#counseling — Public Fediverse posts

DATE: September 27, 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: People in strained relationships show somewhat higher preference for hearing lies

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

A study in Poland asked participants whether they preferred their partner to lie or tell the truth. Results showed that people less satisfied with their relationship tended to show a somewhat greater preference for hearing lies, both prosocial and egoistic. They also tended to perceive blatant truth as more harmful. The paper was published in The Journal of Social Psychology.

Honesty is widely regarded as a foundation of healthy romantic relationships. It is widely believed to support trust, commitment, and relationship satisfaction. At the same time, people do not always view complete truthfulness as the best response when honesty is likely to cause unnecessary emotional pain.

Prosocial lies, which are intended to benefit another person rather than the liar, are often judged more favorably than selfish deception. In romantic relationships, such lies can sometimes protect a partner’s feelings, preserve self-esteem, and help maintain harmony. They may also support positive illusions, in which partners view themselves, each other, or their relationship somewhat more favorably than objective reality would justify.

These positive beliefs can promote optimism, reduce conflict, and contribute to relationship satisfaction, particularly when they reinforce a sense of security and connection. Emotional resilience—the ability to adapt and recover from stress or adversity—may influence whether people prefer difficult truths or more reassuring forms of communication, with less resilient individuals potentially finding harsh information more difficult to manage.

The Theory of Resilience and Relational Load suggests that supportive and validating interactions help build emotional reserves that allow couples to cope more effectively with stress. From this perspective, occasional prosocial dishonesty can sometimes function as a protective form of communication, although it creates an ongoing tension between the values of honesty, kindness, and relationship stability.

Study authors Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero conducted a study aiming to examine the relationship between relationship satisfaction, emotional resilience, and the preference for prosocial lies. They hypothesized that higher relationship satisfaction is associated with a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies, and a lower preference for hearing egoistic lies (lies told primarily to benefit the liar). They also expected individuals with lower emotional resilience to show a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies.

Study participants were 672 residents of Poland who had been in a romantic relationship for at least one year, recruited from a research panel. 336 of them were women. Their average age was 46 years. For their participation, they received points that could be exchanged for various goods such as headsets or flash drives.

Participants were first shown six stories that described different scenarios involving themselves and their partner. In three of these scenarios, the partner had the option to lie egoistically or tell the truth, while in the other three, the partner could tell a prosocial lie, or the truth.

Participants’ task was to choose which option they would prefer to hear from their partner (the lie offered in the scenario or the truth) in each scenario. After this, they completed assessments of relationship satisfaction (the Relationship Assessment Scale), emotional resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale), closeness, perceived importance of truth, perceptions of how blatant truth affects a romantic relationship, conflict avoidance, and whether participants would lie prosocially to their partner.

The results showed that participants preferred prosocial lies more than egoistic lies. Participants who showed a higher preference for lies, both prosocial and egoistic, tended to be somewhat less satisfied with their relationships and to perceive truth as more harmful. They also saw themselves as more likely to tell a prosocial lie to their partner, and showed a lower preference for the truth. Participants with a higher preference for egoistic lies tended to see themselves as somewhat less close to their partner.

The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that lower relationship satisfaction might make individuals perceive blatant truth as more harmful, leading to a higher preference for hearing prosocial lies. The results showed that such a dynamic is possible.

This model also supported the notion that the relationship between relationship satisfaction and the perception of blatant truth as harmful might depend on emotional resilience. It turned out that in individuals with high emotional resilience, the strength of the association between low relationship satisfaction and perception of blatant truth as harmful was stronger than in individuals with low emotional resilience.

“Taken together, our research not only offers a useful material that can be used in future studies that focus on deception, but also underscores the complexity of prosocial lying in romantic relationships. While prosocial lies are often viewed as more acceptable than egoistic lies, their use appears to be nevertheless undesired in satisfied romantic relationships. However, when satisfaction is low and individuals perceive truth-telling as potentially harmful, they may prefer positive illusions to honest communication,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about romantic relationships. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results.

The paper, “If I cannot bounce back easily, can I handle the truth? Satisfaction in romantic relationships, resilience and preference towards prosocial lies,” was authored by Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #romanticrelationships #truthvslie #prosociallie #relationshipresearch #emotionalresilience #relationshipsatisfaction #blatanttruth #honestyinrelationships #egoisticlie #positiveillusions

DATE: September 27, 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: People in strained relationships show somewhat higher preference for hearing lies

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

A study in Poland asked participants whether they preferred their partner to lie or tell the truth. Results showed that people less satisfied with their relationship tended to show a somewhat greater preference for hearing lies, both prosocial and egoistic. They also tended to perceive blatant truth as more harmful. The paper was published in The Journal of Social Psychology.

Honesty is widely regarded as a foundation of healthy romantic relationships. It is widely believed to support trust, commitment, and relationship satisfaction. At the same time, people do not always view complete truthfulness as the best response when honesty is likely to cause unnecessary emotional pain.

Prosocial lies, which are intended to benefit another person rather than the liar, are often judged more favorably than selfish deception. In romantic relationships, such lies can sometimes protect a partner’s feelings, preserve self-esteem, and help maintain harmony. They may also support positive illusions, in which partners view themselves, each other, or their relationship somewhat more favorably than objective reality would justify.

These positive beliefs can promote optimism, reduce conflict, and contribute to relationship satisfaction, particularly when they reinforce a sense of security and connection. Emotional resilience—the ability to adapt and recover from stress or adversity—may influence whether people prefer difficult truths or more reassuring forms of communication, with less resilient individuals potentially finding harsh information more difficult to manage.

The Theory of Resilience and Relational Load suggests that supportive and validating interactions help build emotional reserves that allow couples to cope more effectively with stress. From this perspective, occasional prosocial dishonesty can sometimes function as a protective form of communication, although it creates an ongoing tension between the values of honesty, kindness, and relationship stability.

Study authors Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero conducted a study aiming to examine the relationship between relationship satisfaction, emotional resilience, and the preference for prosocial lies. They hypothesized that higher relationship satisfaction is associated with a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies, and a lower preference for hearing egoistic lies (lies told primarily to benefit the liar). They also expected individuals with lower emotional resilience to show a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies.

Study participants were 672 residents of Poland who had been in a romantic relationship for at least one year, recruited from a research panel. 336 of them were women. Their average age was 46 years. For their participation, they received points that could be exchanged for various goods such as headsets or flash drives.

Participants were first shown six stories that described different scenarios involving themselves and their partner. In three of these scenarios, the partner had the option to lie egoistically or tell the truth, while in the other three, the partner could tell a prosocial lie, or the truth.

Participants’ task was to choose which option they would prefer to hear from their partner (the lie offered in the scenario or the truth) in each scenario. After this, they completed assessments of relationship satisfaction (the Relationship Assessment Scale), emotional resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale), closeness, perceived importance of truth, perceptions of how blatant truth affects a romantic relationship, conflict avoidance, and whether participants would lie prosocially to their partner.

The results showed that participants preferred prosocial lies more than egoistic lies. Participants who showed a higher preference for lies, both prosocial and egoistic, tended to be somewhat less satisfied with their relationships and to perceive truth as more harmful. They also saw themselves as more likely to tell a prosocial lie to their partner, and showed a lower preference for the truth. Participants with a higher preference for egoistic lies tended to see themselves as somewhat less close to their partner.

The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that lower relationship satisfaction might make individuals perceive blatant truth as more harmful, leading to a higher preference for hearing prosocial lies. The results showed that such a dynamic is possible.

This model also supported the notion that the relationship between relationship satisfaction and the perception of blatant truth as harmful might depend on emotional resilience. It turned out that in individuals with high emotional resilience, the strength of the association between low relationship satisfaction and perception of blatant truth as harmful was stronger than in individuals with low emotional resilience.

“Taken together, our research not only offers a useful material that can be used in future studies that focus on deception, but also underscores the complexity of prosocial lying in romantic relationships. While prosocial lies are often viewed as more acceptable than egoistic lies, their use appears to be nevertheless undesired in satisfied romantic relationships. However, when satisfaction is low and individuals perceive truth-telling as potentially harmful, they may prefer positive illusions to honest communication,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about romantic relationships. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results.

The paper, “If I cannot bounce back easily, can I handle the truth? Satisfaction in romantic relationships, resilience and preference towards prosocial lies,” was authored by Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #romanticrelationships #truthvslie #prosociallie #relationshipresearch #emotionalresilience #relationshipsatisfaction #blatanttruth #honestyinrelationships #egoisticlie #positiveillusions

DATE: September 27, 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: People in strained relationships show somewhat higher preference for hearing lies

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

A study in Poland asked participants whether they preferred their partner to lie or tell the truth. Results showed that people less satisfied with their relationship tended to show a somewhat greater preference for hearing lies, both prosocial and egoistic. They also tended to perceive blatant truth as more harmful. The paper was published in The Journal of Social Psychology.

Honesty is widely regarded as a foundation of healthy romantic relationships. It is widely believed to support trust, commitment, and relationship satisfaction. At the same time, people do not always view complete truthfulness as the best response when honesty is likely to cause unnecessary emotional pain.

Prosocial lies, which are intended to benefit another person rather than the liar, are often judged more favorably than selfish deception. In romantic relationships, such lies can sometimes protect a partner’s feelings, preserve self-esteem, and help maintain harmony. They may also support positive illusions, in which partners view themselves, each other, or their relationship somewhat more favorably than objective reality would justify.

These positive beliefs can promote optimism, reduce conflict, and contribute to relationship satisfaction, particularly when they reinforce a sense of security and connection. Emotional resilience—the ability to adapt and recover from stress or adversity—may influence whether people prefer difficult truths or more reassuring forms of communication, with less resilient individuals potentially finding harsh information more difficult to manage.

The Theory of Resilience and Relational Load suggests that supportive and validating interactions help build emotional reserves that allow couples to cope more effectively with stress. From this perspective, occasional prosocial dishonesty can sometimes function as a protective form of communication, although it creates an ongoing tension between the values of honesty, kindness, and relationship stability.

Study authors Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero conducted a study aiming to examine the relationship between relationship satisfaction, emotional resilience, and the preference for prosocial lies. They hypothesized that higher relationship satisfaction is associated with a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies, and a lower preference for hearing egoistic lies (lies told primarily to benefit the liar). They also expected individuals with lower emotional resilience to show a greater preference for hearing prosocial lies.

Study participants were 672 residents of Poland who had been in a romantic relationship for at least one year, recruited from a research panel. 336 of them were women. Their average age was 46 years. For their participation, they received points that could be exchanged for various goods such as headsets or flash drives.

Participants were first shown six stories that described different scenarios involving themselves and their partner. In three of these scenarios, the partner had the option to lie egoistically or tell the truth, while in the other three, the partner could tell a prosocial lie, or the truth.

Participants’ task was to choose which option they would prefer to hear from their partner (the lie offered in the scenario or the truth) in each scenario. After this, they completed assessments of relationship satisfaction (the Relationship Assessment Scale), emotional resilience (the Brief Resilience Scale), closeness, perceived importance of truth, perceptions of how blatant truth affects a romantic relationship, conflict avoidance, and whether participants would lie prosocially to their partner.

The results showed that participants preferred prosocial lies more than egoistic lies. Participants who showed a higher preference for lies, both prosocial and egoistic, tended to be somewhat less satisfied with their relationships and to perceive truth as more harmful. They also saw themselves as more likely to tell a prosocial lie to their partner, and showed a lower preference for the truth. Participants with a higher preference for egoistic lies tended to see themselves as somewhat less close to their partner.

The study authors tested a statistical model proposing that lower relationship satisfaction might make individuals perceive blatant truth as more harmful, leading to a higher preference for hearing prosocial lies. The results showed that such a dynamic is possible.

This model also supported the notion that the relationship between relationship satisfaction and the perception of blatant truth as harmful might depend on emotional resilience. It turned out that in individuals with high emotional resilience, the strength of the association between low relationship satisfaction and perception of blatant truth as harmful was stronger than in individuals with low emotional resilience.

“Taken together, our research not only offers a useful material that can be used in future studies that focus on deception, but also underscores the complexity of prosocial lying in romantic relationships. While prosocial lies are often viewed as more acceptable than egoistic lies, their use appears to be nevertheless undesired in satisfied romantic relationships. However, when satisfaction is low and individuals perceive truth-telling as potentially harmful, they may prefer positive illusions to honest communication,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about romantic relationships. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results.

The paper, “If I cannot bounce back easily, can I handle the truth? Satisfaction in romantic relationships, resilience and preference towards prosocial lies,” was authored by Sebastian Wnęk and Katarzyna Cantarero.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-in-strained-relationships-show-somewhat-higher-preference-for-hearing-lies/

-------------------------------------------------

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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 #romanticrelationships #truthvslie #prosociallie #relationshipresearch #emotionalresilience #relationshipsatisfaction #blatanttruth #honestyinrelationships #egoisticlie #positiveillusions

DATE: September 27, 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: Scientists identify an overlooked brain region that sustains fear responses

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

A newly detailed brain region provides the continuous alarm signal needed to keep animals on high alert during a threat. The research, published in Neuron, indicates that the amygdalostriatal transition zone bridges the gap between learning about a danger and sustaining a defensive response.

The amygdalostriatal transition zone, or ASt, is a small cluster of brain cells located between the amygdala, a center for emotion processing, and the striatum, an area involved in controlling movements. When a threat appears, the brain must rapidly detect it and maintain a defensive state until the danger passes.

A 1995 study of rats demonstrated that fear-learning neurons in the amygdala respond to threat sounds in a very brief, rapid burst lasting only milliseconds. Later, a 2002 laboratory study showed that warning signals travel rapidly from the amygdala directly into the neighboring ASt.

The disconnect between brief brain signals and long-lasting fear responses became a major question, as a 2009 study of rodents highlighted the puzzle that amygdala signals fade almost immediately even though defensive behaviors persist for tens of seconds.

The new study explores this fast pathway to determine whether the ASt provides the continuous alarm signal needed to maintain defensive behaviors over longer periods. The research was led by first author Fergil Mills, an assistant professor at the University of Utah who conducted the study as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of senior author Kay M. Tye at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“It felt as though an important part of the neural circuitry had yet to be found,” Mills told PsyPost. “In this study, we characterized the ‘amygdalostriatal transition zone’ (ASt), a largely unexplored brain region, and discovered that it maintained responses to threat cues for the full duration that they were present.”

“This was a previously unknown role for the structure, and our work identifies the ASt as a ‘missing piece’ of the neural circuits for learning and behavior,” he added.

The scientists began by examining the genetic makeup of the ASt and surrounding brain structures. They extracted and analyzed the genetic material of 97,434 individual cell nuclei from the brains of mice. The analysis indicated that the ASt has a distinct genetic identity.

Specifically, the ASt contains an unusually high concentration of a specific type of brain cell called a Drd2-positive neuron, which carries a specific receptor for the chemical messenger dopamine. About 71 percent of the neurons in the ASt were of this type, compared to just 26 percent for a related cell type known as Drd1a-positive neurons.

Next, the team measured the electrical activity of ASt neurons in 15 live mice. The mice were trained in an environment where a 20-second auditory tone predicted a mild foot shock, while a different 20-second tone predicted a sweet liquid reward. The researchers found that ASt neurons responded strongly to the shock-predicting tone.

Unlike the brief bursts seen in the amygdala, the ASt neurons fired continuously for the entire 20-second duration of the threat cue. Trials where the mice showed the highest levels of defensive behavior, such as freezing in place, were accompanied by ASt firing rates that were over three times higher than in trials with low defensive behavior.

To see if this brain activity actually produced the defensive behavior, the researchers used optogenetics, a technique that allows scientists to control specific neurons using light. They tested 18 mice that were genetically engineered so their ASt neurons could be activated by blue light lasers. When the researchers shined light into the ASt, the mice immediately began to freeze.

In a separate test where one side of an enclosure triggered the laser, the mice actively avoided that side. The team then isolated the effects of the two different cell types by testing 35 additional mice. They found that activating only the Drd2-positive neurons produced the same freezing and avoidance behaviors, while activating the Drd1a-positive neurons had no effect on these behaviors.

A motor coordination test using a rotating rod showed that the freezing was a defensive response, not a general inability to move. The researchers also tracked the activity of these specific cell types during the tone task using miniature microscopes attached to the heads of 15 mice. By observing calcium levels, which rise when neurons are active, they saw that the Drd2-positive neurons maintained high, sustained levels of activity throughout the threat-predicting tones.

Finally, the team tested whether the ASt is strictly necessary for fear responses. They used a different optogenetic tool to silence the Drd2-positive ASt neurons in a group of 21 mice. During the tone task, blocking these neurons caused the mice to reduce their defensive behaviors, such as freezing or sudden darting, by nearly 50 percent. Blocking these cells did not change the animals’ responses to reward cues, nor did it alter their general movement in an open arena.

“The neural and behavioral results that we observed were striking,” Mills said. “Inhibiting a subpopulation of ASt neurons caused a nearly 50% reduction in fear responses a major decrease for a structure never before established as part of the fear circuit.”

“This tells us that the ASt is not just correlated with fear responses, but makes a meaningful causal contribution to them,” he noted.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The experiments used only a single type of threat, which was a foot shock, and a single type of reward, which was a sweet drink. It is not completely settled whether the ASt specifically processes the negative nature of an experience, or if it might also respond to other intense stimuli.

Additionally, the mice did not show ASt activation when placed in a context or environment they associated with fear, only when they heard the specific warning tone.

“An interesting detail of our study was that the ASt maintains responses to specific threat cues, but not to locations where negative experiences occurred,” Mills explained. “This suggests that the ASt has a specialized role in fear triggered by sensory cues, rather than the broader environment we are in a key new insight into how the brain organizes different kinds of fear responses.”

“Importantly, we believe that our findings complement rather than contradict the established amygdala circuits for fear learning,” he said. “We think the ASt is a key part of a much larger circuit, and that the ASt and amygdala likely work together to orchestrate responses to threats. Also, these experiments were performed in mice, so a critical next step will be to determine how these findings translate to humans.”

Scientists hope to investigate whether this pathway plays a role in conditions like anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, where responses to external stimuli are disrupted.

“Understanding the circuits for fear learning is critical to human health, because maladaptive fear responses are a hallmark of neuropsychiatric disorders such as PTSD and anxiety,” Mills pointed out. “In these disorders, fear responses can become persistent, generalized, or spontaneous, leading to debilitating health outcomes.”

“In order to develop new treatments for these disorders, we have to understand the fundamental circuitry that the brain uses for fear learning,” he added. “That’s what makes the discovery of the ASt’s role in fear so exciting it’s part of a larger puzzle that we need to solve to improve human health.”

Although the amygdala has been heavily researched in the context of psychiatric conditions, the ASt represents a new frontier for understanding how the brain responds to danger. Future studies will need to explore exactly how the ASt communicates with the amygdala during the initial learning of a threat.

“Now that we know the ASt has a role in fear responses, it is also a new site of interest for disorders where fear responses are disrupted,” Mills explained. “It is easy to imagine that if ASt circuits mediate sustained responses to threats, then dysfunction of these circuits could give rise to the maladaptive fear responses we see in different disorders.”

“We are now collaborating with other researchers to study the ASt’s function in humans, establishing a new translational direction for a brain region that has been almost entirely overlooked in mental health research,” he said. “I want to thank Kay Tye for her incredible mentorship, and all the members of the Tye lab and Mills lab who contributed to the study. Exploring the ASt was an amazing adventure, and we are looking forward to the new science that will stem from these discoveries.”

The study, “Amygdalostriatal transition zone neurons encode sustained cue responses to guide defensive behaviors,” was authored by Fergil Mills, Christopher R. Lee, James R. Howe, Hao Li, Maria N. Keisler, Shan Shao, Felix H. Taschbach, Mackenzie E. Lemieux, Faith Aloboudi, Jesse White, May G. Chan, Matilde Borio, Laurel R. Keyes, Hannah S. Chen, Fabiha Bushra, Gates P. Schneider, Dani P. Lemmon, Kyung J. Lee, Alexa L. Gross, Kanha Batra, Reesha R. Patel, Meenakshi M. Asokan, Jeremy Delahanty, Christian Cazares, Christopher R. Heyman, Nicholas B. Poll, Liezl Maree, Romy Wichmann, Talmo D. Pereira, Marcus K. Benna, Cory M. Root, and Kay M. Tye.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #ASt #AmygdalostriatalTransitionZone #FearCircuit #Neuroscience #Drd2neurons #FearResponse #Optogenetics #Amygdala #PTSDResearch #BrainResearch

DATE: September 27, 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: Scientists identify an overlooked brain region that sustains fear responses

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

A newly detailed brain region provides the continuous alarm signal needed to keep animals on high alert during a threat. The research, published in Neuron, indicates that the amygdalostriatal transition zone bridges the gap between learning about a danger and sustaining a defensive response.

The amygdalostriatal transition zone, or ASt, is a small cluster of brain cells located between the amygdala, a center for emotion processing, and the striatum, an area involved in controlling movements. When a threat appears, the brain must rapidly detect it and maintain a defensive state until the danger passes.

A 1995 study of rats demonstrated that fear-learning neurons in the amygdala respond to threat sounds in a very brief, rapid burst lasting only milliseconds. Later, a 2002 laboratory study showed that warning signals travel rapidly from the amygdala directly into the neighboring ASt.

The disconnect between brief brain signals and long-lasting fear responses became a major question, as a 2009 study of rodents highlighted the puzzle that amygdala signals fade almost immediately even though defensive behaviors persist for tens of seconds.

The new study explores this fast pathway to determine whether the ASt provides the continuous alarm signal needed to maintain defensive behaviors over longer periods. The research was led by first author Fergil Mills, an assistant professor at the University of Utah who conducted the study as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of senior author Kay M. Tye at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“It felt as though an important part of the neural circuitry had yet to be found,” Mills told PsyPost. “In this study, we characterized the ‘amygdalostriatal transition zone’ (ASt), a largely unexplored brain region, and discovered that it maintained responses to threat cues for the full duration that they were present.”

“This was a previously unknown role for the structure, and our work identifies the ASt as a ‘missing piece’ of the neural circuits for learning and behavior,” he added.

The scientists began by examining the genetic makeup of the ASt and surrounding brain structures. They extracted and analyzed the genetic material of 97,434 individual cell nuclei from the brains of mice. The analysis indicated that the ASt has a distinct genetic identity.

Specifically, the ASt contains an unusually high concentration of a specific type of brain cell called a Drd2-positive neuron, which carries a specific receptor for the chemical messenger dopamine. About 71 percent of the neurons in the ASt were of this type, compared to just 26 percent for a related cell type known as Drd1a-positive neurons.

Next, the team measured the electrical activity of ASt neurons in 15 live mice. The mice were trained in an environment where a 20-second auditory tone predicted a mild foot shock, while a different 20-second tone predicted a sweet liquid reward. The researchers found that ASt neurons responded strongly to the shock-predicting tone.

Unlike the brief bursts seen in the amygdala, the ASt neurons fired continuously for the entire 20-second duration of the threat cue. Trials where the mice showed the highest levels of defensive behavior, such as freezing in place, were accompanied by ASt firing rates that were over three times higher than in trials with low defensive behavior.

To see if this brain activity actually produced the defensive behavior, the researchers used optogenetics, a technique that allows scientists to control specific neurons using light. They tested 18 mice that were genetically engineered so their ASt neurons could be activated by blue light lasers. When the researchers shined light into the ASt, the mice immediately began to freeze.

In a separate test where one side of an enclosure triggered the laser, the mice actively avoided that side. The team then isolated the effects of the two different cell types by testing 35 additional mice. They found that activating only the Drd2-positive neurons produced the same freezing and avoidance behaviors, while activating the Drd1a-positive neurons had no effect on these behaviors.

A motor coordination test using a rotating rod showed that the freezing was a defensive response, not a general inability to move. The researchers also tracked the activity of these specific cell types during the tone task using miniature microscopes attached to the heads of 15 mice. By observing calcium levels, which rise when neurons are active, they saw that the Drd2-positive neurons maintained high, sustained levels of activity throughout the threat-predicting tones.

Finally, the team tested whether the ASt is strictly necessary for fear responses. They used a different optogenetic tool to silence the Drd2-positive ASt neurons in a group of 21 mice. During the tone task, blocking these neurons caused the mice to reduce their defensive behaviors, such as freezing or sudden darting, by nearly 50 percent. Blocking these cells did not change the animals’ responses to reward cues, nor did it alter their general movement in an open arena.

“The neural and behavioral results that we observed were striking,” Mills said. “Inhibiting a subpopulation of ASt neurons caused a nearly 50% reduction in fear responses a major decrease for a structure never before established as part of the fear circuit.”

“This tells us that the ASt is not just correlated with fear responses, but makes a meaningful causal contribution to them,” he noted.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The experiments used only a single type of threat, which was a foot shock, and a single type of reward, which was a sweet drink. It is not completely settled whether the ASt specifically processes the negative nature of an experience, or if it might also respond to other intense stimuli.

Additionally, the mice did not show ASt activation when placed in a context or environment they associated with fear, only when they heard the specific warning tone.

“An interesting detail of our study was that the ASt maintains responses to specific threat cues, but not to locations where negative experiences occurred,” Mills explained. “This suggests that the ASt has a specialized role in fear triggered by sensory cues, rather than the broader environment we are in a key new insight into how the brain organizes different kinds of fear responses.”

“Importantly, we believe that our findings complement rather than contradict the established amygdala circuits for fear learning,” he said. “We think the ASt is a key part of a much larger circuit, and that the ASt and amygdala likely work together to orchestrate responses to threats. Also, these experiments were performed in mice, so a critical next step will be to determine how these findings translate to humans.”

Scientists hope to investigate whether this pathway plays a role in conditions like anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, where responses to external stimuli are disrupted.

“Understanding the circuits for fear learning is critical to human health, because maladaptive fear responses are a hallmark of neuropsychiatric disorders such as PTSD and anxiety,” Mills pointed out. “In these disorders, fear responses can become persistent, generalized, or spontaneous, leading to debilitating health outcomes.”

“In order to develop new treatments for these disorders, we have to understand the fundamental circuitry that the brain uses for fear learning,” he added. “That’s what makes the discovery of the ASt’s role in fear so exciting it’s part of a larger puzzle that we need to solve to improve human health.”

Although the amygdala has been heavily researched in the context of psychiatric conditions, the ASt represents a new frontier for understanding how the brain responds to danger. Future studies will need to explore exactly how the ASt communicates with the amygdala during the initial learning of a threat.

“Now that we know the ASt has a role in fear responses, it is also a new site of interest for disorders where fear responses are disrupted,” Mills explained. “It is easy to imagine that if ASt circuits mediate sustained responses to threats, then dysfunction of these circuits could give rise to the maladaptive fear responses we see in different disorders.”

“We are now collaborating with other researchers to study the ASt’s function in humans, establishing a new translational direction for a brain region that has been almost entirely overlooked in mental health research,” he said. “I want to thank Kay Tye for her incredible mentorship, and all the members of the Tye lab and Mills lab who contributed to the study. Exploring the ASt was an amazing adventure, and we are looking forward to the new science that will stem from these discoveries.”

The study, “Amygdalostriatal transition zone neurons encode sustained cue responses to guide defensive behaviors,” was authored by Fergil Mills, Christopher R. Lee, James R. Howe, Hao Li, Maria N. Keisler, Shan Shao, Felix H. Taschbach, Mackenzie E. Lemieux, Faith Aloboudi, Jesse White, May G. Chan, Matilde Borio, Laurel R. Keyes, Hannah S. Chen, Fabiha Bushra, Gates P. Schneider, Dani P. Lemmon, Kyung J. Lee, Alexa L. Gross, Kanha Batra, Reesha R. Patel, Meenakshi M. Asokan, Jeremy Delahanty, Christian Cazares, Christopher R. Heyman, Nicholas B. Poll, Liezl Maree, Romy Wichmann, Talmo D. Pereira, Marcus K. Benna, Cory M. Root, and Kay M. Tye.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

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DATE: September 27, 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: Scientists identify an overlooked brain region that sustains fear responses

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

A newly detailed brain region provides the continuous alarm signal needed to keep animals on high alert during a threat. The research, published in Neuron, indicates that the amygdalostriatal transition zone bridges the gap between learning about a danger and sustaining a defensive response.

The amygdalostriatal transition zone, or ASt, is a small cluster of brain cells located between the amygdala, a center for emotion processing, and the striatum, an area involved in controlling movements. When a threat appears, the brain must rapidly detect it and maintain a defensive state until the danger passes.

A 1995 study of rats demonstrated that fear-learning neurons in the amygdala respond to threat sounds in a very brief, rapid burst lasting only milliseconds. Later, a 2002 laboratory study showed that warning signals travel rapidly from the amygdala directly into the neighboring ASt.

The disconnect between brief brain signals and long-lasting fear responses became a major question, as a 2009 study of rodents highlighted the puzzle that amygdala signals fade almost immediately even though defensive behaviors persist for tens of seconds.

The new study explores this fast pathway to determine whether the ASt provides the continuous alarm signal needed to maintain defensive behaviors over longer periods. The research was led by first author Fergil Mills, an assistant professor at the University of Utah who conducted the study as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of senior author Kay M. Tye at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

“It felt as though an important part of the neural circuitry had yet to be found,” Mills told PsyPost. “In this study, we characterized the ‘amygdalostriatal transition zone’ (ASt), a largely unexplored brain region, and discovered that it maintained responses to threat cues for the full duration that they were present.”

“This was a previously unknown role for the structure, and our work identifies the ASt as a ‘missing piece’ of the neural circuits for learning and behavior,” he added.

The scientists began by examining the genetic makeup of the ASt and surrounding brain structures. They extracted and analyzed the genetic material of 97,434 individual cell nuclei from the brains of mice. The analysis indicated that the ASt has a distinct genetic identity.

Specifically, the ASt contains an unusually high concentration of a specific type of brain cell called a Drd2-positive neuron, which carries a specific receptor for the chemical messenger dopamine. About 71 percent of the neurons in the ASt were of this type, compared to just 26 percent for a related cell type known as Drd1a-positive neurons.

Next, the team measured the electrical activity of ASt neurons in 15 live mice. The mice were trained in an environment where a 20-second auditory tone predicted a mild foot shock, while a different 20-second tone predicted a sweet liquid reward. The researchers found that ASt neurons responded strongly to the shock-predicting tone.

Unlike the brief bursts seen in the amygdala, the ASt neurons fired continuously for the entire 20-second duration of the threat cue. Trials where the mice showed the highest levels of defensive behavior, such as freezing in place, were accompanied by ASt firing rates that were over three times higher than in trials with low defensive behavior.

To see if this brain activity actually produced the defensive behavior, the researchers used optogenetics, a technique that allows scientists to control specific neurons using light. They tested 18 mice that were genetically engineered so their ASt neurons could be activated by blue light lasers. When the researchers shined light into the ASt, the mice immediately began to freeze.

In a separate test where one side of an enclosure triggered the laser, the mice actively avoided that side. The team then isolated the effects of the two different cell types by testing 35 additional mice. They found that activating only the Drd2-positive neurons produced the same freezing and avoidance behaviors, while activating the Drd1a-positive neurons had no effect on these behaviors.

A motor coordination test using a rotating rod showed that the freezing was a defensive response, not a general inability to move. The researchers also tracked the activity of these specific cell types during the tone task using miniature microscopes attached to the heads of 15 mice. By observing calcium levels, which rise when neurons are active, they saw that the Drd2-positive neurons maintained high, sustained levels of activity throughout the threat-predicting tones.

Finally, the team tested whether the ASt is strictly necessary for fear responses. They used a different optogenetic tool to silence the Drd2-positive ASt neurons in a group of 21 mice. During the tone task, blocking these neurons caused the mice to reduce their defensive behaviors, such as freezing or sudden darting, by nearly 50 percent. Blocking these cells did not change the animals’ responses to reward cues, nor did it alter their general movement in an open arena.

“The neural and behavioral results that we observed were striking,” Mills said. “Inhibiting a subpopulation of ASt neurons caused a nearly 50% reduction in fear responses a major decrease for a structure never before established as part of the fear circuit.”

“This tells us that the ASt is not just correlated with fear responses, but makes a meaningful causal contribution to them,” he noted.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The experiments used only a single type of threat, which was a foot shock, and a single type of reward, which was a sweet drink. It is not completely settled whether the ASt specifically processes the negative nature of an experience, or if it might also respond to other intense stimuli.

Additionally, the mice did not show ASt activation when placed in a context or environment they associated with fear, only when they heard the specific warning tone.

“An interesting detail of our study was that the ASt maintains responses to specific threat cues, but not to locations where negative experiences occurred,” Mills explained. “This suggests that the ASt has a specialized role in fear triggered by sensory cues, rather than the broader environment we are in a key new insight into how the brain organizes different kinds of fear responses.”

“Importantly, we believe that our findings complement rather than contradict the established amygdala circuits for fear learning,” he said. “We think the ASt is a key part of a much larger circuit, and that the ASt and amygdala likely work together to orchestrate responses to threats. Also, these experiments were performed in mice, so a critical next step will be to determine how these findings translate to humans.”

Scientists hope to investigate whether this pathway plays a role in conditions like anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder, where responses to external stimuli are disrupted.

“Understanding the circuits for fear learning is critical to human health, because maladaptive fear responses are a hallmark of neuropsychiatric disorders such as PTSD and anxiety,” Mills pointed out. “In these disorders, fear responses can become persistent, generalized, or spontaneous, leading to debilitating health outcomes.”

“In order to develop new treatments for these disorders, we have to understand the fundamental circuitry that the brain uses for fear learning,” he added. “That’s what makes the discovery of the ASt’s role in fear so exciting it’s part of a larger puzzle that we need to solve to improve human health.”

Although the amygdala has been heavily researched in the context of psychiatric conditions, the ASt represents a new frontier for understanding how the brain responds to danger. Future studies will need to explore exactly how the ASt communicates with the amygdala during the initial learning of a threat.

“Now that we know the ASt has a role in fear responses, it is also a new site of interest for disorders where fear responses are disrupted,” Mills explained. “It is easy to imagine that if ASt circuits mediate sustained responses to threats, then dysfunction of these circuits could give rise to the maladaptive fear responses we see in different disorders.”

“We are now collaborating with other researchers to study the ASt’s function in humans, establishing a new translational direction for a brain region that has been almost entirely overlooked in mental health research,” he said. “I want to thank Kay Tye for her incredible mentorship, and all the members of the Tye lab and Mills lab who contributed to the study. Exploring the ASt was an amazing adventure, and we are looking forward to the new science that will stem from these discoveries.”

The study, “Amygdalostriatal transition zone neurons encode sustained cue responses to guide defensive behaviors,” was authored by Fergil Mills, Christopher R. Lee, James R. Howe, Hao Li, Maria N. Keisler, Shan Shao, Felix H. Taschbach, Mackenzie E. Lemieux, Faith Aloboudi, Jesse White, May G. Chan, Matilde Borio, Laurel R. Keyes, Hannah S. Chen, Fabiha Bushra, Gates P. Schneider, Dani P. Lemmon, Kyung J. Lee, Alexa L. Gross, Kanha Batra, Reesha R. Patel, Meenakshi M. Asokan, Jeremy Delahanty, Christian Cazares, Christopher R. Heyman, Nicholas B. Poll, Liezl Maree, Romy Wichmann, Talmo D. Pereira, Marcus K. Benna, Cory M. Root, and Kay M. Tye.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/scientists-identify-an-overlooked-brain-region-that-sustains-fear-responses/

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DATE: September 27, 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: Ayahuasca combined with grief therapy shows promise in easing severe bereavement

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

Combining the psychedelic brew ayahuasca with specialized psychotherapy may help ease the severe psychological pain that follows the loss of a close family member. An exploratory clinical trial published in Scientific Reports found that participants receiving this combined treatment experienced greater reductions in grief severity than those receiving therapy alone or no treatment. The results suggest a potential new avenue for early intervention in severe bereavement.

Losing a parent, child, or spouse often triggers profound emotional turmoil. For most people, the intense distress gradually subsides over time as they adapt to their new reality. A substantial portion of the population goes on to develop prolonged grief disorder, a condition characterized by persistent, functionally impairing yearning and preoccupation with the deceased.

The first year of bereavement is a particularly vulnerable period. It carries elevated risks for psychiatric illness, cardiovascular decline, and suicide. Standard psychological interventions and antidepressant medications have not proven highly effective at preventing prolonged grief when administered soon after a loss.

Researchers led by psychiatrist Oscar Soto-Angona at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain wanted to explore a novel approach to early grief support. They designed a study to test whether a psychedelic plant mixture could enhance a specific form of counseling called meaning reconstruction therapy.

Meaning reconstruction therapy operates on the premise that a central challenge of mourning is integrating the loss into a person’s life narrative. The therapeutic protocol is structured around three phases. First, therapists help patients process traumatic memories related to the death event. Next, they work to redefine the patient’s ongoing attachment to the deceased person. Finally, they help the bereaved rebuild their own sense of identity as a survivor.

The researchers hypothesized that ayahuasca could act as a catalyst for this psychological work. Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian brew made by boiling the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub. The leaves contain the psychoactive compound DMT, which stimulates the brain’s serotonin receptors. The vine contains compounds that prevent the digestive system from breaking down the DMT before it can reach the central nervous system.

Previous observational studies and anecdotal reports hinted that the brew might facilitate emotional processing. Studies have shown that serotonergic psychedelics can temporarily enhance neuroplasticity, psychological flexibility, and creative thinking. The research team suspected these acute effects could help people find existential meaning and reorganize their identity after a traumatic loss.

The clinical trial enrolled 84 adults who were experiencing severe grief symptoms. All participants had lost a first-degree relative within the previous twelve months. The research team assigned the participants to one of three groups.

One group received nine weekly online sessions of meaning reconstruction therapy. A second group served as a no-treatment control condition.

The third group received the same nine-week therapy course but also attended two weekend ayahuasca retreats. These group retreats involved consuming a medium dose of the brew under medical supervision. The psychedelic sessions were accompanied by specialized online integration meetings, which gave participants a space to discuss and process their altered states of consciousness.

To track progress, the researchers asked participants to complete standard questionnaires. These surveys measured normal grief severity, symptoms of prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic growth, and overall quality of life. The assessments were administered before the interventions began, immediately after the nine-week period, and at a three-month follow-up.

The research team found that participants in all three groups experienced some reduction in grief severity by the end of the study. This kind of general improvement is common in bereavement research. It often reflects the natural passage of time as participants adapt to their loss, as well as the positive psychological effects of simply being enrolled in a supportive clinical trial.

The group receiving ayahuasca-assisted therapy experienced the largest improvements across nearly all measures. These participants reported greater reductions in normal grief severity and prolonged grief symptoms compared to those in the therapy-alone and no-treatment groups.

The psychedelic-assisted treatment was also associated with larger increases in post-traumatic growth. This psychological concept refers to positive personal changes that result from struggling with a major life crisis, such as a renewed appreciation for life or a deeper sense of spiritual connection. Participants in the ayahuasca group also reported better scores in psychological health and social relationships than the control groups.

These improvements appeared stable over the short term. When the researchers checked in with the participants three months after the interventions ended, the ayahuasca group maintained their improved scores.

The psychedelic brew was generally well tolerated by the participants. Nobody required psychiatric medication or experienced serious adverse events following the dosing sessions.

Some participants reported minor, transient side effects during the experience, such as nausea, vomiting, or temporary headaches. These are common physical reactions to ayahuasca. A few participants in the experimental group chose to skip their second ayahuasca dose, with some citing that they did not feel psychologically prepared for another session so soon after the first.

The study provides an early look at a novel combination therapy, but several limitations shape how the results should be interpreted. Due to logistical constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic during the study’s early phases, the researchers could not randomize the group assignments. Instead, participants were sequentially allocated to the groups.

This non-randomized design increases the risk that outside factors influenced the outcomes. Differences in pandemic-related stress at different times of the year could have impacted the participants’ baseline mental health.

The open-label nature of the trial means that participants knew which treatment they were receiving. This awareness can inflate the reported benefits due to expectation bias. The researchers noted that nearly three quarters of the participants had previously used psychedelic substances, suggesting they may have held favorable preconceptions about the treatment going into the trial.

The study design did not include a group that received ayahuasca without psychotherapy. The current results cannot separate the effects of the pharmacological substance from the intensive therapy and group support environment.

Future research will require larger, randomized, and double-blind clinical trials to confirm these early observations. Such studies could help determine exactly how the altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelics interact with therapeutic attempts to rebuild a person’s sense of meaning after a devastating loss.

The study, “Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial,” was authored by Oscar Soto-Angona, Oscar Andión, Pablo Sabucedo, Robert A. Neimeyer, Josep Maria Haro, Julia Javkin, Magí Farré, and Débora González.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

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DATE: September 27, 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: Ayahuasca combined with grief therapy shows promise in easing severe bereavement

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

Combining the psychedelic brew ayahuasca with specialized psychotherapy may help ease the severe psychological pain that follows the loss of a close family member. An exploratory clinical trial published in Scientific Reports found that participants receiving this combined treatment experienced greater reductions in grief severity than those receiving therapy alone or no treatment. The results suggest a potential new avenue for early intervention in severe bereavement.

Losing a parent, child, or spouse often triggers profound emotional turmoil. For most people, the intense distress gradually subsides over time as they adapt to their new reality. A substantial portion of the population goes on to develop prolonged grief disorder, a condition characterized by persistent, functionally impairing yearning and preoccupation with the deceased.

The first year of bereavement is a particularly vulnerable period. It carries elevated risks for psychiatric illness, cardiovascular decline, and suicide. Standard psychological interventions and antidepressant medications have not proven highly effective at preventing prolonged grief when administered soon after a loss.

Researchers led by psychiatrist Oscar Soto-Angona at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain wanted to explore a novel approach to early grief support. They designed a study to test whether a psychedelic plant mixture could enhance a specific form of counseling called meaning reconstruction therapy.

Meaning reconstruction therapy operates on the premise that a central challenge of mourning is integrating the loss into a person’s life narrative. The therapeutic protocol is structured around three phases. First, therapists help patients process traumatic memories related to the death event. Next, they work to redefine the patient’s ongoing attachment to the deceased person. Finally, they help the bereaved rebuild their own sense of identity as a survivor.

The researchers hypothesized that ayahuasca could act as a catalyst for this psychological work. Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian brew made by boiling the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub. The leaves contain the psychoactive compound DMT, which stimulates the brain’s serotonin receptors. The vine contains compounds that prevent the digestive system from breaking down the DMT before it can reach the central nervous system.

Previous observational studies and anecdotal reports hinted that the brew might facilitate emotional processing. Studies have shown that serotonergic psychedelics can temporarily enhance neuroplasticity, psychological flexibility, and creative thinking. The research team suspected these acute effects could help people find existential meaning and reorganize their identity after a traumatic loss.

The clinical trial enrolled 84 adults who were experiencing severe grief symptoms. All participants had lost a first-degree relative within the previous twelve months. The research team assigned the participants to one of three groups.

One group received nine weekly online sessions of meaning reconstruction therapy. A second group served as a no-treatment control condition.

The third group received the same nine-week therapy course but also attended two weekend ayahuasca retreats. These group retreats involved consuming a medium dose of the brew under medical supervision. The psychedelic sessions were accompanied by specialized online integration meetings, which gave participants a space to discuss and process their altered states of consciousness.

To track progress, the researchers asked participants to complete standard questionnaires. These surveys measured normal grief severity, symptoms of prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic growth, and overall quality of life. The assessments were administered before the interventions began, immediately after the nine-week period, and at a three-month follow-up.

The research team found that participants in all three groups experienced some reduction in grief severity by the end of the study. This kind of general improvement is common in bereavement research. It often reflects the natural passage of time as participants adapt to their loss, as well as the positive psychological effects of simply being enrolled in a supportive clinical trial.

The group receiving ayahuasca-assisted therapy experienced the largest improvements across nearly all measures. These participants reported greater reductions in normal grief severity and prolonged grief symptoms compared to those in the therapy-alone and no-treatment groups.

The psychedelic-assisted treatment was also associated with larger increases in post-traumatic growth. This psychological concept refers to positive personal changes that result from struggling with a major life crisis, such as a renewed appreciation for life or a deeper sense of spiritual connection. Participants in the ayahuasca group also reported better scores in psychological health and social relationships than the control groups.

These improvements appeared stable over the short term. When the researchers checked in with the participants three months after the interventions ended, the ayahuasca group maintained their improved scores.

The psychedelic brew was generally well tolerated by the participants. Nobody required psychiatric medication or experienced serious adverse events following the dosing sessions.

Some participants reported minor, transient side effects during the experience, such as nausea, vomiting, or temporary headaches. These are common physical reactions to ayahuasca. A few participants in the experimental group chose to skip their second ayahuasca dose, with some citing that they did not feel psychologically prepared for another session so soon after the first.

The study provides an early look at a novel combination therapy, but several limitations shape how the results should be interpreted. Due to logistical constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic during the study’s early phases, the researchers could not randomize the group assignments. Instead, participants were sequentially allocated to the groups.

This non-randomized design increases the risk that outside factors influenced the outcomes. Differences in pandemic-related stress at different times of the year could have impacted the participants’ baseline mental health.

The open-label nature of the trial means that participants knew which treatment they were receiving. This awareness can inflate the reported benefits due to expectation bias. The researchers noted that nearly three quarters of the participants had previously used psychedelic substances, suggesting they may have held favorable preconceptions about the treatment going into the trial.

The study design did not include a group that received ayahuasca without psychotherapy. The current results cannot separate the effects of the pharmacological substance from the intensive therapy and group support environment.

Future research will require larger, randomized, and double-blind clinical trials to confirm these early observations. Such studies could help determine exactly how the altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelics interact with therapeutic attempts to rebuild a person’s sense of meaning after a devastating loss.

The study, “Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial,” was authored by Oscar Soto-Angona, Oscar Andión, Pablo Sabucedo, Robert A. Neimeyer, Josep Maria Haro, Julia Javkin, Magí Farré, and Débora González.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaTherapy #BereavementSupport #GriefRecovery #MeaningReconstruction #PsychedelicResearch #MentalHealthInnovation #ProlongedGriefDisorder #TraumaHealing #PostTraumaticGrowth #UrbanClinicalTrial

DATE: September 27, 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: Ayahuasca combined with grief therapy shows promise in easing severe bereavement

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

Combining the psychedelic brew ayahuasca with specialized psychotherapy may help ease the severe psychological pain that follows the loss of a close family member. An exploratory clinical trial published in Scientific Reports found that participants receiving this combined treatment experienced greater reductions in grief severity than those receiving therapy alone or no treatment. The results suggest a potential new avenue for early intervention in severe bereavement.

Losing a parent, child, or spouse often triggers profound emotional turmoil. For most people, the intense distress gradually subsides over time as they adapt to their new reality. A substantial portion of the population goes on to develop prolonged grief disorder, a condition characterized by persistent, functionally impairing yearning and preoccupation with the deceased.

The first year of bereavement is a particularly vulnerable period. It carries elevated risks for psychiatric illness, cardiovascular decline, and suicide. Standard psychological interventions and antidepressant medications have not proven highly effective at preventing prolonged grief when administered soon after a loss.

Researchers led by psychiatrist Oscar Soto-Angona at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain wanted to explore a novel approach to early grief support. They designed a study to test whether a psychedelic plant mixture could enhance a specific form of counseling called meaning reconstruction therapy.

Meaning reconstruction therapy operates on the premise that a central challenge of mourning is integrating the loss into a person’s life narrative. The therapeutic protocol is structured around three phases. First, therapists help patients process traumatic memories related to the death event. Next, they work to redefine the patient’s ongoing attachment to the deceased person. Finally, they help the bereaved rebuild their own sense of identity as a survivor.

The researchers hypothesized that ayahuasca could act as a catalyst for this psychological work. Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian brew made by boiling the stems of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub. The leaves contain the psychoactive compound DMT, which stimulates the brain’s serotonin receptors. The vine contains compounds that prevent the digestive system from breaking down the DMT before it can reach the central nervous system.

Previous observational studies and anecdotal reports hinted that the brew might facilitate emotional processing. Studies have shown that serotonergic psychedelics can temporarily enhance neuroplasticity, psychological flexibility, and creative thinking. The research team suspected these acute effects could help people find existential meaning and reorganize their identity after a traumatic loss.

The clinical trial enrolled 84 adults who were experiencing severe grief symptoms. All participants had lost a first-degree relative within the previous twelve months. The research team assigned the participants to one of three groups.

One group received nine weekly online sessions of meaning reconstruction therapy. A second group served as a no-treatment control condition.

The third group received the same nine-week therapy course but also attended two weekend ayahuasca retreats. These group retreats involved consuming a medium dose of the brew under medical supervision. The psychedelic sessions were accompanied by specialized online integration meetings, which gave participants a space to discuss and process their altered states of consciousness.

To track progress, the researchers asked participants to complete standard questionnaires. These surveys measured normal grief severity, symptoms of prolonged grief disorder, post-traumatic growth, and overall quality of life. The assessments were administered before the interventions began, immediately after the nine-week period, and at a three-month follow-up.

The research team found that participants in all three groups experienced some reduction in grief severity by the end of the study. This kind of general improvement is common in bereavement research. It often reflects the natural passage of time as participants adapt to their loss, as well as the positive psychological effects of simply being enrolled in a supportive clinical trial.

The group receiving ayahuasca-assisted therapy experienced the largest improvements across nearly all measures. These participants reported greater reductions in normal grief severity and prolonged grief symptoms compared to those in the therapy-alone and no-treatment groups.

The psychedelic-assisted treatment was also associated with larger increases in post-traumatic growth. This psychological concept refers to positive personal changes that result from struggling with a major life crisis, such as a renewed appreciation for life or a deeper sense of spiritual connection. Participants in the ayahuasca group also reported better scores in psychological health and social relationships than the control groups.

These improvements appeared stable over the short term. When the researchers checked in with the participants three months after the interventions ended, the ayahuasca group maintained their improved scores.

The psychedelic brew was generally well tolerated by the participants. Nobody required psychiatric medication or experienced serious adverse events following the dosing sessions.

Some participants reported minor, transient side effects during the experience, such as nausea, vomiting, or temporary headaches. These are common physical reactions to ayahuasca. A few participants in the experimental group chose to skip their second ayahuasca dose, with some citing that they did not feel psychologically prepared for another session so soon after the first.

The study provides an early look at a novel combination therapy, but several limitations shape how the results should be interpreted. Due to logistical constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic during the study’s early phases, the researchers could not randomize the group assignments. Instead, participants were sequentially allocated to the groups.

This non-randomized design increases the risk that outside factors influenced the outcomes. Differences in pandemic-related stress at different times of the year could have impacted the participants’ baseline mental health.

The open-label nature of the trial means that participants knew which treatment they were receiving. This awareness can inflate the reported benefits due to expectation bias. The researchers noted that nearly three quarters of the participants had previously used psychedelic substances, suggesting they may have held favorable preconceptions about the treatment going into the trial.

The study design did not include a group that received ayahuasca without psychotherapy. The current results cannot separate the effects of the pharmacological substance from the intensive therapy and group support environment.

Future research will require larger, randomized, and double-blind clinical trials to confirm these early observations. Such studies could help determine exactly how the altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelics interact with therapeutic attempts to rebuild a person’s sense of meaning after a devastating loss.

The study, “Ayahuasca-assisted meaning reconstruction therapy as an early resource for bereavement: a non-randomized clinical trial,” was authored by Oscar Soto-Angona, Oscar Andión, Pablo Sabucedo, Robert A. Neimeyer, Josep Maria Haro, Julia Javkin, Magí Farré, and Débora González.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/ayahuasca-combined-with-grief-therapy-shows-promise-in-easing-severe-bereavement/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AyahuascaTherapy #BereavementSupport #GriefRecovery #MeaningReconstruction #PsychedelicResearch #MentalHealthInnovation #ProlongedGriefDisorder #TraumaHealing #PostTraumaticGrowth #UrbanClinicalTrial

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Glucosamine #JointHealth #AlzheimersResearch #DementiaRisk #CognitionHealth #MildCognitiveImpairment #BrainHealth #SugarTagging #LabResearch #HealthAlert

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Glucosamine #JointHealth #AlzheimersResearch #DementiaRisk #CognitionHealth #MildCognitiveImpairment #BrainHealth #SugarTagging #LabResearch #HealthAlert

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY PSYCHIATIRY FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

-------------------------------------------------

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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 #Glucosamine #JointHealth #AlzheimersResearch #DementiaRisk #CognitionHealth #MildCognitiveImpairment #BrainHealth #SugarTagging #LabResearch #HealthAlert

DATE: September 27, 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: Study reveals which values actually stop voters from supporting antidemocratic politicians

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

New research suggests that an individual’s personal commitment to the institutions of liberal democracy can act as a buffer against voting for politicians who threaten democratic rules. The findings indicate that while political party loyalty heavily influences voter choices, a deep-seated support for democratic principles helps people resist candidates who might otherwise erode democratic norms. The study was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Democratic backsliding is an ongoing concern in many modern nations. This process occurs when elected officials gradually dismantle democratic institutions, such as free elections, independent courts, and a free press. A major factor driving this decline is the willingness of ordinary citizens to vote for candidates who violate democratic rules.

Past studies show that voters generally dislike antidemocratic behavior in theory. Yet they often end up supporting politicians who break democratic rules if those politicians belong to their preferred political party or share their policy views. This creates a tension between a voter’s abstract democratic values and their practical political loyalties.

The research was led by Christopher Claassen, a professor of political behavior at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The study aimed to understand whether specific aspects of a country’s political culture might help prevent this trend.

“A growing body of research shows that voters frequently support politicians who threaten democratic institutions, particularly when those politicians belong to their preferred party or agree with them on important issues,” Claassen told PsyPost. “But we know much less about whether people’s underlying attitudes toward democracy help them resist those pressures.”

“I wanted to connect that recent work on democratic backsliding with the much older political-culture literature, which argues that citizens’ orientations toward democracy can help sustain democratic government,” he explained.

To test this, the researcher analyzed data from 5,951 participants across three democracies currently facing backsliding pressures. The sample included 1,983 people in the United States, 1,967 in Poland, and 2,001 in South Korea. The participants took part in a candidate-choice experiment, which is a type of survey design that simulates an election. Participants were shown pairs of hypothetical political candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for, completing twelve different matchups in total.

The candidates varied randomly in age, gender, occupational background, political party, and policy positions on taxes and gender equality. The central feature of the experiment was that each matchup pitted one prodemocratic candidate against one antidemocratic candidate. The antidemocratic candidates proposed actions like cutting polling stations in opposition areas, ignoring court rulings, or prosecuting journalists. The prodemocratic candidates took the opposite stances, promising to respect these institutions.

Before the simulated elections, the survey measured six dimensions of political culture for each participant. These included preferences for democracy over autocracy, support for liberal democratic institutions, and trust in political institutions. The survey also measured political tolerance, which is the willingness to allow political opponents to have civil rights. Finally, the survey assessed emancipative values, which prioritize individual autonomy and equality, alongside authoritarian values, which prioritize obedience and conformity.

Across the three countries, support for liberal democracy was the most consistent predictor of a willingness to vote for the prodemocratic candidate. This specific measure captures a person’s backing of core institutions like free speech, equal voting rights, and the rule of law. People who scored high on this measure were consistently less likely to reward candidates who threatened these democratic pillars.

“One broader implication is that democratic culture is not a single thing its multidimensional,” Claassen noted. “I examined several kinds of orientations that political scientists have linked to democracy, and they behaved quite differently.”

“Support for liberal-democratic institutions was the most consistent predictor of pro-democratic choice, which suggests that the particular democratic commitments citizens hold may matter more than simply possessing a generally ‘democratic’ political culture,” he added.

The author looked closely at difficult scenarios known as cross-pressured choices. These are situations where a voter must choose between a prodemocratic candidate from an opposing party and an antidemocratic candidate from their own party. Even in these demanding situations, support for liberal democracy made a noticeable difference. It helped voters resist the temptation to blindly support their own political side.

Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in a person’s support for liberal democracy was associated with a 2 to 12 percentage point increase in the probability of choosing the prodemocratic candidate across party lines. This shift depended on the specific country and the statistical model used. While this increase might seem modest, it represents a meaningful shift in competitive elections.

“The effects are meaningful but not enormous,” the researcher said. “That can matter in a close election, but the results also show how powerful partisan loyalties remain.”

Other aspects of political culture showed mixed or weak associations. For instance, having a general preference for democracy over autocracy and holding emancipative values sometimes predicted prodemocratic choices. However, these factors did not predict voting choices consistently across all countries and policy scenarios. Interestingly, trust in political institutions showed almost no relationship with resisting antidemocratic candidates.

“Two findings surprised me,” Claassen explained. “First, political trust had virtually no consistent relationship with choosing the pro-democratic candidate, despite a long tradition of treating trust in institutions as important for democracy. Trust may matter for democracy in other ways, but our results suggest that it does not necessarily make people more willing to defend democratic institutions at the ballot box.”

Claassen was also struck by the weak results for authoritarian values. “There is an obvious theoretical connection between authoritarian values and authoritarian political systems they even share the same name but those values were not strong predictors of candidate choice in my study,” he noted. “It may be that these underlying social values are simply too distant from concrete decisions about electoral choices.”

The statistical models controlled for various factors to isolate the role of political culture. These controls included age, gender, education, income, and geographic region. The models also accounted for political interest, preferred party, and the participants’ actual positions on redistribution and gender equality.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding this study. The voting choices were made in a simulated survey environment rather than a real election. In actual elections, voters face intense campaign messaging and social pressures that might alter how they weigh democratic violations against party loyalty. The hypothetical nature of the survey means we cannot be certain these exact percentage shifts would appear at a real ballot box.

The findings are also observational regarding political culture. Because a person’s values and beliefs cannot be randomly assigned in an experiment, the results show an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. We can see that strong democratic beliefs predict certain voting patterns, but we cannot isolate those beliefs from other lifelong personal traits that might influence a voter’s decisions.

“The candidate attributes were experimentally randomized, but respondents’ democratic orientations were measured rather than manipulated,” Claassen noted, reinforcing that the relationship should be understood as an association rather than a causal effect.

Finally, the pull of partisanship remains incredibly strong. In the Polish and South Korean samples, the predicted support for prodemocratic candidates from an opposing party often remained below 50 percent, even among citizens with high democratic commitments. This suggests that while strong democratic values help people resist backsliding, they do not always create a majority willing to cross party lines to punish bad actors.

“I would avoid interpreting the findings as showing that strong democratic attitudes will necessarily defeat anti-democratic politicians,” Claassen cautioned.

“The main takeaway is that what ordinary citizens think about democracy does matter,” the researcher summarized. “People who more strongly support liberal-democratic institutions were more likely to choose the pro-democratic candidate, including in situations where their partisan identity or ideological position pulled them in the opposite direction.”

“So democratic resilience is not something entirely outside citizens’ hands,” he added. “At the same time, public support is only one part of the story: what political leaders, parties, and institutions do matters enormously for whether democracy survives.”

Looking ahead, the researcher plans to refine how these attitudes are studied. “One next step is to develop more fine-grained measures of democratic orientations,” Claassen noted. “Most research focuses either on support for democratic institutions or democracy itself, and I think there is room to measure underlying democratic values more carefully and systematically.”

“I’m also interested in why people sometimes bring their democratic attitudes to bear on a voting decision and sometimes do not,” he said. “In particular, I’m looking at factors such as attitude importance and accessibility: whether democracy is something people care deeply about and whether those considerations are readily available in their minds when they actually make a political choice.”

The study, “Voting for Democracy? Testing Political-Cultural Constraints on Democratic Backsliding,” was authored by Christopher Claassen.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

-------------------------------------------------

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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 #DemocraticBacksliding #LiberalDemocracy #DemocracySupport #VotingBehavior #DemocraticInstitutions #PoliticalCulture #PublicOpinion #DemocraticResilience #ElectionReality #ProDemocracy

DATE: September 27, 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: Study reveals which values actually stop voters from supporting antidemocratic politicians

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

New research suggests that an individual’s personal commitment to the institutions of liberal democracy can act as a buffer against voting for politicians who threaten democratic rules. The findings indicate that while political party loyalty heavily influences voter choices, a deep-seated support for democratic principles helps people resist candidates who might otherwise erode democratic norms. The study was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Democratic backsliding is an ongoing concern in many modern nations. This process occurs when elected officials gradually dismantle democratic institutions, such as free elections, independent courts, and a free press. A major factor driving this decline is the willingness of ordinary citizens to vote for candidates who violate democratic rules.

Past studies show that voters generally dislike antidemocratic behavior in theory. Yet they often end up supporting politicians who break democratic rules if those politicians belong to their preferred political party or share their policy views. This creates a tension between a voter’s abstract democratic values and their practical political loyalties.

The research was led by Christopher Claassen, a professor of political behavior at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The study aimed to understand whether specific aspects of a country’s political culture might help prevent this trend.

“A growing body of research shows that voters frequently support politicians who threaten democratic institutions, particularly when those politicians belong to their preferred party or agree with them on important issues,” Claassen told PsyPost. “But we know much less about whether people’s underlying attitudes toward democracy help them resist those pressures.”

“I wanted to connect that recent work on democratic backsliding with the much older political-culture literature, which argues that citizens’ orientations toward democracy can help sustain democratic government,” he explained.

To test this, the researcher analyzed data from 5,951 participants across three democracies currently facing backsliding pressures. The sample included 1,983 people in the United States, 1,967 in Poland, and 2,001 in South Korea. The participants took part in a candidate-choice experiment, which is a type of survey design that simulates an election. Participants were shown pairs of hypothetical political candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for, completing twelve different matchups in total.

The candidates varied randomly in age, gender, occupational background, political party, and policy positions on taxes and gender equality. The central feature of the experiment was that each matchup pitted one prodemocratic candidate against one antidemocratic candidate. The antidemocratic candidates proposed actions like cutting polling stations in opposition areas, ignoring court rulings, or prosecuting journalists. The prodemocratic candidates took the opposite stances, promising to respect these institutions.

Before the simulated elections, the survey measured six dimensions of political culture for each participant. These included preferences for democracy over autocracy, support for liberal democratic institutions, and trust in political institutions. The survey also measured political tolerance, which is the willingness to allow political opponents to have civil rights. Finally, the survey assessed emancipative values, which prioritize individual autonomy and equality, alongside authoritarian values, which prioritize obedience and conformity.

Across the three countries, support for liberal democracy was the most consistent predictor of a willingness to vote for the prodemocratic candidate. This specific measure captures a person’s backing of core institutions like free speech, equal voting rights, and the rule of law. People who scored high on this measure were consistently less likely to reward candidates who threatened these democratic pillars.

“One broader implication is that democratic culture is not a single thing its multidimensional,” Claassen noted. “I examined several kinds of orientations that political scientists have linked to democracy, and they behaved quite differently.”

“Support for liberal-democratic institutions was the most consistent predictor of pro-democratic choice, which suggests that the particular democratic commitments citizens hold may matter more than simply possessing a generally ‘democratic’ political culture,” he added.

The author looked closely at difficult scenarios known as cross-pressured choices. These are situations where a voter must choose between a prodemocratic candidate from an opposing party and an antidemocratic candidate from their own party. Even in these demanding situations, support for liberal democracy made a noticeable difference. It helped voters resist the temptation to blindly support their own political side.

Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in a person’s support for liberal democracy was associated with a 2 to 12 percentage point increase in the probability of choosing the prodemocratic candidate across party lines. This shift depended on the specific country and the statistical model used. While this increase might seem modest, it represents a meaningful shift in competitive elections.

“The effects are meaningful but not enormous,” the researcher said. “That can matter in a close election, but the results also show how powerful partisan loyalties remain.”

Other aspects of political culture showed mixed or weak associations. For instance, having a general preference for democracy over autocracy and holding emancipative values sometimes predicted prodemocratic choices. However, these factors did not predict voting choices consistently across all countries and policy scenarios. Interestingly, trust in political institutions showed almost no relationship with resisting antidemocratic candidates.

“Two findings surprised me,” Claassen explained. “First, political trust had virtually no consistent relationship with choosing the pro-democratic candidate, despite a long tradition of treating trust in institutions as important for democracy. Trust may matter for democracy in other ways, but our results suggest that it does not necessarily make people more willing to defend democratic institutions at the ballot box.”

Claassen was also struck by the weak results for authoritarian values. “There is an obvious theoretical connection between authoritarian values and authoritarian political systems they even share the same name but those values were not strong predictors of candidate choice in my study,” he noted. “It may be that these underlying social values are simply too distant from concrete decisions about electoral choices.”

The statistical models controlled for various factors to isolate the role of political culture. These controls included age, gender, education, income, and geographic region. The models also accounted for political interest, preferred party, and the participants’ actual positions on redistribution and gender equality.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding this study. The voting choices were made in a simulated survey environment rather than a real election. In actual elections, voters face intense campaign messaging and social pressures that might alter how they weigh democratic violations against party loyalty. The hypothetical nature of the survey means we cannot be certain these exact percentage shifts would appear at a real ballot box.

The findings are also observational regarding political culture. Because a person’s values and beliefs cannot be randomly assigned in an experiment, the results show an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. We can see that strong democratic beliefs predict certain voting patterns, but we cannot isolate those beliefs from other lifelong personal traits that might influence a voter’s decisions.

“The candidate attributes were experimentally randomized, but respondents’ democratic orientations were measured rather than manipulated,” Claassen noted, reinforcing that the relationship should be understood as an association rather than a causal effect.

Finally, the pull of partisanship remains incredibly strong. In the Polish and South Korean samples, the predicted support for prodemocratic candidates from an opposing party often remained below 50 percent, even among citizens with high democratic commitments. This suggests that while strong democratic values help people resist backsliding, they do not always create a majority willing to cross party lines to punish bad actors.

“I would avoid interpreting the findings as showing that strong democratic attitudes will necessarily defeat anti-democratic politicians,” Claassen cautioned.

“The main takeaway is that what ordinary citizens think about democracy does matter,” the researcher summarized. “People who more strongly support liberal-democratic institutions were more likely to choose the pro-democratic candidate, including in situations where their partisan identity or ideological position pulled them in the opposite direction.”

“So democratic resilience is not something entirely outside citizens’ hands,” he added. “At the same time, public support is only one part of the story: what political leaders, parties, and institutions do matters enormously for whether democracy survives.”

Looking ahead, the researcher plans to refine how these attitudes are studied. “One next step is to develop more fine-grained measures of democratic orientations,” Claassen noted. “Most research focuses either on support for democratic institutions or democracy itself, and I think there is room to measure underlying democratic values more carefully and systematically.”

“I’m also interested in why people sometimes bring their democratic attitudes to bear on a voting decision and sometimes do not,” he said. “In particular, I’m looking at factors such as attitude importance and accessibility: whether democracy is something people care deeply about and whether those considerations are readily available in their minds when they actually make a political choice.”

The study, “Voting for Democracy? Testing Political-Cultural Constraints on Democratic Backsliding,” was authored by Christopher Claassen.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

-------------------------------------------------

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 #DemocraticBacksliding #LiberalDemocracy #DemocracySupport #VotingBehavior #DemocraticInstitutions #PoliticalCulture #PublicOpinion #DemocraticResilience #ElectionReality #ProDemocracy

DATE: September 27, 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: Study reveals which values actually stop voters from supporting antidemocratic politicians

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

New research suggests that an individual’s personal commitment to the institutions of liberal democracy can act as a buffer against voting for politicians who threaten democratic rules. The findings indicate that while political party loyalty heavily influences voter choices, a deep-seated support for democratic principles helps people resist candidates who might otherwise erode democratic norms. The study was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.

Democratic backsliding is an ongoing concern in many modern nations. This process occurs when elected officials gradually dismantle democratic institutions, such as free elections, independent courts, and a free press. A major factor driving this decline is the willingness of ordinary citizens to vote for candidates who violate democratic rules.

Past studies show that voters generally dislike antidemocratic behavior in theory. Yet they often end up supporting politicians who break democratic rules if those politicians belong to their preferred political party or share their policy views. This creates a tension between a voter’s abstract democratic values and their practical political loyalties.

The research was led by Christopher Claassen, a professor of political behavior at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The study aimed to understand whether specific aspects of a country’s political culture might help prevent this trend.

“A growing body of research shows that voters frequently support politicians who threaten democratic institutions, particularly when those politicians belong to their preferred party or agree with them on important issues,” Claassen told PsyPost. “But we know much less about whether people’s underlying attitudes toward democracy help them resist those pressures.”

“I wanted to connect that recent work on democratic backsliding with the much older political-culture literature, which argues that citizens’ orientations toward democracy can help sustain democratic government,” he explained.

To test this, the researcher analyzed data from 5,951 participants across three democracies currently facing backsliding pressures. The sample included 1,983 people in the United States, 1,967 in Poland, and 2,001 in South Korea. The participants took part in a candidate-choice experiment, which is a type of survey design that simulates an election. Participants were shown pairs of hypothetical political candidates and asked to choose who they would vote for, completing twelve different matchups in total.

The candidates varied randomly in age, gender, occupational background, political party, and policy positions on taxes and gender equality. The central feature of the experiment was that each matchup pitted one prodemocratic candidate against one antidemocratic candidate. The antidemocratic candidates proposed actions like cutting polling stations in opposition areas, ignoring court rulings, or prosecuting journalists. The prodemocratic candidates took the opposite stances, promising to respect these institutions.

Before the simulated elections, the survey measured six dimensions of political culture for each participant. These included preferences for democracy over autocracy, support for liberal democratic institutions, and trust in political institutions. The survey also measured political tolerance, which is the willingness to allow political opponents to have civil rights. Finally, the survey assessed emancipative values, which prioritize individual autonomy and equality, alongside authoritarian values, which prioritize obedience and conformity.

Across the three countries, support for liberal democracy was the most consistent predictor of a willingness to vote for the prodemocratic candidate. This specific measure captures a person’s backing of core institutions like free speech, equal voting rights, and the rule of law. People who scored high on this measure were consistently less likely to reward candidates who threatened these democratic pillars.

“One broader implication is that democratic culture is not a single thing its multidimensional,” Claassen noted. “I examined several kinds of orientations that political scientists have linked to democracy, and they behaved quite differently.”

“Support for liberal-democratic institutions was the most consistent predictor of pro-democratic choice, which suggests that the particular democratic commitments citizens hold may matter more than simply possessing a generally ‘democratic’ political culture,” he added.

The author looked closely at difficult scenarios known as cross-pressured choices. These are situations where a voter must choose between a prodemocratic candidate from an opposing party and an antidemocratic candidate from their own party. Even in these demanding situations, support for liberal democracy made a noticeable difference. It helped voters resist the temptation to blindly support their own political side.

Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in a person’s support for liberal democracy was associated with a 2 to 12 percentage point increase in the probability of choosing the prodemocratic candidate across party lines. This shift depended on the specific country and the statistical model used. While this increase might seem modest, it represents a meaningful shift in competitive elections.

“The effects are meaningful but not enormous,” the researcher said. “That can matter in a close election, but the results also show how powerful partisan loyalties remain.”

Other aspects of political culture showed mixed or weak associations. For instance, having a general preference for democracy over autocracy and holding emancipative values sometimes predicted prodemocratic choices. However, these factors did not predict voting choices consistently across all countries and policy scenarios. Interestingly, trust in political institutions showed almost no relationship with resisting antidemocratic candidates.

“Two findings surprised me,” Claassen explained. “First, political trust had virtually no consistent relationship with choosing the pro-democratic candidate, despite a long tradition of treating trust in institutions as important for democracy. Trust may matter for democracy in other ways, but our results suggest that it does not necessarily make people more willing to defend democratic institutions at the ballot box.”

Claassen was also struck by the weak results for authoritarian values. “There is an obvious theoretical connection between authoritarian values and authoritarian political systems they even share the same name but those values were not strong predictors of candidate choice in my study,” he noted. “It may be that these underlying social values are simply too distant from concrete decisions about electoral choices.”

The statistical models controlled for various factors to isolate the role of political culture. These controls included age, gender, education, income, and geographic region. The models also accounted for political interest, preferred party, and the participants’ actual positions on redistribution and gender equality.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding this study. The voting choices were made in a simulated survey environment rather than a real election. In actual elections, voters face intense campaign messaging and social pressures that might alter how they weigh democratic violations against party loyalty. The hypothetical nature of the survey means we cannot be certain these exact percentage shifts would appear at a real ballot box.

The findings are also observational regarding political culture. Because a person’s values and beliefs cannot be randomly assigned in an experiment, the results show an association rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship. We can see that strong democratic beliefs predict certain voting patterns, but we cannot isolate those beliefs from other lifelong personal traits that might influence a voter’s decisions.

“The candidate attributes were experimentally randomized, but respondents’ democratic orientations were measured rather than manipulated,” Claassen noted, reinforcing that the relationship should be understood as an association rather than a causal effect.

Finally, the pull of partisanship remains incredibly strong. In the Polish and South Korean samples, the predicted support for prodemocratic candidates from an opposing party often remained below 50 percent, even among citizens with high democratic commitments. This suggests that while strong democratic values help people resist backsliding, they do not always create a majority willing to cross party lines to punish bad actors.

“I would avoid interpreting the findings as showing that strong democratic attitudes will necessarily defeat anti-democratic politicians,” Claassen cautioned.

“The main takeaway is that what ordinary citizens think about democracy does matter,” the researcher summarized. “People who more strongly support liberal-democratic institutions were more likely to choose the pro-democratic candidate, including in situations where their partisan identity or ideological position pulled them in the opposite direction.”

“So democratic resilience is not something entirely outside citizens’ hands,” he added. “At the same time, public support is only one part of the story: what political leaders, parties, and institutions do matters enormously for whether democracy survives.”

Looking ahead, the researcher plans to refine how these attitudes are studied. “One next step is to develop more fine-grained measures of democratic orientations,” Claassen noted. “Most research focuses either on support for democratic institutions or democracy itself, and I think there is room to measure underlying democratic values more carefully and systematically.”

“I’m also interested in why people sometimes bring their democratic attitudes to bear on a voting decision and sometimes do not,” he said. “In particular, I’m looking at factors such as attitude importance and accessibility: whether democracy is something people care deeply about and whether those considerations are readily available in their minds when they actually make a political choice.”

The study, “Voting for Democracy? Testing Political-Cultural Constraints on Democratic Backsliding,” was authored by Christopher Claassen.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/study-reveals-which-values-actually-stop-voters-from-supporting-antidemocratic-politicians/

-------------------------------------------------

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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 #DemocraticBacksliding #LiberalDemocracy #DemocracySupport #VotingBehavior #DemocraticInstitutions #PoliticalCulture #PublicOpinion #DemocraticResilience #ElectionReality #ProDemocracy

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.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 #Glucosamine #AlzheimersRisk #CognitiveHealth #JointHealth #DementiaProgression #MCItoDementia #AlzheimersResearch #SugarTagging #Neurodegeneration #HealthAlerts

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 06:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Why rheumatoid arthritis pain may persist even when inflammation is under control

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

Pain and fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis can persist even after inflammation improves, with depression, poor sleep, obesity, smoking, and chronic pain potentially helping sustain symptoms. Researchers say identifying these hidden drivers could prevent unnecessary medication changes and lead to more personalized treatment.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

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DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

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DATE: September 27, 2026 at 06:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Why rheumatoid arthritis pain may persist even when inflammation is under control

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

Pain and fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis can persist even after inflammation improves, with depression, poor sleep, obesity, smoking, and chronic pain potentially helping sustain symptoms. Researchers say identifying these hidden drivers could prevent unnecessary medication changes and lead to more personalized treatment.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #RheumatoidArthritis #RApain #ChronicPain #InflammationControl #PainPersistence #RAfatigue #MentalHealthRA #SleepQuality #PersonalizedMedicine #RAresearch

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 09:53AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Glucosamine, a popular joint supplement, linked to faster Alzheimer’s progression

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

A large health-record analysis found that glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood of mild cognitive impairment progressing to dementia. Lab experiments suggest the popular joint supplement may intensify an abnormal sugar-tagging process in the Alzheimer’s brain, although researchers say clinical trials are needed to determine whether it actually causes harm.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260927033754.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Glucosamine #AlzheimersRisk #CognitiveHealth #JointHealth #DementiaProgression #MCItoDementia #AlzheimersResearch #SugarTagging #Neurodegeneration #HealthAlerts

DATE: September 27, 2026 at 06:49AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: Why rheumatoid arthritis pain may persist even when inflammation is under control

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

Pain and fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis can persist even after inflammation improves, with depression, poor sleep, obesity, smoking, and chronic pain potentially helping sustain symptoms. Researchers say identifying these hidden drivers could prevent unnecessary medication changes and lead to more personalized treatment.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093208.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #RheumatoidArthritis #RApain #ChronicPain #InflammationControl #PainPersistence #RAfatigue #MentalHealthRA #SleepQuality #PersonalizedMedicine #RAresearch

DATE: September 27, 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: People with higher autistic traits tend to avoid positive relationship-maintenance tactics

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

A recent study suggests that people in the general population who possess higher levels of autistic-like traits tend to avoid positive, affectionate behaviors to maintain their romantic relationships. The research, published in Evolutionary Psychology, indicates that these traits influence relationship dynamics largely through a person’s attachment style rather than broad evolutionary reproductive strategies.

The research was led by Andrzej Łukasik, a PhD with habilitation and head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Rzeszow’s Collegium Medicum in Poland, who aimed to explore how subtle personality traits shape romantic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The central focus of the study is autistic-like traits, which refer to patterns of social functioning, communication difficulties, and rigid thinking. “Autistic-like traits (ALTs) are personality, social, and cognitive characteristics associated with autism that can also occur, to varying degrees, in the general population,” Łukasik told PsyPost. “They are not considered a disorder.”

To understand how these traits impact relationships, the scientists looked at mate retention tactics. These are behaviors people use to keep a partner and prevent them from leaving. Mate retention is generally divided into what Łukasik described as “benefit-provisioning tactics, such as showing affection, giving compliments or gifts, and offering support, and cost-inflicting tactics, such as inducing jealousy, engaging in controlling behavior, or making threats.” The authors suspected that the way a person tries to keep a partner depends heavily on their attachment style.

Attachment styles describe how people form emotional bonds, generally falling into secure, anxious, or avoidant categories. “People with anxious attachment usually have a strong need for closeness and may react strongly to distance or uncertainty,” Łukasik explained. “In contrast, people with avoidant attachment may feel uncomfortable with emotional closeness and place greater value on independence.” In fact, a 2016 study found that insecure attachment predicts how frequently people use various mate retention behaviors, and a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that anxious attachment is linked to both positive and negative mate retention strategies.

The researchers also framed their study around life history theory, an evolutionary concept describing how individuals allocate their limited time and energy. In this framework, people adopt varying reproductive strategies. A fast strategy involves high mating effort, characterized by seeking multiple partners and short-term relationships. A slow strategy involves high parental effort, prioritizing stable, long-term investments in a single partner and offspring.

Previous evolutionary theories proposed that autistic-like traits might be an adaptation linked to a slow reproductive strategy. However, because these traits are also associated with insecure attachment, which typically aligns with a fast strategy, the authors designed this study to test how all these factors connect. “Research by Marco Del Giudice and colleagues (2010) has suggested that ALTs may be associated with a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik noted. “However, higher levels of ALTs are also linked to insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious), which have more often been associated with characteristics of a fast strategy.”

Therefore, the researchers examined whether ALTs might actually predict a fast strategy and whether attachment style moderates that relationship. To map out these connections, the scientists recruited 796 Polish adults. The participants were 52 percent female and had an average age of 36.4 years. Every participant had been in a romantic relationship for at least three months.

The researchers administered a series of established questionnaires. They used the Autism-Spectrum Quotient to measure the degree of autistic-like traits, the Experiences in Close Relationships scale to assess anxious and avoidant attachment, and the Mate Retention Inventory to evaluate the frequency of benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors. They also used brief scales to measure mating effort and parental effort. The team then used a statistical technique called structural equation modeling to analyze the complex web of relationships between all these variables at once.

The results suggest that autistic-like traits are notable predictors of insecure attachment. Participants who scored higher on autistic-like traits reported higher levels of both anxious and avoidant attachment styles. This indicates that people with more of these traits often worry about their partners leaving while simultaneously struggling with emotional closeness.

When looking at mate retention, the researchers found that individuals with higher autistic-like traits were less likely to engage in benefit-provisioning tactics. They tended to avoid showering their partners with affection or gifts as a way to maintain the relationship. The initial statistical models suggested that these individuals were also less likely to use cost-inflicting tactics. However, when the scientists controlled for the participants’ ages, they found a positive link between autistic-like traits and cost-inflicting tactics.

Age acted as a masking variable because older individuals naturally tend to use fewer negative tactics. Once age was factored out, the data suggested that people with higher autistic-like traits might actually use cost-inflicting tactics slightly more often.

In terms of evolutionary strategies, autistic-like traits proved to be weak predictors of life history outcomes. “The results did not support the hypothesis that ALTs predict a fast rather than a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik said. “ALTs were only weakly related to reproductive strategies.” Instead, attachment styles acted as a bridge between the variables.

Anxious attachment was linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, and it predicted the use of both positive and negative mate retention tactics. Avoidant attachment was similarly linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, but it predicted a lower use of benefit-provisioning tactics. “Individuals with an anxious attachment style tend to use a mixed partner-retention strategy involving both attraction and distancing, probably due to an overperception of the risk of infidelity,” Łukasik pointed out. “In contrast, individuals with an avoidant attachment style tend to use benefit-provisioning tactics less often, possibly because such tactics allow them to avoid closeness with their partner and maintain distance from their partner.”

Age played a broad role across the entire study. The scientists found that as participants got older, their levels of attachment anxiety decreased. Older participants also reported lower mating effort, higher parental effort, and a decreased use of both types of mate retention tactics. This aligns with the idea that as people age and relationships stabilize, they shift their energy away from securing a mate and toward investing in their existing family.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on cross-sectional data, meaning the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. This design makes it impossible to determine the true direction of the effects, and one cannot assume that autistic-like traits cause specific attachment styles or relationship behaviors. In addition, the participants self-reported their behaviors, which can introduce bias if people alter their answers to appear more socially acceptable.

The researchers also note that the Autism-Spectrum Quotient might measure elements of social anxiety or general interpersonal difficulty rather than pure autistic traits. This overlap could skew the interpretation of the results. The weak link between autistic-like traits and reproductive strategies also suggests that broad evolutionary models like life history theory might not fully capture the nuances of modern human relationships, pointing to a need for different measurement approaches in future studies.

Ultimately, the findings offer insight into the practical challenges some people face in romance. “These findings may help explain relationship difficulties experienced by individuals with higher levels of autistic-like traits,” Łukasik concluded. “Benefit-provisioning tactics are generally associated with greater relationship satisfaction, whereas cost-inflicting tactics are linked to lower satisfaction and may contribute to difficulties in developing and maintaining stable close relationships.”

The study, “Autistic-Like Traits in Members of the General Population and Mate Retention Tactics: The Mediation of Attachment Styles and Reproductive Strategies,” was authored by Andrzej Łukasik and Agnieszka Łaba-Hornecka.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AutisticTraits #AttachmentStyles #MateRetention #RomanticRelationships #EvolutionaryPsychology #ALTs #AnxiousAttachment #AvoidantAttachment #PositiveTactics #CostInflictingTactics

DATE: September 27, 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: People with higher autistic traits tend to avoid positive relationship-maintenance tactics

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

A recent study suggests that people in the general population who possess higher levels of autistic-like traits tend to avoid positive, affectionate behaviors to maintain their romantic relationships. The research, published in Evolutionary Psychology, indicates that these traits influence relationship dynamics largely through a person’s attachment style rather than broad evolutionary reproductive strategies.

The research was led by Andrzej Łukasik, a PhD with habilitation and head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Rzeszow’s Collegium Medicum in Poland, who aimed to explore how subtle personality traits shape romantic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The central focus of the study is autistic-like traits, which refer to patterns of social functioning, communication difficulties, and rigid thinking. “Autistic-like traits (ALTs) are personality, social, and cognitive characteristics associated with autism that can also occur, to varying degrees, in the general population,” Łukasik told PsyPost. “They are not considered a disorder.”

To understand how these traits impact relationships, the scientists looked at mate retention tactics. These are behaviors people use to keep a partner and prevent them from leaving. Mate retention is generally divided into what Łukasik described as “benefit-provisioning tactics, such as showing affection, giving compliments or gifts, and offering support, and cost-inflicting tactics, such as inducing jealousy, engaging in controlling behavior, or making threats.” The authors suspected that the way a person tries to keep a partner depends heavily on their attachment style.

Attachment styles describe how people form emotional bonds, generally falling into secure, anxious, or avoidant categories. “People with anxious attachment usually have a strong need for closeness and may react strongly to distance or uncertainty,” Łukasik explained. “In contrast, people with avoidant attachment may feel uncomfortable with emotional closeness and place greater value on independence.” In fact, a 2016 study found that insecure attachment predicts how frequently people use various mate retention behaviors, and a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that anxious attachment is linked to both positive and negative mate retention strategies.

The researchers also framed their study around life history theory, an evolutionary concept describing how individuals allocate their limited time and energy. In this framework, people adopt varying reproductive strategies. A fast strategy involves high mating effort, characterized by seeking multiple partners and short-term relationships. A slow strategy involves high parental effort, prioritizing stable, long-term investments in a single partner and offspring.

Previous evolutionary theories proposed that autistic-like traits might be an adaptation linked to a slow reproductive strategy. However, because these traits are also associated with insecure attachment, which typically aligns with a fast strategy, the authors designed this study to test how all these factors connect. “Research by Marco Del Giudice and colleagues (2010) has suggested that ALTs may be associated with a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik noted. “However, higher levels of ALTs are also linked to insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious), which have more often been associated with characteristics of a fast strategy.”

Therefore, the researchers examined whether ALTs might actually predict a fast strategy and whether attachment style moderates that relationship. To map out these connections, the scientists recruited 796 Polish adults. The participants were 52 percent female and had an average age of 36.4 years. Every participant had been in a romantic relationship for at least three months.

The researchers administered a series of established questionnaires. They used the Autism-Spectrum Quotient to measure the degree of autistic-like traits, the Experiences in Close Relationships scale to assess anxious and avoidant attachment, and the Mate Retention Inventory to evaluate the frequency of benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors. They also used brief scales to measure mating effort and parental effort. The team then used a statistical technique called structural equation modeling to analyze the complex web of relationships between all these variables at once.

The results suggest that autistic-like traits are notable predictors of insecure attachment. Participants who scored higher on autistic-like traits reported higher levels of both anxious and avoidant attachment styles. This indicates that people with more of these traits often worry about their partners leaving while simultaneously struggling with emotional closeness.

When looking at mate retention, the researchers found that individuals with higher autistic-like traits were less likely to engage in benefit-provisioning tactics. They tended to avoid showering their partners with affection or gifts as a way to maintain the relationship. The initial statistical models suggested that these individuals were also less likely to use cost-inflicting tactics. However, when the scientists controlled for the participants’ ages, they found a positive link between autistic-like traits and cost-inflicting tactics.

Age acted as a masking variable because older individuals naturally tend to use fewer negative tactics. Once age was factored out, the data suggested that people with higher autistic-like traits might actually use cost-inflicting tactics slightly more often.

In terms of evolutionary strategies, autistic-like traits proved to be weak predictors of life history outcomes. “The results did not support the hypothesis that ALTs predict a fast rather than a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik said. “ALTs were only weakly related to reproductive strategies.” Instead, attachment styles acted as a bridge between the variables.

Anxious attachment was linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, and it predicted the use of both positive and negative mate retention tactics. Avoidant attachment was similarly linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, but it predicted a lower use of benefit-provisioning tactics. “Individuals with an anxious attachment style tend to use a mixed partner-retention strategy involving both attraction and distancing, probably due to an overperception of the risk of infidelity,” Łukasik pointed out. “In contrast, individuals with an avoidant attachment style tend to use benefit-provisioning tactics less often, possibly because such tactics allow them to avoid closeness with their partner and maintain distance from their partner.”

Age played a broad role across the entire study. The scientists found that as participants got older, their levels of attachment anxiety decreased. Older participants also reported lower mating effort, higher parental effort, and a decreased use of both types of mate retention tactics. This aligns with the idea that as people age and relationships stabilize, they shift their energy away from securing a mate and toward investing in their existing family.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on cross-sectional data, meaning the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. This design makes it impossible to determine the true direction of the effects, and one cannot assume that autistic-like traits cause specific attachment styles or relationship behaviors. In addition, the participants self-reported their behaviors, which can introduce bias if people alter their answers to appear more socially acceptable.

The researchers also note that the Autism-Spectrum Quotient might measure elements of social anxiety or general interpersonal difficulty rather than pure autistic traits. This overlap could skew the interpretation of the results. The weak link between autistic-like traits and reproductive strategies also suggests that broad evolutionary models like life history theory might not fully capture the nuances of modern human relationships, pointing to a need for different measurement approaches in future studies.

Ultimately, the findings offer insight into the practical challenges some people face in romance. “These findings may help explain relationship difficulties experienced by individuals with higher levels of autistic-like traits,” Łukasik concluded. “Benefit-provisioning tactics are generally associated with greater relationship satisfaction, whereas cost-inflicting tactics are linked to lower satisfaction and may contribute to difficulties in developing and maintaining stable close relationships.”

The study, “Autistic-Like Traits in Members of the General Population and Mate Retention Tactics: The Mediation of Attachment Styles and Reproductive Strategies,” was authored by Andrzej Łukasik and Agnieszka Łaba-Hornecka.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AutisticTraits #AttachmentStyles #MateRetention #RomanticRelationships #EvolutionaryPsychology #ALTs #AnxiousAttachment #AvoidantAttachment #PositiveTactics #CostInflictingTactics

DATE: September 27, 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: People with higher autistic traits tend to avoid positive relationship-maintenance tactics

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

A recent study suggests that people in the general population who possess higher levels of autistic-like traits tend to avoid positive, affectionate behaviors to maintain their romantic relationships. The research, published in Evolutionary Psychology, indicates that these traits influence relationship dynamics largely through a person’s attachment style rather than broad evolutionary reproductive strategies.

The research was led by Andrzej Łukasik, a PhD with habilitation and head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Rzeszow’s Collegium Medicum in Poland, who aimed to explore how subtle personality traits shape romantic behavior from an evolutionary perspective. The central focus of the study is autistic-like traits, which refer to patterns of social functioning, communication difficulties, and rigid thinking. “Autistic-like traits (ALTs) are personality, social, and cognitive characteristics associated with autism that can also occur, to varying degrees, in the general population,” Łukasik told PsyPost. “They are not considered a disorder.”

To understand how these traits impact relationships, the scientists looked at mate retention tactics. These are behaviors people use to keep a partner and prevent them from leaving. Mate retention is generally divided into what Łukasik described as “benefit-provisioning tactics, such as showing affection, giving compliments or gifts, and offering support, and cost-inflicting tactics, such as inducing jealousy, engaging in controlling behavior, or making threats.” The authors suspected that the way a person tries to keep a partner depends heavily on their attachment style.

Attachment styles describe how people form emotional bonds, generally falling into secure, anxious, or avoidant categories. “People with anxious attachment usually have a strong need for closeness and may react strongly to distance or uncertainty,” Łukasik explained. “In contrast, people with avoidant attachment may feel uncomfortable with emotional closeness and place greater value on independence.” In fact, a 2016 study found that insecure attachment predicts how frequently people use various mate retention behaviors, and a study covered by PsyPost in 2021 indicated that anxious attachment is linked to both positive and negative mate retention strategies.

The researchers also framed their study around life history theory, an evolutionary concept describing how individuals allocate their limited time and energy. In this framework, people adopt varying reproductive strategies. A fast strategy involves high mating effort, characterized by seeking multiple partners and short-term relationships. A slow strategy involves high parental effort, prioritizing stable, long-term investments in a single partner and offspring.

Previous evolutionary theories proposed that autistic-like traits might be an adaptation linked to a slow reproductive strategy. However, because these traits are also associated with insecure attachment, which typically aligns with a fast strategy, the authors designed this study to test how all these factors connect. “Research by Marco Del Giudice and colleagues (2010) has suggested that ALTs may be associated with a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik noted. “However, higher levels of ALTs are also linked to insecure attachment styles (avoidant and anxious), which have more often been associated with characteristics of a fast strategy.”

Therefore, the researchers examined whether ALTs might actually predict a fast strategy and whether attachment style moderates that relationship. To map out these connections, the scientists recruited 796 Polish adults. The participants were 52 percent female and had an average age of 36.4 years. Every participant had been in a romantic relationship for at least three months.

The researchers administered a series of established questionnaires. They used the Autism-Spectrum Quotient to measure the degree of autistic-like traits, the Experiences in Close Relationships scale to assess anxious and avoidant attachment, and the Mate Retention Inventory to evaluate the frequency of benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors. They also used brief scales to measure mating effort and parental effort. The team then used a statistical technique called structural equation modeling to analyze the complex web of relationships between all these variables at once.

The results suggest that autistic-like traits are notable predictors of insecure attachment. Participants who scored higher on autistic-like traits reported higher levels of both anxious and avoidant attachment styles. This indicates that people with more of these traits often worry about their partners leaving while simultaneously struggling with emotional closeness.

When looking at mate retention, the researchers found that individuals with higher autistic-like traits were less likely to engage in benefit-provisioning tactics. They tended to avoid showering their partners with affection or gifts as a way to maintain the relationship. The initial statistical models suggested that these individuals were also less likely to use cost-inflicting tactics. However, when the scientists controlled for the participants’ ages, they found a positive link between autistic-like traits and cost-inflicting tactics.

Age acted as a masking variable because older individuals naturally tend to use fewer negative tactics. Once age was factored out, the data suggested that people with higher autistic-like traits might actually use cost-inflicting tactics slightly more often.

In terms of evolutionary strategies, autistic-like traits proved to be weak predictors of life history outcomes. “The results did not support the hypothesis that ALTs predict a fast rather than a slow reproductive strategy,” Łukasik said. “ALTs were only weakly related to reproductive strategies.” Instead, attachment styles acted as a bridge between the variables.

Anxious attachment was linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, and it predicted the use of both positive and negative mate retention tactics. Avoidant attachment was similarly linked to higher mating effort and lower parental effort, but it predicted a lower use of benefit-provisioning tactics. “Individuals with an anxious attachment style tend to use a mixed partner-retention strategy involving both attraction and distancing, probably due to an overperception of the risk of infidelity,” Łukasik pointed out. “In contrast, individuals with an avoidant attachment style tend to use benefit-provisioning tactics less often, possibly because such tactics allow them to avoid closeness with their partner and maintain distance from their partner.”

Age played a broad role across the entire study. The scientists found that as participants got older, their levels of attachment anxiety decreased. Older participants also reported lower mating effort, higher parental effort, and a decreased use of both types of mate retention tactics. This aligns with the idea that as people age and relationships stabilize, they shift their energy away from securing a mate and toward investing in their existing family.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on cross-sectional data, meaning the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. This design makes it impossible to determine the true direction of the effects, and one cannot assume that autistic-like traits cause specific attachment styles or relationship behaviors. In addition, the participants self-reported their behaviors, which can introduce bias if people alter their answers to appear more socially acceptable.

The researchers also note that the Autism-Spectrum Quotient might measure elements of social anxiety or general interpersonal difficulty rather than pure autistic traits. This overlap could skew the interpretation of the results. The weak link between autistic-like traits and reproductive strategies also suggests that broad evolutionary models like life history theory might not fully capture the nuances of modern human relationships, pointing to a need for different measurement approaches in future studies.

Ultimately, the findings offer insight into the practical challenges some people face in romance. “These findings may help explain relationship difficulties experienced by individuals with higher levels of autistic-like traits,” Łukasik concluded. “Benefit-provisioning tactics are generally associated with greater relationship satisfaction, whereas cost-inflicting tactics are linked to lower satisfaction and may contribute to difficulties in developing and maintaining stable close relationships.”

The study, “Autistic-Like Traits in Members of the General Population and Mate Retention Tactics: The Mediation of Attachment Styles and Reproductive Strategies,” was authored by Andrzej Łukasik and Agnieszka Łaba-Hornecka.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/people-with-higher-autistic-traits-tend-to-avoid-positive-relationship-maintenance-tactics/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AutisticTraits #AttachmentStyles #MateRetention #RomanticRelationships #EvolutionaryPsychology #ALTs #AnxiousAttachment #AvoidantAttachment #PositiveTactics #CostInflictingTactics

DATE: September 27, 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: A simple tactic can increase likability for socially anxious people, new research suggests

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

People with social anxiety often worry that others will judge them harshly, leading them to hold back from sharing personal details. A recent study shows that opening up about personal experiences increases how much others like a person and want to interact with them, regardless of the speaker’s own anxiety levels. The research, published in The Journal of Psychology, also highlights that the personal traits of the individual judging the interaction play a major role in these positive evaluations.

Social anxiety involves an intense fear of negative evaluation in social or performance situations. Individuals dealing with this condition often worry that they will fail to meet social expectations or that their peers will reject them. To protect themselves, they frequently adopt safety behaviors. These are defensive strategies, such as avoiding eye contact, staying quiet, or physically withdrawing from a group.

While these behaviors feel protective, they often create an unintended cycle. Peers might misinterpret the withdrawal as a lack of interest, unfriendliness, or aloofness. When peers react coolly in return, the anxious individual interprets this as a confirmation of their worst fears. The avoidance continues, preventing the person from experiencing positive social interactions that could challenge their anxious beliefs.

One specific behavior that anxious individuals tend to restrict is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is the act of revealing personal thoughts, feelings, past events, and future plans to another person. In typical human relationships, people gradually shift from superficial small talk to deeper, more intimate exchanges.

Sharing personal information is a standard way people build trust and show warmth. When someone avoids doing this, they may struggle to form close bonds. Researchers Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu of the University of Bucharest wanted to see how varying levels of self-disclosure might change how socially anxious people are perceived.

They also wanted to shift focus away from just the person speaking to look at the person listening. Human perception is highly subjective. The researchers suspected that the listener’s own personality traits might shape how they grade someone else’s likability.

To test these ideas, the researchers designed a study involving 136 online evaluators. These participants acted as the “raters.” The researchers also selected four university students to act as the “speakers.” Two of these students had diagnosed social anxiety, and two did not. Each pair included one male and one female.

The evaluators rated each speaker at four distinct stages. First, they looked at a basic photograph of the speaker. Next, they watched a short video of the speaker sharing general personal information, such as their name, age, and hobbies. In the third stage, they viewed a video of the speaker detailing a happy memory from school. Finally, they watched a video where the speaker disclosed a sad or negative school experience.

After every stage, the evaluators filled out questionnaires rating the speaker’s likability. They also rated their desire for future interactions, which measures whether they would want to sit next to the speaker on a bus or ask them for advice.

The researchers found that sharing personal stories improved the speakers’ standing. Evaluators liked the speakers more after hearing them share positive personal stories compared to their initial impressions from just a photograph. This boost in likability applied to both the socially anxious and non-anxious speakers.

Sharing a negative experience also improved the evaluators’ desire to interact with the speakers in the future. As the speakers revealed more vulnerable aspects of themselves, the evaluators generally perceived them as more approachable. The simple act of opening up helped repair any initial hesitations the raters might have had.

Following the video ratings, the researchers conducted a second analysis focusing entirely on the 136 evaluators. These participants completed extensive surveys to measure their own personality dimensions. The surveys assessed traits like extraversion, agreeableness, and their own levels of social anxiety.

The researchers also measured the evaluators’ need for affiliation. This concept refers to a fundamental human desire to feel accepted, included, and connected within a social group. People with a high need for affiliation place a heavy priority on maintaining positive social ties.

The researchers anticipated that highly extraverted or agreeable evaluators would give out higher likability scores. Surprisingly, an evaluator’s extraversion and agreeableness did not alter their ratings. These broad personality traits did not make them any more or less generous in their judgments of the speakers.

Instead, an evaluator’s own social anxiety changed how they viewed the speakers. Evaluators who scored higher in social anxiety gave higher likability ratings to all the speakers, regardless of the speaker’s anxiety status. Anxious raters appeared to be a more lenient audience.

The same pattern emerged for evaluators with a high need for affiliation. People who strongly desired social connection provided more generous likability ratings across the board. The researchers suggest that individuals who crave acceptance are highly sensitive to any cues of social inclusion, prompting them to view others through a more positive lens.

When people want to belong, they might evaluate others leniently to avoid conflict and encourage a connection. This finding shifts the perspective on social rejection. If a socially anxious person feels disliked, it might not just be about their own behavior. The rejection could stem from the listener’s own lack of affiliative need.

While the results offer a new perspective on social dynamics, the study has several limitations. The researchers point to the halo effect, a psychological bias where a person’s physical attractiveness can inflate their perceived likability. Attractiveness could have influenced the ratings independently of the self-disclosure tasks.

The study also relied on self-reported questionnaires for the evaluators’ anxiety and personality traits. Questionnaires depend heavily on a participant’s self-awareness and honesty, which can sometimes skew the data. The length of the survey, which took nearly an hour to complete, may have caused participant fatigue, potentially leading to rushed answers.

Additionally, watching pre-recorded videos in an online format is quite different from real life. The videos lacked the immediate feedback and dynamic body language found in face-to-face interactions. In a real conversation, a socially anxious person might react poorly to unexpected pauses or the listener’s facial expressions.

Future research could use live, in-person interactions to capture the true back-and-forth of social exchanges. Observing how socially anxious individuals handle self-disclosure in real time would provide a more realistic picture of how likability forms. For now, the findings suggest that sharing a little bit about oneself is a reliable way to build a bridge with others.

The study, “Is Likeability in the Eye of the Beholder? A Quasi-Experimental Study on Personality, Social Anxiety and the Need for Affiliation in Assessing the Likability of Socially Anxious Adults,” was authored by Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

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DATE: September 27, 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: A simple tactic can increase likability for socially anxious people, new research suggests

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

People with social anxiety often worry that others will judge them harshly, leading them to hold back from sharing personal details. A recent study shows that opening up about personal experiences increases how much others like a person and want to interact with them, regardless of the speaker’s own anxiety levels. The research, published in The Journal of Psychology, also highlights that the personal traits of the individual judging the interaction play a major role in these positive evaluations.

Social anxiety involves an intense fear of negative evaluation in social or performance situations. Individuals dealing with this condition often worry that they will fail to meet social expectations or that their peers will reject them. To protect themselves, they frequently adopt safety behaviors. These are defensive strategies, such as avoiding eye contact, staying quiet, or physically withdrawing from a group.

While these behaviors feel protective, they often create an unintended cycle. Peers might misinterpret the withdrawal as a lack of interest, unfriendliness, or aloofness. When peers react coolly in return, the anxious individual interprets this as a confirmation of their worst fears. The avoidance continues, preventing the person from experiencing positive social interactions that could challenge their anxious beliefs.

One specific behavior that anxious individuals tend to restrict is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is the act of revealing personal thoughts, feelings, past events, and future plans to another person. In typical human relationships, people gradually shift from superficial small talk to deeper, more intimate exchanges.

Sharing personal information is a standard way people build trust and show warmth. When someone avoids doing this, they may struggle to form close bonds. Researchers Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu of the University of Bucharest wanted to see how varying levels of self-disclosure might change how socially anxious people are perceived.

They also wanted to shift focus away from just the person speaking to look at the person listening. Human perception is highly subjective. The researchers suspected that the listener’s own personality traits might shape how they grade someone else’s likability.

To test these ideas, the researchers designed a study involving 136 online evaluators. These participants acted as the “raters.” The researchers also selected four university students to act as the “speakers.” Two of these students had diagnosed social anxiety, and two did not. Each pair included one male and one female.

The evaluators rated each speaker at four distinct stages. First, they looked at a basic photograph of the speaker. Next, they watched a short video of the speaker sharing general personal information, such as their name, age, and hobbies. In the third stage, they viewed a video of the speaker detailing a happy memory from school. Finally, they watched a video where the speaker disclosed a sad or negative school experience.

After every stage, the evaluators filled out questionnaires rating the speaker’s likability. They also rated their desire for future interactions, which measures whether they would want to sit next to the speaker on a bus or ask them for advice.

The researchers found that sharing personal stories improved the speakers’ standing. Evaluators liked the speakers more after hearing them share positive personal stories compared to their initial impressions from just a photograph. This boost in likability applied to both the socially anxious and non-anxious speakers.

Sharing a negative experience also improved the evaluators’ desire to interact with the speakers in the future. As the speakers revealed more vulnerable aspects of themselves, the evaluators generally perceived them as more approachable. The simple act of opening up helped repair any initial hesitations the raters might have had.

Following the video ratings, the researchers conducted a second analysis focusing entirely on the 136 evaluators. These participants completed extensive surveys to measure their own personality dimensions. The surveys assessed traits like extraversion, agreeableness, and their own levels of social anxiety.

The researchers also measured the evaluators’ need for affiliation. This concept refers to a fundamental human desire to feel accepted, included, and connected within a social group. People with a high need for affiliation place a heavy priority on maintaining positive social ties.

The researchers anticipated that highly extraverted or agreeable evaluators would give out higher likability scores. Surprisingly, an evaluator’s extraversion and agreeableness did not alter their ratings. These broad personality traits did not make them any more or less generous in their judgments of the speakers.

Instead, an evaluator’s own social anxiety changed how they viewed the speakers. Evaluators who scored higher in social anxiety gave higher likability ratings to all the speakers, regardless of the speaker’s anxiety status. Anxious raters appeared to be a more lenient audience.

The same pattern emerged for evaluators with a high need for affiliation. People who strongly desired social connection provided more generous likability ratings across the board. The researchers suggest that individuals who crave acceptance are highly sensitive to any cues of social inclusion, prompting them to view others through a more positive lens.

When people want to belong, they might evaluate others leniently to avoid conflict and encourage a connection. This finding shifts the perspective on social rejection. If a socially anxious person feels disliked, it might not just be about their own behavior. The rejection could stem from the listener’s own lack of affiliative need.

While the results offer a new perspective on social dynamics, the study has several limitations. The researchers point to the halo effect, a psychological bias where a person’s physical attractiveness can inflate their perceived likability. Attractiveness could have influenced the ratings independently of the self-disclosure tasks.

The study also relied on self-reported questionnaires for the evaluators’ anxiety and personality traits. Questionnaires depend heavily on a participant’s self-awareness and honesty, which can sometimes skew the data. The length of the survey, which took nearly an hour to complete, may have caused participant fatigue, potentially leading to rushed answers.

Additionally, watching pre-recorded videos in an online format is quite different from real life. The videos lacked the immediate feedback and dynamic body language found in face-to-face interactions. In a real conversation, a socially anxious person might react poorly to unexpected pauses or the listener’s facial expressions.

Future research could use live, in-person interactions to capture the true back-and-forth of social exchanges. Observing how socially anxious individuals handle self-disclosure in real time would provide a more realistic picture of how likability forms. For now, the findings suggest that sharing a little bit about oneself is a reliable way to build a bridge with others.

The study, “Is Likeability in the Eye of the Beholder? A Quasi-Experimental Study on Personality, Social Anxiety and the Need for Affiliation in Assessing the Likability of Socially Anxious Adults,” was authored by Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SocialAnxiety #SelfDisclosure #LikeabilityBoost #InterpersonalSkills #VulnerabilityWorks #AffiliationNeed #MentalHealthResearch #SocialCognition #PersonalStories #PublicSpeakingConfidence

DATE: September 27, 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: A simple tactic can increase likability for socially anxious people, new research suggests

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

People with social anxiety often worry that others will judge them harshly, leading them to hold back from sharing personal details. A recent study shows that opening up about personal experiences increases how much others like a person and want to interact with them, regardless of the speaker’s own anxiety levels. The research, published in The Journal of Psychology, also highlights that the personal traits of the individual judging the interaction play a major role in these positive evaluations.

Social anxiety involves an intense fear of negative evaluation in social or performance situations. Individuals dealing with this condition often worry that they will fail to meet social expectations or that their peers will reject them. To protect themselves, they frequently adopt safety behaviors. These are defensive strategies, such as avoiding eye contact, staying quiet, or physically withdrawing from a group.

While these behaviors feel protective, they often create an unintended cycle. Peers might misinterpret the withdrawal as a lack of interest, unfriendliness, or aloofness. When peers react coolly in return, the anxious individual interprets this as a confirmation of their worst fears. The avoidance continues, preventing the person from experiencing positive social interactions that could challenge their anxious beliefs.

One specific behavior that anxious individuals tend to restrict is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is the act of revealing personal thoughts, feelings, past events, and future plans to another person. In typical human relationships, people gradually shift from superficial small talk to deeper, more intimate exchanges.

Sharing personal information is a standard way people build trust and show warmth. When someone avoids doing this, they may struggle to form close bonds. Researchers Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu of the University of Bucharest wanted to see how varying levels of self-disclosure might change how socially anxious people are perceived.

They also wanted to shift focus away from just the person speaking to look at the person listening. Human perception is highly subjective. The researchers suspected that the listener’s own personality traits might shape how they grade someone else’s likability.

To test these ideas, the researchers designed a study involving 136 online evaluators. These participants acted as the “raters.” The researchers also selected four university students to act as the “speakers.” Two of these students had diagnosed social anxiety, and two did not. Each pair included one male and one female.

The evaluators rated each speaker at four distinct stages. First, they looked at a basic photograph of the speaker. Next, they watched a short video of the speaker sharing general personal information, such as their name, age, and hobbies. In the third stage, they viewed a video of the speaker detailing a happy memory from school. Finally, they watched a video where the speaker disclosed a sad or negative school experience.

After every stage, the evaluators filled out questionnaires rating the speaker’s likability. They also rated their desire for future interactions, which measures whether they would want to sit next to the speaker on a bus or ask them for advice.

The researchers found that sharing personal stories improved the speakers’ standing. Evaluators liked the speakers more after hearing them share positive personal stories compared to their initial impressions from just a photograph. This boost in likability applied to both the socially anxious and non-anxious speakers.

Sharing a negative experience also improved the evaluators’ desire to interact with the speakers in the future. As the speakers revealed more vulnerable aspects of themselves, the evaluators generally perceived them as more approachable. The simple act of opening up helped repair any initial hesitations the raters might have had.

Following the video ratings, the researchers conducted a second analysis focusing entirely on the 136 evaluators. These participants completed extensive surveys to measure their own personality dimensions. The surveys assessed traits like extraversion, agreeableness, and their own levels of social anxiety.

The researchers also measured the evaluators’ need for affiliation. This concept refers to a fundamental human desire to feel accepted, included, and connected within a social group. People with a high need for affiliation place a heavy priority on maintaining positive social ties.

The researchers anticipated that highly extraverted or agreeable evaluators would give out higher likability scores. Surprisingly, an evaluator’s extraversion and agreeableness did not alter their ratings. These broad personality traits did not make them any more or less generous in their judgments of the speakers.

Instead, an evaluator’s own social anxiety changed how they viewed the speakers. Evaluators who scored higher in social anxiety gave higher likability ratings to all the speakers, regardless of the speaker’s anxiety status. Anxious raters appeared to be a more lenient audience.

The same pattern emerged for evaluators with a high need for affiliation. People who strongly desired social connection provided more generous likability ratings across the board. The researchers suggest that individuals who crave acceptance are highly sensitive to any cues of social inclusion, prompting them to view others through a more positive lens.

When people want to belong, they might evaluate others leniently to avoid conflict and encourage a connection. This finding shifts the perspective on social rejection. If a socially anxious person feels disliked, it might not just be about their own behavior. The rejection could stem from the listener’s own lack of affiliative need.

While the results offer a new perspective on social dynamics, the study has several limitations. The researchers point to the halo effect, a psychological bias where a person’s physical attractiveness can inflate their perceived likability. Attractiveness could have influenced the ratings independently of the self-disclosure tasks.

The study also relied on self-reported questionnaires for the evaluators’ anxiety and personality traits. Questionnaires depend heavily on a participant’s self-awareness and honesty, which can sometimes skew the data. The length of the survey, which took nearly an hour to complete, may have caused participant fatigue, potentially leading to rushed answers.

Additionally, watching pre-recorded videos in an online format is quite different from real life. The videos lacked the immediate feedback and dynamic body language found in face-to-face interactions. In a real conversation, a socially anxious person might react poorly to unexpected pauses or the listener’s facial expressions.

Future research could use live, in-person interactions to capture the true back-and-forth of social exchanges. Observing how socially anxious individuals handle self-disclosure in real time would provide a more realistic picture of how likability forms. For now, the findings suggest that sharing a little bit about oneself is a reliable way to build a bridge with others.

The study, “Is Likeability in the Eye of the Beholder? A Quasi-Experimental Study on Personality, Social Anxiety and the Need for Affiliation in Assessing the Likability of Socially Anxious Adults,” was authored by Gabriela Lavinia Niță and Violeta Ștefania Rotărescu.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-sharing-personal-stories-can-increase-likability-for-socially-anxious-people/

-------------------------------------------------

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SocialAnxiety #SelfDisclosure #LikeabilityBoost #InterpersonalSkills #VulnerabilityWorks #AffiliationNeed #MentalHealthResearch #SocialCognition #PersonalStories #PublicSpeakingConfidence

DATE: September 27, 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: Popular AI models use arbitrary facial features to predict criminality and job performance

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

Artificial intelligence models trained to process language and images tend to judge a person’s character based entirely on their facial features, mirroring a common human bias. Recent experiments suggest that these language models use arbitrary facial characteristics to make weighty decisions about whether someone is competent or even likely to commit crimes. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus.

People frequently look at a face and instantly guess whether that person is trustworthy or competent. This tendency, known as face-to-character inference, relies on subtle variations in facial shape and texture to make judgments about personality. Evidence indicates this is a widespread cognitive error, as physical facial structure provides no real information about someone’s actual traits. For instance, a 2014 study of children and adults found that even three-year-olds consistently judge character based on facial features, showing how deeply ingrained this habit is in human psychology.

“Faces are both pervasive and significant social stimuli,” Mahzarin R. Banaji, the Richard Clarke Cabot Research Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, told PsyPost. “So much so that the human brain has a dedicated region that responds to faces—we are, each and every one of us, ‘face experts.’ Face-based judgment permeate so many decisions we make and so getting it right is important. So there was a pragmatic reason to focus on face-based judgments.”

The research, led by Steven A. Lehr of Cangrade, Inc. alongside Banaji and Yash Lothe, sought to determine if artificial intelligence models share this specific human quirk. Large language models are increasingly multimodal, meaning they can analyze and respond to both text and images. Because their training data contains vast amounts of human writing, which is full of human biases, the models might learn to associate certain facial types with certain character traits.

“My own operating theory is that LLMs are a mirror that will reflect just about any human characteristic in surprisingly high fidelity,” Lehr said. “For this reason, I’m on the lookout for humanlike characteristics that would be surprising in a machine. Face-to-character biases fit the bill.”

There was also a question of whether these text-based systems would be immune to visual errors. “LLMs have been trained on language and we hoped that LLMs may not have learned biases that emanate from images,” Banaji explained. “Would AI save us from our own face-based errors of judgment (see the work of the brilliant psychologist, Alex Todorov).”

At the same time, modern models undergo extensive alignment training designed to prevent them from making harmful or prejudiced statements. The scientists wanted to find out if language models would remain neutral when asked to judge a face, or if they would replicate the human error of assessing character from physical appearance.

“We wanted to see if the machines that successfully avoid explicit bias in publicized domains would also act ethically in a less-publicized one,” Lehr noted. “This would have been a marker of more generalized egalitarianism. But, unfortunately, the models did show the bias, and strongly.”

To test this, the researchers conducted 13 experiments totaling nearly 8,000 trials across four different language models. In the first two experiments, the researchers presented the GPT-4o model with pairs of computer-generated human faces. These faces were digitally altered to vary in specific physical features that humans typically associate with either competence or trustworthiness. The visual differences between the faces in each pair were measured in standard deviations, allowing the researchers to test pairs that looked very different alongside pairs that looked nearly identical.

In 600 trials focused on competence, GPT-4o was asked to select the more competent or incompetent face from a pair. The model chose the face that humans typically rate as more competent 87.83 percent of the time. When asked to judge trustworthiness across another 600 trials, the model chose the expected face 72.67 percent of the time.

The model’s bias grew stronger when the faces were more physically distinct. For the pairs separated by six standard deviations in competence-related features, GPT-4o chose the expected face 98 percent of the time. When the faces were separated by only two standard deviations, making them look visually similar, the model’s selection rate dropped to 70 percent, though it still reliably favored the expected face.

Interestingly, the model appeared to amplify human biases. Based on mathematical estimates of human behavior on the same competence task, humans would be expected to choose the more competent-looking face roughly 62.65 percent of the time, well below the model’s rate of 87.83 percent.

“Readers should notice that these were large and practically meaningful effects,” Lehr said. “Indeed, according to standard effect size measures, the bias appeared to be notably amplified relative to that of humans. It should be noted that this is partly because the LLMs were so consistent in showing the bias, so this may reflect partly low response variance as opposed to just truly greater essential levels of bias. But of course, consistency matters in contexts like selection: it makes the bias more reliable.”

The researchers then tested whether this bias generalized to related personality traits. Across 2,160 trials, GPT-4o evaluated the same faces on traits related to competence, such as being smart or lazy, and traits related to trustworthiness, such as being warm or selfish. The model consistently generalized its judgments, choosing the expected face 74.63 percent of the time for competence-related traits and 73.33 percent of the time for trustworthiness-related traits.

In a fifth experiment, the scientists tested the model on 150 pairs of macaque monkey faces. These faces had previously been rated by humans as looking either mean or nice. GPT-4o chose the “nice” monkeys as more trustworthy in 66 percent of the trials. This suggests the model did not just memorize human faces from its training data but instead developed a generalized concept of facial trustworthiness that it applies even to nonhuman primates.

“The first was that these LLMs were even capable of showing these biases,” Lehr said regarding the models’ behavior. “Where do they come from? It shows that language (and models built on language) can pick up a surprising array of characteristics, some of which you might not intuitively expect.”

The researchers also explored whether the model would apply these arbitrary facial judgments to extreme behaviors and high-stakes scenarios. In an experiment with 540 trials, GPT-4o was asked which of two faces was more likely to be a serial killer, engage in human trafficking, or commit financial fraud. The model selected the less trustworthy-looking face 68.70 percent of the time.

A separate experiment tested positive real-world decisions, such as hiring a university president or funding a technology startup. Across 540 trials, GPT-4o recommended the more competent-looking individual 75.19 percent of the time. The language model readily incorporated groundless facial biases into its recommendations for both highly negative and highly positive outcomes.

“GPT-4o did not show any real reluctance to say that one person was more likely to be a serial killer, human trafficker, or Ponzi schemer,” Lehr pointed out. “And the models readily told us we should hire the person with the more competent-looking face.”

To see if this issue was specific to GPT-4o, the scientists replicated the basic competence and real-world decision tasks using three newer models. They tested GPT-5, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, and Claude Sonnet 4.5. All three models demonstrated massive face-to-character biases, sometimes outperforming older models in their levels of bias.

GPT-5 exhibited an even larger bias than its predecessor, choosing the expected face 94.33 percent of the time on basic competence judgments and 97.04 percent of the time when advising on real-world decisions. Gemini 3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 also showed highly elevated levels of bias, often matching or exceeding the bias seen in GPT-4o. This indicates that as these language models become more advanced, their tendency to judge character based on physical appearance might actually be increasing.

“One might have thought that the three tested reasoning models would think through the questions more and avoid this bias, but in fact, they showed it to a greater degree,” Lehr said.

There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these findings. The experiments relied heavily on forced-choice scenarios, which required the artificial intelligence to pick one face over another. In more natural settings where a model is not strictly forced to make a direct comparison, its behavior might differ. Additionally, the study provided the models with two-dimensional static images. It is unknown if the models would respond differently to video inputs or more varied photographic angles.

The researchers also cautioned against dismissing these results as merely regurgitated patterns. “It is not actually immediately obvious that face biases should be reflected in the training data, since they are biases of vision rather than language,” Lehr explained. “Second, the ‘just in the training data’ critique doesn’t hold up well when we see bias amplified relative to humans and increasing across model generations. LLMs are not reflecting the training data—they are exaggerating it. If LLMs are truly expected to pick up anything that’s been expressed in language, this seems to me like a very dangerous proposition.”

Another detail to consider is the focus on trustworthiness and competence. While these are foundational social traits, it remains to be seen how language models evaluate faces based on other variables, such as gender or race. Researchers usually implement specific safety guardrails to stop models from showing obvious gender or racial prejudice, but these protections do not seem to cover subtler biases based on facial shape.

Future studies might explore how language models actually learn these visual associations from text-based training data. Discovering the exact origin of this bias could help developers create broader safety measures. If models are deployed to assist with human resources or legal decisions, their tendency to favor certain facial structures could lead to highly unfair outcomes.

“The training designed to align AI models with human values has achieved what looks like surface egalitarianism, but something deeper is needed,” Lehr concluded. “We should be cautious about using AI models in high-impact domains, such as hiring and law, and if we do use them, we should be certain to always carefully test them for biases.”

The study, “Like humans, language models demonstrate face-to-character biases,” was authored by Steven A. Lehr, Yash Lothe, and Mahzarin R. Banaji.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #FacialBias #AIBias #FaceToCharacter #AIEthics #BiasInAI #GPT4o #MultimodalAI #HiringBias #TechnologyAndSociety #PNASNexus

DATE: September 27, 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: Popular AI models use arbitrary facial features to predict criminality and job performance

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

Artificial intelligence models trained to process language and images tend to judge a person’s character based entirely on their facial features, mirroring a common human bias. Recent experiments suggest that these language models use arbitrary facial characteristics to make weighty decisions about whether someone is competent or even likely to commit crimes. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus.

People frequently look at a face and instantly guess whether that person is trustworthy or competent. This tendency, known as face-to-character inference, relies on subtle variations in facial shape and texture to make judgments about personality. Evidence indicates this is a widespread cognitive error, as physical facial structure provides no real information about someone’s actual traits. For instance, a 2014 study of children and adults found that even three-year-olds consistently judge character based on facial features, showing how deeply ingrained this habit is in human psychology.

“Faces are both pervasive and significant social stimuli,” Mahzarin R. Banaji, the Richard Clarke Cabot Research Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, told PsyPost. “So much so that the human brain has a dedicated region that responds to faces—we are, each and every one of us, ‘face experts.’ Face-based judgment permeate so many decisions we make and so getting it right is important. So there was a pragmatic reason to focus on face-based judgments.”

The research, led by Steven A. Lehr of Cangrade, Inc. alongside Banaji and Yash Lothe, sought to determine if artificial intelligence models share this specific human quirk. Large language models are increasingly multimodal, meaning they can analyze and respond to both text and images. Because their training data contains vast amounts of human writing, which is full of human biases, the models might learn to associate certain facial types with certain character traits.

“My own operating theory is that LLMs are a mirror that will reflect just about any human characteristic in surprisingly high fidelity,” Lehr said. “For this reason, I’m on the lookout for humanlike characteristics that would be surprising in a machine. Face-to-character biases fit the bill.”

There was also a question of whether these text-based systems would be immune to visual errors. “LLMs have been trained on language and we hoped that LLMs may not have learned biases that emanate from images,” Banaji explained. “Would AI save us from our own face-based errors of judgment (see the work of the brilliant psychologist, Alex Todorov).”

At the same time, modern models undergo extensive alignment training designed to prevent them from making harmful or prejudiced statements. The scientists wanted to find out if language models would remain neutral when asked to judge a face, or if they would replicate the human error of assessing character from physical appearance.

“We wanted to see if the machines that successfully avoid explicit bias in publicized domains would also act ethically in a less-publicized one,” Lehr noted. “This would have been a marker of more generalized egalitarianism. But, unfortunately, the models did show the bias, and strongly.”

To test this, the researchers conducted 13 experiments totaling nearly 8,000 trials across four different language models. In the first two experiments, the researchers presented the GPT-4o model with pairs of computer-generated human faces. These faces were digitally altered to vary in specific physical features that humans typically associate with either competence or trustworthiness. The visual differences between the faces in each pair were measured in standard deviations, allowing the researchers to test pairs that looked very different alongside pairs that looked nearly identical.

In 600 trials focused on competence, GPT-4o was asked to select the more competent or incompetent face from a pair. The model chose the face that humans typically rate as more competent 87.83 percent of the time. When asked to judge trustworthiness across another 600 trials, the model chose the expected face 72.67 percent of the time.

The model’s bias grew stronger when the faces were more physically distinct. For the pairs separated by six standard deviations in competence-related features, GPT-4o chose the expected face 98 percent of the time. When the faces were separated by only two standard deviations, making them look visually similar, the model’s selection rate dropped to 70 percent, though it still reliably favored the expected face.

Interestingly, the model appeared to amplify human biases. Based on mathematical estimates of human behavior on the same competence task, humans would be expected to choose the more competent-looking face roughly 62.65 percent of the time, well below the model’s rate of 87.83 percent.

“Readers should notice that these were large and practically meaningful effects,” Lehr said. “Indeed, according to standard effect size measures, the bias appeared to be notably amplified relative to that of humans. It should be noted that this is partly because the LLMs were so consistent in showing the bias, so this may reflect partly low response variance as opposed to just truly greater essential levels of bias. But of course, consistency matters in contexts like selection: it makes the bias more reliable.”

The researchers then tested whether this bias generalized to related personality traits. Across 2,160 trials, GPT-4o evaluated the same faces on traits related to competence, such as being smart or lazy, and traits related to trustworthiness, such as being warm or selfish. The model consistently generalized its judgments, choosing the expected face 74.63 percent of the time for competence-related traits and 73.33 percent of the time for trustworthiness-related traits.

In a fifth experiment, the scientists tested the model on 150 pairs of macaque monkey faces. These faces had previously been rated by humans as looking either mean or nice. GPT-4o chose the “nice” monkeys as more trustworthy in 66 percent of the trials. This suggests the model did not just memorize human faces from its training data but instead developed a generalized concept of facial trustworthiness that it applies even to nonhuman primates.

“The first was that these LLMs were even capable of showing these biases,” Lehr said regarding the models’ behavior. “Where do they come from? It shows that language (and models built on language) can pick up a surprising array of characteristics, some of which you might not intuitively expect.”

The researchers also explored whether the model would apply these arbitrary facial judgments to extreme behaviors and high-stakes scenarios. In an experiment with 540 trials, GPT-4o was asked which of two faces was more likely to be a serial killer, engage in human trafficking, or commit financial fraud. The model selected the less trustworthy-looking face 68.70 percent of the time.

A separate experiment tested positive real-world decisions, such as hiring a university president or funding a technology startup. Across 540 trials, GPT-4o recommended the more competent-looking individual 75.19 percent of the time. The language model readily incorporated groundless facial biases into its recommendations for both highly negative and highly positive outcomes.

“GPT-4o did not show any real reluctance to say that one person was more likely to be a serial killer, human trafficker, or Ponzi schemer,” Lehr pointed out. “And the models readily told us we should hire the person with the more competent-looking face.”

To see if this issue was specific to GPT-4o, the scientists replicated the basic competence and real-world decision tasks using three newer models. They tested GPT-5, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, and Claude Sonnet 4.5. All three models demonstrated massive face-to-character biases, sometimes outperforming older models in their levels of bias.

GPT-5 exhibited an even larger bias than its predecessor, choosing the expected face 94.33 percent of the time on basic competence judgments and 97.04 percent of the time when advising on real-world decisions. Gemini 3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 also showed highly elevated levels of bias, often matching or exceeding the bias seen in GPT-4o. This indicates that as these language models become more advanced, their tendency to judge character based on physical appearance might actually be increasing.

“One might have thought that the three tested reasoning models would think through the questions more and avoid this bias, but in fact, they showed it to a greater degree,” Lehr said.

There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these findings. The experiments relied heavily on forced-choice scenarios, which required the artificial intelligence to pick one face over another. In more natural settings where a model is not strictly forced to make a direct comparison, its behavior might differ. Additionally, the study provided the models with two-dimensional static images. It is unknown if the models would respond differently to video inputs or more varied photographic angles.

The researchers also cautioned against dismissing these results as merely regurgitated patterns. “It is not actually immediately obvious that face biases should be reflected in the training data, since they are biases of vision rather than language,” Lehr explained. “Second, the ‘just in the training data’ critique doesn’t hold up well when we see bias amplified relative to humans and increasing across model generations. LLMs are not reflecting the training data—they are exaggerating it. If LLMs are truly expected to pick up anything that’s been expressed in language, this seems to me like a very dangerous proposition.”

Another detail to consider is the focus on trustworthiness and competence. While these are foundational social traits, it remains to be seen how language models evaluate faces based on other variables, such as gender or race. Researchers usually implement specific safety guardrails to stop models from showing obvious gender or racial prejudice, but these protections do not seem to cover subtler biases based on facial shape.

Future studies might explore how language models actually learn these visual associations from text-based training data. Discovering the exact origin of this bias could help developers create broader safety measures. If models are deployed to assist with human resources or legal decisions, their tendency to favor certain facial structures could lead to highly unfair outcomes.

“The training designed to align AI models with human values has achieved what looks like surface egalitarianism, but something deeper is needed,” Lehr concluded. “We should be cautious about using AI models in high-impact domains, such as hiring and law, and if we do use them, we should be certain to always carefully test them for biases.”

The study, “Like humans, language models demonstrate face-to-character biases,” was authored by Steven A. Lehr, Yash Lothe, and Mahzarin R. Banaji.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

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DATE: September 27, 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: Popular AI models use arbitrary facial features to predict criminality and job performance

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

Artificial intelligence models trained to process language and images tend to judge a person’s character based entirely on their facial features, mirroring a common human bias. Recent experiments suggest that these language models use arbitrary facial characteristics to make weighty decisions about whether someone is competent or even likely to commit crimes. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus.

People frequently look at a face and instantly guess whether that person is trustworthy or competent. This tendency, known as face-to-character inference, relies on subtle variations in facial shape and texture to make judgments about personality. Evidence indicates this is a widespread cognitive error, as physical facial structure provides no real information about someone’s actual traits. For instance, a 2014 study of children and adults found that even three-year-olds consistently judge character based on facial features, showing how deeply ingrained this habit is in human psychology.

“Faces are both pervasive and significant social stimuli,” Mahzarin R. Banaji, the Richard Clarke Cabot Research Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, told PsyPost. “So much so that the human brain has a dedicated region that responds to faces—we are, each and every one of us, ‘face experts.’ Face-based judgment permeate so many decisions we make and so getting it right is important. So there was a pragmatic reason to focus on face-based judgments.”

The research, led by Steven A. Lehr of Cangrade, Inc. alongside Banaji and Yash Lothe, sought to determine if artificial intelligence models share this specific human quirk. Large language models are increasingly multimodal, meaning they can analyze and respond to both text and images. Because their training data contains vast amounts of human writing, which is full of human biases, the models might learn to associate certain facial types with certain character traits.

“My own operating theory is that LLMs are a mirror that will reflect just about any human characteristic in surprisingly high fidelity,” Lehr said. “For this reason, I’m on the lookout for humanlike characteristics that would be surprising in a machine. Face-to-character biases fit the bill.”

There was also a question of whether these text-based systems would be immune to visual errors. “LLMs have been trained on language and we hoped that LLMs may not have learned biases that emanate from images,” Banaji explained. “Would AI save us from our own face-based errors of judgment (see the work of the brilliant psychologist, Alex Todorov).”

At the same time, modern models undergo extensive alignment training designed to prevent them from making harmful or prejudiced statements. The scientists wanted to find out if language models would remain neutral when asked to judge a face, or if they would replicate the human error of assessing character from physical appearance.

“We wanted to see if the machines that successfully avoid explicit bias in publicized domains would also act ethically in a less-publicized one,” Lehr noted. “This would have been a marker of more generalized egalitarianism. But, unfortunately, the models did show the bias, and strongly.”

To test this, the researchers conducted 13 experiments totaling nearly 8,000 trials across four different language models. In the first two experiments, the researchers presented the GPT-4o model with pairs of computer-generated human faces. These faces were digitally altered to vary in specific physical features that humans typically associate with either competence or trustworthiness. The visual differences between the faces in each pair were measured in standard deviations, allowing the researchers to test pairs that looked very different alongside pairs that looked nearly identical.

In 600 trials focused on competence, GPT-4o was asked to select the more competent or incompetent face from a pair. The model chose the face that humans typically rate as more competent 87.83 percent of the time. When asked to judge trustworthiness across another 600 trials, the model chose the expected face 72.67 percent of the time.

The model’s bias grew stronger when the faces were more physically distinct. For the pairs separated by six standard deviations in competence-related features, GPT-4o chose the expected face 98 percent of the time. When the faces were separated by only two standard deviations, making them look visually similar, the model’s selection rate dropped to 70 percent, though it still reliably favored the expected face.

Interestingly, the model appeared to amplify human biases. Based on mathematical estimates of human behavior on the same competence task, humans would be expected to choose the more competent-looking face roughly 62.65 percent of the time, well below the model’s rate of 87.83 percent.

“Readers should notice that these were large and practically meaningful effects,” Lehr said. “Indeed, according to standard effect size measures, the bias appeared to be notably amplified relative to that of humans. It should be noted that this is partly because the LLMs were so consistent in showing the bias, so this may reflect partly low response variance as opposed to just truly greater essential levels of bias. But of course, consistency matters in contexts like selection: it makes the bias more reliable.”

The researchers then tested whether this bias generalized to related personality traits. Across 2,160 trials, GPT-4o evaluated the same faces on traits related to competence, such as being smart or lazy, and traits related to trustworthiness, such as being warm or selfish. The model consistently generalized its judgments, choosing the expected face 74.63 percent of the time for competence-related traits and 73.33 percent of the time for trustworthiness-related traits.

In a fifth experiment, the scientists tested the model on 150 pairs of macaque monkey faces. These faces had previously been rated by humans as looking either mean or nice. GPT-4o chose the “nice” monkeys as more trustworthy in 66 percent of the trials. This suggests the model did not just memorize human faces from its training data but instead developed a generalized concept of facial trustworthiness that it applies even to nonhuman primates.

“The first was that these LLMs were even capable of showing these biases,” Lehr said regarding the models’ behavior. “Where do they come from? It shows that language (and models built on language) can pick up a surprising array of characteristics, some of which you might not intuitively expect.”

The researchers also explored whether the model would apply these arbitrary facial judgments to extreme behaviors and high-stakes scenarios. In an experiment with 540 trials, GPT-4o was asked which of two faces was more likely to be a serial killer, engage in human trafficking, or commit financial fraud. The model selected the less trustworthy-looking face 68.70 percent of the time.

A separate experiment tested positive real-world decisions, such as hiring a university president or funding a technology startup. Across 540 trials, GPT-4o recommended the more competent-looking individual 75.19 percent of the time. The language model readily incorporated groundless facial biases into its recommendations for both highly negative and highly positive outcomes.

“GPT-4o did not show any real reluctance to say that one person was more likely to be a serial killer, human trafficker, or Ponzi schemer,” Lehr pointed out. “And the models readily told us we should hire the person with the more competent-looking face.”

To see if this issue was specific to GPT-4o, the scientists replicated the basic competence and real-world decision tasks using three newer models. They tested GPT-5, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, and Claude Sonnet 4.5. All three models demonstrated massive face-to-character biases, sometimes outperforming older models in their levels of bias.

GPT-5 exhibited an even larger bias than its predecessor, choosing the expected face 94.33 percent of the time on basic competence judgments and 97.04 percent of the time when advising on real-world decisions. Gemini 3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 also showed highly elevated levels of bias, often matching or exceeding the bias seen in GPT-4o. This indicates that as these language models become more advanced, their tendency to judge character based on physical appearance might actually be increasing.

“One might have thought that the three tested reasoning models would think through the questions more and avoid this bias, but in fact, they showed it to a greater degree,” Lehr said.

There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these findings. The experiments relied heavily on forced-choice scenarios, which required the artificial intelligence to pick one face over another. In more natural settings where a model is not strictly forced to make a direct comparison, its behavior might differ. Additionally, the study provided the models with two-dimensional static images. It is unknown if the models would respond differently to video inputs or more varied photographic angles.

The researchers also cautioned against dismissing these results as merely regurgitated patterns. “It is not actually immediately obvious that face biases should be reflected in the training data, since they are biases of vision rather than language,” Lehr explained. “Second, the ‘just in the training data’ critique doesn’t hold up well when we see bias amplified relative to humans and increasing across model generations. LLMs are not reflecting the training data—they are exaggerating it. If LLMs are truly expected to pick up anything that’s been expressed in language, this seems to me like a very dangerous proposition.”

Another detail to consider is the focus on trustworthiness and competence. While these are foundational social traits, it remains to be seen how language models evaluate faces based on other variables, such as gender or race. Researchers usually implement specific safety guardrails to stop models from showing obvious gender or racial prejudice, but these protections do not seem to cover subtler biases based on facial shape.

Future studies might explore how language models actually learn these visual associations from text-based training data. Discovering the exact origin of this bias could help developers create broader safety measures. If models are deployed to assist with human resources or legal decisions, their tendency to favor certain facial structures could lead to highly unfair outcomes.

“The training designed to align AI models with human values has achieved what looks like surface egalitarianism, but something deeper is needed,” Lehr concluded. “We should be cautious about using AI models in high-impact domains, such as hiring and law, and if we do use them, we should be certain to always carefully test them for biases.”

The study, “Like humans, language models demonstrate face-to-character biases,” was authored by Steven A. Lehr, Yash Lothe, and Mahzarin R. Banaji.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #FacialBias #AIBias #FaceToCharacter #AIEthics #BiasInAI #GPT4o #MultimodalAI #HiringBias #TechnologyAndSociety #PNASNexus

DATE: September 27, 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: Popular AI models use arbitrary facial features to predict criminality and job performance

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

Artificial intelligence models trained to process language and images tend to judge a person’s character based entirely on their facial features, mirroring a common human bias. Recent experiments suggest that these language models use arbitrary facial characteristics to make weighty decisions about whether someone is competent or even likely to commit crimes. The findings were published in PNAS Nexus.

People frequently look at a face and instantly guess whether that person is trustworthy or competent. This tendency, known as face-to-character inference, relies on subtle variations in facial shape and texture to make judgments about personality. Evidence indicates this is a widespread cognitive error, as physical facial structure provides no real information about someone’s actual traits. For instance, a 2014 study of children and adults found that even three-year-olds consistently judge character based on facial features, showing how deeply ingrained this habit is in human psychology.

“Faces are both pervasive and significant social stimuli,” Mahzarin R. Banaji, the Richard Clarke Cabot Research Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University and external faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, told PsyPost. “So much so that the human brain has a dedicated region that responds to faces—we are, each and every one of us, ‘face experts.’ Face-based judgment permeate so many decisions we make and so getting it right is important. So there was a pragmatic reason to focus on face-based judgments.”

The research, led by Steven A. Lehr of Cangrade, Inc. alongside Banaji and Yash Lothe, sought to determine if artificial intelligence models share this specific human quirk. Large language models are increasingly multimodal, meaning they can analyze and respond to both text and images. Because their training data contains vast amounts of human writing, which is full of human biases, the models might learn to associate certain facial types with certain character traits.

“My own operating theory is that LLMs are a mirror that will reflect just about any human characteristic in surprisingly high fidelity,” Lehr said. “For this reason, I’m on the lookout for humanlike characteristics that would be surprising in a machine. Face-to-character biases fit the bill.”

There was also a question of whether these text-based systems would be immune to visual errors. “LLMs have been trained on language and we hoped that LLMs may not have learned biases that emanate from images,” Banaji explained. “Would AI save us from our own face-based errors of judgment (see the work of the brilliant psychologist, Alex Todorov).”

At the same time, modern models undergo extensive alignment training designed to prevent them from making harmful or prejudiced statements. The scientists wanted to find out if language models would remain neutral when asked to judge a face, or if they would replicate the human error of assessing character from physical appearance.

“We wanted to see if the machines that successfully avoid explicit bias in publicized domains would also act ethically in a less-publicized one,” Lehr noted. “This would have been a marker of more generalized egalitarianism. But, unfortunately, the models did show the bias, and strongly.”

To test this, the researchers conducted 13 experiments totaling nearly 8,000 trials across four different language models. In the first two experiments, the researchers presented the GPT-4o model with pairs of computer-generated human faces. These faces were digitally altered to vary in specific physical features that humans typically associate with either competence or trustworthiness. The visual differences between the faces in each pair were measured in standard deviations, allowing the researchers to test pairs that looked very different alongside pairs that looked nearly identical.

In 600 trials focused on competence, GPT-4o was asked to select the more competent or incompetent face from a pair. The model chose the face that humans typically rate as more competent 87.83 percent of the time. When asked to judge trustworthiness across another 600 trials, the model chose the expected face 72.67 percent of the time.

The model’s bias grew stronger when the faces were more physically distinct. For the pairs separated by six standard deviations in competence-related features, GPT-4o chose the expected face 98 percent of the time. When the faces were separated by only two standard deviations, making them look visually similar, the model’s selection rate dropped to 70 percent, though it still reliably favored the expected face.

Interestingly, the model appeared to amplify human biases. Based on mathematical estimates of human behavior on the same competence task, humans would be expected to choose the more competent-looking face roughly 62.65 percent of the time, well below the model’s rate of 87.83 percent.

“Readers should notice that these were large and practically meaningful effects,” Lehr said. “Indeed, according to standard effect size measures, the bias appeared to be notably amplified relative to that of humans. It should be noted that this is partly because the LLMs were so consistent in showing the bias, so this may reflect partly low response variance as opposed to just truly greater essential levels of bias. But of course, consistency matters in contexts like selection: it makes the bias more reliable.”

The researchers then tested whether this bias generalized to related personality traits. Across 2,160 trials, GPT-4o evaluated the same faces on traits related to competence, such as being smart or lazy, and traits related to trustworthiness, such as being warm or selfish. The model consistently generalized its judgments, choosing the expected face 74.63 percent of the time for competence-related traits and 73.33 percent of the time for trustworthiness-related traits.

In a fifth experiment, the scientists tested the model on 150 pairs of macaque monkey faces. These faces had previously been rated by humans as looking either mean or nice. GPT-4o chose the “nice” monkeys as more trustworthy in 66 percent of the trials. This suggests the model did not just memorize human faces from its training data but instead developed a generalized concept of facial trustworthiness that it applies even to nonhuman primates.

“The first was that these LLMs were even capable of showing these biases,” Lehr said regarding the models’ behavior. “Where do they come from? It shows that language (and models built on language) can pick up a surprising array of characteristics, some of which you might not intuitively expect.”

The researchers also explored whether the model would apply these arbitrary facial judgments to extreme behaviors and high-stakes scenarios. In an experiment with 540 trials, GPT-4o was asked which of two faces was more likely to be a serial killer, engage in human trafficking, or commit financial fraud. The model selected the less trustworthy-looking face 68.70 percent of the time.

A separate experiment tested positive real-world decisions, such as hiring a university president or funding a technology startup. Across 540 trials, GPT-4o recommended the more competent-looking individual 75.19 percent of the time. The language model readily incorporated groundless facial biases into its recommendations for both highly negative and highly positive outcomes.

“GPT-4o did not show any real reluctance to say that one person was more likely to be a serial killer, human trafficker, or Ponzi schemer,” Lehr pointed out. “And the models readily told us we should hire the person with the more competent-looking face.”

To see if this issue was specific to GPT-4o, the scientists replicated the basic competence and real-world decision tasks using three newer models. They tested GPT-5, Gemini 3 Flash Preview, and Claude Sonnet 4.5. All three models demonstrated massive face-to-character biases, sometimes outperforming older models in their levels of bias.

GPT-5 exhibited an even larger bias than its predecessor, choosing the expected face 94.33 percent of the time on basic competence judgments and 97.04 percent of the time when advising on real-world decisions. Gemini 3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 also showed highly elevated levels of bias, often matching or exceeding the bias seen in GPT-4o. This indicates that as these language models become more advanced, their tendency to judge character based on physical appearance might actually be increasing.

“One might have thought that the three tested reasoning models would think through the questions more and avoid this bias, but in fact, they showed it to a greater degree,” Lehr said.

There are a few things to keep in mind when interpreting these findings. The experiments relied heavily on forced-choice scenarios, which required the artificial intelligence to pick one face over another. In more natural settings where a model is not strictly forced to make a direct comparison, its behavior might differ. Additionally, the study provided the models with two-dimensional static images. It is unknown if the models would respond differently to video inputs or more varied photographic angles.

The researchers also cautioned against dismissing these results as merely regurgitated patterns. “It is not actually immediately obvious that face biases should be reflected in the training data, since they are biases of vision rather than language,” Lehr explained. “Second, the ‘just in the training data’ critique doesn’t hold up well when we see bias amplified relative to humans and increasing across model generations. LLMs are not reflecting the training data—they are exaggerating it. If LLMs are truly expected to pick up anything that’s been expressed in language, this seems to me like a very dangerous proposition.”

Another detail to consider is the focus on trustworthiness and competence. While these are foundational social traits, it remains to be seen how language models evaluate faces based on other variables, such as gender or race. Researchers usually implement specific safety guardrails to stop models from showing obvious gender or racial prejudice, but these protections do not seem to cover subtler biases based on facial shape.

Future studies might explore how language models actually learn these visual associations from text-based training data. Discovering the exact origin of this bias could help developers create broader safety measures. If models are deployed to assist with human resources or legal decisions, their tendency to favor certain facial structures could lead to highly unfair outcomes.

“The training designed to align AI models with human values has achieved what looks like surface egalitarianism, but something deeper is needed,” Lehr concluded. “We should be cautious about using AI models in high-impact domains, such as hiring and law, and if we do use them, we should be certain to always carefully test them for biases.”

The study, “Like humans, language models demonstrate face-to-character biases,” was authored by Steven A. Lehr, Yash Lothe, and Mahzarin R. Banaji.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/popular-ai-models-use-arbitrary-facial-features-to-predict-criminality-and-job-performance/

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DATE: September 26, 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: Suicidal behaviors are more heritable than depression, new twin study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

An analysis of the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study data found moderate associations between genetic risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors and major depressive disorder. However, environmental factors contributing to major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those contributing to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The paper was published in Behavior Genetics.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a major public health problem. They include suicidal ideation (i.e., thinking about suicide), planning suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths. Major depressive disorder is one of the strongest known risk factors for suicidal behavior, although suicide risk cannot be explained by depression alone.

Twin and family studies indicate that suicidal thoughts and behaviors are partly heritable, suggesting that genetic differences contribute to individual vulnerability. Large genetic studies have identified many common genetic variants associated with suicide-related outcomes, but each variant contributes only a very small amount of risk. Researchers therefore increasingly use polygenic risk scores, which combine information across large numbers of genetic variants to estimate an individual’s inherited susceptibility.

Polygenic scores for both major depression and suicidal behavior have shown modest associations with suicide-related outcomes in previous studies. The genetic overlap between suicidal behavior and psychiatric disorders suggests that some of the same biological vulnerabilities may contribute to several different forms of psychopathology. At the same time, some people who experience suicidal thoughts or engage in suicidal behavior have no clear history of psychiatric disorders, indicating that additional genetic, psychological, and environmental pathways must also be involved.

With this in mind, study author Nathan A. Gillespie and his colleagues explored the contribution of polygenic risk scores for major depression and suicide attempt to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. They focused on three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors: suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts. They hypothesized that polygenic risk scores for suicide attempts and major depression would explain a small amount of variation in self-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These researchers also aimed to explore how much the genetic risk factors for the three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors overlap.

Study authors analyzed data from the ongoing Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study (BLTS). While this overall study was launched in 1992 and included over 7,000 young adult twins, siblings, and parents of European ancestry, this specific analysis focused on a subset of 2,876 participants. Assessments were carried out when twins were 12, 14, 16, 21, and 25 years old.

These analyses used data on participants’ self-reported suicidal behaviors and from a genome-wide association study (GWAS)—a study that scans the genomes of many people to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or trait—conducted in the scope of this program. Study authors created two polygenic risk scores, one for major depression and one for suicide attempts, based on summary statistics from two large previous studies.

The results showed that the heritability of suicidal behaviors was estimated to be between 51% and 80%. This was much higher than the estimated heritability of major depressive disorder (39% to 41%). The polygenic risk score for major depression had more consistent associations with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder, while both polygenic risk scores had modest associations with suicidal behaviors. The three types of suicidal thoughts and behaviors were strongly genetically correlated with each other, and they showed a moderate genetic correlation with major depressive disorder.

Interestingly, non-shared environmental factors (unique individual experiences rather than shared family environments) contributing to the diagnosis of major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those influencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

“This study provided compelling evidence for shared genetic architecture between DSM-IV MDD [major depressive disorder diagnosis] and STBs [suicidal thoughts and behavior]. The MD PRS [polygenic risk score for major depression] demonstrated more consistent prediction of MDD [major depressive disorder] compared to the SB PRS [polygenic risk score for suicide attempts], though both showed modest correlations with suicide outcomes,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the genetic bases of suicidal behaviors and depression. However, study authors note that they jointly analyzed data from men and women, potentially leaving some sex differences in genetic architecture unaccounted for.

The paper, “Genetic Overlap Between DSM-IV Major Depressive Disorder and Suicidal Behaviors: Evidence from Polygenic Risk Scores in Young Adult Twins,” was authored by Nathan A. Gillespie, Mei-Hsin Su, Séverine Lannoy, Mallory Stephenson, Miguel E. Rentería, Zuriel Ceja, Ian B. Hickie, Nicholas G. Martin, and Alexis C. Edwards.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

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DATE: September 26, 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: Suicidal behaviors are more heritable than depression, new twin study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

An analysis of the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study data found moderate associations between genetic risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors and major depressive disorder. However, environmental factors contributing to major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those contributing to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The paper was published in Behavior Genetics.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a major public health problem. They include suicidal ideation (i.e., thinking about suicide), planning suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths. Major depressive disorder is one of the strongest known risk factors for suicidal behavior, although suicide risk cannot be explained by depression alone.

Twin and family studies indicate that suicidal thoughts and behaviors are partly heritable, suggesting that genetic differences contribute to individual vulnerability. Large genetic studies have identified many common genetic variants associated with suicide-related outcomes, but each variant contributes only a very small amount of risk. Researchers therefore increasingly use polygenic risk scores, which combine information across large numbers of genetic variants to estimate an individual’s inherited susceptibility.

Polygenic scores for both major depression and suicidal behavior have shown modest associations with suicide-related outcomes in previous studies. The genetic overlap between suicidal behavior and psychiatric disorders suggests that some of the same biological vulnerabilities may contribute to several different forms of psychopathology. At the same time, some people who experience suicidal thoughts or engage in suicidal behavior have no clear history of psychiatric disorders, indicating that additional genetic, psychological, and environmental pathways must also be involved.

With this in mind, study author Nathan A. Gillespie and his colleagues explored the contribution of polygenic risk scores for major depression and suicide attempt to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. They focused on three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors: suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts. They hypothesized that polygenic risk scores for suicide attempts and major depression would explain a small amount of variation in self-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These researchers also aimed to explore how much the genetic risk factors for the three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors overlap.

Study authors analyzed data from the ongoing Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study (BLTS). While this overall study was launched in 1992 and included over 7,000 young adult twins, siblings, and parents of European ancestry, this specific analysis focused on a subset of 2,876 participants. Assessments were carried out when twins were 12, 14, 16, 21, and 25 years old.

These analyses used data on participants’ self-reported suicidal behaviors and from a genome-wide association study (GWAS)—a study that scans the genomes of many people to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or trait—conducted in the scope of this program. Study authors created two polygenic risk scores, one for major depression and one for suicide attempts, based on summary statistics from two large previous studies.

The results showed that the heritability of suicidal behaviors was estimated to be between 51% and 80%. This was much higher than the estimated heritability of major depressive disorder (39% to 41%). The polygenic risk score for major depression had more consistent associations with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder, while both polygenic risk scores had modest associations with suicidal behaviors. The three types of suicidal thoughts and behaviors were strongly genetically correlated with each other, and they showed a moderate genetic correlation with major depressive disorder.

Interestingly, non-shared environmental factors (unique individual experiences rather than shared family environments) contributing to the diagnosis of major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those influencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

“This study provided compelling evidence for shared genetic architecture between DSM-IV MDD [major depressive disorder diagnosis] and STBs [suicidal thoughts and behavior]. The MD PRS [polygenic risk score for major depression] demonstrated more consistent prediction of MDD [major depressive disorder] compared to the SB PRS [polygenic risk score for suicide attempts], though both showed modest correlations with suicide outcomes,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the genetic bases of suicidal behaviors and depression. However, study authors note that they jointly analyzed data from men and women, potentially leaving some sex differences in genetic architecture unaccounted for.

The paper, “Genetic Overlap Between DSM-IV Major Depressive Disorder and Suicidal Behaviors: Evidence from Polygenic Risk Scores in Young Adult Twins,” was authored by Nathan A. Gillespie, Mei-Hsin Su, Séverine Lannoy, Mallory Stephenson, Miguel E. Rentería, Zuriel Ceja, Ian B. Hickie, Nicholas G. Martin, and Alexis C. Edwards.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GeneticHeritability #SuicidalBehavior #MajorDepressiveDisorder #PolygenicRiskScores #TwinStudy #BehaviorGenetics #SuicideRisk #HeritabilityEstimates #MentalHealthResearch #DSMIVMDD

DATE: September 26, 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: Suicidal behaviors are more heritable than depression, new twin study finds

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

An analysis of the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study data found moderate associations between genetic risk factors for suicidal thoughts and behaviors and major depressive disorder. However, environmental factors contributing to major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those contributing to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. The paper was published in Behavior Genetics.

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors are a major public health problem. They include suicidal ideation (i.e., thinking about suicide), planning suicide, suicide attempts, and suicide deaths. Major depressive disorder is one of the strongest known risk factors for suicidal behavior, although suicide risk cannot be explained by depression alone.

Twin and family studies indicate that suicidal thoughts and behaviors are partly heritable, suggesting that genetic differences contribute to individual vulnerability. Large genetic studies have identified many common genetic variants associated with suicide-related outcomes, but each variant contributes only a very small amount of risk. Researchers therefore increasingly use polygenic risk scores, which combine information across large numbers of genetic variants to estimate an individual’s inherited susceptibility.

Polygenic scores for both major depression and suicidal behavior have shown modest associations with suicide-related outcomes in previous studies. The genetic overlap between suicidal behavior and psychiatric disorders suggests that some of the same biological vulnerabilities may contribute to several different forms of psychopathology. At the same time, some people who experience suicidal thoughts or engage in suicidal behavior have no clear history of psychiatric disorders, indicating that additional genetic, psychological, and environmental pathways must also be involved.

With this in mind, study author Nathan A. Gillespie and his colleagues explored the contribution of polygenic risk scores for major depression and suicide attempt to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. They focused on three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors: suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts. They hypothesized that polygenic risk scores for suicide attempts and major depression would explain a small amount of variation in self-reported suicidal thoughts and behaviors. These researchers also aimed to explore how much the genetic risk factors for the three aspects of suicidal thoughts and behaviors overlap.

Study authors analyzed data from the ongoing Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study (BLTS). While this overall study was launched in 1992 and included over 7,000 young adult twins, siblings, and parents of European ancestry, this specific analysis focused on a subset of 2,876 participants. Assessments were carried out when twins were 12, 14, 16, 21, and 25 years old.

These analyses used data on participants’ self-reported suicidal behaviors and from a genome-wide association study (GWAS)—a study that scans the genomes of many people to find genetic variations associated with a particular disease or trait—conducted in the scope of this program. Study authors created two polygenic risk scores, one for major depression and one for suicide attempts, based on summary statistics from two large previous studies.

The results showed that the heritability of suicidal behaviors was estimated to be between 51% and 80%. This was much higher than the estimated heritability of major depressive disorder (39% to 41%). The polygenic risk score for major depression had more consistent associations with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder, while both polygenic risk scores had modest associations with suicidal behaviors. The three types of suicidal thoughts and behaviors were strongly genetically correlated with each other, and they showed a moderate genetic correlation with major depressive disorder.

Interestingly, non-shared environmental factors (unique individual experiences rather than shared family environments) contributing to the diagnosis of major depressive disorder were largely distinct from those influencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

“This study provided compelling evidence for shared genetic architecture between DSM-IV MDD [major depressive disorder diagnosis] and STBs [suicidal thoughts and behavior]. The MD PRS [polygenic risk score for major depression] demonstrated more consistent prediction of MDD [major depressive disorder] compared to the SB PRS [polygenic risk score for suicide attempts], though both showed modest correlations with suicide outcomes,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the genetic bases of suicidal behaviors and depression. However, study authors note that they jointly analyzed data from men and women, potentially leaving some sex differences in genetic architecture unaccounted for.

The paper, “Genetic Overlap Between DSM-IV Major Depressive Disorder and Suicidal Behaviors: Evidence from Polygenic Risk Scores in Young Adult Twins,” was authored by Nathan A. Gillespie, Mei-Hsin Su, Séverine Lannoy, Mallory Stephenson, Miguel E. Rentería, Zuriel Ceja, Ian B. Hickie, Nicholas G. Martin, and Alexis C. Edwards.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/suicidal-behaviors-are-more-heritable-than-depression-new-twin-study-finds/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #GeneticHeritability #SuicidalBehavior #MajorDepressiveDisorder #PolygenicRiskScores #TwinStudy #BehaviorGenetics #SuicideRisk #HeritabilityEstimates #MentalHealthResearch #DSMIVMDD

DATE: September 26, 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: Negative feelings about life are more common among teens on Instagram and TikTok

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

A recent survey of teenagers suggests that a large portion of young people encounter negative experiences on the internet, and the types of harm they face tend to vary depending on which apps they use. The research indicates that while some issues like bullying occur at similar rates in person and online, teenagers are much more likely to be exposed to violent imagery or unwanted sexual content through digital platforms. The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The term “online harms” refers to a wide range of negative experiences on digital platforms, such as cyberbullying, unwanted sexual advances, or exposure to content that encourages self-injury. Prior studies have demonstrated that digital platforms host a variety of risks for adolescents.

For example, a 2022 survey study found that different types of online sexual abuse, such as nonconsensual sexting or grooming by adults, occur at varying rates among youth. Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2026 indicated that nearly half of adolescents who send sexually explicit images experience nonconsensual sharing or extortion.

Most existing research tends to examine one specific type of negative experience at a time, such as harassment, rather than capturing the full spectrum of issues adolescents face. When studies do measure these risks, they rarely break the numbers down by specific platforms to see how experiences might differ on an app like TikTok compared to an app like YouTube. To explore this, research covered by PsyPost in 2025 found that short-form video apps are associated with more severe body image concerns, suggesting that specific app designs might play a role in user well-being.

The research, led by Angela Y. Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford Medicine’s Center for Digital Health when the study was conducted, aimed to estimate how often adolescents report various negative experiences both online and offline. “This study was the product of a great collaboration of researchers from Stanford, USC, NYU, and UW-Madison, working across psychology, communication, medicine, technology policy, and consumer science,” Lee told PsyPost.

“There are widespread concerns about youth online safety and recent steps, like social media bans and age-gating policies, have been recently implemented around the world,” Lee noted. “At the same time, there are ongoing debates about how people interpret the research on social media’s effects on youth psychological well-being, and what kinds of interventions should be implemented.”

By tracking how these experiences differ across twenty popular communication platforms, the researchers hoped to demonstrate a method for gathering platform-specific data that could inform targeted prevention efforts.

“This study was motivated by something that I feel is a common goal across researchers across the aisle and policymakers, which is a need for clear, consistent, and granular measurement of youth’s online experiences,” Lee explained. “Our team’s hope is that knowing how often teens report having negative experiences on specific platforms can help add specificity to conversations about social media and well-being effects, and inform efforts to track if interventions that are implemented are meaningfully reducing reported harms.”

To conduct the study, the researchers used a nationally representative, probability-based sample of 472 adolescents in the United States between the ages of 13 and 17. The survey was administered between February and December 2025. Participants answered questions about their use of 20 online communication platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, over the previous four weeks.

The survey asked the teenagers to report whether they had encountered specific negative experiences either offline or across the various platforms they used. These experiences included direct harassment, witnessing harassment, receiving unwanted sexual images, encountering violent content, seeing content that encouraged self-harm, and experiencing sleep disruption due to technology use. The research team then applied statistical weights to the data to ensure the results accurately reflected the broader population of adolescents in the United States.

The results indicated that exposure to negative experiences is common among teenagers. Across both online and offline contexts, 44.7% of the adolescents had witnessed someone else being harassed, and 29.8% reported experiencing direct harassment themselves within the four-week window. Interestingly, direct harassment was reported at similar rates offline (18.5%) and online (16.4%), suggesting that this type of conflict happens across all areas of a teenager’s life.

For other types of harm, the internet proved to be a much more common source of exposure than the offline world. The teenagers reported seeing violent imagery online at a rate of 10.7%, compared to just 1.6% offline. Similarly, 13.4% of respondents encountered unwanted sexual images online, while only 2.0% experienced this offline. Content encouraging self-harm was seen by 9.7% of adolescents online, compared to 5.2% offline. Additionally, over half of the participants (51.5%) reported that their technology use disrupted their sleep.

The study also found substantial variations depending on the specific platforms the adolescents were using. For instance, 9.1% of Instagram users reported seeing violent imagery, compared to just 1.9% of YouTube users. The feeling that one’s life is worse because of other people’s posts was most common on Instagram (16.6%) and TikTok (13.4%), while it was much lower on YouTube (4.1%) and text messaging (5.6%).

Sleep disruption also seemed to be concentrated on certain apps. A total of 42.2% of TikTok users and 27.8% of Instagram users attributed their disrupted sleep to those platforms. In comparison, only 10.2% of teenagers blamed text messaging for their sleep issues.

The researchers noted that factors like parental education, household income, and the presence of parental controls on smartphones were not statistically associated with a higher or lower likelihood of experiencing online harm.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the study relies on a relatively modest sample size of 472 adolescents. When looking at less popular platforms or rare experiences, the small number of users limits how precise the estimates can be.

“Although this is a nationally representative sample of American teens, it’s a relatively small sample and this was a pilot study,” Lee said. “The results should not be taken to say definitively that X platform has Y amount of harms, but rather can be thought of as illustrating how reported harms vary from platform to platform and from harm to harm. We do hope to be quite clear that this is a pilot!”

Second, the findings are based on self-reported memories over a four-week period. This approach is subject to recall bias, meaning teenagers might be more likely to remember highly emotional events while forgetting milder, everyday interactions. Stigmatized events, such as receiving or sending explicit images, might also be underreported due to social desirability or embarrassment.

Another detail to consider is that adolescents might simply attribute their negative experiences to the apps they spend the most time on, rather than the exact place the harm occurred. Because teenagers often use multiple apps at once, it can be difficult for them to pinpoint exactly where they saw a distressing video or received a hurtful message.

Finally, the differences in reported harms across platforms might reflect the types of people who choose to use those apps, rather than just the design of the apps themselves. For instance, if a specific platform is highly popular among teenage girls, who generally report higher susceptibility to social comparison, that app might show elevated rates of body image concerns regardless of its layout or content moderation policies.

“This is cross-sectional survey data, so it cannot be used to draw causal claims,” Lee added. “We can’t say that ‘using platform X causes American teens to see unwanted content Y’ but we can say that adolescents using platform X were more likely to report seeing content Y. We also do not know what the effects of such reported harms are on youth well-being, though that is something we hope to address in future research.”

Future research using larger samples could help clarify how specific platform features directly influence user experiences.

“In the near future, we’re in the process of preparing to field a new, larger study with American adolescents and their parents that will allow us to examine how youth report experiencing online harms across a broader set of platforms including AI chatbots and AI companion apps,” she said. “We think this next step is important because the digital landscape of youth media use is changing rapidly, and measurement efforts need to keep up to understand where, when, and how youth are being negatively impacted.”

“Long-term, I am hopeful that studies like ours and those conducted by nonprofit and academic entities can show that investment in monitoring youth online experiences can provide valuable insights that can help inform efforts to implement and evaluate interventions,” Lee concluded.

The study, “Adolescents’ Experiences of Online Harms by Platform,” was authored by Angela Y. Lee, Carmen H. J. Lim, Sunny Xun Liu, R. Kang Xing Jin, Anneke Buffone, Ravi Iyer, Zachary Rausch, Jonathan Haidt, Nathanael J. Fast, Jeffrey T. Hancock, and Eleni Linos.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

-------------------------------------------------

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 #AdolescentOnlineHarms #TeenSocialMedia #InstagramTikTokImpact #OnlineSafetyForTeens #PlatformSpecificHarms #YouthWellbeing #DigitalWellness #SocialMediaRisks # teenmentalhealth #DigitalAgeRisks

DATE: September 26, 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: Negative feelings about life are more common among teens on Instagram and TikTok

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

A recent survey of teenagers suggests that a large portion of young people encounter negative experiences on the internet, and the types of harm they face tend to vary depending on which apps they use. The research indicates that while some issues like bullying occur at similar rates in person and online, teenagers are much more likely to be exposed to violent imagery or unwanted sexual content through digital platforms. The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The term “online harms” refers to a wide range of negative experiences on digital platforms, such as cyberbullying, unwanted sexual advances, or exposure to content that encourages self-injury. Prior studies have demonstrated that digital platforms host a variety of risks for adolescents.

For example, a 2022 survey study found that different types of online sexual abuse, such as nonconsensual sexting or grooming by adults, occur at varying rates among youth. Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2026 indicated that nearly half of adolescents who send sexually explicit images experience nonconsensual sharing or extortion.

Most existing research tends to examine one specific type of negative experience at a time, such as harassment, rather than capturing the full spectrum of issues adolescents face. When studies do measure these risks, they rarely break the numbers down by specific platforms to see how experiences might differ on an app like TikTok compared to an app like YouTube. To explore this, research covered by PsyPost in 2025 found that short-form video apps are associated with more severe body image concerns, suggesting that specific app designs might play a role in user well-being.

The research, led by Angela Y. Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford Medicine’s Center for Digital Health when the study was conducted, aimed to estimate how often adolescents report various negative experiences both online and offline. “This study was the product of a great collaboration of researchers from Stanford, USC, NYU, and UW-Madison, working across psychology, communication, medicine, technology policy, and consumer science,” Lee told PsyPost.

“There are widespread concerns about youth online safety and recent steps, like social media bans and age-gating policies, have been recently implemented around the world,” Lee noted. “At the same time, there are ongoing debates about how people interpret the research on social media’s effects on youth psychological well-being, and what kinds of interventions should be implemented.”

By tracking how these experiences differ across twenty popular communication platforms, the researchers hoped to demonstrate a method for gathering platform-specific data that could inform targeted prevention efforts.

“This study was motivated by something that I feel is a common goal across researchers across the aisle and policymakers, which is a need for clear, consistent, and granular measurement of youth’s online experiences,” Lee explained. “Our team’s hope is that knowing how often teens report having negative experiences on specific platforms can help add specificity to conversations about social media and well-being effects, and inform efforts to track if interventions that are implemented are meaningfully reducing reported harms.”

To conduct the study, the researchers used a nationally representative, probability-based sample of 472 adolescents in the United States between the ages of 13 and 17. The survey was administered between February and December 2025. Participants answered questions about their use of 20 online communication platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, over the previous four weeks.

The survey asked the teenagers to report whether they had encountered specific negative experiences either offline or across the various platforms they used. These experiences included direct harassment, witnessing harassment, receiving unwanted sexual images, encountering violent content, seeing content that encouraged self-harm, and experiencing sleep disruption due to technology use. The research team then applied statistical weights to the data to ensure the results accurately reflected the broader population of adolescents in the United States.

The results indicated that exposure to negative experiences is common among teenagers. Across both online and offline contexts, 44.7% of the adolescents had witnessed someone else being harassed, and 29.8% reported experiencing direct harassment themselves within the four-week window. Interestingly, direct harassment was reported at similar rates offline (18.5%) and online (16.4%), suggesting that this type of conflict happens across all areas of a teenager’s life.

For other types of harm, the internet proved to be a much more common source of exposure than the offline world. The teenagers reported seeing violent imagery online at a rate of 10.7%, compared to just 1.6% offline. Similarly, 13.4% of respondents encountered unwanted sexual images online, while only 2.0% experienced this offline. Content encouraging self-harm was seen by 9.7% of adolescents online, compared to 5.2% offline. Additionally, over half of the participants (51.5%) reported that their technology use disrupted their sleep.

The study also found substantial variations depending on the specific platforms the adolescents were using. For instance, 9.1% of Instagram users reported seeing violent imagery, compared to just 1.9% of YouTube users. The feeling that one’s life is worse because of other people’s posts was most common on Instagram (16.6%) and TikTok (13.4%), while it was much lower on YouTube (4.1%) and text messaging (5.6%).

Sleep disruption also seemed to be concentrated on certain apps. A total of 42.2% of TikTok users and 27.8% of Instagram users attributed their disrupted sleep to those platforms. In comparison, only 10.2% of teenagers blamed text messaging for their sleep issues.

The researchers noted that factors like parental education, household income, and the presence of parental controls on smartphones were not statistically associated with a higher or lower likelihood of experiencing online harm.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the study relies on a relatively modest sample size of 472 adolescents. When looking at less popular platforms or rare experiences, the small number of users limits how precise the estimates can be.

“Although this is a nationally representative sample of American teens, it’s a relatively small sample and this was a pilot study,” Lee said. “The results should not be taken to say definitively that X platform has Y amount of harms, but rather can be thought of as illustrating how reported harms vary from platform to platform and from harm to harm. We do hope to be quite clear that this is a pilot!”

Second, the findings are based on self-reported memories over a four-week period. This approach is subject to recall bias, meaning teenagers might be more likely to remember highly emotional events while forgetting milder, everyday interactions. Stigmatized events, such as receiving or sending explicit images, might also be underreported due to social desirability or embarrassment.

Another detail to consider is that adolescents might simply attribute their negative experiences to the apps they spend the most time on, rather than the exact place the harm occurred. Because teenagers often use multiple apps at once, it can be difficult for them to pinpoint exactly where they saw a distressing video or received a hurtful message.

Finally, the differences in reported harms across platforms might reflect the types of people who choose to use those apps, rather than just the design of the apps themselves. For instance, if a specific platform is highly popular among teenage girls, who generally report higher susceptibility to social comparison, that app might show elevated rates of body image concerns regardless of its layout or content moderation policies.

“This is cross-sectional survey data, so it cannot be used to draw causal claims,” Lee added. “We can’t say that ‘using platform X causes American teens to see unwanted content Y’ but we can say that adolescents using platform X were more likely to report seeing content Y. We also do not know what the effects of such reported harms are on youth well-being, though that is something we hope to address in future research.”

Future research using larger samples could help clarify how specific platform features directly influence user experiences.

“In the near future, we’re in the process of preparing to field a new, larger study with American adolescents and their parents that will allow us to examine how youth report experiencing online harms across a broader set of platforms including AI chatbots and AI companion apps,” she said. “We think this next step is important because the digital landscape of youth media use is changing rapidly, and measurement efforts need to keep up to understand where, when, and how youth are being negatively impacted.”

“Long-term, I am hopeful that studies like ours and those conducted by nonprofit and academic entities can show that investment in monitoring youth online experiences can provide valuable insights that can help inform efforts to implement and evaluate interventions,” Lee concluded.

The study, “Adolescents’ Experiences of Online Harms by Platform,” was authored by Angela Y. Lee, Carmen H. J. Lim, Sunny Xun Liu, R. Kang Xing Jin, Anneke Buffone, Ravi Iyer, Zachary Rausch, Jonathan Haidt, Nathanael J. Fast, Jeffrey T. Hancock, and Eleni Linos.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

-------------------------------------------------

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 #AdolescentOnlineHarms #TeenSocialMedia #InstagramTikTokImpact #OnlineSafetyForTeens #PlatformSpecificHarms #YouthWellbeing #DigitalWellness #SocialMediaRisks # teenmentalhealth #DigitalAgeRisks

DATE: September 26, 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: Negative feelings about life are more common among teens on Instagram and TikTok

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

A recent survey of teenagers suggests that a large portion of young people encounter negative experiences on the internet, and the types of harm they face tend to vary depending on which apps they use. The research indicates that while some issues like bullying occur at similar rates in person and online, teenagers are much more likely to be exposed to violent imagery or unwanted sexual content through digital platforms. The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

The term “online harms” refers to a wide range of negative experiences on digital platforms, such as cyberbullying, unwanted sexual advances, or exposure to content that encourages self-injury. Prior studies have demonstrated that digital platforms host a variety of risks for adolescents.

For example, a 2022 survey study found that different types of online sexual abuse, such as nonconsensual sexting or grooming by adults, occur at varying rates among youth. Additionally, a study covered by PsyPost in 2026 indicated that nearly half of adolescents who send sexually explicit images experience nonconsensual sharing or extortion.

Most existing research tends to examine one specific type of negative experience at a time, such as harassment, rather than capturing the full spectrum of issues adolescents face. When studies do measure these risks, they rarely break the numbers down by specific platforms to see how experiences might differ on an app like TikTok compared to an app like YouTube. To explore this, research covered by PsyPost in 2025 found that short-form video apps are associated with more severe body image concerns, suggesting that specific app designs might play a role in user well-being.

The research, led by Angela Y. Lee, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford Medicine’s Center for Digital Health when the study was conducted, aimed to estimate how often adolescents report various negative experiences both online and offline. “This study was the product of a great collaboration of researchers from Stanford, USC, NYU, and UW-Madison, working across psychology, communication, medicine, technology policy, and consumer science,” Lee told PsyPost.

“There are widespread concerns about youth online safety and recent steps, like social media bans and age-gating policies, have been recently implemented around the world,” Lee noted. “At the same time, there are ongoing debates about how people interpret the research on social media’s effects on youth psychological well-being, and what kinds of interventions should be implemented.”

By tracking how these experiences differ across twenty popular communication platforms, the researchers hoped to demonstrate a method for gathering platform-specific data that could inform targeted prevention efforts.

“This study was motivated by something that I feel is a common goal across researchers across the aisle and policymakers, which is a need for clear, consistent, and granular measurement of youth’s online experiences,” Lee explained. “Our team’s hope is that knowing how often teens report having negative experiences on specific platforms can help add specificity to conversations about social media and well-being effects, and inform efforts to track if interventions that are implemented are meaningfully reducing reported harms.”

To conduct the study, the researchers used a nationally representative, probability-based sample of 472 adolescents in the United States between the ages of 13 and 17. The survey was administered between February and December 2025. Participants answered questions about their use of 20 online communication platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, over the previous four weeks.

The survey asked the teenagers to report whether they had encountered specific negative experiences either offline or across the various platforms they used. These experiences included direct harassment, witnessing harassment, receiving unwanted sexual images, encountering violent content, seeing content that encouraged self-harm, and experiencing sleep disruption due to technology use. The research team then applied statistical weights to the data to ensure the results accurately reflected the broader population of adolescents in the United States.

The results indicated that exposure to negative experiences is common among teenagers. Across both online and offline contexts, 44.7% of the adolescents had witnessed someone else being harassed, and 29.8% reported experiencing direct harassment themselves within the four-week window. Interestingly, direct harassment was reported at similar rates offline (18.5%) and online (16.4%), suggesting that this type of conflict happens across all areas of a teenager’s life.

For other types of harm, the internet proved to be a much more common source of exposure than the offline world. The teenagers reported seeing violent imagery online at a rate of 10.7%, compared to just 1.6% offline. Similarly, 13.4% of respondents encountered unwanted sexual images online, while only 2.0% experienced this offline. Content encouraging self-harm was seen by 9.7% of adolescents online, compared to 5.2% offline. Additionally, over half of the participants (51.5%) reported that their technology use disrupted their sleep.

The study also found substantial variations depending on the specific platforms the adolescents were using. For instance, 9.1% of Instagram users reported seeing violent imagery, compared to just 1.9% of YouTube users. The feeling that one’s life is worse because of other people’s posts was most common on Instagram (16.6%) and TikTok (13.4%), while it was much lower on YouTube (4.1%) and text messaging (5.6%).

Sleep disruption also seemed to be concentrated on certain apps. A total of 42.2% of TikTok users and 27.8% of Instagram users attributed their disrupted sleep to those platforms. In comparison, only 10.2% of teenagers blamed text messaging for their sleep issues.

The researchers noted that factors like parental education, household income, and the presence of parental controls on smartphones were not statistically associated with a higher or lower likelihood of experiencing online harm.

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the study relies on a relatively modest sample size of 472 adolescents. When looking at less popular platforms or rare experiences, the small number of users limits how precise the estimates can be.

“Although this is a nationally representative sample of American teens, it’s a relatively small sample and this was a pilot study,” Lee said. “The results should not be taken to say definitively that X platform has Y amount of harms, but rather can be thought of as illustrating how reported harms vary from platform to platform and from harm to harm. We do hope to be quite clear that this is a pilot!”

Second, the findings are based on self-reported memories over a four-week period. This approach is subject to recall bias, meaning teenagers might be more likely to remember highly emotional events while forgetting milder, everyday interactions. Stigmatized events, such as receiving or sending explicit images, might also be underreported due to social desirability or embarrassment.

Another detail to consider is that adolescents might simply attribute their negative experiences to the apps they spend the most time on, rather than the exact place the harm occurred. Because teenagers often use multiple apps at once, it can be difficult for them to pinpoint exactly where they saw a distressing video or received a hurtful message.

Finally, the differences in reported harms across platforms might reflect the types of people who choose to use those apps, rather than just the design of the apps themselves. For instance, if a specific platform is highly popular among teenage girls, who generally report higher susceptibility to social comparison, that app might show elevated rates of body image concerns regardless of its layout or content moderation policies.

“This is cross-sectional survey data, so it cannot be used to draw causal claims,” Lee added. “We can’t say that ‘using platform X causes American teens to see unwanted content Y’ but we can say that adolescents using platform X were more likely to report seeing content Y. We also do not know what the effects of such reported harms are on youth well-being, though that is something we hope to address in future research.”

Future research using larger samples could help clarify how specific platform features directly influence user experiences.

“In the near future, we’re in the process of preparing to field a new, larger study with American adolescents and their parents that will allow us to examine how youth report experiencing online harms across a broader set of platforms including AI chatbots and AI companion apps,” she said. “We think this next step is important because the digital landscape of youth media use is changing rapidly, and measurement efforts need to keep up to understand where, when, and how youth are being negatively impacted.”

“Long-term, I am hopeful that studies like ours and those conducted by nonprofit and academic entities can show that investment in monitoring youth online experiences can provide valuable insights that can help inform efforts to implement and evaluate interventions,” Lee concluded.

The study, “Adolescents’ Experiences of Online Harms by Platform,” was authored by Angela Y. Lee, Carmen H. J. Lim, Sunny Xun Liu, R. Kang Xing Jin, Anneke Buffone, Ravi Iyer, Zachary Rausch, Jonathan Haidt, Nathanael J. Fast, Jeffrey T. Hancock, and Eleni Linos.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/negative-feelings-about-life-are-more-common-among-teens-on-instagram-and-tiktok/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #AdolescentOnlineHarms #TeenSocialMedia #InstagramTikTokImpact #OnlineSafetyForTeens #PlatformSpecificHarms #YouthWellbeing #DigitalWellness #SocialMediaRisks # teenmentalhealth #DigitalAgeRisks

DATE: September 26, 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: Indoor gardening improves mental health and quality of life for cancer patients

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

Growing vegetables indoors without soil might help cancer patients feel better emotionally and physically. A recent study found that patients who tended to countertop hydroponic gardens experienced improved mental health and an enhanced overall quality of life. The research was published in Frontiers in Public Health.

A cancer diagnosis often brings severe physical and emotional challenges that extend far beyond the immediate medical treatment. Estimates suggest that one in four cancer patients in the United States experiences depression. Poor mental health can negatively affect a patient’s recovery, sometimes leading to unplanned treatment interruptions. Patients battling depression also face a higher risk of cancer recurrence and reduced survival rates. Pain is another distressing symptom, and the perception of that pain is often influenced by emotional and cognitive factors.

To address these overlapping challenges, medical professionals sometimes recommend non-clinical activities to support patient wellbeing, an approach known as social prescribing. Traditional outdoor gardening often provides psychological relief, lowers stress, and encourages healthier eating. It offers moderate physical activity and a connection to nature, which can improve mood and reduce fatigue. Studies indicate that time spent around plants can even shorten hospital stays and boost overall patient satisfaction.

However, outdoor gardening requires a yard, physical stamina, and favorable weather. These requirements exclude many people, especially those living in dense urban areas, apartment buildings, or those undergoing exhausting medical treatments. Recognizing this limitation, researchers sought an alternative that could be easily managed inside the home.

Lead author Taehyun Roh, a public health researcher at Texas A& M University, alongside colleagues from Houston Methodist Hospital and Texas A& M, initiated this research to test an indoor solution. They focused on hydroponics, a method of growing plants in water rather than soil. By adding liquid nutrients directly to a water reservoir and using artificial light, people can cultivate vegetables indoors year-round. This approach eliminates exposure to soil-borne diseases, weeds, and toxic chemicals like herbicides.

The team recruited adult cancer patients receiving outpatient infusion therapy at a specialized cancer center in Houston. The small study ultimately included thirty-six participants with an average age of fifty-seven. These individuals had various types of cancer and had completed at least one cycle of chemotherapy. Instead of using a separate control group, the researchers used a case-crossover design where each patient served as their own baseline for comparison over time.

Each participant received a countertop hydroponic system called an AeroGarden. The kits included everything needed to grow heirloom salad greens. They featured a growing container, an automated light-emitting diode (LED) grow light, liquid plant food, and twelve seed pods. The systems were designed to be highly accessible, ensuring that even people with no previous gardening experience could participate.

For eight weeks, the patients managed the kits in their own homes. They independently planted the seeds, monitored the water levels, and eventually harvested the greens. The researchers provided instructional materials and manufacturer manuals to help the patients optimize plant growth. These materials included troubleshooting advice to resolve common issues associated with indoor plant cultivation.

To track the intervention, the researchers surveyed the participants at the beginning of the study, at the four-week mark, and at the end of the eight weeks. They used standardized questionnaires to measure changes in mental wellbeing, psychological distress, and overall quality of life. The surveys evaluated multiple functional domains, including how well patients could perform physical activities and manage their emotions. They also asked the patients to rate their pain levels and frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Over the course of the eight weeks, the participants reported steady improvements in their mental health. Their overall mental wellbeing scores rose steadily during the intervention. At the same time, their self-reported symptoms of depression declined steadily from the baseline to the end of the study.

The patients also experienced enhancements in their daily quality of life. They reported better emotional and social functioning, meaning they felt more capable of managing their feelings and interacting with friends and family. At the same time, their struggles with a lack of appetite diminished over the study period.

Growing food at home also appeared to influence the participants’ eating habits. By the end of the study, the patients were eating more fruits and dark green leafy vegetables than they had at the start. Experiencing a direct connection between their own efforts and tangible, edible rewards might help sustain long-term dietary changes.

Not all metrics changed during the intervention. While overall pain management scores trended downward slightly, those changes were not statistically significant. Changes in anxiety and stress levels were also not statistically significant during the eight-week period.

The researchers noted several psychological mechanisms that could explain the benefits of therapeutic horticulture. Nurturing plants fosters a sense of responsibility and achievement. This feeling of control can be especially helpful for patients who might feel a sudden loss of autonomy during rigorous medical treatments. The multisensory engagement of interacting with plants also supports cognitive restoration and natural stress relief.

This single-arm design means there was no separate control group to compare against the participants. Because all participants received the gardening kits, the setup introduces a risk of self-selection bias. The people who agreed to participate might have already had a positive attitude toward gardening, which could influence how much they benefited from the activity.

The eight-week timeframe is relatively short, preventing the researchers from observing any long-term effects on the patients’ mental or physical health. Kit usage was reported entirely by the patients themselves without independent verification. Future investigations with larger groups of people, longer observation periods, and more objective tracking methods are necessary to determine if these benefits endure over time.

The study, “Indoor hydroponic vegetable gardening to improve mental health and quality of life in cancer patients: a pilot study,” was authored by Taehyun Roh, Laura Ashley Verzwyvelt, Anisha Aggarwal, Raj Satkunasivam, Nishat Tasnim Hasan, Nusrat Fahmida Trisha, and Charles Hall.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

-------------------------------------------------

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 IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome

(Note: Output must be 10 hashtags, but the above shows 9 due to formatting. I'll provide exactly 10 separate hashtags in a single line as requested.)

IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome FrontiersInPublicHealth IndoorVegetables

DATE: September 26, 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: Indoor gardening improves mental health and quality of life for cancer patients

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

Growing vegetables indoors without soil might help cancer patients feel better emotionally and physically. A recent study found that patients who tended to countertop hydroponic gardens experienced improved mental health and an enhanced overall quality of life. The research was published in Frontiers in Public Health.

A cancer diagnosis often brings severe physical and emotional challenges that extend far beyond the immediate medical treatment. Estimates suggest that one in four cancer patients in the United States experiences depression. Poor mental health can negatively affect a patient’s recovery, sometimes leading to unplanned treatment interruptions. Patients battling depression also face a higher risk of cancer recurrence and reduced survival rates. Pain is another distressing symptom, and the perception of that pain is often influenced by emotional and cognitive factors.

To address these overlapping challenges, medical professionals sometimes recommend non-clinical activities to support patient wellbeing, an approach known as social prescribing. Traditional outdoor gardening often provides psychological relief, lowers stress, and encourages healthier eating. It offers moderate physical activity and a connection to nature, which can improve mood and reduce fatigue. Studies indicate that time spent around plants can even shorten hospital stays and boost overall patient satisfaction.

However, outdoor gardening requires a yard, physical stamina, and favorable weather. These requirements exclude many people, especially those living in dense urban areas, apartment buildings, or those undergoing exhausting medical treatments. Recognizing this limitation, researchers sought an alternative that could be easily managed inside the home.

Lead author Taehyun Roh, a public health researcher at Texas A& M University, alongside colleagues from Houston Methodist Hospital and Texas A& M, initiated this research to test an indoor solution. They focused on hydroponics, a method of growing plants in water rather than soil. By adding liquid nutrients directly to a water reservoir and using artificial light, people can cultivate vegetables indoors year-round. This approach eliminates exposure to soil-borne diseases, weeds, and toxic chemicals like herbicides.

The team recruited adult cancer patients receiving outpatient infusion therapy at a specialized cancer center in Houston. The small study ultimately included thirty-six participants with an average age of fifty-seven. These individuals had various types of cancer and had completed at least one cycle of chemotherapy. Instead of using a separate control group, the researchers used a case-crossover design where each patient served as their own baseline for comparison over time.

Each participant received a countertop hydroponic system called an AeroGarden. The kits included everything needed to grow heirloom salad greens. They featured a growing container, an automated light-emitting diode (LED) grow light, liquid plant food, and twelve seed pods. The systems were designed to be highly accessible, ensuring that even people with no previous gardening experience could participate.

For eight weeks, the patients managed the kits in their own homes. They independently planted the seeds, monitored the water levels, and eventually harvested the greens. The researchers provided instructional materials and manufacturer manuals to help the patients optimize plant growth. These materials included troubleshooting advice to resolve common issues associated with indoor plant cultivation.

To track the intervention, the researchers surveyed the participants at the beginning of the study, at the four-week mark, and at the end of the eight weeks. They used standardized questionnaires to measure changes in mental wellbeing, psychological distress, and overall quality of life. The surveys evaluated multiple functional domains, including how well patients could perform physical activities and manage their emotions. They also asked the patients to rate their pain levels and frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Over the course of the eight weeks, the participants reported steady improvements in their mental health. Their overall mental wellbeing scores rose steadily during the intervention. At the same time, their self-reported symptoms of depression declined steadily from the baseline to the end of the study.

The patients also experienced enhancements in their daily quality of life. They reported better emotional and social functioning, meaning they felt more capable of managing their feelings and interacting with friends and family. At the same time, their struggles with a lack of appetite diminished over the study period.

Growing food at home also appeared to influence the participants’ eating habits. By the end of the study, the patients were eating more fruits and dark green leafy vegetables than they had at the start. Experiencing a direct connection between their own efforts and tangible, edible rewards might help sustain long-term dietary changes.

Not all metrics changed during the intervention. While overall pain management scores trended downward slightly, those changes were not statistically significant. Changes in anxiety and stress levels were also not statistically significant during the eight-week period.

The researchers noted several psychological mechanisms that could explain the benefits of therapeutic horticulture. Nurturing plants fosters a sense of responsibility and achievement. This feeling of control can be especially helpful for patients who might feel a sudden loss of autonomy during rigorous medical treatments. The multisensory engagement of interacting with plants also supports cognitive restoration and natural stress relief.

This single-arm design means there was no separate control group to compare against the participants. Because all participants received the gardening kits, the setup introduces a risk of self-selection bias. The people who agreed to participate might have already had a positive attitude toward gardening, which could influence how much they benefited from the activity.

The eight-week timeframe is relatively short, preventing the researchers from observing any long-term effects on the patients’ mental or physical health. Kit usage was reported entirely by the patients themselves without independent verification. Future investigations with larger groups of people, longer observation periods, and more objective tracking methods are necessary to determine if these benefits endure over time.

The study, “Indoor hydroponic vegetable gardening to improve mental health and quality of life in cancer patients: a pilot study,” was authored by Taehyun Roh, Laura Ashley Verzwyvelt, Anisha Aggarwal, Raj Satkunasivam, Nishat Tasnim Hasan, Nusrat Fahmida Trisha, and Charles Hall.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

-------------------------------------------------

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 IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome

(Note: Output must be 10 hashtags, but the above shows 9 due to formatting. I'll provide exactly 10 separate hashtags in a single line as requested.)

IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome FrontiersInPublicHealth IndoorVegetables

DATE: September 26, 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: Indoor gardening improves mental health and quality of life for cancer patients

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

Growing vegetables indoors without soil might help cancer patients feel better emotionally and physically. A recent study found that patients who tended to countertop hydroponic gardens experienced improved mental health and an enhanced overall quality of life. The research was published in Frontiers in Public Health.

A cancer diagnosis often brings severe physical and emotional challenges that extend far beyond the immediate medical treatment. Estimates suggest that one in four cancer patients in the United States experiences depression. Poor mental health can negatively affect a patient’s recovery, sometimes leading to unplanned treatment interruptions. Patients battling depression also face a higher risk of cancer recurrence and reduced survival rates. Pain is another distressing symptom, and the perception of that pain is often influenced by emotional and cognitive factors.

To address these overlapping challenges, medical professionals sometimes recommend non-clinical activities to support patient wellbeing, an approach known as social prescribing. Traditional outdoor gardening often provides psychological relief, lowers stress, and encourages healthier eating. It offers moderate physical activity and a connection to nature, which can improve mood and reduce fatigue. Studies indicate that time spent around plants can even shorten hospital stays and boost overall patient satisfaction.

However, outdoor gardening requires a yard, physical stamina, and favorable weather. These requirements exclude many people, especially those living in dense urban areas, apartment buildings, or those undergoing exhausting medical treatments. Recognizing this limitation, researchers sought an alternative that could be easily managed inside the home.

Lead author Taehyun Roh, a public health researcher at Texas A& M University, alongside colleagues from Houston Methodist Hospital and Texas A& M, initiated this research to test an indoor solution. They focused on hydroponics, a method of growing plants in water rather than soil. By adding liquid nutrients directly to a water reservoir and using artificial light, people can cultivate vegetables indoors year-round. This approach eliminates exposure to soil-borne diseases, weeds, and toxic chemicals like herbicides.

The team recruited adult cancer patients receiving outpatient infusion therapy at a specialized cancer center in Houston. The small study ultimately included thirty-six participants with an average age of fifty-seven. These individuals had various types of cancer and had completed at least one cycle of chemotherapy. Instead of using a separate control group, the researchers used a case-crossover design where each patient served as their own baseline for comparison over time.

Each participant received a countertop hydroponic system called an AeroGarden. The kits included everything needed to grow heirloom salad greens. They featured a growing container, an automated light-emitting diode (LED) grow light, liquid plant food, and twelve seed pods. The systems were designed to be highly accessible, ensuring that even people with no previous gardening experience could participate.

For eight weeks, the patients managed the kits in their own homes. They independently planted the seeds, monitored the water levels, and eventually harvested the greens. The researchers provided instructional materials and manufacturer manuals to help the patients optimize plant growth. These materials included troubleshooting advice to resolve common issues associated with indoor plant cultivation.

To track the intervention, the researchers surveyed the participants at the beginning of the study, at the four-week mark, and at the end of the eight weeks. They used standardized questionnaires to measure changes in mental wellbeing, psychological distress, and overall quality of life. The surveys evaluated multiple functional domains, including how well patients could perform physical activities and manage their emotions. They also asked the patients to rate their pain levels and frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption.

Over the course of the eight weeks, the participants reported steady improvements in their mental health. Their overall mental wellbeing scores rose steadily during the intervention. At the same time, their self-reported symptoms of depression declined steadily from the baseline to the end of the study.

The patients also experienced enhancements in their daily quality of life. They reported better emotional and social functioning, meaning they felt more capable of managing their feelings and interacting with friends and family. At the same time, their struggles with a lack of appetite diminished over the study period.

Growing food at home also appeared to influence the participants’ eating habits. By the end of the study, the patients were eating more fruits and dark green leafy vegetables than they had at the start. Experiencing a direct connection between their own efforts and tangible, edible rewards might help sustain long-term dietary changes.

Not all metrics changed during the intervention. While overall pain management scores trended downward slightly, those changes were not statistically significant. Changes in anxiety and stress levels were also not statistically significant during the eight-week period.

The researchers noted several psychological mechanisms that could explain the benefits of therapeutic horticulture. Nurturing plants fosters a sense of responsibility and achievement. This feeling of control can be especially helpful for patients who might feel a sudden loss of autonomy during rigorous medical treatments. The multisensory engagement of interacting with plants also supports cognitive restoration and natural stress relief.

This single-arm design means there was no separate control group to compare against the participants. Because all participants received the gardening kits, the setup introduces a risk of self-selection bias. The people who agreed to participate might have already had a positive attitude toward gardening, which could influence how much they benefited from the activity.

The eight-week timeframe is relatively short, preventing the researchers from observing any long-term effects on the patients’ mental or physical health. Kit usage was reported entirely by the patients themselves without independent verification. Future investigations with larger groups of people, longer observation periods, and more objective tracking methods are necessary to determine if these benefits endure over time.

The study, “Indoor hydroponic vegetable gardening to improve mental health and quality of life in cancer patients: a pilot study,” was authored by Taehyun Roh, Laura Ashley Verzwyvelt, Anisha Aggarwal, Raj Satkunasivam, Nishat Tasnim Hasan, Nusrat Fahmida Trisha, and Charles Hall.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/indoor-gardening-improves-mental-health-and-quality-of-life-for-cancer-patients/

-------------------------------------------------

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 IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome

(Note: Output must be 10 hashtags, but the above shows 9 due to formatting. I'll provide exactly 10 separate hashtags in a single line as requested.)

IndoorHydroponicsWellbeing CancerCare MentalHealth GardeningTogether PlantBasedHealing DIYHydroponics CancerSupport UrbanGardening WellnessAtHome FrontiersInPublicHealth IndoorVegetables

DATE: September 26, 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: New study of Brazilian twins sheds light on the heritability of our creative confidence

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

A recent study of Brazilian twins suggests that people’s beliefs about their own artistic and practical creativity are modestly influenced by their genetics. The research, published in Personality and Individual Differences, indicates that while inherited factors play a role, unique life experiences account for the vast majority of differences in how creative individuals think they are. The findings provide behavioral genetics data from a South American population, expanding a field that traditionally relies on North American and European samples.

Creativity is generally understood as the ability to generate original and useful ideas in response to environmental demands or social challenges. The concept is often broken down into specific domains. Artistic creativity involves expressive and aesthetic pursuits like visual arts, music, and performance. Practical or everyday creativity involves finding functional solutions to daily problems, such as improvising a fix for a broken household item or navigating a complex social situation.

Instead of measuring objective creative performance, the current research focuses on creative self-beliefs. This term refers to how people perceive their own creative capacities. A person’s belief in their own creativity is a psychological trait that influences whether they seek out creative opportunities or persist when faced with complicated challenges.

To understand how much of a trait is inherited, scientists often rely on twin studies. By comparing identical twins, who share all of their DNA, with fraternal twins, who share about half of their DNA, researchers can estimate the relative contributions of genetics and the environment. Environmental influences are further divided into shared environments, like growing up in the same household, and non-shared environments, which include unique personal experiences such as individual friendships, specific mentors, or personal hobbies.

Most of what scientists know about the genetics of creativity comes from populations in industrialized Western nations. However, a 2024 review pointed out a regional blind spot, noting that Brazilian twins have been largely missing from global genetic research. The research team, led by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella at the University of São Paulo, set out to provide initial estimates of genetic and environmental influences on creative self-beliefs in a South American context.

Varella, a biologist and research fellow at the Institute for Research on Sociocultural Variations who also authored an open access book about the ecological and evolutionary bases of human behavior, was drawn to the topic through his interest in evolutionary psychology. “From the evolutionary perspective, the only way to empirically be confident that something morphological or psychological evolved is to reunite a converging line of evidence stemming from different areas and fields,” Varella told PsyPost. “One of these sources of evidence is indeed twin studies, which tell us how much genetic variation lies underneath individual variation in psychological and bodily traits.”

To conduct the new study, the researchers recruited 196 participants, making up 98 twin pairs. The sample included 79 pairs of identical twins and 19 pairs of fraternal twins. The participants were predominantly female, mostly young adults, and primarily from middle-class backgrounds in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two phases, with 74 twin pairs visiting a laboratory for an extensive session of psychological and physical assessments prior to the pandemic, and an additional 24 twin pairs completing the study through an online survey at a later date.

The participants answered a brief questionnaire designed to measure their self-perceived creativity and curiosity. They rated their own artistic creativity and practical creativity on an 11-point scale ranging from zero to ten. They also answered a single question about their general curiosity using the same scale. The researchers then used statistical models to compare the scores of identical and fraternal twins, allowing them to calculate the percentage of variance explained by genetics, shared family environments, and unique individual experiences.

The researchers found that genetic factors accounted for about 22 percent of the variation in artistic creative self-beliefs. For practical creativity, genetic factors accounted for a nearly identical 21 percent of the variation. This means that roughly one-fifth of the differences in how creative these individuals believed themselves to be can be traced back to their genetic makeup. When the researchers combined both measures into a single general factor of creative self-belief, the genetic influence was estimated at 24 percent.

The remaining variation in creative self-beliefs was almost entirely explained by non-shared environmental factors. Unique life experiences accounted for about 78 percent of the variance in artistic creativity and 79 percent in practical creativity. Shared environmental factors, such as being raised in the same household or having the same parents, had no statistically significant effect on the twins’ creative self-beliefs. The statistical models for the curiosity question did not fit the data well, so the researchers did not interpret those specific results.

“How one considers oneself as creative varies among people, and we found that in a small and unrepresentative sample of Brazil, about a quarter and a fifth of this interpersonal variation is due to genetic factors,” Varella explained. “The majority of this individual variation is due to each one’s unique individual environment (the one not shared with our siblings or no one else).”

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on a relatively small number of participants, particularly in the group of fraternal twins. This small sample size means that the exact statistical estimates have wide margins of error and should be viewed as preliminary approximations. A larger sample of fraternal twins would help to provide more precise calculations of genetic and environmental influences in this population.

Varella noted the difficulty in recruiting a sample of twins, “particularly because they are less than two percent of the population and because the USP Twin Panel is still in its initial phase, so the size of the twin register and the proportion of twins who want to be part of research is still small, unfortunately.” He added that identical twins generally participate at higher rates because they “are more intrigued by their similarity.”

The study also used single-item questions to measure creativity and curiosity. “Because we had little access to twins and little time with them, we had to compromise and use only a single item question about creativity self-belief,” Varella said. While these brief measures are useful for keeping surveys short, they do not capture the full complexity of human creativity.

The results reflect how participants view their own abilities, which is not necessarily the same as how they would perform on objective tests of creative thinking or problem solving. People’s self-ratings can be influenced by cultural norms regarding modesty, self-esteem, and what a specific society considers creative.

“Heritability is not about how much of my or your creativity is due to my genes, but instead it is a measure of the genetic contribution to the individual differences in traits in a given population,” Varella explained. “The more one knows about modern genetics and behavioral genetics, the less one is afraid of genes as being the destiny or immutable fatality. Heritability or genes can never really be used as excuses because the most important factor that affects individual differences across traits and population is the unique environment; what we do with our life and all the random factors that we face.”

Future research could build on these findings by combining self-reported beliefs with actual performance tasks, such as generating alternative uses for everyday objects or having independent judges evaluate creative products. Exploring these traits in larger and more diverse groups of twins across Latin America could also help clarify how cultural and educational opportunities interact with genetic predispositions to shape the creative mind.

“We hope our humble study serves a bigger purpose of inspiring more researchers in Latin America to study behavioral genetics and other biological perspectives to psychology and behavior, so that we get to a more integrated and richer notion of humans,” Varella concluded.

The study, “Heritability of self-reported artistic and practical/everyday creative self-beliefs in Brazilian twins,” was authored by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa, Yago Lukševičius de Moraes, and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Creativity genetics Brazil twins #Heritability #CreativeSelfBelief #ArtisticCreativity #PracticalCreativity #BehavioralGenetics #LatinAmericaresearch #TwinStudies #BrazilianScience #SelfPerceivedCreativity

DATE: September 26, 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: New study of Brazilian twins sheds light on the heritability of our creative confidence

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

A recent study of Brazilian twins suggests that people’s beliefs about their own artistic and practical creativity are modestly influenced by their genetics. The research, published in Personality and Individual Differences, indicates that while inherited factors play a role, unique life experiences account for the vast majority of differences in how creative individuals think they are. The findings provide behavioral genetics data from a South American population, expanding a field that traditionally relies on North American and European samples.

Creativity is generally understood as the ability to generate original and useful ideas in response to environmental demands or social challenges. The concept is often broken down into specific domains. Artistic creativity involves expressive and aesthetic pursuits like visual arts, music, and performance. Practical or everyday creativity involves finding functional solutions to daily problems, such as improvising a fix for a broken household item or navigating a complex social situation.

Instead of measuring objective creative performance, the current research focuses on creative self-beliefs. This term refers to how people perceive their own creative capacities. A person’s belief in their own creativity is a psychological trait that influences whether they seek out creative opportunities or persist when faced with complicated challenges.

To understand how much of a trait is inherited, scientists often rely on twin studies. By comparing identical twins, who share all of their DNA, with fraternal twins, who share about half of their DNA, researchers can estimate the relative contributions of genetics and the environment. Environmental influences are further divided into shared environments, like growing up in the same household, and non-shared environments, which include unique personal experiences such as individual friendships, specific mentors, or personal hobbies.

Most of what scientists know about the genetics of creativity comes from populations in industrialized Western nations. However, a 2024 review pointed out a regional blind spot, noting that Brazilian twins have been largely missing from global genetic research. The research team, led by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella at the University of São Paulo, set out to provide initial estimates of genetic and environmental influences on creative self-beliefs in a South American context.

Varella, a biologist and research fellow at the Institute for Research on Sociocultural Variations who also authored an open access book about the ecological and evolutionary bases of human behavior, was drawn to the topic through his interest in evolutionary psychology. “From the evolutionary perspective, the only way to empirically be confident that something morphological or psychological evolved is to reunite a converging line of evidence stemming from different areas and fields,” Varella told PsyPost. “One of these sources of evidence is indeed twin studies, which tell us how much genetic variation lies underneath individual variation in psychological and bodily traits.”

To conduct the new study, the researchers recruited 196 participants, making up 98 twin pairs. The sample included 79 pairs of identical twins and 19 pairs of fraternal twins. The participants were predominantly female, mostly young adults, and primarily from middle-class backgrounds in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two phases, with 74 twin pairs visiting a laboratory for an extensive session of psychological and physical assessments prior to the pandemic, and an additional 24 twin pairs completing the study through an online survey at a later date.

The participants answered a brief questionnaire designed to measure their self-perceived creativity and curiosity. They rated their own artistic creativity and practical creativity on an 11-point scale ranging from zero to ten. They also answered a single question about their general curiosity using the same scale. The researchers then used statistical models to compare the scores of identical and fraternal twins, allowing them to calculate the percentage of variance explained by genetics, shared family environments, and unique individual experiences.

The researchers found that genetic factors accounted for about 22 percent of the variation in artistic creative self-beliefs. For practical creativity, genetic factors accounted for a nearly identical 21 percent of the variation. This means that roughly one-fifth of the differences in how creative these individuals believed themselves to be can be traced back to their genetic makeup. When the researchers combined both measures into a single general factor of creative self-belief, the genetic influence was estimated at 24 percent.

The remaining variation in creative self-beliefs was almost entirely explained by non-shared environmental factors. Unique life experiences accounted for about 78 percent of the variance in artistic creativity and 79 percent in practical creativity. Shared environmental factors, such as being raised in the same household or having the same parents, had no statistically significant effect on the twins’ creative self-beliefs. The statistical models for the curiosity question did not fit the data well, so the researchers did not interpret those specific results.

“How one considers oneself as creative varies among people, and we found that in a small and unrepresentative sample of Brazil, about a quarter and a fifth of this interpersonal variation is due to genetic factors,” Varella explained. “The majority of this individual variation is due to each one’s unique individual environment (the one not shared with our siblings or no one else).”

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on a relatively small number of participants, particularly in the group of fraternal twins. This small sample size means that the exact statistical estimates have wide margins of error and should be viewed as preliminary approximations. A larger sample of fraternal twins would help to provide more precise calculations of genetic and environmental influences in this population.

Varella noted the difficulty in recruiting a sample of twins, “particularly because they are less than two percent of the population and because the USP Twin Panel is still in its initial phase, so the size of the twin register and the proportion of twins who want to be part of research is still small, unfortunately.” He added that identical twins generally participate at higher rates because they “are more intrigued by their similarity.”

The study also used single-item questions to measure creativity and curiosity. “Because we had little access to twins and little time with them, we had to compromise and use only a single item question about creativity self-belief,” Varella said. While these brief measures are useful for keeping surveys short, they do not capture the full complexity of human creativity.

The results reflect how participants view their own abilities, which is not necessarily the same as how they would perform on objective tests of creative thinking or problem solving. People’s self-ratings can be influenced by cultural norms regarding modesty, self-esteem, and what a specific society considers creative.

“Heritability is not about how much of my or your creativity is due to my genes, but instead it is a measure of the genetic contribution to the individual differences in traits in a given population,” Varella explained. “The more one knows about modern genetics and behavioral genetics, the less one is afraid of genes as being the destiny or immutable fatality. Heritability or genes can never really be used as excuses because the most important factor that affects individual differences across traits and population is the unique environment; what we do with our life and all the random factors that we face.”

Future research could build on these findings by combining self-reported beliefs with actual performance tasks, such as generating alternative uses for everyday objects or having independent judges evaluate creative products. Exploring these traits in larger and more diverse groups of twins across Latin America could also help clarify how cultural and educational opportunities interact with genetic predispositions to shape the creative mind.

“We hope our humble study serves a bigger purpose of inspiring more researchers in Latin America to study behavioral genetics and other biological perspectives to psychology and behavior, so that we get to a more integrated and richer notion of humans,” Varella concluded.

The study, “Heritability of self-reported artistic and practical/everyday creative self-beliefs in Brazilian twins,” was authored by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa, Yago Lukševičius de Moraes, and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

-------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------

#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Creativity genetics Brazil twins #Heritability #CreativeSelfBelief #ArtisticCreativity #PracticalCreativity #BehavioralGenetics #LatinAmericaresearch #TwinStudies #BrazilianScience #SelfPerceivedCreativity

DATE: September 26, 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: New study of Brazilian twins sheds light on the heritability of our creative confidence

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

A recent study of Brazilian twins suggests that people’s beliefs about their own artistic and practical creativity are modestly influenced by their genetics. The research, published in Personality and Individual Differences, indicates that while inherited factors play a role, unique life experiences account for the vast majority of differences in how creative individuals think they are. The findings provide behavioral genetics data from a South American population, expanding a field that traditionally relies on North American and European samples.

Creativity is generally understood as the ability to generate original and useful ideas in response to environmental demands or social challenges. The concept is often broken down into specific domains. Artistic creativity involves expressive and aesthetic pursuits like visual arts, music, and performance. Practical or everyday creativity involves finding functional solutions to daily problems, such as improvising a fix for a broken household item or navigating a complex social situation.

Instead of measuring objective creative performance, the current research focuses on creative self-beliefs. This term refers to how people perceive their own creative capacities. A person’s belief in their own creativity is a psychological trait that influences whether they seek out creative opportunities or persist when faced with complicated challenges.

To understand how much of a trait is inherited, scientists often rely on twin studies. By comparing identical twins, who share all of their DNA, with fraternal twins, who share about half of their DNA, researchers can estimate the relative contributions of genetics and the environment. Environmental influences are further divided into shared environments, like growing up in the same household, and non-shared environments, which include unique personal experiences such as individual friendships, specific mentors, or personal hobbies.

Most of what scientists know about the genetics of creativity comes from populations in industrialized Western nations. However, a 2024 review pointed out a regional blind spot, noting that Brazilian twins have been largely missing from global genetic research. The research team, led by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella at the University of São Paulo, set out to provide initial estimates of genetic and environmental influences on creative self-beliefs in a South American context.

Varella, a biologist and research fellow at the Institute for Research on Sociocultural Variations who also authored an open access book about the ecological and evolutionary bases of human behavior, was drawn to the topic through his interest in evolutionary psychology. “From the evolutionary perspective, the only way to empirically be confident that something morphological or psychological evolved is to reunite a converging line of evidence stemming from different areas and fields,” Varella told PsyPost. “One of these sources of evidence is indeed twin studies, which tell us how much genetic variation lies underneath individual variation in psychological and bodily traits.”

To conduct the new study, the researchers recruited 196 participants, making up 98 twin pairs. The sample included 79 pairs of identical twins and 19 pairs of fraternal twins. The participants were predominantly female, mostly young adults, and primarily from middle-class backgrounds in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two phases, with 74 twin pairs visiting a laboratory for an extensive session of psychological and physical assessments prior to the pandemic, and an additional 24 twin pairs completing the study through an online survey at a later date.

The participants answered a brief questionnaire designed to measure their self-perceived creativity and curiosity. They rated their own artistic creativity and practical creativity on an 11-point scale ranging from zero to ten. They also answered a single question about their general curiosity using the same scale. The researchers then used statistical models to compare the scores of identical and fraternal twins, allowing them to calculate the percentage of variance explained by genetics, shared family environments, and unique individual experiences.

The researchers found that genetic factors accounted for about 22 percent of the variation in artistic creative self-beliefs. For practical creativity, genetic factors accounted for a nearly identical 21 percent of the variation. This means that roughly one-fifth of the differences in how creative these individuals believed themselves to be can be traced back to their genetic makeup. When the researchers combined both measures into a single general factor of creative self-belief, the genetic influence was estimated at 24 percent.

The remaining variation in creative self-beliefs was almost entirely explained by non-shared environmental factors. Unique life experiences accounted for about 78 percent of the variance in artistic creativity and 79 percent in practical creativity. Shared environmental factors, such as being raised in the same household or having the same parents, had no statistically significant effect on the twins’ creative self-beliefs. The statistical models for the curiosity question did not fit the data well, so the researchers did not interpret those specific results.

“How one considers oneself as creative varies among people, and we found that in a small and unrepresentative sample of Brazil, about a quarter and a fifth of this interpersonal variation is due to genetic factors,” Varella explained. “The majority of this individual variation is due to each one’s unique individual environment (the one not shared with our siblings or no one else).”

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind. The study relied on a relatively small number of participants, particularly in the group of fraternal twins. This small sample size means that the exact statistical estimates have wide margins of error and should be viewed as preliminary approximations. A larger sample of fraternal twins would help to provide more precise calculations of genetic and environmental influences in this population.

Varella noted the difficulty in recruiting a sample of twins, “particularly because they are less than two percent of the population and because the USP Twin Panel is still in its initial phase, so the size of the twin register and the proportion of twins who want to be part of research is still small, unfortunately.” He added that identical twins generally participate at higher rates because they “are more intrigued by their similarity.”

The study also used single-item questions to measure creativity and curiosity. “Because we had little access to twins and little time with them, we had to compromise and use only a single item question about creativity self-belief,” Varella said. While these brief measures are useful for keeping surveys short, they do not capture the full complexity of human creativity.

The results reflect how participants view their own abilities, which is not necessarily the same as how they would perform on objective tests of creative thinking or problem solving. People’s self-ratings can be influenced by cultural norms regarding modesty, self-esteem, and what a specific society considers creative.

“Heritability is not about how much of my or your creativity is due to my genes, but instead it is a measure of the genetic contribution to the individual differences in traits in a given population,” Varella explained. “The more one knows about modern genetics and behavioral genetics, the less one is afraid of genes as being the destiny or immutable fatality. Heritability or genes can never really be used as excuses because the most important factor that affects individual differences across traits and population is the unique environment; what we do with our life and all the random factors that we face.”

Future research could build on these findings by combining self-reported beliefs with actual performance tasks, such as generating alternative uses for everyday objects or having independent judges evaluate creative products. Exploring these traits in larger and more diverse groups of twins across Latin America could also help clarify how cultural and educational opportunities interact with genetic predispositions to shape the creative mind.

“We hope our humble study serves a bigger purpose of inspiring more researchers in Latin America to study behavioral genetics and other biological perspectives to psychology and behavior, so that we get to a more integrated and richer notion of humans,” Varella concluded.

The study, “Heritability of self-reported artistic and practical/everyday creative self-beliefs in Brazilian twins,” was authored by João Vitor Rodrigues Costa, Yago Lukševičius de Moraes, and Marco Antonio Corrêa Varella.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/new-study-of-brazilian-twins-sheds-light-on-the-heritability-of-our-creative-confidence/

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Creativity genetics Brazil twins #Heritability #CreativeSelfBelief #ArtisticCreativity #PracticalCreativity #BehavioralGenetics #LatinAmericaresearch #TwinStudies #BrazilianScience #SelfPerceivedCreativity

DATE: September 26, 2026 at 07:30AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: REM sleep paradox: Dreaming may drain the brain’s energy even as fuel supply rises

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

Scientists discovered a surprising energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep, the stage most closely associated with dreaming. Blood supply to the brain begins increasing even before REM starts, but neurons’ immediately available energy, measured as ATP, then drops. The finding suggests that dreaming may require such intense internal processing that neurons consume energy faster than it can be replenished.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

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DATE: September 26, 2026 at 07:30AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: REM sleep paradox: Dreaming may drain the brain’s energy even as fuel supply rises

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

Scientists discovered a surprising energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep, the stage most closely associated with dreaming. Blood supply to the brain begins increasing even before REM starts, but neurons’ immediately available energy, measured as ATP, then drops. The finding suggests that dreaming may require such intense internal processing that neurons consume energy faster than it can be replenished.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #REMsleep #Dreaming #BrainEnergy #Neuroscience #SleepResearch #ATP #EnergyParadox #SleepScience #NeuralMetabolism #Dreams

DATE: September 26, 2026 at 07:30AM
SOURCE: SCIENCE DAILY MIND-BRAIN FEED

TITLE: REM sleep paradox: Dreaming may drain the brain’s energy even as fuel supply rises

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

Scientists discovered a surprising energy paradox in the brain during REM sleep, the stage most closely associated with dreaming. Blood supply to the brain begins increasing even before REM starts, but neurons’ immediately available energy, measured as ATP, then drops. The finding suggests that dreaming may require such intense internal processing that neurons consume energy faster than it can be replenished.

URL: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260925093206.htm

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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #REMsleep #Dreaming #BrainEnergy #Neuroscience #SleepResearch #ATP #EnergyParadox #SleepScience #NeuralMetabolism #Dreams

DATE: September 26, 2026 at 11:00AM
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: The neuroscience of pity: how attractiveness and morality shape empathy

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

New research reveals how people process empathy when they see someone in pain, showing that physical attractiveness and moral history both influence our emotional responses. The findings indicate that moral judgments dominate our conscious feelings of pity, while physical attractiveness exerts a subtle influence during different stages of brain activity. The small study was published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

Empathy is not a single, instantaneous event in the human brain. It involves an early, automatic sharing of emotion followed by a later, conscious evaluation of the situation. Psychologists often divide empathy into these two dimensions to understand how we connect with others. The emotional dimension is the reflexive wince you feel when someone stubs their toe.

The cognitive dimension involves thinking about the other person’s perspective and judging the context of their suffering. Social cues like how attractive someone is or whether they are a good person are known to change how much empathy observers feel. People often fall back on a stereotype that equates physical beauty with goodness.

This bias leads observers to attribute positive traits to attractive individuals, which can alter how they react when those individuals get hurt. Lead author Jiangyao Liu at South China Normal University and colleagues wanted to see how physical beauty and moral history interact over time. They aimed to measure electrical brain activity to see exactly when these social cues alter the empathetic process.

The researchers recruited two dozen university students for the small study. To test the effects of physical appearance, the team created digitally blended faces that were either highly attractive or less attractive. They did this by blending photographs of ordinary students with photographs of celebrities at varying ratios to control for basic physical features.

The researchers then paired these faces with fabricated news stories to give each face a moral background. Some faces were labeled as volunteers who donated blood, representing high moral character. Others were labeled as criminals who attacked pedestrians, representing low moral character. A third group was left unidentified to provide a neutral baseline.

Before the main task began, participants had to memorize these face and story pairings until they achieved perfect accuracy. This step ensured that the moral background was firmly linked to the face in the participant’s memory. In the main phase of the experiment, participants viewed these faces alongside images of people in painful situations. The images depicted ordinary hazards, such as getting a finger caught in a door, alongside similar non-painful situations.

As the participants viewed the images, researchers recorded their brain activity using sensors on their scalps. They specifically tracked event-related potentials, which are distinct spikes in the brain’s electrical activity that occur at specific milliseconds after a person sees a stimulus. After the brain monitoring session, the researchers also asked the participants to rate how much empathy they felt for the person in the image.

The subjective ratings showed a marked bias based on moral character. Participants reported much lower empathy for the individuals labeled as criminals compared to the volunteers and the unidentified targets. Attractiveness provided a buffer against negative moral judgments, as participants reported higher empathy for attractive criminals than for less attractive ones. This behavioral result aligns with the idea that physical beauty can soften the blow of negative character traits in social evaluations.

The electrical brain activity painted a more intricate picture, revealing how the brain processes these biases over distinct time frames. The earliest brain wave the researchers measured peaks around 120 to 150 milliseconds after seeing an image and reflects initial attention. Unidentified targets triggered larger responses in this early stage than either volunteers or criminals.

The researchers suggest that ambiguous moral information requires more initial attention to process. Observers might naturally direct extra focus toward an individual when they lack basic information about whether that person is a friend or a threat. A slightly later brain wave, peaking around 220 to 270 milliseconds, is associated with early emotional sharing and automatic empathy.

During this stage, painful images paired with less attractive faces triggered a stronger brain response than those paired with highly attractive faces. This might occur because less attractive individuals are sometimes perceived on an unconscious level as needing more help. Observers might assume highly attractive people already possess high social competence, reducing the brain’s automatic distress signal.

The final brain wave measured occurs during the later stages of cognitive evaluation, peaking between 600 and 800 milliseconds. During this window, the brain is actively thinking about the social context and regulating its emotional response. Here, the two social cues interacted depending on the available information.

When the moral status of the target was unknown, physical attractiveness drove the brain’s response. The highly attractive faces generated larger brain wave differences between pain and non-pain images in these ambiguous cases. Observers appeared to rely heavily on visual appeal when they lacked concrete details about a person’s character.

When the moral status was explicitly defined as either a volunteer or a criminal, the target’s physical attractiveness became less important. In cases with known moral backgrounds, the less attractive faces actually produced a larger late-stage brain wave response. The researchers interpret this as the brain exerting more mental effort to evaluate the situation, especially when trying to generate empathy toward social outcasts like criminals.

A few limitations apply to these findings. The study utilized digitally synthesized faces, which might lack the natural realism of real human faces. This artificiality could inadvertently alter how participants emotionally connect with the images.

The small sample size also limits the ability to confidently detect subtle interactions in brain activity across multiple subgroups. The results were not statistically significant in some of the minor data comparisons. Additionally, interpreting late-stage brain waves can be highly subjective.

These late electrical signals might reflect general attention, memory recall, or mental effort rather than pure empathy. Future research will need to replicate these findings with larger groups to verify the timeline of moral and visual biases in the brain.

The study, “High face appeal or justice? An event-related potential study of the effects of facial attractiveness and moral judgment on pain empathy,” was authored by Jiangyao Liu, Shengnan Li, Yiming Shi, and Pinchao Luo.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

-------------------------------------------------

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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 #neuroscienceofempathy #pitybias #facialattractiveness #moraljudgment #empathydynamics #socialcues #painempathy #ERPstudy #brainwaves #empathyresearch

DATE: September 26, 2026 at 11:00AM
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: The neuroscience of pity: how attractiveness and morality shape empathy

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

New research reveals how people process empathy when they see someone in pain, showing that physical attractiveness and moral history both influence our emotional responses. The findings indicate that moral judgments dominate our conscious feelings of pity, while physical attractiveness exerts a subtle influence during different stages of brain activity. The small study was published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

Empathy is not a single, instantaneous event in the human brain. It involves an early, automatic sharing of emotion followed by a later, conscious evaluation of the situation. Psychologists often divide empathy into these two dimensions to understand how we connect with others. The emotional dimension is the reflexive wince you feel when someone stubs their toe.

The cognitive dimension involves thinking about the other person’s perspective and judging the context of their suffering. Social cues like how attractive someone is or whether they are a good person are known to change how much empathy observers feel. People often fall back on a stereotype that equates physical beauty with goodness.

This bias leads observers to attribute positive traits to attractive individuals, which can alter how they react when those individuals get hurt. Lead author Jiangyao Liu at South China Normal University and colleagues wanted to see how physical beauty and moral history interact over time. They aimed to measure electrical brain activity to see exactly when these social cues alter the empathetic process.

The researchers recruited two dozen university students for the small study. To test the effects of physical appearance, the team created digitally blended faces that were either highly attractive or less attractive. They did this by blending photographs of ordinary students with photographs of celebrities at varying ratios to control for basic physical features.

The researchers then paired these faces with fabricated news stories to give each face a moral background. Some faces were labeled as volunteers who donated blood, representing high moral character. Others were labeled as criminals who attacked pedestrians, representing low moral character. A third group was left unidentified to provide a neutral baseline.

Before the main task began, participants had to memorize these face and story pairings until they achieved perfect accuracy. This step ensured that the moral background was firmly linked to the face in the participant’s memory. In the main phase of the experiment, participants viewed these faces alongside images of people in painful situations. The images depicted ordinary hazards, such as getting a finger caught in a door, alongside similar non-painful situations.

As the participants viewed the images, researchers recorded their brain activity using sensors on their scalps. They specifically tracked event-related potentials, which are distinct spikes in the brain’s electrical activity that occur at specific milliseconds after a person sees a stimulus. After the brain monitoring session, the researchers also asked the participants to rate how much empathy they felt for the person in the image.

The subjective ratings showed a marked bias based on moral character. Participants reported much lower empathy for the individuals labeled as criminals compared to the volunteers and the unidentified targets. Attractiveness provided a buffer against negative moral judgments, as participants reported higher empathy for attractive criminals than for less attractive ones. This behavioral result aligns with the idea that physical beauty can soften the blow of negative character traits in social evaluations.

The electrical brain activity painted a more intricate picture, revealing how the brain processes these biases over distinct time frames. The earliest brain wave the researchers measured peaks around 120 to 150 milliseconds after seeing an image and reflects initial attention. Unidentified targets triggered larger responses in this early stage than either volunteers or criminals.

The researchers suggest that ambiguous moral information requires more initial attention to process. Observers might naturally direct extra focus toward an individual when they lack basic information about whether that person is a friend or a threat. A slightly later brain wave, peaking around 220 to 270 milliseconds, is associated with early emotional sharing and automatic empathy.

During this stage, painful images paired with less attractive faces triggered a stronger brain response than those paired with highly attractive faces. This might occur because less attractive individuals are sometimes perceived on an unconscious level as needing more help. Observers might assume highly attractive people already possess high social competence, reducing the brain’s automatic distress signal.

The final brain wave measured occurs during the later stages of cognitive evaluation, peaking between 600 and 800 milliseconds. During this window, the brain is actively thinking about the social context and regulating its emotional response. Here, the two social cues interacted depending on the available information.

When the moral status of the target was unknown, physical attractiveness drove the brain’s response. The highly attractive faces generated larger brain wave differences between pain and non-pain images in these ambiguous cases. Observers appeared to rely heavily on visual appeal when they lacked concrete details about a person’s character.

When the moral status was explicitly defined as either a volunteer or a criminal, the target’s physical attractiveness became less important. In cases with known moral backgrounds, the less attractive faces actually produced a larger late-stage brain wave response. The researchers interpret this as the brain exerting more mental effort to evaluate the situation, especially when trying to generate empathy toward social outcasts like criminals.

A few limitations apply to these findings. The study utilized digitally synthesized faces, which might lack the natural realism of real human faces. This artificiality could inadvertently alter how participants emotionally connect with the images.

The small sample size also limits the ability to confidently detect subtle interactions in brain activity across multiple subgroups. The results were not statistically significant in some of the minor data comparisons. Additionally, interpreting late-stage brain waves can be highly subjective.

These late electrical signals might reflect general attention, memory recall, or mental effort rather than pure empathy. Future research will need to replicate these findings with larger groups to verify the timeline of moral and visual biases in the brain.

The study, “High face appeal or justice? An event-related potential study of the effects of facial attractiveness and moral judgment on pain empathy,” was authored by Jiangyao Liu, Shengnan Li, Yiming Shi, and Pinchao Luo.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

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DATE: September 26, 2026 at 11:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG

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TITLE: The neuroscience of pity: how attractiveness and morality shape empathy

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

New research reveals how people process empathy when they see someone in pain, showing that physical attractiveness and moral history both influence our emotional responses. The findings indicate that moral judgments dominate our conscious feelings of pity, while physical attractiveness exerts a subtle influence during different stages of brain activity. The small study was published in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

Empathy is not a single, instantaneous event in the human brain. It involves an early, automatic sharing of emotion followed by a later, conscious evaluation of the situation. Psychologists often divide empathy into these two dimensions to understand how we connect with others. The emotional dimension is the reflexive wince you feel when someone stubs their toe.

The cognitive dimension involves thinking about the other person’s perspective and judging the context of their suffering. Social cues like how attractive someone is or whether they are a good person are known to change how much empathy observers feel. People often fall back on a stereotype that equates physical beauty with goodness.

This bias leads observers to attribute positive traits to attractive individuals, which can alter how they react when those individuals get hurt. Lead author Jiangyao Liu at South China Normal University and colleagues wanted to see how physical beauty and moral history interact over time. They aimed to measure electrical brain activity to see exactly when these social cues alter the empathetic process.

The researchers recruited two dozen university students for the small study. To test the effects of physical appearance, the team created digitally blended faces that were either highly attractive or less attractive. They did this by blending photographs of ordinary students with photographs of celebrities at varying ratios to control for basic physical features.

The researchers then paired these faces with fabricated news stories to give each face a moral background. Some faces were labeled as volunteers who donated blood, representing high moral character. Others were labeled as criminals who attacked pedestrians, representing low moral character. A third group was left unidentified to provide a neutral baseline.

Before the main task began, participants had to memorize these face and story pairings until they achieved perfect accuracy. This step ensured that the moral background was firmly linked to the face in the participant’s memory. In the main phase of the experiment, participants viewed these faces alongside images of people in painful situations. The images depicted ordinary hazards, such as getting a finger caught in a door, alongside similar non-painful situations.

As the participants viewed the images, researchers recorded their brain activity using sensors on their scalps. They specifically tracked event-related potentials, which are distinct spikes in the brain’s electrical activity that occur at specific milliseconds after a person sees a stimulus. After the brain monitoring session, the researchers also asked the participants to rate how much empathy they felt for the person in the image.

The subjective ratings showed a marked bias based on moral character. Participants reported much lower empathy for the individuals labeled as criminals compared to the volunteers and the unidentified targets. Attractiveness provided a buffer against negative moral judgments, as participants reported higher empathy for attractive criminals than for less attractive ones. This behavioral result aligns with the idea that physical beauty can soften the blow of negative character traits in social evaluations.

The electrical brain activity painted a more intricate picture, revealing how the brain processes these biases over distinct time frames. The earliest brain wave the researchers measured peaks around 120 to 150 milliseconds after seeing an image and reflects initial attention. Unidentified targets triggered larger responses in this early stage than either volunteers or criminals.

The researchers suggest that ambiguous moral information requires more initial attention to process. Observers might naturally direct extra focus toward an individual when they lack basic information about whether that person is a friend or a threat. A slightly later brain wave, peaking around 220 to 270 milliseconds, is associated with early emotional sharing and automatic empathy.

During this stage, painful images paired with less attractive faces triggered a stronger brain response than those paired with highly attractive faces. This might occur because less attractive individuals are sometimes perceived on an unconscious level as needing more help. Observers might assume highly attractive people already possess high social competence, reducing the brain’s automatic distress signal.

The final brain wave measured occurs during the later stages of cognitive evaluation, peaking between 600 and 800 milliseconds. During this window, the brain is actively thinking about the social context and regulating its emotional response. Here, the two social cues interacted depending on the available information.

When the moral status of the target was unknown, physical attractiveness drove the brain’s response. The highly attractive faces generated larger brain wave differences between pain and non-pain images in these ambiguous cases. Observers appeared to rely heavily on visual appeal when they lacked concrete details about a person’s character.

When the moral status was explicitly defined as either a volunteer or a criminal, the target’s physical attractiveness became less important. In cases with known moral backgrounds, the less attractive faces actually produced a larger late-stage brain wave response. The researchers interpret this as the brain exerting more mental effort to evaluate the situation, especially when trying to generate empathy toward social outcasts like criminals.

A few limitations apply to these findings. The study utilized digitally synthesized faces, which might lack the natural realism of real human faces. This artificiality could inadvertently alter how participants emotionally connect with the images.

The small sample size also limits the ability to confidently detect subtle interactions in brain activity across multiple subgroups. The results were not statistically significant in some of the minor data comparisons. Additionally, interpreting late-stage brain waves can be highly subjective.

These late electrical signals might reflect general attention, memory recall, or mental effort rather than pure empathy. Future research will need to replicate these findings with larger groups to verify the timeline of moral and visual biases in the brain.

The study, “High face appeal or justice? An event-related potential study of the effects of facial attractiveness and moral judgment on pain empathy,” was authored by Jiangyao Liu, Shengnan Li, Yiming Shi, and Pinchao Luo.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-good-looks-and-good-deeds-alter-the-brain-s-reaction-to-pain/

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DATE: September 26, 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. **
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TITLE: Emotional distress when stopping antidepressants appears to be due to withdrawal, not relapse

URL: https://www.psypost.org/emotional-distress-when-stopping-antidepressants-appears-to-be-due-to-withdrawal-not-relapse/

When people reduce or stop taking their antidepressant medication, they often experience a surge in negative emotions like anxiety and low mood. A new study published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics suggests that these sudden emotional shifts are generally signs of a physical withdrawal reaction to the medication, rather than a return of the person’s underlying mental health condition. The research provides evidence that tracking physical symptoms like dizziness alongside emotional changes can help doctors accurately identify withdrawal.

Antidepressants are medications widely prescribed to treat conditions like depression and anxiety disorders. Patients often take these drugs continuously for months or years, during which time the body adapts to their presence. When a person decides to stop taking the medication, they typically engage in tapering, a process of gradually reducing the dose over several weeks or months.

During this period, it is common for individuals to experience a range of acute symptoms. Some of these are physical, such as dizziness, nausea, muscle cramps, and “brain zaps,” which are sudden electroshock-like sensations in the head. These physical reactions are widely recognized as direct signs of pharmacological withdrawal, a state in which the body reacts to the absence or reduced level of a drug it has become accustomed to.

However, tapering is also frequently accompanied by emotional, or affective, symptoms. These can include depressed mood, irritability, anxiety, and sudden anger outbursts. Because these emotional symptoms are nearly identical to the core features of depression and anxiety disorders, doctors face a major diagnostic challenge. When a patient feels anxious or depressed after lowering their medication dose, it can be difficult to tell whether they are experiencing a temporary withdrawal effect or a relapse, which is the return of the original mental health condition.

Making the correct distinction has major consequences for patient care. If the emotional symptoms indicate a relapse, medical guidelines generally suggest that the patient should resume taking the medication to keep their condition in check. But if the symptoms are a reaction to withdrawal, a better approach is to reduce the dose in smaller, slower steps to allow the body more time to adjust.

The scientific community has debated how frequently withdrawal occurs and how it should be classified. For example, a systematic review covered by PsyPost in 2024 argued that antidepressant withdrawal is relatively uncommon, affecting only about one in three people stopping their medication, with severe effects being rare. In contrast, other research covered by PsyPost in 2025 indicates that post-acute withdrawal symptoms can be severe and persist for months or even years.

The research team, led by Michael P. Hengartner, a professor of clinical psychology and research group leader at Kalaidos University of Applied Sciences, initiated the current study to help settle this issue. They sought to determine whether the emotional symptoms that emerge shortly after a dose reduction follow the typical periodic pattern of withdrawal or the more gradual, persistent pattern of a relapse.

“Various lines of evidence strongly suggest that rapidly emerging depressive or anxiety symptoms after antidepressant discontinuation or during tapering are manifestations of withdrawal reactions,” Hengartner, who also authored the book Evidence-biased antidepressant prescription: Overmedicalisation, flawed research, and conflicts of interest, told PsyPost. “Still, these problems are commonly interpreted and recorded as signs of mental illness relapse, which leads to inadequate treatment decisions and overestimation of the benefits of antidepressant maintenance therapy.”

To explore this, the researchers conducted a prospective longitudinal cohort study involving 32 adult primary care patients in Switzerland. The participants had been taking antidepressants for an average of 42 months and were in a state of stable remission, meaning their original depression or anxiety symptoms were no longer active. All participants were planning to discontinue their medication. The research team assessed the participants immediately before they began tapering their medication and followed up with them at two, four, six, eight, 16, and 26 weeks.

At each measurement point, participants completed standardized questionnaires to track their mental and physical states over the previous two weeks. The researchers used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to measure symptoms of depression and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale to measure anxiety symptoms. To capture withdrawal effects, they used an adapted version of the Discontinuation-Emergent Signs and Symptoms Scale. From this scale, the team calculated two distinct scores: one for affective withdrawal symptoms like nervousness and mood swings, and another for discriminatory physical symptoms like incoordination, ringing in the ears, and brain zaps.

The researchers found a consistent pattern connecting the patients’ emotional states to their medication doses. Over the 26-week observation period, whenever participants’ scores for depression and anxiety went up, their scores for both emotional and physical withdrawal symptoms also tended to increase.

When participants reduced their antidepressant dose, they experienced an acute increase in depression, anxiety, and emotional withdrawal symptoms. During intervals where the dose was kept stable and not reduced further, the intensity of both anxiety and emotional withdrawal symptoms steadily declined. This wave-like pattern, where symptoms spike immediately after a dose reduction and then ease up as the dose stabilizes, is characteristic of a pharmacological withdrawal reaction. Relapses of a mental health disorder tend to develop more gradually and do not typically rise and fall in rapid response to week-to-week dose adjustments.

To test the nature of these emotional symptoms, the researchers analyzed what happened when they statistically accounted for the physical withdrawal symptoms. They reasoned that if a patient’s sudden depression was actually a relapse, it should have no direct relationship to physical withdrawal signs like dizziness or nausea.

The researchers found that accounting for changes in physical withdrawal symptoms substantially weakened the statistical link between dose reductions and spikes in anxiety and emotional withdrawal symptoms. In the case of depression scores, the association with dose reductions disappeared entirely when physical symptoms were factored in. This indicates that the physical and emotional symptoms were part of the same underlying withdrawal process.

“Rapid onset of depressive and anxiety symptoms and abatement within a few weeks after sequential dose reductions and stabilizations reflect the typical wave-like pattern of repeated withdrawal reactions, especially when these emotional problems are accompanied by discriminatory physical withdrawal symptoms such as dizziness, incoordination, visual or auditory sensory changes, muscle cramps, or nausea,” Hengartner said. “In such cases, patients are advised to reduce their antidepressant more slowly and in smaller steps to mitigate withdrawal effects.”

The magnitude of the dose reduction also played a role in symptom severity. The researchers categorized dose adjustments relative to the minimum therapeutic dose of each drug. They found that small dose reductions, defined as cutting the dose by no more than 25 percent of the minimum therapeutic amount, largely prevented the acute spikes in depression and emotional withdrawal symptoms compared to larger reductions.

“Effect sizes are variable, because they depend on the medication taken, the duration of use, the tapering steps, and the individual propensity to pharmacological withdrawal effects,” Hengartner explained. “That is, some people will barely experience withdrawal effects, some have milder and tolerable symptoms, while still others suffer severe and impairing symptoms. For the latter group, the effects have strong clinical relevance and important practical consequences.”

“We already knew from previous research that there is substantial inter-individual variability in the propensity to experience clinically relevant withdrawal reactions, but we were still surprised to see that, in some cases, even people who had been long-term on a medication with considerable withdrawal risk could discontinue treatment quite rapidly without problems, while others experienced substantial withdrawal effects,” he said. “A lot of this heterogeneity of effects remains unexplained.”

As with all research, there are a few things to keep in mind regarding this study. The sample size of 32 participants was relatively small. This limited the researchers’ ability to conduct more detailed analyses, such as comparing the specific withdrawal effects of different types of antidepressant medications or looking into how the duration of medication use affects withdrawal severity.

“This was a naturalistic study, that is, people tapered at their own pace,” Hengartner noted. “Moreover, since this was not a randomized controlled study we cannot draw firm causal conclusions. Our findings show a pattern that indicates withdrawal effects, but it is not a definite proof.”

The study also relied entirely on self-reported questionnaires to measure symptoms, without independent clinical evaluations to confirm the severity of the depression, anxiety, or withdrawal signs. Also, the gaps between measurements became longer in the later stages of the study, such as the eight-week gap between week 8 and week 16. Because withdrawal symptoms can sometimes emerge, peak, and resolve rapidly, or occasionally have a delayed onset, these extended intervals might have missed some day-to-day fluctuations in how participants responded to dose changes.

Future studies with larger groups of patients and more frequent assessments could help confirm the exact timeline of antidepressant withdrawal and test different tapering strategies to minimize patient discomfort.

“Our findings need to be replicated in a larger cohort study,” Hengartner concluded. “Moreover, a randomized controlled tapering trial is required to validate the causality of the suggested effects. Finally, we also need more research into inter-individual differences and risk factors of antidepressant withdrawal.”

The study, “Acute Affective Symptoms during Antidepressant Tapering Indicate Withdrawal Reactions Rather than Relapse: Results from a Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study,” was authored by Michael P. Hengartner, Andri Rennwald, Oliver Senn, Stefan Neuner-Jehle, and Mark A. Horowitz.

URL: https://www.psypost.org/emotional-distress-when-stopping-antidepressants-appears-to-be-due-to-withdrawal-not-relapse/

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