Clinical psychology & psychotherapy
January 1, 2024
Lulu Kou, Min Liu, Shaowei Kang et al.
5 citations
Adding mindfulness meditation to standard care plus a sleep medication improved sleep quality, reduced anxiety and depression, and enhanced motor function more than standard care alone in people who had a stroke and also have coronary heart disease. In a 6-week program, those who practiced mindfulness showed better scores on measures of sleep, mood, and movement at both 6 and 12 weeks. The improvement in overall sleep quality was notably larger in the mindfulness group. The findings suggest mindfulness meditation is a helpful addition for managing sleep and emotional difficulties and supporting physical recovery after stroke in patients with heart disease.
Nature Communications
September 30, 2025
Cassandra J. Hatzipantelis, Min Liu, A. H. G. Love et al.
2 citations
Psilocybin, which increases social connectedness and shows promise for treating mental illness, was tested in a mouse model of peripartum mood disorders. Social stress caused maternal withdrawal and increased stress-related behaviors, and psilocybin did not alleviate these effects. Weeks later, psilocybin-treated mothers were more anxious, regardless of prior stress exposure, while virgin females were unaffected. Reproductive status did not alter psilocybin metabolism, but serotonin receptor transcription and 5-HT2A receptor-dependent responses were reduced in mothers. Offspring exposed to psilocybin through breastfeeding showed anhedonia in adulthood. The findings indicate that both parous parents and their children may be uniquely vulnerable to psychedelic treatment during the postpartum period.
ACS chemical neuroscience
October 15, 2025
Cassandra J Hatzipantelis, Lindsay P Cameron, Min Liu et al.
A new genetic mouse model lacking the enzyme indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (INMT) shows that INMT is not required for the production of endogenous psychedelics, suggesting alternative biosynthetic pathways exist in rodents. INMT knockout mice had no major abnormalities in reproduction or growth but did exhibit altered behaviors across several domains. The study also describes highly sensitive mass spectrometry methods for quantifying endogenous psychedelics in mice. These findings challenge the assumption that INMT is the primary enzyme for endogenous psychedelic production and open new questions about the role of these compounds in health and disease.