Depression and anxiety
January 1, 2008
Marcel O Bonn-Miller, Michael J Zvolensky, Amit Bernstein et al.
29 citations
Among 149 young adult marijuana users, those who both used marijuana frequently (past 30 days) and reported using it to cope with negative emotions had the highest levels of anxious arousal, agoraphobic cognitions, and worry. This pattern held after accounting for cigarettes, alcohol, and years of marijuana use. No similar interaction was found for depressive symptoms, suggesting the link is specific to anxiety rather than depression.
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology
April 1, 2024
Yuval Hadash, Tatyana Veksler, Omer Dar et al.
8 citations
Intensive meditation retreats produce primarily pleasant peak experiences—such as deep peace or sudden insights—rather than unpleasant ones. In a preregistered study, 96 adults attending 6-day Vipassana retreats reported more pleasant peak experiences than 47 matched controls from the same meditation community. Unpleasant peak experiences did not differ significantly between groups. At two-week follow-up, both pleasant and most unpleasant peak experiences were rated as more beneficial than harmful, with a large average effect size (Cohen's d = 1.61). The findings contradict uncontrolled retrospective studies suggesting that intensive meditation training often leads to adverse experiences.
Psychopharmacology
January 18, 2025
Sharon R Sznitman, Yoel A Behar, Sheila Daniela Dicker-Oren et al.
3 citations
In a non-clinical sample of 36 adults attending a 4-day ayahuasca retreat, positive affect and mindfulness skills improved while negative affect decreased in the days following the retreat compared to before. Acute experiences such as feelings of transcendence, emotional breakthrough, and challenging experiences predicted greater positive affect afterward, but none of these acute experiences were linked to improvements in negative affect or mindfulness. No participants showed clinically significant adverse responses, and only 5.5% showed some degree of potentially clinically significant deterioration in affect. The findings suggest ayahuasca may improve mood and mindfulness, with certain acute experiences contributing specifically to increased positive affect.
August 31, 2025
Amit Bernstein, Noga Aviad, Yuval Hadash et al.
preprint
Research on mindfulness meditation has largely relied on reductionist decomposition, which isolates discrete components and mechanisms but fails to capture how change emerges from continuous, nonlinear, and recursive interactions across multiple timescales. Dynamical Systems (DS) theory and methods offer a powerful framework to address this gap. A DS organizational framework structured around complex interaction dynamics, nonlinear causality, and multiscale temporal dynamics can inform theory-building, empirical research, and intervention science. Leading psychological and neuroscientific theories align with DS theory, unlike much empirical research. Future directions include developing formal DS models, collecting high-dimensional multiscale data, and using analytic tools for complex dynamical change.