Female Broncos fans grapple with Jonathon Cooper’s return https://www.rawchili.com/nfl/1034911/ #Abuse #Arizona #Assault #Broncos #Celebrity #Denver #DenverBroncos #DenverBroncos #DomesticViolence #EmpowerFieldAtMileHigh #family #Football #JonathonCooper #LatestHeadlines #MentalHealth #MoreBroncosNews #NFL #NikBonitto #Police #RayRice #RogerGoodell #SeanPayton #SexualAssault #Sports #suspension #VanceJoseph
#mentalhealth — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #mentalhealth, aggregated by home.social.
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I thought I was dying but it was health anxiety – here’s how to recognise the signs
“I was constantly Googling and using ChatGPT, every source I could get that could tell me what was…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #CA #Canada #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/942797/ -
93.5% pupils recognise mental health, 15.9% seek help: Survey
Despite widespread awareness on mental health, only 15.9% of university students covered under a survey have consulted a…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #Health #MentalHealth #universitystudentmentalhealthsupport
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/891284/ -
93.5% pupils recognise mental health, 15.9% seek help: Survey
Despite widespread awareness on mental health, only 15.9% of university students covered under a survey have consulted a…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #Health #MentalHealth #UK #UnitedKingdom #universitystudentmentalhealthsupport
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/810820/ -
Hello everyone, My name is Yohosua Unmehopa, and I am from Indonesia. I am asking for help because I am facing financial difficulties and desperately want to return home to reunite with my mother and younger siblings. After my father passed away, my family became even more important to me. I want to be reunited with my mother and siblings, but right now I am struggling to afford the transportation costs to return home. I have created a fundraiser with a goal of Rp25,000,000 to help cover my journey home and essential travel expenses. I am kindly asking for financial support from anyone who may be willing to help. Every donation, no matter how small, would mean a lot to me. If you are unable to donate, sharing my fundraiser with others would also help me reach people who might be able to support me. You can read my story and donate through my WhyDonate fundraiser here: https://whydonate.com/fundraising/help-me-return-home-to-my-mother-and-siblings I understand that everyone has their own responsibilities and difficulties. I am sincerely grateful to anyone who takes the time to read my request, share my fundraiser, or offer support. Thank you for your kindness, understanding, and generosity. Sincerely, Yohosua Unmehopa Indonesia
@mutualaid @mutualaid @mutualaidspace @disability @disability @wrzky @wrzky
#disability #DisabilityCrowdfund #disabilitymutualaid #EmergencyCrowdfund #fedihelp #fediverse #healthcare #mentalhealth #mutualaid #mutualaidrequest #mutualaidspace #politics #poverty #solidarity #internationalism
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Researchers identify new depression subtype linked to the body clock
Research by experts at the University of Sydney has identified a new subtype of depression called “circadian depression”. …
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #Brain #depression #Genetic #Genetics #Health #lighttherapy #melatonin #MentalHealth #Psychiatry #research #serotonin #Sleep #Therapy #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/810748/ -
UC Davis Health introduces five-day accelerated treatment for severe depression
UC Davis Health has added an accelerated treatment approach for depression at its Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics (APT) clinic…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #Brain #depression #Health #MentalHealth #neuromodulation #Psychiatry #Therapeutics #Therapy #TranscranialMagneticStimulation
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/891202/ -
I feel like the US American conception of psychotherapy as some kind of cross between psychiatric care and life counseling has caused a lot of non-Americans (who were socialised on the US-dominated internet) to make some pretty sobering experiences when they go to seek therapy in their own countries.
Like, I made this experience myself, and it is so strange in hindsight to think that the medical system would work like I assumed it would.
From what one reads online, you'd expect to go to a therapist and then talk about the emotional, psychological or social things you really struggle with, and they guide you towards how to fix these things. You basically open up to them and they're there to give you empirically sound good advice.
But then you actually go do that, and you talk about how – for example – you really are making an effort to be a better person toward the people you love but how you nonetheless keep messing up because you don't remember the resolutions you made in the relevant moments. Again, just an example.
And then the response from the therapist is: "… and what do you expect me to do about that?What is the specific psychiatric disorder you suspect at play here? What is the diagnosis you seek clarification on?"
And when you're like "uh, I don't know, this just makes my life really hard and I thought therapy would help with these things", the (very dumbfounded) reply is going to be "well, uhm, we are a medical institution, and struggling with aspects of your life and relationships is just part of the regular human experience. Unless you have a medical disorder to treat, why on Earth did you think you need a doctor for this?"
US Americans really make you believe that therapists are there to help fix your emotional and psychological life in general, but that's not true outside the US. They're there to treat pathological psychiatric conditions.
I am not judging either side in this, it's just an interesting observation.
#mentalHealth #therapy #psychology #psychiatry #psychotherapy #therapie #psychotherapie
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Is narcissism just extreme confidence, or is it a deep-seated defense mechanism?
Explore the psychological science behind narcissistic behaviours, red flags, and personality dynamics:
#psychologyfacts #psychology #mentalhealth
https://brainstormpsychology.blogspot.com/2018/05/narcissism-and-narcissistic-personalities.html -
I really am not feeling well, the past few days I have had a harder time than usual getting any rest, I feel like I have the flu in my chest expect it's more like my chronic bronchitis flaring up, I just feel icky every where, of course there is my normal horrible pain and constant exhaustion, to go along with it, of course my bp right now sucks at 158/106 with a pulse of 76 and my body temp is 96, my anxiety has been in overdrive for the past week or so spinning up a continual surge of adrenalin, which both tastes horrible and really does not help an already stressed sleep cycle, my poverty diet and lack of actual healthy intake as well are not helping and years of this are rapidly catching up, as I type this out the words are floating across the screen o yea, anyways I am not feeling great, I am not really doing that great, and it would really be of great benefit if people could understand the importance of raising and obtaining the financial support I so very desperately need in order to care for myself;
Financial Needs
Today's Goal$8,455
Annual Survival Need
$27,255
Monthly Survival Need
$1,500
Immediate Stabilization Goal
$25,000
Long-Term Housing and Security Goal
$5,000,000
A stable, accessible, permanent property would not only give me safety and security, but potentially allow me to spend the remainder of my life helping others who struggle as I have.
How You Can Help
Donate🔗 PayPal:
paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…💸 Cash App:
$woctxphotogShare
If you cannot donate, please share this with others.
Every dollar helps.
Every share matters.
Every act of compassion makes a difference.
Final Words
I am tired.
I am hungry.
I am in pain.
I am scared of what tomorrow may bring.
But I am still here, still fighting, and still hoping someone will hear me.
If you have ever known hardship, loss, fear, hunger, loneliness, disability, or uncertainty, then you know that compassion can mean everything.
Please help if you can.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
#MutualAid #Disabled #Disability #Poverty #Housing #Health #Healthcare #DentalHealth #FoodInsecurity #ChronicIllness #MentalHealth #PTSD #Bipolar #Survival #Support #Compassion #Empathy #Aging #Help #Dignity #Rent #Groceries #Hygiene #CommunitySupport #Life
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‘I’m not OK’: Mark Allen reveals 10-week mental health clinic stay before NI Open
Mark Allen has revealed he spent 10 weeks in a mental health clinic before discharging himself to play…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #AU #Australia #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/937372/ -
Unpopular opinion: Your phone screen is silently draining your mental energy. 🔋📉
We unlock our phones 100+ times a day just to be hit with digital chaos. I decided to fix this.
Using AI, I engineer minimalist 3D wallpapers designed to act as visual therapy for your screen. 🧘♂️✨
Stop letting a stressful screen ruin your vibe.
👉 Grab my premium 4K collection in my bio!
If your brain needs a break, Boost this! 🚀
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Let’s be honest: our screens are draining us. 📉
I use AI to design calming 3D wallpapers with one goal: to turn your phone screen into a peaceful sanctuary, not a source of anxiety. 🧘♂️✨
My 4K collection is designed to instantly lower your digital stress.
👉 Tap the link in my profile bio to explore them all!
Please Boost to share the calm! ❤️🚀
#DigitalWellbeing #AIArt #PhoneWallpaper #MobileWallpaper #Aesthetic #Mindfulness #mentalhealth #AIGenerated
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DATE: October 22, 2026 at 05:31PM
SOURCE: HEALTHCARE INFO SECURITYDirect article link at end of text block below.
#Ambulance Firm's $1M Settlement Mandates Data Destruction: State Deal Follows 2023 #Hack of Archived Data and Resolves Separate #Fraud Claims https://t.co/MeqIpiNwsz #HIPAA #MassHealth #FallonAmbulance #TransformativeHealthcare
Here are any URLs found in the article text:
Articles can be found by scrolling down the page at https://www.healthcareinfosecurity.com/ under the title "Latest"
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Private, vetted email list for mental health professionals: https://www.clinicians-exchange.org
Healthcare security & privacy posts not related to IT or infosec are at @HIPAABot . Even so, they mix in some infosec with the legal & regulatory information.
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#security #healthcare #doctors #itsecurity #hacking #doxxing #psychotherapy #securitynews #psychotherapist #mentalhealth #psychiatry #hospital #socialwork #datasecurity #webbeacons #cookies #HIPAA #privacy #datanalytics #healthcaresecurity #healthitsecurity #patientrecords @infosec #telehealth #netneutrality #socialengineering
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https://www.europesays.com/uk/1268436/ New site approved for Cromer mental health charity #Health #MentalHealth #UK #UnitedKingdom
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maaan my mom really needs #therapy she undeniably has hoarding disorder, i also suspect #ocpd it feels like its getting worse, from her constant churning of her hoard now my mom wants to rearrange the kitchen to "make more space" i had already beautifully organized the fridge but now its a disaster cuz she churned it and just tossed everything chaotically. ughhhhhh i cannot wait to move! hurry please, universe! #mentalhealth
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FOOD, HEALTHCARE, CLOTHING, PERSONAL HYGIENE, RENT, LIFE BEYOND STRUGGLING TO EXIST! I DESPERATELY NEED HELP NOW! I DO NOT FEEL WELL AND I NEED TO BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!
I desperately need to place a serious #food and #personalhygiene order, all of my basic staples are gone, all the supporting basics are gone, your Compassionate Support would be a massive relief and replenishing blessing today;
Today's Needed Goal: **$300**
**The world is indifferent. But your kindness can rewrite the script.**
$5-10-15 It All Helps,
🔗 Donate here: paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…
💸 CashApp: $woctxphotog**Please share. Please help. Every dollar matters. Every act of compassion echoes.**
#MutualAid, #Disabled, #Poverty, #Help, #Survival, #Compassion, #Pain, #MentalHealth, #Food, #Groceries, #Hygiene, #Anxiety, #PTSD, #Bipolar, #Dignity, #Disablity, #Life, #Housing, #Support, #Aging, #Love, #Empathy, #Health, #Rent, #Cronicillness, #dentalhealth, #healthcare, #dental, #Emergency, #oralhealth,
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Stop letting avoidance run your life. Here is how exposure ladders use deliberate practice to shrink your fears. Deeper breakdowns at klytron.com. #psychology #mindset #growth #klytron
#klytron #psychology #mindset #mentalhealth #growth #selfimprovement #klytron
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https://www.fogolf.com/1426283/does-sharpening-wedges-actually-work/ Does Sharpening Wedges Actually Work? #Golf #GolfClubs #GolfClubsVideos #GolfClubsVlog #GolfClubsWedges #GolfClubsWedgesVideos #GolfClubsWedgesVlog #GolfClubsWedgesYouTube #GolfClubsYouTube #GolfEquipment #GolfEquipmentVideos #GolfEquipmentVlog #GolfEquipmentYouTube #GolfWedges #GolfWedgesVideos #GolfWedgesVlog #GolfWedgesYouTube #MentalHealth #pga #psychology #Sharpening #TigerWoods #wedges #work
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A question sitting with me this morning: can a chatbot answer loneliness? It can talk back, yes — but loneliness isn't a shortage of words. It's the absence of being known, and no amount of fluent simulation replaces one person who truly sees you. Connection is medicine. This week: one real conversation, in person if you can manage it.
#loneliness #connection #mentalhealth #presence -
19 Things An OCD Therapist Wants You To Know
HD went into it: “‘Just right’ OCD involves trying to ward off things feeling off or wrong and…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #AU #Australia #bestofinternet-reddit #Evergreen #flipped #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/937280/ -
DATE: October 22, 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: Race and gender are linked to how Americans protest and campaign
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-race-and-gender-shape-political-anger-in-america/
When Americans feel angry about the state of the country, their gender and racial identities appear to shape whether they channel that emotion into formal campaigns or street protests. A recent study reveals that angry Black women and white women participate across a wider variety of political avenues than their male counterparts. The research was published in Public Opinion Quarterly.
Political scientists study emotion to understand what drives people to become politically active. Anger often acts as a catalyst. It encourages individuals to take action against perceived threats by volunteering for campaigns, donating money, or attending demonstrations. Emotion bridges the gap between holding an opinion and actually doing something about it.
However, people only turn to formal electoral politics if they believe the system will respond to their voices. Political scientists refer to this belief as political efficacy. Historical barriers, ongoing discrimination, and unequal access to resources mean that different demographic groups experience distinct levels of political efficacy. As a result, groups view the available pathways for political change in fundamentally different ways.
Past research established a gap between how white and Black Americans express political anger. Those earlier studies found that white Americans generally channel their anger into electoral participation, such as campaigning. In contrast, Black Americans often turn toward non-electoral participation, like protesting, largely because of historical exclusion and lower trust in the formal political system.
Sara Morell, a political scientist at The College of New Jersey, and Marzia Oceno, a political scientist at Florida International University, suspected this racial divide missed a piece of the puzzle. They wanted to see how gender overlaps with race to shape political behavior.
Feminist movements and civil rights movements have distinct histories of using protests, boycotts, and campaigns to push for change. Because Black women and white women possess different historical relationships with the political establishment than men, the researchers expected to find distinct patterns in how these groups act when provoked by political events.
To test these expectations, the researchers analyzed data from a large survey conducted around the 2020 presidential election. The sample included 6,661 adults who identified as white or Black and male or female. The survey asked respondents how angry, outraged, or irritated they felt about how things were going in the country. The researchers controlled for factors like age, education, and household income.
The 2020 survey then measured electoral participation. Respondents reported whether they tried to persuade others to vote a certain way, attended online or in-person rallies, or wore political buttons. They also noted if they had worked for a campaign or donated money to a political group. Finally, the survey tracked self-reported voter turnout for the November election.
The researchers found distinct differences in how anger predicted campaign involvement across the four groups. As expected, white men who reported high levels of anger were much more likely to engage in formal electoral activities. They focused on persuading voters, attending online rallies, and donating money. Black men largely did not show increased electoral participation when angry, and were actually less likely to report working for a campaign.
The patterns looked entirely different for women. Both white women and Black women showed higher levels of electoral participation when they felt angry. This suggests that women utilize a broad set of formal political tools when they feel threatened or upset by national conditions.
Black women, in particular, reported the highest average levels of anger in 2020. This intense emotion translated directly into the largest measured increase in campaign engagement among all four groups. Angry Black women were highly mobilized to persuade others, wear political buttons, and work for campaigns. The results point to Black women’s central role as active organizers in modern electoral politics.
For both white men and white women, anger did not predict whether they actually cast a ballot. The researchers suggest this is because voting is a baseline expectation for many politically active people. Anger instead motivates individuals to take on political activities that require more time and effort than the standard act of voting, such as volunteering or donating.
Next, the researchers analyzed a separate large panel survey to measure non-electoral participation. This study tracked 3,529 adults across two periods. The first wave occurred immediately after the 2020 election, and the second wave occurred after the 2022 midterm elections.
This second survey focused on activities outside of formal campaigns. Respondents reported whether they had attended a protest or a political rally. They also indicated if they had signed an online petition, posted a political message online, or boycotted a product for political reasons over the previous year.
Once again, white men followed expected historical patterns. Their anger did not lead to higher rates of non-electoral participation in either 2020 or 2022, aside from a slight increase in boycotting during the 2022 wave. White men typically rely on the formal electoral system, rather than outside pressure, to express their grievances.
Black men showed a delayed response in their non-electoral participation. In 2020, their anger was not statistically significant in predicting protest or petition activity. By 2022, however, angry Black men were substantially more likely to engage in non-electoral activities, primarily by signing petitions and posting political messages online.
Women again showed much broader avenues of engagement. White women were highly likely to translate their anger into non-electoral action during both 2020 and 2022. They frequently signed petitions and boycotted products. During the 2022 wave, which followed the Supreme Court decision overturning federal abortion protections, white women reported the highest levels of anger among all groups and maintained their high rate of non-electoral activity.
For Black women, anger was consistently linked to one specific form of non-electoral action. In both 2020 and 2022, angry Black women were uniquely motivated to attend protests. They were the only group to show a persistent link between anger and physical protesting across both survey waves. This finding aligns with the historical centrality of Black women in civil rights and social justice demonstrations.
The researchers note a few limitations to keep in mind when interpreting these results. The surveys asked respondents about their general anger toward the state of the country, rather than asking them to identify the specific issues making them angry. Because the data lacks this specificity, it is impossible to know exactly which policies or events drove different demographic groups to the streets or the campaign trail.
The lack of issue specificity makes it difficult to explain some unexpected results, such as why Black men’s anger did not lead to higher protest attendance in 2020. That year featured massive nationwide protests against police brutality, an issue with profound relevance to Black men. The researchers suspect that for some groups, anger might need to combine with other psychological factors to trigger physical action. A strong sense of community fate or intense personal interest might be necessary to push an angry individual to join a physical protest.
Future research should investigate whether specific sources of anger change how people choose to participate. The researchers also recommend expanding this intersectional approach to include Hispanic and Asian American populations. Understanding how overlapping identities influence political emotion helps reveal the diverse ways Americans fight for their political interests.
The study, “The Intersectional Anger Gap: How Race and Gender Condition the Impact of Anger on Participation,” was authored by Sara Morell and Marzia Oceno.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-race-and-gender-shape-political-anger-in-america/
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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
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PoliticalParticipation #RaceAndGender #Intersectionality #BlackWomen #WomenInPolitics #PoliticalActivism #Protest #SocialJustice #CivicEngagement #AmericanPolitics
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UC Davis Health introduces five-day accelerated treatment for severe depression
UC Davis Health has added an accelerated treatment approach for depression at its Advanced Psychiatric Therapeutics (APT) clinic…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #Brain #depression #Health #MentalHealth #Neuromodulation #Psychiatry #Therapeutics #Therapy #TranscranialMagneticStimulation #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/810676/ -
In the Face of Crisis, Psychologists Urge a Return to the Basics #MentalHealth
In the Face of Crisis, Psychol... -
https://www.europesays.com/uk/1268290/ 19 Things An OCD Therapist Wants You To Know #BestofinternetReddit #evergreen #flipped #Health #MentalHealth #UK #UnitedKingdom
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RE: https://kolektiva.social/@helynbasil/117470050190515743
‼️DON'T LET THIS FAMILY DISAPPEAR‼️
🍉🍉🍉 NO DONATIONS FOR A FAMILY ALREADY RECEIVING VERY LITTLE‼️
⭕ GAZA IS GOING INTO FAMINE‼️💔😭
Please help Hilen @helynbasil !!!
https://gaza-verified.org/people/@hely[email protected]/
#Gaza #Palestine #humanrights #education #university #mentalhealth #kindness #humanity #savegaza #youngpeople #helpgaza #fediforgaza #fedihelp #hope #sharingiscaring #boost #boost4reach #boostforhelp
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New site approved for Cromer mental health charity
The Cromer Community Shed will create a new workshop on land at the former Cromer Sea Scouts site…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/891108/ -
Marketing Scoops: Therapists Must Be Superhuman When Competing With AI Giving Out Free Mental Health Advice https://marketingscooops.blogspot.com/2026/10/therapists-must-be-superhuman-when.html
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DATE: October 22, 2026 at 03:00PM
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: Haunted houses may bring people closer, but psychological research suggests the bonding really happens on the ride home
A new study published in the journal Emotion provides evidence that visiting a haunted house with others is linked to feeling more connected to them. People who felt more scared, and who held hands or made physical contact, were more likely to say the experience brought them closer, though before-and-after closeness ratings barely changed, and interviews suggested that talking about the experience afterward may be where much of the bonding happens.
Humans are highly social creatures, and forming bonds with others is strongly linked to overall health and psychological well-being. Scientists have gathered substantial evidence showing that sharing positive emotions, like laughing at a comedy show or cheering at a concert, amplifies interpersonal closeness. A separate line of research suggests that negative emotions, specifically fear, also push people to seek out the company of others. When people face a common threat, they often prefer to face it together rather than alone.
Beyond simply seeking company, shared emotional arousal can create a sense of unity. Previous studies indicate that fear can spread from person to person, synchronizing heart rates and potentially reinforcing group cohesion. Most previous experiments exploring the link between fear and social bonding relied on artificial laboratory settings or situations involving genuine threats. The researchers wanted to investigate how fear affects relationships in a recreational context, where the threat is entirely simulated.
Jane Wiley conducted this research as an undergraduate student at the University of Florida and is now an incoming social psychology doctoral student at the University of Virginia. The project grew out of a passion Wiley shares with their faculty advisor and the study’s senior author, Lawton K. “Ken” Swan.
“He and I are huge horror and haunted house fans,” Wiley told PsyPost. “We have shared plenty of stories (and have heard many others from haunted house guests) of how going through a haunted house together can be a strong bonding experience.”
Wiley noted that anecdotal success stories served as inspiration for the project. “A first date he had at Halloween Horror Nights led to a happy marriage, and I got very close with a best friend — Garrett Johnson, another author of the paper — after we went through a haunted house together,” they said. “This interpersonal focus had not been researched in recreational fear literature when we began, so that was what drew us to studying what we did.”
Millions of people seek out recreational fear every year by riding roller coasters, watching horror movies, or visiting haunted attractions. The scientists designed this project to test whether the fear experienced in these playful, safe environments translates into stronger social ties. They wanted to know if the temporary thrill of a scare can generate a lasting sense of interpersonal warmth among friends, family members, and acquaintances.
To explore these ideas, Wiley and their colleagues at the University of Florida conducted a series of five studies over three Halloween seasons at a commercial haunted attraction in Florida, the Gainesville Fear Garden. In the first study, the team surveyed 986 attraction attendees immediately after they finished a sensory deprivation haunted house. The participants answered questions on a 7-point scale regarding how much fear they felt, how much they enjoyed the attraction, and whether the experience brought them closer to the person in their group they already felt closest to. The researchers also asked if participants communicated or held hands with their companion during the event.
About 48 percent of participants agreed that the experience brought them closer to their companion. Higher levels of reported fear predicted a stronger feeling of having bonded, with each additional point of fear on the 7-point scale associated with about a fifth of a point higher rating on the bonding question. Holding hands, communicating during the event, and enjoying the experience also predicted higher ratings. This provided preliminary, correlational evidence that shared fear in a fun setting is linked to feeling closer.
To verify these findings and look for measurable changes, the researchers conducted a second study with 500 participants during the next Halloween season. This time, guests completed surveys both immediately before and right after navigating the attraction. This method allowed the scientists to measure shifts in interpersonal closeness. As in the first study, participants were asked to focus on the person in their group they felt closest to.
Once again, the amount of fear a person felt predicted how much they believed the experience brought them closer to their companion, with 58 percent agreeing that the attraction brought them closer. Yet, when the scientists looked at the direct difference between the before and after closeness ratings, they found no measurable change: participants rated closeness at an average of 6.27 out of 7 before entering and 6.12 after exiting. The researchers suspected a ceiling effect, meaning that because these participants already rated their relationship so highly before entering the attraction, there was very little mathematical room for their closeness score to increase on a 7-point scale.
For the third study, the researchers adjusted their focus to see if the bonding effect applied to less intimate relationships. They surveyed 554 participants, asking them to focus on the group member they felt the least close to, or someone they argued with most often. Participants were asked if the attraction brought them closer to this specific person, how much fear they felt, and if they made any physical contact.
The scientists found that fear and physical contact remained strong predictors of feeling brought together, even for the least close companions. Approximately 45 percent of participants agreed that the experience made them feel closer to their least close group member. When asked about their party as a whole, an even higher percentage, about 64 percent, felt the experience brought their entire group closer. This suggests that the link between fear and feeling closer is not limited to already-close relationships, and the authors suggest the effect may be even stronger at the group level, though the group and individual figures came from different questions.
In the fourth study, the only one that was preregistered, the researchers again attempted to capture a measurable shift in closeness from before to after the haunted house. They maintained their focus on least close companions to avoid the ceiling effect seen in earlier attempts. The researchers collected complete survey data from 263 attendees who rated their closeness to their least close groupmate before entering and then again after exiting. The team also asked the participants to rate their fear, enjoyment, and physical contact during the immersive 30-minute experience.
The predictive model held up for a fourth time, with fear, physical contact, and enjoyment all predicting perceptions of enhanced closeness. Additionally, the researchers finally detected a statistically significant increase in closeness ratings from before the experience to afterward, rising from 4.61 before entering to 4.81 after exiting, an average increase of just 0.21 points on a 7-point scale. This modest change raised questions about why about half of participants said the experience brought them closer, even though their numerical closeness ratings barely moved.
“Our most surprising finding was when we kept seeing no pre-to-post change in closeness, prior to figuring out that post-haunt reflection is essential for bonding to occur,” Wiley noted.
Wiley added that this lack of initial change was difficult to interpret at first. “This ultimately ended up being a good obstacle to encounter since it led us to transition to qualitative data collection (which helped us deduce the post-experience reflection bit), but it was hard to make sense of at the time,” Wiley said. “So I would say the most surprising finding is that going through a haunted house together alone, without the time to talk and laugh afterwards, does not seem to be sufficient for significant bonding.”
To understand this paradox, the researchers conducted a fifth and final study consisting of face-to-face qualitative interviews. Qualitative research involves gathering non-numerical data, such as conversational responses, to understand underlying concepts, opinions, and motivations. The researchers interviewed 20 guests right after they completed the haunted house and the quantitative survey. They asked the participants what feeling closer meant to them and why their numerical scores might not have changed despite reporting a stronger bond.
In the interviews, 16 of the 20 attendees said that talking, laughing, and swapping stories about the scares afterward, such as on the car ride home, played a central role in making them feel closer. Fourteen described the novelty of the experience as part of its appeal, and many said that relying on one another while blindfolded or frightened created a sense of vulnerability. Twelve commented on the survey itself: some said they had not yet had time to process the experience, and several said they had not distinguished between their overall closeness and their closeness in that moment when answering the questions.
“Haunted houses seem to have the ability to make two people feel closer together, whether these two people were previously very close or not,” Wiley explained. “In other words, going through a haunted attraction with either your best friend or your annoying coworker will likely prove to be beneficial to the relationship. However, this link is quite contingent on what you and that other person do after the experience.”
Wiley emphasized that what happens after the scare may matter most. “Post-haunt reflection is important to the process of bonding: the haunted house on its own may not do much to strengthen the relationship, but if you talk, reminisce, and laugh about the experience afterwards, you’ll probably feel more bonded with that person,” they said.
As with all research, there are some caveats to consider. All five studies took place at one attraction whose format changed from year to year, and none compared haunted house visitors with people doing a non-scary activity together, so the studies cannot show that fear itself, rather than simply sharing a fun outing, drives the sense of bonding. Closeness was measured with single survey items, only the fourth study was preregistered, and in the interviews, participants were told about the earlier null results before being asked to explain them.
“As there is with any study, ours certainly had limitations,” Wiley noted. “We used convenience samples of people who were already at the haunted house, so not only were race, ability, and income unevenly distributed, but our conclusions can only really be generalized to people who would normally show up at a haunted house with their friends or family (this is a double-edged sword though — we’re interested in recreational fear, so we are particularly interested in people who seek out these experiences on their own time anyway).”
Environmental factors during the surveys might have also influenced the data. “We were surveying people inside the bar of the haunted house, which was a pretty chaotic and high-traffic space: the music was loud, people were drinking, and participants filled out surveys side-by-side with other participants, who in some cases were the people they came with,” Wiley explained. “So it was definitely not a distraction-free environment we were collecting data in, which may have impacted responses. We also only examined the impact of haunted houses in particular, so we cannot make these same conclusions yet about other forms of recreational fear, like horror movies or extreme sports.”
Scaring people together is not a guaranteed relationship fix. Across the studies, only about half of participants agreed the haunted house brought them closer, and a notable minority disagreed. The authors speculate that shared fear might strain a relationship when people’s fear responses are badly mismatched or one person feels unsupported, and they propose that recreational fear may act as an interpersonal stress test: responding to a frightened companion with comfort and humor could reinforce a bond, while failing to do so could weaken it.
Expanding the research could yield useful insights into how shared emotional intensity shapes human connection over time. “We would definitely like to expand on this study, particularly adding an experimental manipulation where some participants have time for post-experience reflection while others don’t, in order to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship,” Wiley said. “We’d also like to see if this bonding pattern exists for other forms of recreational fear.”
The study, “Haunted Attraction: The Effects of Recreational Fear on Interpersonal Bonding,” was authored by Jane K. Wiley, Alexa A. Rivers, Otho Garrett Johnson, Cristina S. Negraru, Jake T. Watson, Tara M. Perreault, Rebecca Martin, Sara C. Slayton, Steffano I. Segovia-Palacios, Benjamin R. Stanisky, Kate E. Doherty, and Lawton K. Swan.
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We humans are social animals. But “why is it that, every once in a while, I wish I had the planet to myself?” self-described introvert Ian Taylor writes. While the health effects of loneliness are well documented, the condition’s mirror image, aloneliness — when you don’t get enough time to yourself — can be harmful too. Yes, there are benefits to spending some time alone. Taylor writes about it for @ScienceAlert:
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Responsible gambling: Can operators protect players effectively?
“We should celebrate the good things in our industry,” says Sam Douglas, director of safer gambling at the…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #AU #Australia #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/937190/ -
FOOD, HEALTHCARE, CLOTHING, PERSONAL HYGIENE, RENT, LIFE BEYOND STRUGGLING TO EXIST! I DESPERATELY NEED HELP NOW! I DO NOT FEEL WELL AND I NEED TO BE ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!
I desperately need to place a serious #food and #personalhygiene order, all of my basic staples are gone, all the supporting basics are gone, your Compassionate Support would be a massive relief and replenishing blessing today;
Today's Needed Goal: **$300**
**The world is indifferent. But your kindness can rewrite the script.**
$5-10-15 It All Helps,
🔗 Donate here: paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=…
💸 CashApp: $woctxphotog**Please share. Please help. Every dollar matters. Every act of compassion echoes.**
#MutualAid, #Disabled, #Poverty, #Help, #Survival, #Compassion, #Pain, #MentalHealth, #Food, #Groceries, #Hygiene, #Anxiety, #PTSD, #Bipolar, #Dignity, #Disablity, #Life, #Housing, #Support, #Aging, #Love, #Empathy, #Health, #Rent, #Cronicillness, #dentalhealth, #healthcare, #dental, #Emergency, #oralhealth,
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DATE: October 22, 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: Older adults with depression tend to have smaller volumes of a specific part of the hippocampus brain region
An analysis of more than 2,000 cognitively healthy older adults found that those with depression tended to have a smaller volume in one part of the hippocampus, a brain region central to memory and one of the first affected by Alzheimer’s disease. The association did not appear to be explained by amyloid and tau, two proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease. The paper was published in Translational Psychiatry.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia in older adults. It gradually disrupts memory, thinking, behavior, and everyday functioning. The disease is accompanied by characteristic changes in the brain, including abnormal clumps of amyloid protein, called plaques, and twisted strands of tau protein, called tangles, along with the loss of nerve cells.
Research suggests that depression may also play a role in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. People who experience depression during their lifetime appear to have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later on. One possible connection between the two conditions involves the hippocampus, which is central to memory and is among the first areas affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
Depression has likewise been associated with changes in the structure of the hippocampus, although previous studies have produced inconsistent findings. Part of the difficulty may be that the hippocampus is not a single uniform structure but consists of several smaller regions (called hippocampal subfields) that can be affected differently by depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Antidepressant medications may also play a role, as some evidence suggests that they could protect against hippocampal shrinkage, while other findings raise questions about their effects in older adults.
Study author Danielle Luu of the Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute at the University of Southern California and colleagues set out to examine how depression and antidepressant use relate to the volume of hippocampal subfields in older adults without cognitive problems. They also wanted to know whether Alzheimer’s-related factors, including amyloid and tau buildup and the APOE4 gene variant, which raises Alzheimer’s risk, play a role in these relationships.
The researchers considered two possibilities for antidepressants. The medications might be linked to larger subfield volumes by relieving depressive symptoms. Alternatively, they might be linked to smaller volumes, either because of unknown harmful effects on the brain or because doctors are more likely to prescribe them to people with more severe depression.
The researchers analyzed data from the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities, which recruited Hispanic, Black, and white older adults through the University of North Texas in Fort Worth. The analysis included 2,009 cognitively unimpaired adults between 50 and 90 years of age, with an average age of about 65.
Of these participants, 630 were classified as having depression, either because they scored 10 or higher on the Geriatric Depression Scale or because they reported having been diagnosed with depression by a health care provider. The remaining 1,379 participants were classified as not depressed.
Participants underwent high-resolution MRI scans of the hippocampus and reported whether they used antidepressant medications. The researchers used the scans to calculate volumes of three hippocampal subfields: the CA1, the subiculum, and a composite region that included the CA2, CA3, and the dentate gyrus (CA23DG). Subsets of participants also underwent PET scans measuring amyloid (684 people) and tau (386 people) in the brain.
Participants with depression tended to have a smaller CA23DG, but depression was not associated with the volume of the CA1 or the subiculum. The association was small and held after the researchers accounted for body mass index and physical activity, as well as tau levels and APOE4 status. When amyloid was added to the analysis, the association was no longer statistically significant, but its size was similar, which the authors attribute to the smaller number of participants with amyloid scans.
The severity of current depressive symptoms and the age at which depression began were not associated with the volume of any subfield. In exploratory analyses, the link between depression and smaller subfields appeared stronger in men than in women, but the authors interpret this cautiously because the formal test of a sex difference was not statistically significant.
Among participants with depression, those who used antidepressant medications tended to have smaller CA1 and CA23DG volumes than those who did not. These associations weakened to borderline levels after the researchers accounted for body mass index and physical activity. When antidepressant use and depression were included in the same analysis, the link between depression itself and a smaller CA23DG faded, while antidepressant use remained associated with a smaller CA23DG.
The authors suggest that the medication findings may reflect what is known as indication bias, meaning that people with more severe depression may be more likely to be prescribed medication in the first place. Antidepressant users reported fewer current depressive symptoms than non-users, suggesting the medications were relieving symptoms, but the researchers did not have information on how severe participants’ depression was before treatment or how long they had taken medication.
“It is important to study AD [Alzheimer’s disease] in the context of mental health, since rates of depression rise with age. Moreover, it is crucial to investigate how depression and antidepressant medication use affect the hippocampus, a region of the brain that is heavily impacted by AD. Understanding the relationship between depression and the development of AD is important for exploring preventative measures against brain atrophy and dementia,” study authors concluded.
The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the neural underpinnings of depression in older adults. However, it should be noted that the design of this study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from the results. Depression diagnoses and medication use were self-reported rather than drawn from medical records, and the analyses involving amyloid and tau were based on smaller subsets of participants.
The researchers did not compare different types or doses of antidepressants. They note that the possibility that the medications themselves affect hippocampal structure should be tested in randomized controlled trials.
The paper, “Depression and hippocampal subfield volume in older adults,” was authored by Danielle Luu, Alicia M. Twisselmann, Victoria R. Tennant, Brandon J. Hall, Arjun Mahajan, Audrey Kim, Jamie Terner, Marylan L. Davison, Koral Wheeler, Christopher R. K. Ching, James Hall, Matthew T. Borzage, Leigh Johnson, Arthur W. Toga, Sid E. O’Bryant, Kristine Yaffe, and Meredith N. Braskie for the HABS-HD Study Team.
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https://www.europesays.com/uk/1268146/ ‘It’s certainly not weak’: Male readers on footballer James McClean’s therapy comments #Health #MentalHealth #UK #UnitedKingdom
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19 Things An OCD Therapist Wants You To Know
HD went into it: “‘Just right’ OCD involves trying to ward off things feeling off or wrong and…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Mentalhealth #bestofinternet-reddit #evergreen #flipped #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/890952/ -
https://www.europesays.com/ie/746515/ Most Defence Forces personnel fear mental health disclosure could harm careers, study finds – The Irish Times #AirCorps #DefenceForces #Éire #Health #IE #Ireland #IrishNavalService #IrishArmy #MentalHealth #MentalHealth
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Neil Lennon questions mental health support for Scottish football managers
FORMER Celtic boss Neil Lennon has raised concerns that football managers are not receiving enough mental health support.…
#Football #Soccer #News #Celtic #Mentalhealth
https://www.europesays.com/football/76381/ -
Grow Well SG expands to secondary schools
SINGAPORE – Grow Well SG, a national health promotion initiative for children and adolescents, will be extended to…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #AU #Australia #Health #MentalHealth
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/937102/ -
SA’s gambling problem: More than 1 300 South Africans flagged as high risk for suicide
Other mental health conditions, including depression and suicidal ideation, were also identified. More than 1 300 South Africans…
#NewsBeep #News #Mentalhealth #CA #Canada #gambling #Health #mentalillness #MentalHealth #nohwb #nopreml #nopremm
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/942263/ -
https://www.europesays.com/uk/1268003/ Most Defence Forces personnel fear mental health disclosure could harm careers, study finds – The Irish Times #AirCorps #DefenceForces #Health #IrishArmy #IrishNavalService #MentalHealth #UK #UnitedKingdom
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Changing the clocks for British winter time disrupts our brains, warns expert
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/winter-time-clocks-change-brain-37797181
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DATE: October 22, 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: Higher progesterone is linked to blurrier brain signals for emotional control, study finds
Young women with higher natural levels of the hormone progesterone tend to show less distinct brain activity patterns when they must override their automatic emotional impulses, according to a new neuroimaging study published in Psychological Medicine. The findings suggest that progesterone may blur the neural signals that help the brain regulate emotional actions. Reduced precision in a frontal brain region also accounted for an indirect statistical pathway linking higher progesterone to worse recent mood.
In everyday life, people naturally gravitate toward positive or rewarding things and pull away from threats or unpleasant situations. Psychologists refer to this automatic habit as approach-avoidance behavior. Overriding these instincts, such as stepping toward an angry person or walking away from something appealing, requires active emotional control.
This regulatory process relies heavily on the lateral frontal pole, a brain structure located at the very front of the cerebral cortex just behind the forehead. A 2020 neuroimaging study indicated that the lateral frontal pole plays a key role in overriding automatic impulses when people have to make these kinds of emotional choices. When this region fails to properly guide behavior, people tend to struggle with emotional regulation, as seen in a 2023 study covered by PsyPost showing that highly anxious individuals have difficulty recruiting the lateral frontal pole and must rely on other brain regions instead.
Scientists have also found that sex hormones can influence these exact brain circuits. For example, a study covered by PsyPost in 2023 indicated that high levels of the hormone testosterone are associated with reduced activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex during emotional control in adulthood. Far less is known about how the female ovarian hormones estradiol and progesterone shape these regulatory networks.
“Historically, neuroscience research has disproportionately focused on men, partly because hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle were considered a source of unwanted variability,” study author Macià Buades-Rotger, an associate professor of clinical psychology and psychobiology at the University of Barcelona, told PsyPost. “As a result, we still know surprisingly little about how naturally occurring changes in ovarian hormones influence the brain and behavior.”
“At the same time, the relationship between female hormones and emotions is surrounded by sexist stereotypes and assumptions that often have little scientific basis,” Buades-Rotger added. “I was interested in moving beyond these simplistic narratives to investigate what hormones actually do in the brain, particularly how they might influence the mechanisms that allow us to control our automatic emotional responses.”
Both estradiol and progesterone fluctuate naturally throughout the menstrual cycle, and shifts in these hormones are frequently tied to changes in emotional well-being. The authors of a 2020 review argued that progesterone can act like a double-edged sword: one of its chemical byproducts has proven useful for treating depression after childbirth, yet the hormone may trigger negative symptoms in women with premenstrual syndrome or premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a severe form of premenstrual mood disturbance. Meanwhile, a 2019 neuroimaging study of naturally cycling women found that during the cycle phase when progesterone is high, frontal and striatal regions tended to be more active during mental tasks.
Most earlier brain imaging studies looked only at whether entire brain regions became more or less active overall in response to hormones. Buades-Rotger and his colleagues wanted to look deeper by examining whether estradiol and progesterone relate to fine-grained patterns of brain activity during emotional control, and whether those patterns connect to recent mood.
To investigate this in a preregistered study, the researchers recruited 116 healthy, naturally cycling women between the ages of 18 and 35. None of the participants were using hormonal contraceptives or had a history of neurological, hormonal, or recent psychiatric disorders. Before entering the brain scanner, each participant provided a saliva sample (stimulated by chewing gum) so the researchers could measure their current levels of estradiol and progesterone.
Participants also completed questionnaires measuring their typical emotion regulation habits and their mood over the preceding seven days. The mood survey assessed feelings of friendliness, vigor, fatigue, anger, tension, and depression, which the researchers combined into a single overall mood score. All testing sessions took place between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. to minimize natural daily fluctuations in hormone levels.
Inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner, which tracks brain activity by measuring changes in blood flow, the women completed a 240-trial approach-avoidance task. During the task, they viewed photographs of actors displaying happy or angry facial expressions. Depending on the instructions for each block of trials, participants pressed buttons to either “approach” a face, which made the image grow larger as if looming closer, or “avoid” a face, which made the image shrink as if receding.
In half of the trials, the instructions matched natural human instincts: approaching happy faces and avoiding angry ones. In the other half, the instructions went against those instincts, requiring participants to approach angry faces and avoid happy ones. After excluding six participants with unusually high error rates, the researchers analyzed the behavioral responses of 110 women.
As expected, overriding automatic emotional tendencies took more effort. When participants had to approach angry faces, their average reaction time was 0.782 seconds with an error rate of 1.52 percent, compared to 0.663 seconds and a 0.55 percent error rate when approaching happy faces. Similarly, avoiding happy faces took an average of 0.762 seconds with a 1.36 percent error rate, compared to 0.684 seconds and a 0.64 percent error rate when avoiding angry faces.
Next, the researchers examined the brain scans of 106 participants, after excluding four additional women who moved too much in the scanner. Instead of just measuring overall blood flow in a given brain area, the team used a machine learning technique called multivoxel pattern analysis. A voxel is a tiny three-dimensional unit of brain tissue, similar to a three-dimensional pixel.
The computer algorithm looked at the detailed grid of activity across thousands of voxels during odd-numbered trials and tried to predict which task condition the participant was performing during even-numbered trials. If the computer could accurately tell whether a participant was overriding their instincts or following them based on a region’s activity pattern, it meant that brain area was distinctly encoding the rules of emotional control.
The algorithm had to sort each trial into one of the four task conditions, so guessing would be right 25 percent of the time. Activity patterns in several regions allowed it to beat that chance level, including the lateral frontal pole, the striatum (a cluster of neurons deep beneath the cortex that helps manage movement and reward), the central insula (a region involved in processing internal bodily states and emotions), the primary visual cortex, the cerebellum, and the periaqueductal gray (a brainstem area involved in threat responses). The amygdala, a threat-processing region the researchers had planned in advance to examine, did not distinguish between the conditions. The algorithm mainly succeeded at telling instinct-opposing trials apart from instinct-matching ones, while often confusing the two conditions within each type.
When the researchers combined the brain data, hormone levels, and mood scores for the 101 participants who had complete data across all measures, they found a consistent link with progesterone. Women with higher concentrations of salivary progesterone showed lower classification accuracy in both the lateral frontal pole (r = −0.25) and the striatum (r = −0.26). In other words, in women with higher progesterone, the brain activity patterns representing emotional control in these two regions were less distinct and harder for the algorithm to tell apart.
“In everyday life, we constantly encounter situations in which our automatic emotional reactions conflict with what we actually need to do,” Buades-Rotger explained. “Imagine needing to ask a grumpy colleague for help: your instinct might be to avoid them, but achieving your goal requires approaching them instead. Our findings suggest that higher progesterone levels may make the brain’s representation of these competing emotional demands less clear, potentially making it harder to distinguish when to follow an instinctive reaction and when to override it. This could be one way in which natural hormonal fluctuations subtly influence how we navigate emotionally challenging situations.”
Sharper activity patterns in the lateral frontal pole were also associated with better mood over the past week (r = 0.26). Even without a direct correlation between progesterone and mood reported in the study, a preregistered mediation analysis found a small indirect pathway: higher progesterone was linked to less distinct frontal patterns, which were in turn linked to worse recent mood. The model explained 7.1 percent of the variation in mood scores, and a reversed version that swapped the roles of progesterone and the brain patterns produced a weaker effect that was not statistically significant.
Contrary to the researchers’ initial expectations, estradiol levels were not linked to brain decoding accuracy or to mood. In addition, neither estradiol nor progesterone correlated with how quickly or accurately participants pressed the buttons during the behavioral task. When the researchers divided participants into early and late stages of the menstrual cycle based on self-reported cycle length, they found higher progesterone in the late phase as expected, but cycle phase by itself was not linked to differences in mood, task performance, or brain decoding accuracy.
“What surprised me most was the absence of comparable effects for estradiol,” Buades-Rotger noted. “Both estradiol and progesterone are known to influence brain function, and we had good reasons to expect that either hormone might be associated with how emotional control is represented in the brain. Instead, the associations we identified were specific to progesterone. This does not mean that estradiol has no role in emotional regulation, but it suggests that the two hormones may influence these processes through different mechanisms.”
The authors suggest that progesterone may make brain activity patterns more diffuse across frontal and striatal circuits. While this blurring of emotional signals might make it harder to actively regulate mood and impulses, the researchers note that a slight blunting of emotional representations could be helpful in other ways, such as reducing sensitivity to physical pain during the second half of the menstrual cycle.
As with all research, there are some caveats to consider when interpreting these findings. Because the researchers collected only a single saliva sample and brain scan from each woman at one point in time, the study cannot prove that higher progesterone directly causes changes in brain patterns or mood. In addition, the 101 participants included in the correlation analyses fell short of the preregistered target of 120, leaving the study with 71 percent statistical power to detect effects of the observed size. Tracking the same individuals across multiple days of their menstrual cycles in future studies will be necessary to separate temporary hormonal states from stable personal traits.
“One important misconception would be that higher progesterone necessarily makes women more emotional or less capable of controlling their behavior,” Buades-Rotger emphasized. “That is not what our study shows. We examined statistical associations between naturally occurring hormone levels, patterns of brain activity, and mood in healthy young women; we did not experimentally manipulate progesterone or demonstrate that these neural differences cause changes in emotional behavior. It is also important to remember that hormonal effects vary considerably between individuals, and many women experience little or no noticeable mood changes across the menstrual cycle.”
Methodological factors may have also introduced measurement noise that masked potential effects of estradiol. The researchers used chewing gum to help participants produce saliva, which is known to alter measured concentrations of steroid hormones, and salivary estradiol is a poor marker of menstrual cycle phase. In this sample, estradiol did not differ between the early and late phases of the cycle, while progesterone did. Finally, the pathway linking progesterone, frontal brain patterns, and mood accounted for just over 7 percent of the variation in mood among participants, meaning most of the differences in how participants felt were explained by other factors.
“The associations we observed were relatively modest, which is unsurprising given that mood and emotional regulation depend on many interacting biological, psychological, and environmental factors,” Buades-Rotger said. “Progesterone is certainly not a master switch that determines how someone feels or behaves. The significance of our findings lies primarily in identifying a potential brain mechanism linking hormonal variation to mood, rather than demonstrating a large or immediately noticeable effect on everyday behavior.”
Looking ahead, the researchers hope to test these hormonal pathways more directly over time. “An important next step would be to follow the same women across different phases of the menstrual cycle to determine whether changes in progesterone are accompanied by corresponding changes in neural representations of emotion control,” Buades-Rotger said. “Pharmacological studies that experimentally manipulate progesterone levels or the activity of its neuroactive metabolites would provide a more direct test of causality. Ultimately, understanding these mechanisms could help explain why some women are particularly sensitive to hormonal fluctuations, including those who experience premenstrual dysphoria, and potentially inform future approaches to treatment.”
“I think our findings also illustrate the value of looking beyond conventional measures of brain activation,” Buades-Rotger concluded. “This allowed us to investigate how information about emotional control is represented in the brain. More broadly, the study highlights why hormonal state should be taken seriously as a meaningful source of variation in neuroscience, rather than simply treated as a nuisance variable.”
The study, “Endogenous progesterone blurs frontostriatal representations of emotion control in healthy young women,” was authored by Macià Buades-Rotger, Rosamunde Hendricks, Beatrice Roncarati, Marta Calderón-García, Kaja Bergmann, and Francisco José Pérez-Cano.
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Getting old is a pain in the ass and it's been living in my head rent-free lately. And then this morning I rediscovered my favorite passage in The Big Book from when I got sober 40 heckin' years ago: To wit,
"Acceptance is the answer to ALL my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing, or situation--some fact of my life--unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment... unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy..."
That saved my bacon more than once decades ago: Not only did it help me get sober, but also I had it pinned above my desk at The Internship From Hell 😆 and it is the only reason I managed to finish my doctorate, I can tell you, because that place very nearly drove me out of my program altogether.
(Lest you think I'm exaggerating, it was completely shut down by a federal judge 10 years later.)
But I digress. I needed to remember today that it exists as A Thing In the World I can use to keep myself sane today.
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Though the world holds horrors, it also contains beauty, especially when lived with mindfulness and compassionate insight, www.compassmethods.com. https://youtube.com/@compassionscompass-sb7jo?si=jf0Yesc1UITV5R8I #mentalhealth #world #love #compassion #wisdom
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"Hier hab ich meinen Sinn" — here I found my purpose.
For everyone who serves, who cares, who shows up for others. Purpose is not found. It is given.
Emotions, out October 26. Pre-save: https://ffm.to/emotions_astra
#AthenaAstra #EmotionsAlbum #MentalHealth -
Your Compassionate Support, Would Be Most Valued Today;
#Disability #Poverty #Aging #Health
🚨 URGENT HELP NEEDED TODAY 🚨I am a 48-year-old disabled man living in poverty, and I am struggling to survive.
Every day is a battle against constant pain, sleepless nights, hunger, declining health, worsening vision, vertigo, mobility issues, cognitive decline, and the harsh reality that my disability income does not come close to covering the cost of living.
I face impossible choices every day:
Food or hygiene.
Medication or necessities.
Survival today or survival tomorrow.I have no safety net. No financial cushion. No family support. No meaningful support system.
I am asking for help because I genuinely do not know how much longer I can continue carrying this burden alone.
My Reality
I live solely on SSDI.
I have no health insurance.
I do not drive.
I live in a rural area with no public transportation, meaning everything I need must be delivered or depend on finding someone willing and able to help.
My housing situation is unstable. Part of my rent is paid through helping maintain the property where I live, but my disabilities and declining health are making even those responsibilities increasingly difficult.
I am aging in poverty, and every year brings new physical limitations, more pain, and greater uncertainty.
I am not getting better.
I am getting worse.
My Health Is Declining
My days are consumed by:
Chronic pain
Exhaustion
High blood pressure fluctuations
Vertigo and dizziness
Poor mobility
Knee, hip, ankle, and joint pain
Numbness and weakness in my hands
Cognitive and executive functioning decline
Vision problems and light sensitivity
Dental issues
Anxiety, PTSD, and Bipolar DisorderSome days my vision becomes a fuzzy blur. Bright light hurts. Low light makes basic tasks difficult.
If I sit too long, my joints lock up.
If I stand too long, my legs burn and stiffen.
If I lie down, pain spreads throughout my body.
Simple daily activities that most people take for granted are becoming harder and harder to accomplish.
Why I Am Reaching Out
I am exhausted.
Physically.
Mentally.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.
I have spent years contacting organizations, charities, government agencies, advocacy programs, nonprofits, and anyone I could think of for help.
Most of the time I receive lists of resources, referrals, phone numbers, websites, and suggestions.
What I do not receive are results.
I desperately need someone willing to understand my actual circumstances and help create real, concrete solutions.
I do not need more lists.
I need advocacy.
I need a social worker or case manager who can help navigate housing, healthcare, benefits, food security, transportation, and long-term stability.
I know resources exist.
I simply cannot seem to access them on my own.
A Recent Example
A few months ago, I developed a serious dental problem.
The pain became so severe that my landlord had to take me to the emergency room simply to obtain antibiotics.
After extensive effort and repeated requests, I was able to receive an examination and X-rays, only to be referred elsewhere for additional care I could not afford and could not reliably travel to.
Multiple emails and follow-ups produced little more than apologies and delays.
This experience reflects a much larger problem:
Many disabled people are given information about help.
Far fewer are actually able to obtain that help.
What I Need Most
Immediate Needs
Food and groceries
Hygiene supplies
Clothing
Medical and dental care
Transportation assistance
Household necessities
Relief from immediate financial crisis
Long-Term Needs
Stable, permanent housing
Consistent food security
Reliable healthcare access
Advocacy and case management
A sustainable future with dignity and securityMy greatest need is stability.
I need a forever home where I can live safely for the rest of my life without constantly fearing homelessness, displacement, or crisis.
This Is About Dignity
This is not a request for luxury.
It is a plea for dignity.
Poverty is expensive.
Disability is exhausting.
Hunger is cruel.
Isolation is crushing.
I am trying to survive while my body and mind continue to deteriorate.
Despite everything, I continue to fight every day.
I continue to hope.
I continue to ask for help.
Financial Needs
Today's Goal$8,455
Annual Survival Need
$27,255
Monthly Survival Need
$1,500
Immediate Stabilization Goal
$25,000
Long-Term Housing and Security Goal
$5,000,000
A stable, accessible, permanent property would not only give me safety and security, but potentially allow me to spend the remainder of my life helping others who struggle as I have.
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Final Words
I am tired.
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If you have ever known hardship, loss, fear, hunger, loneliness, disability, or uncertainty, then you know that compassion can mean everything.
Please help if you can.
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#MutualAid #Disabled #Disability #Poverty #Housing #Health #Healthcare #DentalHealth #FoodInsecurity #ChronicIllness #MentalHealth #PTSD #Bipolar #Survival #Support #Compassion #Empathy #Aging #Help #Dignity #Rent #Groceries #Hygiene #CommunitySupport #Life
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Heavy news in the treatment world: industry leaders arrested in a reported $1.6 billion fraud case. People with addiction are at their most desperate — and most vulnerable — and they deserve care, not exploitation. Don't let bad actors become an excuse to write off treatment: most people in this field show up with integrity every single day. If you're choosing care for someone you love, ask hard questions.
#addiction #recovery #treatment #mentalhealth -
DATE: October 22, 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: New biological marker could end trial and error in depression care
URL: https://www.psypost.org/blood-test-could-predict-if-an-antidepressant-will-work-for-you/
Major depressive disorder is often treated through trial and error, but a blood test may soon help doctors choose the right medication on the first try. Researchers have identified a circular RNA molecule in the blood that predicts whether a patient will respond to a common class of antidepressants. The findings were published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Millions of people globally experience major depressive disorder. Doctors frequently prescribe selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, commonly known as SSRIs, as a first line of medical defense. These drugs block the reabsorption of serotonin in the brain, leaving more of the chemical available to help transmit messages between nerve cells.
Less than half of patients experience relief from their symptoms after trying their first prescribed antidepressant. This forces patients to spend months trying different medications before finding one that works. The prolonged wait imposes a heavy burden on individuals and adds substantial costs to the healthcare system.
Medical professionals currently lack biological tests to predict which drug will work for a specific person. Genetic tests exist to show how fast a person’s body might metabolize a drug. They cannot, however, forecast if the drug will actually relieve depression symptoms.
To find a better biological indicator, a team of researchers investigated circular RNAs. These are stable, loop-shaped genetic molecules that influence how other genes operate. Because they lack exposed ends, they resist degrading enzymes in the body, giving them a much longer lifespan than standard linear RNA molecules.
Circular RNAs are highly concentrated in the brain and help regulate how neurons connect and communicate. Some of these molecules can pass through the blood-brain barrier, the semi-permeable membrane that separates circulating blood from brain fluid. Because they leak into the bloodstream in a stable form, researchers can detect brain-derived circular RNAs using a standard blood draw.
The investigation was led by scientists Grigorios Papageorgiou, Eleni T. Tzavara, and Nikolaos Mellios of Circular Genomics and various research institutes in the United States and France, along with Madhukar H. Trivedi at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. They focused on a specific circular RNA called CDR1as. This molecule is highly abundant in the brain but rarely found in other human tissues.
The researchers first analyzed baseline blood samples from patients enrolled in two independent clinical trials. They extracted RNA from the blood of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder who were about to begin taking the SSRI sertraline. Using a technique that amplifies genetic material, the team measured the starting levels of CDR1as for each patient.
The team found that patients who did not respond to sertraline after eight weeks of treatment had notably higher baseline levels of CDR1as in their blood. Patients who experienced symptom relief had lower starting levels of the molecule. The researchers observed that unaffected control subjects also showed lower baseline levels of the molecule.
Taking advantage of the clinical trial design, the researchers also measured the patients’ blood at different intervals after they started taking sertraline. They discovered that patients who responded well to the drug experienced an increase in CDR1as levels after treatment began. Patients who did not respond to the medication saw no such increase in the molecule’s concentration.
To test if this molecule simply predicts general improvement rather than specific drug responses, the researchers looked at other treatment groups. They measured baseline blood levels in patients who were given a placebo pill. They also evaluated patients who failed to respond to sertraline and were subsequently switched to bupropion, a different type of antidepressant.
Baseline levels of CDR1as did not predict whether a patient would feel better on a placebo. The molecule also failed to predict if a patient would go on to experience remission while taking bupropion. This suggested the biomarker is specifically tied to the mechanisms of sertraline.
The research team then wanted to know if this predictive power applied to the entire SSRI drug class. They examined blood samples from patients in other clinical programs who were taking fluoxetine, citalopram, or escitalopram. They also analyzed samples from a small study of patients taking alternative medications like serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors.
The researchers observed that CDR1as levels successfully identified patients who were faring well on various SSRIs, not just sertraline. When evaluating patients taking other classes of antidepressants, the molecule’s levels did not predict symptom relief. This pointed to a specific relationship between the circular RNA and SSRI medications as a whole.
To understand exactly how the brain produces this circular RNA, the team conducted experiments on mice. They administered different chemical compounds to the animals to block specific brain receptors. They then extracted brain tissue to measure changes in Cdr1as, the mouse equivalent of the human molecule.
When the researchers blocked the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor, levels of the circular RNA dropped across three different regions of the mouse brain. Blocking dopamine or glutamate receptors did not produce a similar drop in the molecule. This established a direct link between serotonin system activity and the production of the circular RNA.
The investigators conducted a final set of experiments on lab-grown human and mouse nerve cells. They treated the cells with chemicals that inhibit brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that promotes the survival and growth of neurons. Inhibiting this protein’s receptors caused the cells to produce less of the circular RNA.
The researchers noted that certain medical conditions could interfere with the accuracy of this blood test. For instance, the test performed poorly in depressed patients who had a family history of mania, which is often a sign of undiagnosed bipolar disorder. When the researchers excluded these patients from their analysis, the test’s predictive accuracy improved.
Medical events that disrupt the blood-brain barrier might also artificially alter the amount of circular RNA in the bloodstream. Severe head trauma or strokes could potentially cause these brain molecules to leak into the blood at abnormal rates. Future research will need to verify how such physical injuries influence the test results.
The study authors noted that high baseline levels of the molecule correlated with specific depression symptoms like anhedonia and social withdrawal. These symptoms are often associated with a subtype of depression that is historically harder to treat with SSRIs. Further studies will need to explore exactly how this biological marker overlaps with different clinical subtypes of the disorder.
The study, “A brain-enriched circRNA blood biomarker can predict response to SSRI antidepressants,” was authored by Grigorios Papageorgiou, El Chérif Ibrahim, Victor Gorgievski, Gabriella Maxson, Evelyn Lozano, Eric Gordon, Antoine Lefrere, Marie-Julie Toupet, Philippe Courtet, Raoul Belzeaux, Jane Foster, Thomas Carmody, Roy H. Perlis, Madhukar H. Trivedi, Eleni T. Tzavara, and Nikolaos Mellios.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/blood-test-could-predict-if-an-antidepressant-will-work-for-you/
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How happy do you feel RIGHT NOW? (I ask this question every day to gauge how happy the Fediverse is.) #happiness #poll #mentalhealth
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Some of us have become skilled at being easy to be around.
We can laugh at any joke, help direct a conversation away from unsteady ground, or give mostly true answers to direct questions. Many of us have mastered the skill of leaving certain details out based on who is in the room. For example, we can describe a weekend getaway without mentioning the name or gender of the person we spent it with, without missing a beat.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/whats-dinner-like-for-you-mr-gay-at-the-table-with-friends-and-family-76dca46b01b6?sk=4b601dcd898e3dff3126cc98050af5b7