?utm_campaign=rss
-------------------------------------------------
STAT News reports "from the frontiers of health and medicine".
Learn more at https://www.statnews.com/topic/mental-health/ .
See also their complete Mastodon account at @STAT .
This robot is NOT affiliated with STAT news and merely rebroadcasts from their site. Responses posted here are not monitored.
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DATE: August 12, 2026 at 08:01AM
SOURCE: STAT NEWS MENTAL HEALTHTITLE: STAT+: Definium Therapeutics says its LSD therapy eased anxiety in late-stage trial
URL: https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/definium-lsd-treatment-anxiety-study/?utm_campaign=rss
Definium Therapeutics said Wednesday that its LSD therapy significantly helped patients with generalized anxiety disorder in the first of two large trials.
It’s the second major win for Definium in the past two months, following a Phase 3 success in major depression.
In the Phase 3 anxiety study, 214 patients were randomly assigned to receive a single dose of DT120 — Definium “proprietary, pharmaceutically optimized” LSD pill — or a placebo.
Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…
URL: https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/12/definium-lsd-treatment-anxiety-study/?utm_campaign=rss
-------------------------------------------------
STAT News reports "from the frontiers of health and medicine".
Learn more at https://www.statnews.com/topic/mental-health/ .
See also their complete Mastodon account at @STAT .
This robot is NOT affiliated with STAT news and merely rebroadcasts from their site. Responses posted here are not monitored.
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-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Social anxiety, not masking, may drive mental health struggles in autistic adults
For autistic adults, hiding or suppressing traits to fit in with social expectations is often linked to higher rates of depression and distress. A recent study published in Autism Research reveals that these negative mental health outcomes may actually be driven by underlying social anxiety and social challenges, rather than the act of camouflaging itself. The findings suggest that current psychological questionnaires might be measuring overlapping concepts, pointing to a need for more precise tools to understand autistic well-being.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication, interaction, and sensory processing. Many autistic individuals use a coping strategy known as camouflaging to navigate social environments. This practice involves suppressing natural behaviors, such as avoiding eye contact or repetitive physical movements, while mimicking the speech patterns and gestures of people who are not autistic.
Psychologists divide camouflaging into three distinct categories. Compensation involves actively developing techniques to manage social interactions, such as practicing scripted conversations. Masking refers to deliberate efforts to hide autistic traits. Assimilation involves adapting behaviors to blend into a group, often by avoiding situations where differences might be noticed.
People camouflage for various reasons, including a desire to avoid discrimination, reduce stigma, and foster a sense of belonging in social groups. This effort often comes at a high personal cost. Previous research has consistently linked camouflaging to physical exhaustion, identity confusion, and elevated rates of depression and anxiety.
These established associations prompted researchers to ask a more specific question. Bruna B. Roisenberg, a researcher at the University of Sydney, along with senior author Adam J. Guastella and their colleagues, wanted to know if camouflaging independently predicts poor mental health. They suspected that the negative outcomes often attributed to camouflaging might actually stem from overlapping issues, such as social anxiety or broader difficulties with social responsiveness.
Social anxiety involves an intense fear of being judged or evaluated negatively in social situations. Social responsiveness refers to how an individual perceives, interprets, and reacts to social cues. The researchers theorized that because camouflaging involves intense self-monitoring and a fear of negative evaluation, it shares many fundamental features with social anxiety.
To investigate this relationship, the research team analyzed data from 113 autistic adults. The participants ranged in age from 17 to 75. All of them were experiencing social anxiety and had expressed interest in receiving therapeutic interventions for their anxiety symptoms.
The participants completed a series of standardized questionnaires. These surveys measured their levels of camouflaging, social anxiety, and social responsiveness. The participants also completed assessments evaluating their current levels of depression, psychological distress, and daily disability.
In addition to these mental health metrics, the researchers assessed the participants’ overall quality of life. This evaluation covered four distinct areas. The surveys measured physical health, psychological well-being, the quality of social relationships, and environmental factors like access to resources and daily safety.
The researchers used a statistical method called hierarchical regression to evaluate the data. This technique allowed them to test the variables in a step-by-step manner. By controlling for basic demographic factors like age and sex assigned at birth, they could observe the isolated effects of social responsiveness, social anxiety, and finally, camouflaging.
The goal was to see if camouflaging added any unique explanatory power to the mental health outcomes. If camouflaging was an independent driver of poor mental health, it would predict higher levels of depression or distress even after the other variables were taken into account.
The results told a different story. In the initial analyses, camouflaging was indeed associated with greater psychological distress, more severe depression, and increased disability. Those who reported higher levels of masking their traits also reported worse overall mental health.
This relationship vanished in the step-by-step statistical models. The researchers found that social responsiveness and social anxiety strongly predicted depression, psychological distress, and disability. Once the models accounted for these two factors, camouflaging did not explain any additional differences in the participants’ mental health.
The same pattern emerged when looking at quality of life. Higher levels of social anxiety and social challenges were associated with a lower quality of life. Camouflaging provided no independent predictive value for a person’s physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, or environmental satisfaction.
The findings held true even when the researchers broke down camouflaging into its specific components. None of the individual strategies, compensation, masking, or assimilation, independently predicted negative mental health outcomes beyond the effects of social anxiety and social impairments.
The results imply that the questionnaires currently used to measure camouflaging might be capturing the same psychological processes as tools used to measure social anxiety. Because both concepts involve a heightened focus on how one is perceived by others, they are difficult to untangle with standard surveys. The emotional and functional costs attributed to camouflaging may largely reflect a broader fear of negative evaluation.
The study provides an updated perspective on how autistic adults experience mental health challenges, but it relies on cross-sectional data. This means the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. Because of this design, the study cannot determine whether social anxiety leads to increased camouflaging, or if the effort of camouflaging exacerbates social anxiety.
The researchers also noted that the study relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires. This type of data can be influenced by a participant’s level of self-awareness or their interpretation of the questions. Relying solely on self-reporting increases the likelihood that overlapping concepts will blend together in the final data.
The study participants were all actively seeking treatment for social anxiety, which means the group may not represent the broader autistic population. Autistic individuals who do not experience high levels of social anxiety, or who are not actively seeking mental health support, might exhibit different patterns of well-being.
Future research will need to track autistic individuals over extended periods to see how camouflaging and mental health interact as people age. Expanding the ways in which researchers measure camouflaging, perhaps through observational methods or interviews, could help isolate its specific effects on an individual’s quality of life.
The study, “Does Camouflaging Predict Functioning, Distress, and Quality of Life for Autistic Adults?” was authored by Bruna B. Roisenberg, Kelsie A. Boulton, Emma E. Thomas, and Adam J. Guastella.
-------------------------------------------------
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Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AutismMentalHealth #CamouflagingMyth #SocialAnxiety #AutisticAdults #MentalHealthAwareness #SocialResponsiveness #DepressionInAutism #QualityOfLife # neurodiversity #AutismResearch
-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Social anxiety, not masking, may drive mental health struggles in autistic adults
For autistic adults, hiding or suppressing traits to fit in with social expectations is often linked to higher rates of depression and distress. A recent study published in Autism Research reveals that these negative mental health outcomes may actually be driven by underlying social anxiety and social challenges, rather than the act of camouflaging itself. The findings suggest that current psychological questionnaires might be measuring overlapping concepts, pointing to a need for more precise tools to understand autistic well-being.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication, interaction, and sensory processing. Many autistic individuals use a coping strategy known as camouflaging to navigate social environments. This practice involves suppressing natural behaviors, such as avoiding eye contact or repetitive physical movements, while mimicking the speech patterns and gestures of people who are not autistic.
Psychologists divide camouflaging into three distinct categories. Compensation involves actively developing techniques to manage social interactions, such as practicing scripted conversations. Masking refers to deliberate efforts to hide autistic traits. Assimilation involves adapting behaviors to blend into a group, often by avoiding situations where differences might be noticed.
People camouflage for various reasons, including a desire to avoid discrimination, reduce stigma, and foster a sense of belonging in social groups. This effort often comes at a high personal cost. Previous research has consistently linked camouflaging to physical exhaustion, identity confusion, and elevated rates of depression and anxiety.
These established associations prompted researchers to ask a more specific question. Bruna B. Roisenberg, a researcher at the University of Sydney, along with senior author Adam J. Guastella and their colleagues, wanted to know if camouflaging independently predicts poor mental health. They suspected that the negative outcomes often attributed to camouflaging might actually stem from overlapping issues, such as social anxiety or broader difficulties with social responsiveness.
Social anxiety involves an intense fear of being judged or evaluated negatively in social situations. Social responsiveness refers to how an individual perceives, interprets, and reacts to social cues. The researchers theorized that because camouflaging involves intense self-monitoring and a fear of negative evaluation, it shares many fundamental features with social anxiety.
To investigate this relationship, the research team analyzed data from 113 autistic adults. The participants ranged in age from 17 to 75. All of them were experiencing social anxiety and had expressed interest in receiving therapeutic interventions for their anxiety symptoms.
The participants completed a series of standardized questionnaires. These surveys measured their levels of camouflaging, social anxiety, and social responsiveness. The participants also completed assessments evaluating their current levels of depression, psychological distress, and daily disability.
In addition to these mental health metrics, the researchers assessed the participants’ overall quality of life. This evaluation covered four distinct areas. The surveys measured physical health, psychological well-being, the quality of social relationships, and environmental factors like access to resources and daily safety.
The researchers used a statistical method called hierarchical regression to evaluate the data. This technique allowed them to test the variables in a step-by-step manner. By controlling for basic demographic factors like age and sex assigned at birth, they could observe the isolated effects of social responsiveness, social anxiety, and finally, camouflaging.
The goal was to see if camouflaging added any unique explanatory power to the mental health outcomes. If camouflaging was an independent driver of poor mental health, it would predict higher levels of depression or distress even after the other variables were taken into account.
The results told a different story. In the initial analyses, camouflaging was indeed associated with greater psychological distress, more severe depression, and increased disability. Those who reported higher levels of masking their traits also reported worse overall mental health.
This relationship vanished in the step-by-step statistical models. The researchers found that social responsiveness and social anxiety strongly predicted depression, psychological distress, and disability. Once the models accounted for these two factors, camouflaging did not explain any additional differences in the participants’ mental health.
The same pattern emerged when looking at quality of life. Higher levels of social anxiety and social challenges were associated with a lower quality of life. Camouflaging provided no independent predictive value for a person’s physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships, or environmental satisfaction.
The findings held true even when the researchers broke down camouflaging into its specific components. None of the individual strategies, compensation, masking, or assimilation, independently predicted negative mental health outcomes beyond the effects of social anxiety and social impairments.
The results imply that the questionnaires currently used to measure camouflaging might be capturing the same psychological processes as tools used to measure social anxiety. Because both concepts involve a heightened focus on how one is perceived by others, they are difficult to untangle with standard surveys. The emotional and functional costs attributed to camouflaging may largely reflect a broader fear of negative evaluation.
The study provides an updated perspective on how autistic adults experience mental health challenges, but it relies on cross-sectional data. This means the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. Because of this design, the study cannot determine whether social anxiety leads to increased camouflaging, or if the effort of camouflaging exacerbates social anxiety.
The researchers also noted that the study relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires. This type of data can be influenced by a participant’s level of self-awareness or their interpretation of the questions. Relying solely on self-reporting increases the likelihood that overlapping concepts will blend together in the final data.
The study participants were all actively seeking treatment for social anxiety, which means the group may not represent the broader autistic population. Autistic individuals who do not experience high levels of social anxiety, or who are not actively seeking mental health support, might exhibit different patterns of well-being.
Future research will need to track autistic individuals over extended periods to see how camouflaging and mental health interact as people age. Expanding the ways in which researchers measure camouflaging, perhaps through observational methods or interviews, could help isolate its specific effects on an individual’s quality of life.
The study, “Does Camouflaging Predict Functioning, Distress, and Quality of Life for Autistic Adults?” was authored by Bruna B. Roisenberg, Kelsie A. Boulton, Emma E. Thomas, and Adam J. Guastella.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
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-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists identify 19 core dimensions of positive mental health in new consensus study
A recent study published in Nature Mental Health identifies a core set of elements that make up positive mental health, offering a standardized framework to define what it means to truly be well. By consulting experts across multiple disciplines, the research outlines nineteen specific dimensions, ranging from life satisfaction to social connection. The findings provide a foundation for creating more consistent strategies to support and measure psychological well-being in communities and workplaces.
Positive mental health encompasses more than just the absence of mental illness. It includes aspects of functioning effectively, feeling good, and connecting with others. High levels of mental well-being are associated with better recovery from stressful events, lower risks of chronic disease, and widespread benefits for society.
Despite its broad relevance, the exact definition of positive mental health varies widely depending on the field of study. Psychologists, public health officials, economists, and sociologists often use different terms and models to describe similar ideas, such as flourishing, thriving, or coping.
This lack of a shared vocabulary causes fragmentation in research and policy. When different organizations use completely different standards to define well-being, comparing research data or evaluating the success of public policies becomes incredibly difficult.
“Put very simply, there is very little agreement on what we mean when we say mental wellbeing, flourishing, positive mental health, or related terms,” said Matthew Iasiello, head of data and research translation at Be Well Co and postdoctoral research fellow at Adelaide University’s School of Biomedical Science. “These terms can all be used interchangeably, and each discipline defines them slightly differently, meaning that measures often focus on different things and evidence is hard to synthesize. This leads to confusion in the academic world, which also trickles into the ‘real world’ with governments and funders guessing about what to measure and where to invest.”
To address this inconsistency, researchers set out to establish a unified list of components that constitute positive mental health. Building a shared framework helps ensure that professionals across all sectors are aiming for the same targets when designing mental health interventions.
The researchers used a technique known as the Delphi method, which involves surveying a group of experts over multiple rounds to reach a consensus on a specific topic. The study recruited 122 prominent academics from 26 countries, representing 11 different disciplines. These fields included clinical psychology, psychiatry, public health, philosophy, nursing, and economics.
The experts had an average age of about 53 years and an average of nearly twenty years of experience in their respective fields. About 84 percent of the participants identified as Caucasian or European, and a majority resided in Western nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The response rate for the survey was approximately 10 percent of the invited academics, though the participating experts were highly cited in their disciplines.
In the first round of the survey, participants evaluated 26 potential dimensions of positive mental health drawn from previous scientific reviews. The experts rated each dimension on a four-point scale from irrelevant to essential. To be included in the final framework, a dimension needed to reach at least 75 percent agreement among the experts. Participants also had the opportunity to suggest additional components in open-text boxes.
In the second round, the experts reviewed the newly suggested dimensions and re-evaluated the items that had not yet reached a consensus. In the third and final round, the participants rated the approved dimensions to determine if they were primarily drivers that cause positive mental health or outcomes that result from it. They used a visual scale from zero to 100, where zero indicated a driver and 100 indicated an outcome.
The panel reached a consensus on nineteen distinct dimensions that constitute positive mental health. Six of these components achieved greater than 90 percent agreement for inclusion. These highest-rated components included meaning and purpose, life satisfaction, self-acceptance, connection with others, autonomy, and happiness.
Iasiello noted that the average person should understand “that positive mental health is broad. It’s more than feeling happy and more than simply not being unwell.” He added, “When we asked a large, cross-disciplinary panel of experts to agree, six dimensions stood out as near-universal: meaning and purpose, life satisfaction, self-acceptance, connection, autonomy and happiness. So if you want a fuller picture of how someone is doing, those are good places to look.”
Other dimensions that made the final list of nineteen included optimism, competence, engagement, calmness, vitality, and a sense of belonging. Rounding out the accepted framework were acceptance, achievement, activities and functioning, development, fun, self-congruence, and a sense of safety. The panel also agreed to exclude certain concepts altogether. For instance, avoidance coping, which involves attempting to ignore stressors, achieved only about 20 percent agreement and was excluded.
The experts debated the boundary between psychological and physical elements of well-being. Factors like physical health achieved only 62.8 percent agreement, and personal circumstances achieved only 62.5 percent agreement, meaning both failed to reach the 75 percent threshold for inclusion. This indicates a tendency among the experts to classify these physical and environmental factors as outside influences rather than core parts of mental well-being itself.
When categorizing the finalized components on the zero to 100 scale, the panel rated happiness and life satisfaction primarily as outcomes of positive mental health, with scores averaging near 74 and 72, respectively. On the other hand, elements like autonomy and a sense of safety were considered primarily as drivers that help produce well-being, scoring around 29 and 32 on the scale.
Differentiating these variables proved to be a challenging task. “Probably how difficult it was for our panel to separate ‘outcomes’ or ‘drivers’ of positive mental health,” Iasiello told PsyPost, regarding what surprised the research team. “The surprising finding was that most of the 19 included dimensions could be seen as both an outcome or a driver, depending on the research question or population. This points to the complexity of the topic!”
The feedback from the participants helped shape a new working definition of positive mental health. The updated definition emphasizes that positive mental health is a subjective experience of functioning well and feeling content. It also specifically notes that a person can experience positive mental health and take action to improve it even while managing a mental health condition.
This proposed taxonomy represents a starting point for standardizing the field, but it possesses built-in limitations. “The main misinterpretation is thinking that this work is a finished product,” Iasiello said. “This shared taxonomy aims to be a starting point towards reaching greater consistency in the field. Our panel was highly expert but heavily Western and English-speaking, so the taxonomy almost certainly carries a Western view of well-being, and concepts like the Japanese idea of ikigai may not sit neatly inside it.”
Concepts like ikigai, which broadly translates to a reason for being or a sense of purpose in everyday living, highlight how different cultures prioritize unique psychological traits. A panel consisting predominantly of academics from industrialized, English-speaking nations might overlook elements of well-being that emphasize communal harmony or spiritual connection.
The boundaries between the causes of mental health and the outcomes of mental health also remain highly complex. A factor like social connection can serve as a driver of well-being on one day and an outcome of a positive mood on the next. The dynamic interactions between these variables suggest that any standardized list will struggle to capture the fluid nature of human psychology in everyday life.
To address these gaps, the researchers have several goals for subsequent studies. “First, test the taxonomy well beyond a Western panel, and deliberately include non-Western concepts and the lived experience of groups often left out, such as people managing chronic illness,” Iasiello said. “Second, work out the structure, which dimensions act as drivers, which are outcomes, and how they nest together, rather than leaving them as a flat list.”
“Third, map positive mental health against mental illness, since the two aren’t just opposite ends of one line,” Iasiello continued. He also emphasized a desire for practical applications moving forward. “Alongside that, we want the science to reach real communities through partnerships between universities, councils, businesses, NGOs, and practitioners, so it gets tested where people actually live and work.”
The study, “A Delphi consensus study on the dimensions of positive mental health,” was authored by M. Iasiello, J. van Agteren, K. Ali, E. Kolovos, P. J. Batterham, F. Goodman, A. Jarden, T. B. Kashdan, M. Kyrios, L. G. Oades, D. Weziak-Bialowolska, and D. B. Fassnacht.
Below is the complete list of the components and their meanings as outlined in the study:
The Top Six Dimensions (Greater than 90% Agreement)
• Meaning and purpose: Having clear goals, a sense of direction, and a larger aim in life and/or the feeling that what we do is worthwhile, rewarding, and valuable.
•• Life satisfaction: The degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of their life as a whole (i.e., how much the person likes the life they lead).
•• Self-acceptance: Experiencing different aspects of oneself (e.g., one’s body, personality, thoughts, and feelings) in a positive, tolerant, receptive, or non-judgmental way; experiencing positive self-worth.
•• Connection: Involving a feeling of belonging, mutual caring, love, and closeness to friends, family, and loved ones.
•• Autonomy: The perception that we have ownership over our behavior and choices, and the ability to express oneself.
•• Happiness: States that are characterized by moderate-arousal pleasant feelings, such as feeling happy, cheerful, and pleased.
•The Remaining 13 Dimensions
• Acceptance: The ability to self-reflect, identify what is within a person’s control, and accept what is outside one’s control.
•• Achievement: Having done something successfully, using one’s own efforts and skills.
•• Activities and functioning: Overall satisfaction with our activities and leisure, and our ability to undertake these tasks.
•• Belonging: The feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences.
•• Calmness: States characterized by low-arousal pleasant feelings, like serenity and peacefulness.
•• Competence: Feeling and perceiving oneself as effective and able to overcome challenges and stressors, and achieve desired outcomes.
•• Development: Experiencing growth and improvement.
•• Engagement: Having an absorbing experience in which the individual is completely focused on the task at hand or experiencing a state of mindful awareness.
•• Fun: Experiencing light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; entertainment.
•• Optimism: Having a positive outlook on life, and positive expectations about the future.
•• Self-congruence: The perception that our actions and behaviors are compatible with our interests, values, and beliefs.
•• Sense of safety: The feeling of relative security in one’s daily life.
•• Vitality: States characterized by high-arousal pleasant feelings, such as feeling energetic and lively.
•-------------------------------------------------
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PositiveMentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #DelphiConsensus #MeaningAndPurpose #LifeSatisfaction #SelfAcceptance #Connection #Autonomy #Happiness #WellbeingFramework
-
DATE: August 12, 2026 at 06:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Scientists identify 19 core dimensions of positive mental health in new consensus study
A recent study published in Nature Mental Health identifies a core set of elements that make up positive mental health, offering a standardized framework to define what it means to truly be well. By consulting experts across multiple disciplines, the research outlines nineteen specific dimensions, ranging from life satisfaction to social connection. The findings provide a foundation for creating more consistent strategies to support and measure psychological well-being in communities and workplaces.
Positive mental health encompasses more than just the absence of mental illness. It includes aspects of functioning effectively, feeling good, and connecting with others. High levels of mental well-being are associated with better recovery from stressful events, lower risks of chronic disease, and widespread benefits for society.
Despite its broad relevance, the exact definition of positive mental health varies widely depending on the field of study. Psychologists, public health officials, economists, and sociologists often use different terms and models to describe similar ideas, such as flourishing, thriving, or coping.
This lack of a shared vocabulary causes fragmentation in research and policy. When different organizations use completely different standards to define well-being, comparing research data or evaluating the success of public policies becomes incredibly difficult.
“Put very simply, there is very little agreement on what we mean when we say mental wellbeing, flourishing, positive mental health, or related terms,” said Matthew Iasiello, head of data and research translation at Be Well Co and postdoctoral research fellow at Adelaide University’s School of Biomedical Science. “These terms can all be used interchangeably, and each discipline defines them slightly differently, meaning that measures often focus on different things and evidence is hard to synthesize. This leads to confusion in the academic world, which also trickles into the ‘real world’ with governments and funders guessing about what to measure and where to invest.”
To address this inconsistency, researchers set out to establish a unified list of components that constitute positive mental health. Building a shared framework helps ensure that professionals across all sectors are aiming for the same targets when designing mental health interventions.
The researchers used a technique known as the Delphi method, which involves surveying a group of experts over multiple rounds to reach a consensus on a specific topic. The study recruited 122 prominent academics from 26 countries, representing 11 different disciplines. These fields included clinical psychology, psychiatry, public health, philosophy, nursing, and economics.
The experts had an average age of about 53 years and an average of nearly twenty years of experience in their respective fields. About 84 percent of the participants identified as Caucasian or European, and a majority resided in Western nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. The response rate for the survey was approximately 10 percent of the invited academics, though the participating experts were highly cited in their disciplines.
In the first round of the survey, participants evaluated 26 potential dimensions of positive mental health drawn from previous scientific reviews. The experts rated each dimension on a four-point scale from irrelevant to essential. To be included in the final framework, a dimension needed to reach at least 75 percent agreement among the experts. Participants also had the opportunity to suggest additional components in open-text boxes.
In the second round, the experts reviewed the newly suggested dimensions and re-evaluated the items that had not yet reached a consensus. In the third and final round, the participants rated the approved dimensions to determine if they were primarily drivers that cause positive mental health or outcomes that result from it. They used a visual scale from zero to 100, where zero indicated a driver and 100 indicated an outcome.
The panel reached a consensus on nineteen distinct dimensions that constitute positive mental health. Six of these components achieved greater than 90 percent agreement for inclusion. These highest-rated components included meaning and purpose, life satisfaction, self-acceptance, connection with others, autonomy, and happiness.
Iasiello noted that the average person should understand “that positive mental health is broad. It’s more than feeling happy and more than simply not being unwell.” He added, “When we asked a large, cross-disciplinary panel of experts to agree, six dimensions stood out as near-universal: meaning and purpose, life satisfaction, self-acceptance, connection, autonomy and happiness. So if you want a fuller picture of how someone is doing, those are good places to look.”
Other dimensions that made the final list of nineteen included optimism, competence, engagement, calmness, vitality, and a sense of belonging. Rounding out the accepted framework were acceptance, achievement, activities and functioning, development, fun, self-congruence, and a sense of safety. The panel also agreed to exclude certain concepts altogether. For instance, avoidance coping, which involves attempting to ignore stressors, achieved only about 20 percent agreement and was excluded.
The experts debated the boundary between psychological and physical elements of well-being. Factors like physical health achieved only 62.8 percent agreement, and personal circumstances achieved only 62.5 percent agreement, meaning both failed to reach the 75 percent threshold for inclusion. This indicates a tendency among the experts to classify these physical and environmental factors as outside influences rather than core parts of mental well-being itself.
When categorizing the finalized components on the zero to 100 scale, the panel rated happiness and life satisfaction primarily as outcomes of positive mental health, with scores averaging near 74 and 72, respectively. On the other hand, elements like autonomy and a sense of safety were considered primarily as drivers that help produce well-being, scoring around 29 and 32 on the scale.
Differentiating these variables proved to be a challenging task. “Probably how difficult it was for our panel to separate ‘outcomes’ or ‘drivers’ of positive mental health,” Iasiello told PsyPost, regarding what surprised the research team. “The surprising finding was that most of the 19 included dimensions could be seen as both an outcome or a driver, depending on the research question or population. This points to the complexity of the topic!”
The feedback from the participants helped shape a new working definition of positive mental health. The updated definition emphasizes that positive mental health is a subjective experience of functioning well and feeling content. It also specifically notes that a person can experience positive mental health and take action to improve it even while managing a mental health condition.
This proposed taxonomy represents a starting point for standardizing the field, but it possesses built-in limitations. “The main misinterpretation is thinking that this work is a finished product,” Iasiello said. “This shared taxonomy aims to be a starting point towards reaching greater consistency in the field. Our panel was highly expert but heavily Western and English-speaking, so the taxonomy almost certainly carries a Western view of well-being, and concepts like the Japanese idea of ikigai may not sit neatly inside it.”
Concepts like ikigai, which broadly translates to a reason for being or a sense of purpose in everyday living, highlight how different cultures prioritize unique psychological traits. A panel consisting predominantly of academics from industrialized, English-speaking nations might overlook elements of well-being that emphasize communal harmony or spiritual connection.
The boundaries between the causes of mental health and the outcomes of mental health also remain highly complex. A factor like social connection can serve as a driver of well-being on one day and an outcome of a positive mood on the next. The dynamic interactions between these variables suggest that any standardized list will struggle to capture the fluid nature of human psychology in everyday life.
To address these gaps, the researchers have several goals for subsequent studies. “First, test the taxonomy well beyond a Western panel, and deliberately include non-Western concepts and the lived experience of groups often left out, such as people managing chronic illness,” Iasiello said. “Second, work out the structure, which dimensions act as drivers, which are outcomes, and how they nest together, rather than leaving them as a flat list.”
“Third, map positive mental health against mental illness, since the two aren’t just opposite ends of one line,” Iasiello continued. He also emphasized a desire for practical applications moving forward. “Alongside that, we want the science to reach real communities through partnerships between universities, councils, businesses, NGOs, and practitioners, so it gets tested where people actually live and work.”
The study, “A Delphi consensus study on the dimensions of positive mental health,” was authored by M. Iasiello, J. van Agteren, K. Ali, E. Kolovos, P. J. Batterham, F. Goodman, A. Jarden, T. B. Kashdan, M. Kyrios, L. G. Oades, D. Weziak-Bialowolska, and D. B. Fassnacht.
Below is the complete list of the components and their meanings as outlined in the study:
The Top Six Dimensions (Greater than 90% Agreement)
• Meaning and purpose: Having clear goals, a sense of direction, and a larger aim in life and/or the feeling that what we do is worthwhile, rewarding, and valuable.
•• Life satisfaction: The degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of their life as a whole (i.e., how much the person likes the life they lead).
•• Self-acceptance: Experiencing different aspects of oneself (e.g., one’s body, personality, thoughts, and feelings) in a positive, tolerant, receptive, or non-judgmental way; experiencing positive self-worth.
•• Connection: Involving a feeling of belonging, mutual caring, love, and closeness to friends, family, and loved ones.
•• Autonomy: The perception that we have ownership over our behavior and choices, and the ability to express oneself.
•• Happiness: States that are characterized by moderate-arousal pleasant feelings, such as feeling happy, cheerful, and pleased.
•The Remaining 13 Dimensions
• Acceptance: The ability to self-reflect, identify what is within a person’s control, and accept what is outside one’s control.
•• Achievement: Having done something successfully, using one’s own efforts and skills.
•• Activities and functioning: Overall satisfaction with our activities and leisure, and our ability to undertake these tasks.
•• Belonging: The feeling of deep connection with social groups, physical places, and individual and collective experiences.
•• Calmness: States characterized by low-arousal pleasant feelings, like serenity and peacefulness.
•• Competence: Feeling and perceiving oneself as effective and able to overcome challenges and stressors, and achieve desired outcomes.
•• Development: Experiencing growth and improvement.
•• Engagement: Having an absorbing experience in which the individual is completely focused on the task at hand or experiencing a state of mindful awareness.
•• Fun: Experiencing light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; entertainment.
•• Optimism: Having a positive outlook on life, and positive expectations about the future.
•• Self-congruence: The perception that our actions and behaviors are compatible with our interests, values, and beliefs.
•• Sense of safety: The feeling of relative security in one’s daily life.
•• Vitality: States characterized by high-arousal pleasant feelings, such as feeling energetic and lively.
•-------------------------------------------------
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A new dual-process theory solves the mystery of dopamine ramps
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-new-dual-process-theory-solves-the-mystery-of-dopamine-ramps/
Researchers have developed a new computational model to explain why dopamine levels steadily increase as individuals approach a predictable reward. By combining two distinct types of learning, the model demonstrates how the brain efficiently updates its expectations, resolving a long-standing puzzle in neuroscience. The findings were published in the journal eLife.
Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain associated with learning, motivation, and movement. For decades, the dominant framework in neuroscience has viewed dopamine as a signal for a reward prediction error. This error occurs when the outcome of a situation is better or worse than expected. If an animal receives an unexpected treat, dopamine neurons fire to signal a positive error. This signal helps update stored expectations in a brain region called the striatum. Over time, as a reward becomes entirely predictable, these prediction errors should drop to zero.
However, experiments measuring dopamine during spatial navigation tasks have revealed a pattern that contradicts this standard theory. As animals move closer to a known, predictable reward, their dopamine levels gradually climb in a continuous slope. Because the reward is already expected, traditional mathematical models struggle to explain why a prediction error would increase as the goal gets nearer.
Researchers Luke Priestley and Thomas Akam from the University of Oxford sought to resolve this contradiction. They built a computational model that features two separate learning processes working in tandem. The first process is the traditional, slow-learning system that relies on cached values stored in the basal ganglia. The second process is a fast, flexible system that actively infers values using an internal map or world model, likely housed in the brain’s frontal cortex.
Priestley and Akam proposed that these two systems interact in a very specific way to generate dopamine ramps. When the brain calculates a reward prediction error, it compares its current prediction against a new update target. In their model, the fast, inferred values only influence the update target. The current prediction relies entirely on the slow, cached values. Because the fast system already knows a reward is near while the slow system is still catching up, the gap between the update target and the prediction grows as the goal approaches. This growing gap produces the steady climb in dopamine.
The researchers first tested this asymmetrical dual-process model in a simulated linear track environment. They compared it against a standard model and a version where inferred values influenced both the prediction and the update target. The asymmetrical model learned the true value of the environment faster than the alternatives. It also successfully produced the ramping dopamine signals that the standard models failed to generate.
Next, Priestley and Akam simulated an environment where an artificial agent navigated between high and low rewards over thousands of trials. They modeled a previous experiment showing that dopamine ramps in mice diminish gradually after extensive training. The simulated agent replicated this long-term decline. As the slow-learning cached values eventually matched the fast-learning inferred values, the gap between them closed, causing the ramps to flatten over time.
The model also mirrored how dopamine behaves in completely novel environments. In biological experiments, animals do not show dopamine ramps the first time they explore a new maze, but the ramps appear quickly after a few successes. The simulated agents showed this exact rapid onset, demonstrating how the fast-learning internal map quickly shapes the prediction error.
The researchers then applied their model to a grid-like environment with multiple paths to a single destination. In real-world experiments, changing the amount of reward at a specific location instantly alters the dopamine ramp on the very next attempt, even if the animal takes a completely different route. The dual-process model successfully reproduced this global updating behavior. Because the fast-learning system uses a flexible mental map, it immediately applied the new reward information to all possible paths leading to that goal.
To test how unexpected events influence dopamine, the team simulated virtual reality experiments where animals were suddenly teleported closer to a goal or forced to move at different speeds. In the simulation, teleports caused sudden spikes in the simulated dopamine signal, with the size of the spike depending on how close the agent was teleported to the reward. Changing the speed of the agent altered the steepness of the ramp. These simulated responses matched actual biological recordings, supporting the idea that dopamine tracks momentary changes in expected value.
Finally, the researchers modeled spatial uncertainty by simulating a virtual reality task where the environment progressively darkened. In actual animal experiments, this darkening causes dopamine levels to rise in a hump shape rather than a steady ramp. The simulated agent produced these exact same shapes. As the visual environment darkened, the agent became less certain of its exact location, which distorted the fast system’s inferred value estimates and caused the prediction error to drop off before reaching the goal.
While the dual-process model unifies several puzzling observations, it relies on a few computational simplifications. The researchers assumed the model-based system focuses entirely on calculating the shortest path to a single, final goal. In reality, animals continue to behave and learn after a goal is reached, meaning the brain likely employs more generalized strategies.
The simulations also used a fixed parameter to arbitrate between the fast and slow learning systems. A biological brain likely adjusts this balance dynamically based on confidence, uncertainty, or past experience. The model also assumes that the distances between locations are known to the agent in advance, which may require separate navigation circuits to already be active.
Future research will need to verify the biological pathways that allow the frontal cortex to send these fast value inferences to dopamine-producing centers. By testing whether temporarily disabling specific brain circuits eliminates dopamine ramps, scientists could test if this dual-process architecture operates in living animals. Identifying these physical connections would reshape how scientists view the boundary between conscious planning and automatic habit formation in the brain.
The study, “Dopamine ramps as a normative consequence of dual-process control,” was authored by Luke Priestley and Thomas Akam.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-new-dual-process-theory-solves-the-mystery-of-dopamine-ramps/
-------------------------------------------------
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 08:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A new dual-process theory solves the mystery of dopamine ramps
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-new-dual-process-theory-solves-the-mystery-of-dopamine-ramps/
Researchers have developed a new computational model to explain why dopamine levels steadily increase as individuals approach a predictable reward. By combining two distinct types of learning, the model demonstrates how the brain efficiently updates its expectations, resolving a long-standing puzzle in neuroscience. The findings were published in the journal eLife.
Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain associated with learning, motivation, and movement. For decades, the dominant framework in neuroscience has viewed dopamine as a signal for a reward prediction error. This error occurs when the outcome of a situation is better or worse than expected. If an animal receives an unexpected treat, dopamine neurons fire to signal a positive error. This signal helps update stored expectations in a brain region called the striatum. Over time, as a reward becomes entirely predictable, these prediction errors should drop to zero.
However, experiments measuring dopamine during spatial navigation tasks have revealed a pattern that contradicts this standard theory. As animals move closer to a known, predictable reward, their dopamine levels gradually climb in a continuous slope. Because the reward is already expected, traditional mathematical models struggle to explain why a prediction error would increase as the goal gets nearer.
Researchers Luke Priestley and Thomas Akam from the University of Oxford sought to resolve this contradiction. They built a computational model that features two separate learning processes working in tandem. The first process is the traditional, slow-learning system that relies on cached values stored in the basal ganglia. The second process is a fast, flexible system that actively infers values using an internal map or world model, likely housed in the brain’s frontal cortex.
Priestley and Akam proposed that these two systems interact in a very specific way to generate dopamine ramps. When the brain calculates a reward prediction error, it compares its current prediction against a new update target. In their model, the fast, inferred values only influence the update target. The current prediction relies entirely on the slow, cached values. Because the fast system already knows a reward is near while the slow system is still catching up, the gap between the update target and the prediction grows as the goal approaches. This growing gap produces the steady climb in dopamine.
The researchers first tested this asymmetrical dual-process model in a simulated linear track environment. They compared it against a standard model and a version where inferred values influenced both the prediction and the update target. The asymmetrical model learned the true value of the environment faster than the alternatives. It also successfully produced the ramping dopamine signals that the standard models failed to generate.
Next, Priestley and Akam simulated an environment where an artificial agent navigated between high and low rewards over thousands of trials. They modeled a previous experiment showing that dopamine ramps in mice diminish gradually after extensive training. The simulated agent replicated this long-term decline. As the slow-learning cached values eventually matched the fast-learning inferred values, the gap between them closed, causing the ramps to flatten over time.
The model also mirrored how dopamine behaves in completely novel environments. In biological experiments, animals do not show dopamine ramps the first time they explore a new maze, but the ramps appear quickly after a few successes. The simulated agents showed this exact rapid onset, demonstrating how the fast-learning internal map quickly shapes the prediction error.
The researchers then applied their model to a grid-like environment with multiple paths to a single destination. In real-world experiments, changing the amount of reward at a specific location instantly alters the dopamine ramp on the very next attempt, even if the animal takes a completely different route. The dual-process model successfully reproduced this global updating behavior. Because the fast-learning system uses a flexible mental map, it immediately applied the new reward information to all possible paths leading to that goal.
To test how unexpected events influence dopamine, the team simulated virtual reality experiments where animals were suddenly teleported closer to a goal or forced to move at different speeds. In the simulation, teleports caused sudden spikes in the simulated dopamine signal, with the size of the spike depending on how close the agent was teleported to the reward. Changing the speed of the agent altered the steepness of the ramp. These simulated responses matched actual biological recordings, supporting the idea that dopamine tracks momentary changes in expected value.
Finally, the researchers modeled spatial uncertainty by simulating a virtual reality task where the environment progressively darkened. In actual animal experiments, this darkening causes dopamine levels to rise in a hump shape rather than a steady ramp. The simulated agent produced these exact same shapes. As the visual environment darkened, the agent became less certain of its exact location, which distorted the fast system’s inferred value estimates and caused the prediction error to drop off before reaching the goal.
While the dual-process model unifies several puzzling observations, it relies on a few computational simplifications. The researchers assumed the model-based system focuses entirely on calculating the shortest path to a single, final goal. In reality, animals continue to behave and learn after a goal is reached, meaning the brain likely employs more generalized strategies.
The simulations also used a fixed parameter to arbitrate between the fast and slow learning systems. A biological brain likely adjusts this balance dynamically based on confidence, uncertainty, or past experience. The model also assumes that the distances between locations are known to the agent in advance, which may require separate navigation circuits to already be active.
Future research will need to verify the biological pathways that allow the frontal cortex to send these fast value inferences to dopamine-producing centers. By testing whether temporarily disabling specific brain circuits eliminates dopamine ramps, scientists could test if this dual-process architecture operates in living animals. Identifying these physical connections would reshape how scientists view the boundary between conscious planning and automatic habit formation in the brain.
The study, “Dopamine ramps as a normative consequence of dual-process control,” was authored by Luke Priestley and Thomas Akam.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/a-new-dual-process-theory-solves-the-mystery-of-dopamine-ramps/
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #DopamineRamps #DualProcessModel #NeuroscienceBreakthrough #PredictiveCoding #LearningSystems #ModelBasedLearning #BasalGanglia #FrontalCortex #DopamineDynamics #eLifeResearch
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Amygdala volume increases with age, more strongly in boys
URL: https://www.psypost.org/amygdala-volume-increases-with-age-more-strongly-in-boys/
A neuroimaging study involving participants from the fetal period up into the first four years of life found that the volume of the amygdala region of the brain increases with age and that this increase is steeper in boys than in girls. The paper was published in Human Brain Mapping.
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain’s temporal lobes. It is best known for its role in processing emotionally significant information. The amygdala is particularly involved in detecting potential threats and coordinating responses to fear, although its functions extend well beyond negative emotions.
The amygdala helps the brain determine which events are important and therefore deserve attention or should be remembered. It interacts closely with regions involved in memory, decision-making, and physiological stress responses, including the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Through these connections, it can influence changes in heart rate, hormone release, vigilance, and behavior when a person encounters something emotionally meaningful.
The amygdala also contributes to learning associations between particular situations and positive or negative outcomes. It participates in a broader neural network that evaluates the relevance and motivational significance of experiences.
Study author Megan E. Mueller and her colleagues investigated the development of the amygdala during late fetal, newborn, and early childhood periods—timeframes for which there has not been much published data so far. They also examined the links between amygdala development and specific aspects of psychological development for those participants for whom this data was available.
They analyzed data from cross-sectional (looking at different children at one specific point in time) and longitudinal (following the same children over a period of time) studies collected at Western University (Ontario, Canada) and from three open-access datasets. Data came from 11 unique participants of the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study (APrON), from 30 participants of the CMIND study, 348 participants from the Developing Human Connectome Project, and from three more groups collected at Western University involving a total of 82 participants (Fetal Cohort 1, Fetal Cohort 2, and the Infant Cohort).
In total, these datasets contained data from 471 unique participants. Across datasets, females comprised 47% of participants. The age of participating children ranged between 27 weeks postmenstrual age (measured from the mother’s last menstrual period, representing the fetal stage) to 195 weeks postmenstrual age (around 3 years postnatal age) at the time of neuroimaging.
For 30 participants from the CMIND dataset, data on neurodevelopmental abilities, collected using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, were also available. These included assessments of cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and general adaptive abilities (practical, everyday life skills).
Results showed that the volume of the amygdala increases with age and that this age-related change is steeper in boys than in girls. Also, male participants tended to have larger amygdalae overall. The amygdala on the left side of the brain was larger and showed a steeper age-related increase than the right side.
When study authors looked at the 30 participants for whom neurodevelopmental data were available, they found that participants with smaller left amygdala volumes tended to have somewhat better social-emotional outcomes, cognitive outcomes, and better receptive communication (the ability to understand spoken language).
“We found that sex, laterality [differences between the left and right sides of the brain], and age predicted the volumes of the amygdala in a typically developing sample [children without neurodevelopmental disorders], providing a more thorough understanding of its development in the fetus and throughout infancy,” the study authors concluded.
“Additionally, identifying the impact of the development of the left amygdala on later communication, cognitive and social outcomes in toddlerhood provides further evidence that biological differences may be predictive of later prosocial or adverse outcomes, even in typically developing populations.”
The study contributes to scientific knowledge about the development of the brain. However, the associations with developmental outcomes were calculated only on data from a single dataset that included a very small number of children and infants. Because of this, the study authors suggest that these associations should be treated as preliminary.
The paper, “Age-Related Changes in the Amygdala From In Utero to Early Childhood: Association With Social and Cognitive Outcomes,” was authored by Megan E. Mueller, Emily S. Nichols, Sarah Al-Saoud, Barb de Vrijer, Charles A. McKenzie, Roy Eagleson, Sandrine de Ribaupierre, and Emma G. Duerden.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/amygdala-volume-increases-with-age-more-strongly-in-boys/
-------------------------------------------------
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-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 06:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Amygdala volume increases with age, more strongly in boys
URL: https://www.psypost.org/amygdala-volume-increases-with-age-more-strongly-in-boys/
A neuroimaging study involving participants from the fetal period up into the first four years of life found that the volume of the amygdala region of the brain increases with age and that this increase is steeper in boys than in girls. The paper was published in Human Brain Mapping.
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure located deep within the brain’s temporal lobes. It is best known for its role in processing emotionally significant information. The amygdala is particularly involved in detecting potential threats and coordinating responses to fear, although its functions extend well beyond negative emotions.
The amygdala helps the brain determine which events are important and therefore deserve attention or should be remembered. It interacts closely with regions involved in memory, decision-making, and physiological stress responses, including the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Through these connections, it can influence changes in heart rate, hormone release, vigilance, and behavior when a person encounters something emotionally meaningful.
The amygdala also contributes to learning associations between particular situations and positive or negative outcomes. It participates in a broader neural network that evaluates the relevance and motivational significance of experiences.
Study author Megan E. Mueller and her colleagues investigated the development of the amygdala during late fetal, newborn, and early childhood periods—timeframes for which there has not been much published data so far. They also examined the links between amygdala development and specific aspects of psychological development for those participants for whom this data was available.
They analyzed data from cross-sectional (looking at different children at one specific point in time) and longitudinal (following the same children over a period of time) studies collected at Western University (Ontario, Canada) and from three open-access datasets. Data came from 11 unique participants of the Alberta Pregnancy Outcomes and Nutrition Study (APrON), from 30 participants of the CMIND study, 348 participants from the Developing Human Connectome Project, and from three more groups collected at Western University involving a total of 82 participants (Fetal Cohort 1, Fetal Cohort 2, and the Infant Cohort).
In total, these datasets contained data from 471 unique participants. Across datasets, females comprised 47% of participants. The age of participating children ranged between 27 weeks postmenstrual age (measured from the mother’s last menstrual period, representing the fetal stage) to 195 weeks postmenstrual age (around 3 years postnatal age) at the time of neuroimaging.
For 30 participants from the CMIND dataset, data on neurodevelopmental abilities, collected using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition, were also available. These included assessments of cognitive, language, motor, social-emotional, and general adaptive abilities (practical, everyday life skills).
Results showed that the volume of the amygdala increases with age and that this age-related change is steeper in boys than in girls. Also, male participants tended to have larger amygdalae overall. The amygdala on the left side of the brain was larger and showed a steeper age-related increase than the right side.
When study authors looked at the 30 participants for whom neurodevelopmental data were available, they found that participants with smaller left amygdala volumes tended to have somewhat better social-emotional outcomes, cognitive outcomes, and better receptive communication (the ability to understand spoken language).
“We found that sex, laterality [differences between the left and right sides of the brain], and age predicted the volumes of the amygdala in a typically developing sample [children without neurodevelopmental disorders], providing a more thorough understanding of its development in the fetus and throughout infancy,” the study authors concluded.
“Additionally, identifying the impact of the development of the left amygdala on later communication, cognitive and social outcomes in toddlerhood provides further evidence that biological differences may be predictive of later prosocial or adverse outcomes, even in typically developing populations.”
The study contributes to scientific knowledge about the development of the brain. However, the associations with developmental outcomes were calculated only on data from a single dataset that included a very small number of children and infants. Because of this, the study authors suggest that these associations should be treated as preliminary.
The paper, “Age-Related Changes in the Amygdala From In Utero to Early Childhood: Association With Social and Cognitive Outcomes,” was authored by Megan E. Mueller, Emily S. Nichols, Sarah Al-Saoud, Barb de Vrijer, Charles A. McKenzie, Roy Eagleson, Sandrine de Ribaupierre, and Emma G. Duerden.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/amygdala-volume-increases-with-age-more-strongly-in-boys/
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A book that I've eagerly been awaiting has just been released: Generation Regeneration, by Tony Cho. If you're interested in re-visioning cities and communities with less loneliness and isolation and more human connection, resilience, & green space, this is a can't-miss. https://bookshop.org/a/109848/9798886455083
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LIVE, Dammit Bluesky Blog
A book that I've eagerly been awaiting has just been released: Generation Regeneration, by Tony Cho. If you're interested in re-visioning cities and communities with less loneliness and isolation and more human connection, resilience, & green space, this is a can't-miss. https://bookshop.org/a/109848/9798886455083
LINK: https://bsky.app/profile/livedammit.bsky.social/post/3msthkkujgs2o
---------
LIVEdammit is a mental health support site with stories, tools, free e-course, bookstore & inspiring wearables — for stubborn souls doing the work to stay here, stay human, & stay strong.
WEBSITE: https://LIVEdammit.com
This robot is not affiliated with LIVEdammit.
--------
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain imaging study links childhood trauma to chronic procrastination in adulthood
Childhood trauma can leave lasting marks on human development, and a new study links these early adverse experiences to higher rates of procrastination in young adults. By scanning the brains of over a thousand participants, researchers mapped how trauma-related changes in neural networks might elevate anxiety and lower self-control, paving the way for chronic delay. The research was published in the journal NeuroImage.
Procrastination is often dismissed as simple laziness or poor time management. Psychologists generally view chronic procrastination as a failure of self-control. When faced with a stressful or unpleasant task, people may delay doing it as a way to find temporary relief from negative feelings. This concept is known as the short-term emotion repair theory. While putting off a difficult project provides immediate comfort, it interferes with long-term goals.
Experiencing abuse or neglect in childhood can disrupt the development of systems in the brain that handle emotion and cognitive control. This early adversity can make individuals highly sensitive to negative emotions, elevating their baseline stress. It can also reduce their ability to suppress immediate impulses in favor of future rewards.
Researchers at Southwest University in China wanted to see if the neurobiological changes associated with childhood trauma might explain the tendency to put things off. The study was led by psychologist Tingyong Feng along with Luo Xu and colleagues. They hypothesized that early traumatic events alter large-scale brain networks. These structural and functional changes would subsequently raise a person’s baseline anxiety and degrade their ability to maintain self-control.
To test this framework, the research team recruited undergraduate students with no history of psychiatric disorders, dividing them into a primary discovery group of 760 participants and a validation group of 429 participants. Every individual completed a series of standardized questionnaires. These surveys assessed their history of physical and emotional abuse or neglect, general tendency to procrastinate, trait anxiety, and baseline self-control. Trait anxiety refers to a person’s general, everyday level of stress and worry, rather than temporary anxiety tied to a specific passing event.
The participants then underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. This brain scanning technique measures blood flow to track brain activity while a person is resting. By observing which areas of the brain activate in sync, researchers can map out functional networks. The team focused on the strength of the connections between 268 different brain regions, looking for patterns that corresponded with the behavioral survey scores.
In the first part of their analysis using the behavioral survey data, the researchers found that higher scores on the childhood trauma questionnaire predicted higher levels of procrastination. When they introduced the other survey variables into their statistical models, they found that trait anxiety and self-control acted as mediators. The data indicated that childhood trauma was associated with higher trait anxiety and lower self-control. These two emotional and cognitive states in turn predicted the urge to procrastinate.
Next, the researchers used a statistical technique to analyze the brain scans from the participants in the discovery group. They searched the entire brain to find specific patterns of neural connectivity that could predict the severity of a participant’s childhood trauma. Their models successfully identified a set of brain connections that correlated with the initial survey scores. To ensure their computer model was reliable, they tested it on the brain scans of the students in the validation group. The model accurately predicted trauma scores in this independent group based solely on their resting neural connectivity.
The neural connections identified by the model primarily involved several major brain networks. These included the frontoparietal network, which is responsible for goal-directed behavior, and the salience network, which helps the brain detect and react to emotional stimuli. The researchers observed weaker connectivity in areas related to top-down cognitive control, such as the prefrontal cortex. At the same time, they saw stronger connections between visual processing areas and the cerebellum. These latter regions are highly active when processing emotional cues and learning fear responses.
The researchers noted that these brain patterns align with a recognized framework called the triple-network model of procrastination. In this model, chronic delay arises from an imbalance between brain networks that manage self-control, emotion regulation, and future planning. The weaker connectivity in the prefrontal cortex suggests a diminished capacity to stay focused on long-term goals. The stronger connections between the salience network and visual areas suggest a hyperactive threat-detection system. Under these conditions, visual inputs are more readily interpreted as threatening or stressful, which elevates anxiety.
The researchers then merged the neurological data with the behavioral data. They found that the exact brain network patterns associated with childhood trauma predicted higher procrastination scores. Just as with the survey data, this relationship was bridged by the participants’ levels of trait anxiety and self-control. The altered brain connectivity predicted higher anxiety and lower self-control, which ultimately mapped onto higher procrastination.
The study relies on a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. This approach prevents researchers from proving that childhood trauma directly causes brain changes or procrastination later in life. The researchers noted that longitudinal studies, which track the same individuals over many years, are required to confirm the direction of these effects.
The observed associations between the brain networks and behavioral traits were also relatively modest in size. Modest effects are common in brain imaging research, partly due to the limits of current scanning technology and the natural variations in how human brains are wired. The reliance on self-reported questionnaires for assessing childhood trauma can also introduce memory biases or measurement errors.
The research team recommended that future studies test more diverse populations, as the current data came exclusively from healthy college students. Including physiological markers and specific behavioral tests could also refine our understanding of how early life stress changes the brain.
The study, “Early Wounds, Delayed Consequences: Brain-Behavior Modeling Reveals Neural Pathways Linking Childhood Trauma to Procrastination,” was authored by Luo Xu, Yao Yin, Xueke Wang, Ting Xu, Xi Zhang, and Tingyong Feng.
-------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ChildhoodTrauma #Procrastination #BrainImaging #NeuroImageStudy #SelfControl #Anxiety #NeuralNetworks #TripleNetworkModel #RestingState fMRI #MentalHealthResearch
-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Brain imaging study links childhood trauma to chronic procrastination in adulthood
Childhood trauma can leave lasting marks on human development, and a new study links these early adverse experiences to higher rates of procrastination in young adults. By scanning the brains of over a thousand participants, researchers mapped how trauma-related changes in neural networks might elevate anxiety and lower self-control, paving the way for chronic delay. The research was published in the journal NeuroImage.
Procrastination is often dismissed as simple laziness or poor time management. Psychologists generally view chronic procrastination as a failure of self-control. When faced with a stressful or unpleasant task, people may delay doing it as a way to find temporary relief from negative feelings. This concept is known as the short-term emotion repair theory. While putting off a difficult project provides immediate comfort, it interferes with long-term goals.
Experiencing abuse or neglect in childhood can disrupt the development of systems in the brain that handle emotion and cognitive control. This early adversity can make individuals highly sensitive to negative emotions, elevating their baseline stress. It can also reduce their ability to suppress immediate impulses in favor of future rewards.
Researchers at Southwest University in China wanted to see if the neurobiological changes associated with childhood trauma might explain the tendency to put things off. The study was led by psychologist Tingyong Feng along with Luo Xu and colleagues. They hypothesized that early traumatic events alter large-scale brain networks. These structural and functional changes would subsequently raise a person’s baseline anxiety and degrade their ability to maintain self-control.
To test this framework, the research team recruited undergraduate students with no history of psychiatric disorders, dividing them into a primary discovery group of 760 participants and a validation group of 429 participants. Every individual completed a series of standardized questionnaires. These surveys assessed their history of physical and emotional abuse or neglect, general tendency to procrastinate, trait anxiety, and baseline self-control. Trait anxiety refers to a person’s general, everyday level of stress and worry, rather than temporary anxiety tied to a specific passing event.
The participants then underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging. This brain scanning technique measures blood flow to track brain activity while a person is resting. By observing which areas of the brain activate in sync, researchers can map out functional networks. The team focused on the strength of the connections between 268 different brain regions, looking for patterns that corresponded with the behavioral survey scores.
In the first part of their analysis using the behavioral survey data, the researchers found that higher scores on the childhood trauma questionnaire predicted higher levels of procrastination. When they introduced the other survey variables into their statistical models, they found that trait anxiety and self-control acted as mediators. The data indicated that childhood trauma was associated with higher trait anxiety and lower self-control. These two emotional and cognitive states in turn predicted the urge to procrastinate.
Next, the researchers used a statistical technique to analyze the brain scans from the participants in the discovery group. They searched the entire brain to find specific patterns of neural connectivity that could predict the severity of a participant’s childhood trauma. Their models successfully identified a set of brain connections that correlated with the initial survey scores. To ensure their computer model was reliable, they tested it on the brain scans of the students in the validation group. The model accurately predicted trauma scores in this independent group based solely on their resting neural connectivity.
The neural connections identified by the model primarily involved several major brain networks. These included the frontoparietal network, which is responsible for goal-directed behavior, and the salience network, which helps the brain detect and react to emotional stimuli. The researchers observed weaker connectivity in areas related to top-down cognitive control, such as the prefrontal cortex. At the same time, they saw stronger connections between visual processing areas and the cerebellum. These latter regions are highly active when processing emotional cues and learning fear responses.
The researchers noted that these brain patterns align with a recognized framework called the triple-network model of procrastination. In this model, chronic delay arises from an imbalance between brain networks that manage self-control, emotion regulation, and future planning. The weaker connectivity in the prefrontal cortex suggests a diminished capacity to stay focused on long-term goals. The stronger connections between the salience network and visual areas suggest a hyperactive threat-detection system. Under these conditions, visual inputs are more readily interpreted as threatening or stressful, which elevates anxiety.
The researchers then merged the neurological data with the behavioral data. They found that the exact brain network patterns associated with childhood trauma predicted higher procrastination scores. Just as with the survey data, this relationship was bridged by the participants’ levels of trait anxiety and self-control. The altered brain connectivity predicted higher anxiety and lower self-control, which ultimately mapped onto higher procrastination.
The study relies on a cross-sectional design, meaning all data was collected at a single point in time. This approach prevents researchers from proving that childhood trauma directly causes brain changes or procrastination later in life. The researchers noted that longitudinal studies, which track the same individuals over many years, are required to confirm the direction of these effects.
The observed associations between the brain networks and behavioral traits were also relatively modest in size. Modest effects are common in brain imaging research, partly due to the limits of current scanning technology and the natural variations in how human brains are wired. The reliance on self-reported questionnaires for assessing childhood trauma can also introduce memory biases or measurement errors.
The research team recommended that future studies test more diverse populations, as the current data came exclusively from healthy college students. Including physiological markers and specific behavioral tests could also refine our understanding of how early life stress changes the brain.
The study, “Early Wounds, Delayed Consequences: Brain-Behavior Modeling Reveals Neural Pathways Linking Childhood Trauma to Procrastination,” was authored by Luo Xu, Yao Yin, Xueke Wang, Ting Xu, Xi Zhang, and Tingyong Feng.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ChildhoodTrauma #Procrastination #BrainImaging #NeuroImageStudy #SelfControl #Anxiety #NeuralNetworks #TripleNetworkModel #RestingState fMRI #MentalHealthResearch
-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A surprising shift in sniffing and odor perception could be a key sign of Parkinson’s disease
A new test that measures both how people describe odors and how they physically sniff them provides a way to distinguish Parkinson’s disease from other causes of smell loss. The findings suggest that people with Parkinson’s do not just lose their sense of smell, but experience a shift in how they perceive odors. This research was published in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease.
A reduced ability to detect and identify odors often appears years or even decades before the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease emerge. Because of this connection, standard smell tests are sometimes used to support a diagnosis. However, these traditional tests measure overall performance, such as whether a person can detect or name a scent.
This creates a diagnostic challenge because general smell loss is common. People often lose their sense of smell due to healthy aging, viral infections, or sinus issues, making it difficult to know if poor test results point to Parkinson’s or something else entirely. Michal Andelman-Gur, a medical doctor and researcher who conducted the study while working with Noam Sobel’s Weizmann Olfaction Research Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science, wanted to address this diagnostic gap.
“As a medical doctor, I have always been interested in neurological diseases,” Andelman-Gur said. “Before joining the lab, I worked in the Neurology Department at Tel Aviv Medical Center, where I saw firsthand the impact these diseases can have on patients and their families.”
“When I joined the lab, I became especially interested in early detection, because I truly believe that detecting a disease as early as possible is key to developing better treatments and improving patients’ lives,” Andelman-Gur added.
“Smell loss may seem like a minor, common symptom, but in some cases it can be an early warning sign of Parkinson’s disease years before motor symptoms begin,” Andelman-Gur noted. “Today, smell tests can tell us that someone’s sense of smell is impaired, but not why.”
“Our test aims to fill this gap by identifying a specific pattern of smell changes associated with Parkinson’s disease,” she explained. “We hope it could eventually help detect Parkinson’s disease earlier and lead to earlier intervention and better treatment.”
Recent studies in vision and hearing suggest that Parkinson’s disease alters how sensory information is processed, rather than just dulling the senses. For instance, individuals might see colors differently or perceive rhythms in an altered way. The authors of the new study reasoned that a similar perceptual shift might happen with smell.
Andelman-Gur and her colleagues recruited 94 participants to test this idea. The sample included 33 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, 33 healthy control participants matched for age and sex, and 28 participants experiencing smell loss from causes unrelated to Parkinson’s. The average age across the groups ranged from about 58 to 66 years old.
First, all participants completed a standard clinical smell test that measures the ability to detect, discriminate, and identify odors on a 48-point scale. The standard test successfully identified smell loss but failed to specify the cause. Both the Parkinson’s group and the non-Parkinson’s smell loss group performed poorly compared to healthy controls.
Out of a possible 48 points, healthy controls scored a median of 30.5. The Parkinson’s group scored a median of 16.5, and the group with other types of smell loss scored a median of 12.4. When controlling for variables like age, sex, and Parkinson’s medication, the test still could not tell the two groups with smell loss apart.
Next, the researchers asked the participants to smell jars containing either a pleasant lemon scent, an unpleasant fecal scent, or no odor at all. Participants rated the intensity and pleasantness of these jars on a scale from 1 to 100. People with non-Parkinson’s smell loss rated the intensity of the pleasant odor at a median of just 16, showing a steep drop compared to healthy controls, who gave it a 78.
Interestingly, individuals with Parkinson’s rated the intensity of the pleasant odor at a 78 as well, matching the healthy controls. When it came to pleasantness, however, the Parkinson’s group matched the group with other types of smell loss. Healthy controls rated the pleasant scent at a median of 81.5 out of 100.
In contrast, both the Parkinson’s group and the other smell loss group rated it at a median of 50. This separation in ratings indicates that people with Parkinson’s do not experience a generalized dulling of the senses, but rather a specific change in how they assign pleasantness to smells.
To build a more detailed profile, the researchers asked participants to rate 10 different chemical odors across 11 descriptive categories, such as sweet, spicy, and burnt, on a 100-point scale. This process created a mathematical representation of how similar or different various smells are to each individual.
When the researchers analyzed these profiles, they found that people with Parkinson’s shared a specific pattern of odor perception. Their ratings correlated more closely with other individuals who have Parkinson’s than with healthy controls or people with different types of smell loss.
The study also measured involuntary physical reactions to smells using a miniature nasal flow sensor. “One thing I find especially exciting is that this approach uses a very simple, natural behavior how we sniff to reveal information about the brain,” Andelman-Gur told PsyPost. “I hope this can eventually help us identify disease much earlier than we can today.”
Typically, humans take longer, deeper sniffs of pleasant odors and shorter sniffs of unpleasant ones. The researchers measured sniff duration for the pleasant and unpleasant scents in normalized units of time. Healthy controls inhaled the pleasant odor for 1.12 units and the unpleasant odor for 0.98 units, demonstrating the expected behavior.
Participants with non-Parkinson’s smell loss showed a similar pattern, sniffing the pleasant odor for 1.32 units and the unpleasant one for 1.17 units.
People with Parkinson’s disease behaved differently. They inhaled the pleasant odor for 1.18 units of time and the unpleasant odor for 1.20 units. This means they did not adjust their sniffing behavior based on how pleasant the odor was, and frequently took longer sniffs of the foul-smelling scent.
“At first, I was mainly interested in characterizing sniffing patterns and the natural tendency to reduce or briefly hold your breath in response to unpleasant odors,” Andelman-Gur said. “I did not expect patients with Parkinson’s disease to take longer sniffs when smelling unpleasant odors.”
“It was completely counterintuitive,” she added. “That was the moment I realized we might be seeing something really interesting, something that could reveal meaningful information about the disease itself.”
This abnormal sniffing pattern provided another independent marker of the disease. Finally, the researchers combined the subjective odor ratings with the physical sniff measurements to create a combined statistical model. This model analyzed the data and attempted to categorize each participant based solely on their perceptual and physical responses to smell.
The combined approach identified Parkinson’s disease from healthy controls with 89 percent accuracy, correctly categorizing 83 percent of actual Parkinson’s cases and 94 percent of the healthy cases. When distinguishing Parkinson’s from other types of smell loss, the model achieved 88 percent accuracy. After researchers analyzed a smaller, tightly matched group of 16 participants per condition to completely eliminate any slight age or sex differences, the accuracy rose to 94 percent.
The current model tested people who already had a confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Because smell loss usually begins long before motor symptoms appear, future studies need to evaluate if this type of test can identify the disease in its earliest, pre-symptomatic stages. Evaluating this tool as a predictive screening measure will require tracking healthy individuals over many years.
“The main limitation is that our cohorts are still relatively small, so the findings will need to be replicated in larger and more diverse groups,” Andelman-Gur noted.
The researchers plan to expand this work by testing individuals who possess specific genetic traits associated with the condition. Some people carry a mutation in a gene called LRRK2, which substantially increases their chances of developing Parkinson’s.
“Our next step is to test the method in groups at higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, such as LRRK2 mutation carriers,” Andelman-Gur said. “Ultimately, we hope to develop it into a simple screening tool that could be used more broadly in the general population.”
The study sample also included substantially more men than women. Men generally develop Parkinson’s disease at higher rates than women, but testing this specific odor profiling method in a more balanced demographic sample would help ensure the results apply evenly across the population. Finally, the researchers suggest exploring the relationship between altered breathing patterns and brain changes, raising the question of whether unusual sniffing behavior might contribute to sensory decline over time.
The study, “The World Smells Different in Parkinson’s Disease,” was authored by Michal M. Andelman-Gur, Sagit Shushan, Kobi Snitz, Gal Pinchasof, Danielle Honigstein, Lior Gorodisky, Aharon Ravia, Adi Ezra, Neomi Hezi, Tanya Gurevich, and Noam Sobel.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ParkinsonsDisease #OlfactoryTest #SmellLoss #EarlyDetection #NeurologyResearch #OdorPerception #SniffingPatterns #Biomarker #LRRK2 #Neuroscience
-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: A surprising shift in sniffing and odor perception could be a key sign of Parkinson’s disease
A new test that measures both how people describe odors and how they physically sniff them provides a way to distinguish Parkinson’s disease from other causes of smell loss. The findings suggest that people with Parkinson’s do not just lose their sense of smell, but experience a shift in how they perceive odors. This research was published in the journal npj Parkinson’s Disease.
A reduced ability to detect and identify odors often appears years or even decades before the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease emerge. Because of this connection, standard smell tests are sometimes used to support a diagnosis. However, these traditional tests measure overall performance, such as whether a person can detect or name a scent.
This creates a diagnostic challenge because general smell loss is common. People often lose their sense of smell due to healthy aging, viral infections, or sinus issues, making it difficult to know if poor test results point to Parkinson’s or something else entirely. Michal Andelman-Gur, a medical doctor and researcher who conducted the study while working with Noam Sobel’s Weizmann Olfaction Research Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science, wanted to address this diagnostic gap.
“As a medical doctor, I have always been interested in neurological diseases,” Andelman-Gur said. “Before joining the lab, I worked in the Neurology Department at Tel Aviv Medical Center, where I saw firsthand the impact these diseases can have on patients and their families.”
“When I joined the lab, I became especially interested in early detection, because I truly believe that detecting a disease as early as possible is key to developing better treatments and improving patients’ lives,” Andelman-Gur added.
“Smell loss may seem like a minor, common symptom, but in some cases it can be an early warning sign of Parkinson’s disease years before motor symptoms begin,” Andelman-Gur noted. “Today, smell tests can tell us that someone’s sense of smell is impaired, but not why.”
“Our test aims to fill this gap by identifying a specific pattern of smell changes associated with Parkinson’s disease,” she explained. “We hope it could eventually help detect Parkinson’s disease earlier and lead to earlier intervention and better treatment.”
Recent studies in vision and hearing suggest that Parkinson’s disease alters how sensory information is processed, rather than just dulling the senses. For instance, individuals might see colors differently or perceive rhythms in an altered way. The authors of the new study reasoned that a similar perceptual shift might happen with smell.
Andelman-Gur and her colleagues recruited 94 participants to test this idea. The sample included 33 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, 33 healthy control participants matched for age and sex, and 28 participants experiencing smell loss from causes unrelated to Parkinson’s. The average age across the groups ranged from about 58 to 66 years old.
First, all participants completed a standard clinical smell test that measures the ability to detect, discriminate, and identify odors on a 48-point scale. The standard test successfully identified smell loss but failed to specify the cause. Both the Parkinson’s group and the non-Parkinson’s smell loss group performed poorly compared to healthy controls.
Out of a possible 48 points, healthy controls scored a median of 30.5. The Parkinson’s group scored a median of 16.5, and the group with other types of smell loss scored a median of 12.4. When controlling for variables like age, sex, and Parkinson’s medication, the test still could not tell the two groups with smell loss apart.
Next, the researchers asked the participants to smell jars containing either a pleasant lemon scent, an unpleasant fecal scent, or no odor at all. Participants rated the intensity and pleasantness of these jars on a scale from 1 to 100. People with non-Parkinson’s smell loss rated the intensity of the pleasant odor at a median of just 16, showing a steep drop compared to healthy controls, who gave it a 78.
Interestingly, individuals with Parkinson’s rated the intensity of the pleasant odor at a 78 as well, matching the healthy controls. When it came to pleasantness, however, the Parkinson’s group matched the group with other types of smell loss. Healthy controls rated the pleasant scent at a median of 81.5 out of 100.
In contrast, both the Parkinson’s group and the other smell loss group rated it at a median of 50. This separation in ratings indicates that people with Parkinson’s do not experience a generalized dulling of the senses, but rather a specific change in how they assign pleasantness to smells.
To build a more detailed profile, the researchers asked participants to rate 10 different chemical odors across 11 descriptive categories, such as sweet, spicy, and burnt, on a 100-point scale. This process created a mathematical representation of how similar or different various smells are to each individual.
When the researchers analyzed these profiles, they found that people with Parkinson’s shared a specific pattern of odor perception. Their ratings correlated more closely with other individuals who have Parkinson’s than with healthy controls or people with different types of smell loss.
The study also measured involuntary physical reactions to smells using a miniature nasal flow sensor. “One thing I find especially exciting is that this approach uses a very simple, natural behavior how we sniff to reveal information about the brain,” Andelman-Gur told PsyPost. “I hope this can eventually help us identify disease much earlier than we can today.”
Typically, humans take longer, deeper sniffs of pleasant odors and shorter sniffs of unpleasant ones. The researchers measured sniff duration for the pleasant and unpleasant scents in normalized units of time. Healthy controls inhaled the pleasant odor for 1.12 units and the unpleasant odor for 0.98 units, demonstrating the expected behavior.
Participants with non-Parkinson’s smell loss showed a similar pattern, sniffing the pleasant odor for 1.32 units and the unpleasant one for 1.17 units.
People with Parkinson’s disease behaved differently. They inhaled the pleasant odor for 1.18 units of time and the unpleasant odor for 1.20 units. This means they did not adjust their sniffing behavior based on how pleasant the odor was, and frequently took longer sniffs of the foul-smelling scent.
“At first, I was mainly interested in characterizing sniffing patterns and the natural tendency to reduce or briefly hold your breath in response to unpleasant odors,” Andelman-Gur said. “I did not expect patients with Parkinson’s disease to take longer sniffs when smelling unpleasant odors.”
“It was completely counterintuitive,” she added. “That was the moment I realized we might be seeing something really interesting, something that could reveal meaningful information about the disease itself.”
This abnormal sniffing pattern provided another independent marker of the disease. Finally, the researchers combined the subjective odor ratings with the physical sniff measurements to create a combined statistical model. This model analyzed the data and attempted to categorize each participant based solely on their perceptual and physical responses to smell.
The combined approach identified Parkinson’s disease from healthy controls with 89 percent accuracy, correctly categorizing 83 percent of actual Parkinson’s cases and 94 percent of the healthy cases. When distinguishing Parkinson’s from other types of smell loss, the model achieved 88 percent accuracy. After researchers analyzed a smaller, tightly matched group of 16 participants per condition to completely eliminate any slight age or sex differences, the accuracy rose to 94 percent.
The current model tested people who already had a confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Because smell loss usually begins long before motor symptoms appear, future studies need to evaluate if this type of test can identify the disease in its earliest, pre-symptomatic stages. Evaluating this tool as a predictive screening measure will require tracking healthy individuals over many years.
“The main limitation is that our cohorts are still relatively small, so the findings will need to be replicated in larger and more diverse groups,” Andelman-Gur noted.
The researchers plan to expand this work by testing individuals who possess specific genetic traits associated with the condition. Some people carry a mutation in a gene called LRRK2, which substantially increases their chances of developing Parkinson’s.
“Our next step is to test the method in groups at higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, such as LRRK2 mutation carriers,” Andelman-Gur said. “Ultimately, we hope to develop it into a simple screening tool that could be used more broadly in the general population.”
The study sample also included substantially more men than women. Men generally develop Parkinson’s disease at higher rates than women, but testing this specific odor profiling method in a more balanced demographic sample would help ensure the results apply evenly across the population. Finally, the researchers suggest exploring the relationship between altered breathing patterns and brain changes, raising the question of whether unusual sniffing behavior might contribute to sensory decline over time.
The study, “The World Smells Different in Parkinson’s Disease,” was authored by Michal M. Andelman-Gur, Sagit Shushan, Kobi Snitz, Gal Pinchasof, Danielle Honigstein, Lior Gorodisky, Aharon Ravia, Adi Ezra, Neomi Hezi, Tanya Gurevich, and Noam Sobel.
-------------------------------------------------
Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Unofficial Psychology Today Xitter to toot feed at Psych Today Unofficial Bot @PTUnofficialBot
-------------------------------------------------
#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ParkinsonsDisease #OlfactoryTest #SmellLoss #EarlyDetection #NeurologyResearch #OdorPerception #SniffingPatterns #Biomarker #LRRK2 #Neuroscience
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Narcissism and psychopathy linked to entrepreneurial mindsets
People who possess certain dark personality traits, along with specific traditional traits like openness, show a higher natural inclination toward entrepreneurship. A recent psychological survey of working adults revealed that individuals scoring high in narcissism and psychopathy also reported stronger entrepreneurial tendencies. These results were published in the journal Acta Psychologica.
Psychologists often study entrepreneurship not just as an occupation, but as a deep-seated personality construct. In this framework, entrepreneurial tendency is defined as a latent psychological disposition. It involves a strong preference for innovation, a knack for recognizing opportunities, and a drive to create societal value.
According to this perspective, a person can possess a highly entrepreneurial mindset even if they currently work a traditional salaried job. By treating this tendency as a stable pattern of thoughts and emotions, researchers can investigate how it relates to other established facets of human psychology.
To describe general human personality, scientists typically rely on a model known as the Big Five, which categorizes personality into five broad domains. Openness to experience involves imagination and a preference for novelty, while conscientiousness relates to organization and goal-directed behavior. Extraversion is tied to sociability, agreeableness reflects cooperativeness, and emotional stability refers to how well a person handles stress.
In recent years, psychologists have also focused on a cluster of socially undesirable characteristics known as the Dark Triad. Narcissism involves grandiosity, dominance, and an inflated sense of self-worth. Psychopathy is characterized by high impulsivity, arrogance, and low empathy, while Machiavellianism refers to a calculated willingness to manipulate others to achieve personal goals.
Because starting and running a business requires a high degree of confidence, risk tolerance, and a desire for control, these dark traits might naturally appeal to prospective founders. M. Inmaculada López-Núñez and her colleagues at the Complutense University of Madrid wanted to see how these different personality models predict an individual’s internal drive to be an entrepreneur. They designed a study to examine these relationships while accounting for demographic factors like age, gender, and current occupational status.
The researchers recruited 591 adult workers in Spain to participate in the study. The participants ranged in age from 26 to 76 and included both men and women. They represented a variety of employment situations, including traditional salaried employees, self-employed individuals, and unemployed workers. The participants also had diverse educational backgrounds, ranging from primary schooling to advanced university degrees.
Each participant completed a series of online questionnaires. The first survey measured their entrepreneurial tendencies by asking them to rate statements about how often they identify business opportunities or generate new ideas in team settings. The participants rated their agreement on a five-point scale.
Next, the participants completed a brief ten-item inventory to assess their Big Five personality traits. They rated how well certain pairs of adjectives described their typical behavior. Finally, the researchers measured the Dark Triad traits using a specialized twelve-item scale. This survey asked participants to rate their agreement with statements reflecting manipulation, grandiosity, and a lack of remorse.
The researchers used statistical models to determine how much of the variation in entrepreneurial tendencies could be explained by the collected data. They found that demographic factors, traditional personality traits, and dark traits collectively accounted for about 41 percent of the total variation in entrepreneurial tendencies among the participants.
Several traditional Big Five traits were strongly associated with an entrepreneurial mindset. People who scored higher in openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion tended to report higher entrepreneurial tendencies. Openness to experience emerged as the most relevant trait among the Big Five for predicting this business-oriented disposition.
The Dark Triad traits also provided unique predictive value. Specifically, higher scores in narcissism and psychopathy were positively correlated with the entrepreneurial mindset. Narcissism showed the strongest association among the dark traits. The inclusion of these socially undesirable characteristics improved the accuracy of the predictive model, indicating that dark traits offer information about entrepreneurial tendencies that traditional personality models miss.
Demographic and occupational factors played a measurable role in the results as well. Being younger and being male were linked to a stronger psychological disposition toward entrepreneurship. This aligns with some historical data regarding business creation, though the researchers noted that gender gaps in actual start-up activity are narrowing globally.
Additionally, current occupational status was linked to psychological tendencies. Self-employed individuals showed higher entrepreneurial scores than traditional salaried workers. The researchers suggested that choosing self-employment might be an active expression of a person’s latent psychological traits, as individuals naturally gravitate toward work environments that fit their internal needs.
The study has a few limitations. The researchers relied entirely on self-reported data collected at a single point in time. Because of this cross-sectional design, they cannot determine the direction of the relationship between these variables. The data do not prove that possessing dark personality traits causes a person to become more entrepreneurial.
It is possible that the way individuals view themselves skews their survey responses. For example, individuals who score high in narcissism might naturally overestimate their own business acumen, reporting higher entrepreneurial abilities than they actually possess. Self-report surveys capture an individual’s perception of their traits, which may differ from their actual behavior in a business setting.
Future research should track participants over an extended period to see how these personality traits influence actual career choices over time. Observing individuals as they start and manage businesses could help clarify exactly how dark traits interact with traditional personality measures in the real world.
Scientists also need to explore the specific reasons why people choose to start businesses. Distinguishing between those who start companies to seize a new opportunity and those who do so out of economic necessity could reveal different underlying personality profiles.
The study, “Individual differences in entrepreneurial tendencies: The impact of self-employment and the Dark Triad,” was authored by M. Inmaculada López-Núñez, Sara Esteban-Gonzalo, Teresa Diéguez-Risco, and Juan F. Díaz-Morales.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Narcissism and psychopathy linked to entrepreneurial mindsets
People who possess certain dark personality traits, along with specific traditional traits like openness, show a higher natural inclination toward entrepreneurship. A recent psychological survey of working adults revealed that individuals scoring high in narcissism and psychopathy also reported stronger entrepreneurial tendencies. These results were published in the journal Acta Psychologica.
Psychologists often study entrepreneurship not just as an occupation, but as a deep-seated personality construct. In this framework, entrepreneurial tendency is defined as a latent psychological disposition. It involves a strong preference for innovation, a knack for recognizing opportunities, and a drive to create societal value.
According to this perspective, a person can possess a highly entrepreneurial mindset even if they currently work a traditional salaried job. By treating this tendency as a stable pattern of thoughts and emotions, researchers can investigate how it relates to other established facets of human psychology.
To describe general human personality, scientists typically rely on a model known as the Big Five, which categorizes personality into five broad domains. Openness to experience involves imagination and a preference for novelty, while conscientiousness relates to organization and goal-directed behavior. Extraversion is tied to sociability, agreeableness reflects cooperativeness, and emotional stability refers to how well a person handles stress.
In recent years, psychologists have also focused on a cluster of socially undesirable characteristics known as the Dark Triad. Narcissism involves grandiosity, dominance, and an inflated sense of self-worth. Psychopathy is characterized by high impulsivity, arrogance, and low empathy, while Machiavellianism refers to a calculated willingness to manipulate others to achieve personal goals.
Because starting and running a business requires a high degree of confidence, risk tolerance, and a desire for control, these dark traits might naturally appeal to prospective founders. M. Inmaculada López-Núñez and her colleagues at the Complutense University of Madrid wanted to see how these different personality models predict an individual’s internal drive to be an entrepreneur. They designed a study to examine these relationships while accounting for demographic factors like age, gender, and current occupational status.
The researchers recruited 591 adult workers in Spain to participate in the study. The participants ranged in age from 26 to 76 and included both men and women. They represented a variety of employment situations, including traditional salaried employees, self-employed individuals, and unemployed workers. The participants also had diverse educational backgrounds, ranging from primary schooling to advanced university degrees.
Each participant completed a series of online questionnaires. The first survey measured their entrepreneurial tendencies by asking them to rate statements about how often they identify business opportunities or generate new ideas in team settings. The participants rated their agreement on a five-point scale.
Next, the participants completed a brief ten-item inventory to assess their Big Five personality traits. They rated how well certain pairs of adjectives described their typical behavior. Finally, the researchers measured the Dark Triad traits using a specialized twelve-item scale. This survey asked participants to rate their agreement with statements reflecting manipulation, grandiosity, and a lack of remorse.
The researchers used statistical models to determine how much of the variation in entrepreneurial tendencies could be explained by the collected data. They found that demographic factors, traditional personality traits, and dark traits collectively accounted for about 41 percent of the total variation in entrepreneurial tendencies among the participants.
Several traditional Big Five traits were strongly associated with an entrepreneurial mindset. People who scored higher in openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion tended to report higher entrepreneurial tendencies. Openness to experience emerged as the most relevant trait among the Big Five for predicting this business-oriented disposition.
The Dark Triad traits also provided unique predictive value. Specifically, higher scores in narcissism and psychopathy were positively correlated with the entrepreneurial mindset. Narcissism showed the strongest association among the dark traits. The inclusion of these socially undesirable characteristics improved the accuracy of the predictive model, indicating that dark traits offer information about entrepreneurial tendencies that traditional personality models miss.
Demographic and occupational factors played a measurable role in the results as well. Being younger and being male were linked to a stronger psychological disposition toward entrepreneurship. This aligns with some historical data regarding business creation, though the researchers noted that gender gaps in actual start-up activity are narrowing globally.
Additionally, current occupational status was linked to psychological tendencies. Self-employed individuals showed higher entrepreneurial scores than traditional salaried workers. The researchers suggested that choosing self-employment might be an active expression of a person’s latent psychological traits, as individuals naturally gravitate toward work environments that fit their internal needs.
The study has a few limitations. The researchers relied entirely on self-reported data collected at a single point in time. Because of this cross-sectional design, they cannot determine the direction of the relationship between these variables. The data do not prove that possessing dark personality traits causes a person to become more entrepreneurial.
It is possible that the way individuals view themselves skews their survey responses. For example, individuals who score high in narcissism might naturally overestimate their own business acumen, reporting higher entrepreneurial abilities than they actually possess. Self-report surveys capture an individual’s perception of their traits, which may differ from their actual behavior in a business setting.
Future research should track participants over an extended period to see how these personality traits influence actual career choices over time. Observing individuals as they start and manage businesses could help clarify exactly how dark traits interact with traditional personality measures in the real world.
Scientists also need to explore the specific reasons why people choose to start businesses. Distinguishing between those who start companies to seize a new opportunity and those who do so out of economic necessity could reveal different underlying personality profiles.
The study, “Individual differences in entrepreneurial tendencies: The impact of self-employment and the Dark Triad,” was authored by M. Inmaculada López-Núñez, Sara Esteban-Gonzalo, Teresa Diéguez-Risco, and Juan F. Díaz-Morales.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:38AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
7/7
If you're a physician or NP who's experienced downcoding, tell us: https://t.co/tZ6F28rEcM.Read the full story: https://t.co/4s9P2GWYph
#MentalHealthParity #AutomaticDowncoding
LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186793531613685
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:38AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
7/7
If you're a physician or NP who's experienced downcoding, tell us: https://t.co/tZ6F28rEcM.Read the full story: https://t.co/4s9P2GWYph
#MentalHealthParity #AutomaticDowncoding
LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186793531613685
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
-------------------------------------------------
The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
Learn more at https://www.psian.org .
The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog
This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:38AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
6/7
It's part of a pattern: reimbursement cuts, session limits from practice management companies, ghost networks, clawbacks. Now, algorithmic pay cuts with zero clinician input.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186784102895728
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
-------------------------------------------------
The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
Learn more at https://www.psian.org .
The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog
This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
4/7
This isn't a coding correction. It's a rate cut disguised as one, and it presumes psychiatric complexity is suspect rather than real.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186765501157490
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
5/7
Behavioral health clinicians are already paid roughly 20% less than medical and surgical peers for comparable work. This makes that gap worse.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186774757937238
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
-------------------------------------------------
The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
Learn more at https://www.psian.org .
The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog
This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:38AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
6/7
It's part of a pattern: reimbursement cuts, session limits from practice management companies, ghost networks, clawbacks. Now, algorithmic pay cuts with zero clinician input.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186784102895728
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
-------------------------------------------------
The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
Learn more at https://www.psian.org .
The PsiAN blog can be found at: https://www.psian.org/blog
This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
DAILY EMAIL DIGEST: Email [email protected] -- no subject or message needed.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
4/7
This isn't a coding correction. It's a rate cut disguised as one, and it presumes psychiatric complexity is suspect rather than real.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186765501157490
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
-------------------------------------------------
The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
5/7
Behavioral health clinicians are already paid roughly 20% less than medical and surgical peers for comparable work. This makes that gap worse.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186774757937238
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
3/7
The American Psychiatric Association reports other insurers are doing the same. This is called Automatic Downcoding, and it's spreading.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186756244218000
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
3/7
The American Psychiatric Association reports other insurers are doing the same. This is called Automatic Downcoding, and it's spreading.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186756244218000
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
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2/7
Effective July 1, 2026, HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield in IL, MT, NM, OK, TX) began automatically lowering the E/M codes psychiatrists submit, before requesting or reviewing documentation.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186746966454364
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
2/7
Effective July 1, 2026, HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield in IL, MT, NM, OK, TX) began automatically lowering the E/M codes psychiatrists submit, before requesting or reviewing documentation.LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186746966454364
PsiAN blog articles at https://www.psian.org/blog". X/Tweets can be responded to at https://x.com/PsiANorg
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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This news robot is NOT officially affiliated with PsiAN. It merely rebroadcasts from their blog and X/Twitter accounts. Responses here are not monitored by PsiAN.
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-
DATE: August 11, 2026 at 10:37AM
SOURCE: PsiAN Psychotherapy Action NetworkArticle link at end of text if there is one. PsiAN often just posts or retweets without an article. Follow X/Twitter link to read & respond.
1/7
A major health insurer just started cutting psychiatrists' pay without ever reviewing a single chart. No denial. No review. Just a smaller check. 🧵LINK TO X/TWEET:https://twitter.com/PsiANorg/status/2087186745922134486
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The Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN) advocates for awareness, policies and access to psychotherapies that create meaningful change. They offer membership and educational events.
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