Mindfulness-based processes can enhance attention and produce analgesia, making them effective for pain interventions. This review introduces the concept of mindfulness and its components as relevant to pain mechanisms, noting that differences in definitions, study design, and attention direction strategies must be considered when synthesizing findings. A dynamic process model of mindfulness-based analgesia is proposed: early effects stem from improved cognitive regulation, while later effects involve reduced interference between cognitive and affective factors. With practice, mechanisms shift, as neural activation changes from increased activity in the ACC and aINS in beginners to increased pINS and reduced lPFC activity in experts.
Cannabis use at age 16 is associated with psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) even after accounting for genetic risk for schizophrenia, according to an analysis of 1740 European adolescents from the IMAGEN cohort and replicated in 1223 individuals from a Dutch cohort. Polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia predicted both cannabis use and PLEs, and cannabis use remained a significant predictor of PLEs in models including genetic risk. However, no evidence was found that genetic risk mediates or moderates the cannabis–psychosis link. The findings suggest cannabis use is a risk factor for PLEs independent of genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.