Brain sciences
March 27, 2024
James Chmiel, Agnieszka Malinowska, Filip Rybakowski et al.
4 citations
Mindfulness meditation may reduce hunger, risk of relapse, stress, depression, and aggression in people with methamphetamine addiction, and can improve cognitive function, whether used alone or with transcranial direct current stimulation. A review of ten studies using behavioral measures found mindfulness an effective treatment option, potentially by inducing neuroplasticity. No drugs are approved for methamphetamine addiction, and existing treatments have moderate effectiveness, so mindfulness offers a promising avenue. However, the review calls for more high-quality research using neuroimaging and neurophysiological measures to confirm these findings and understand underlying mechanisms.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
February 26, 2026
James Chmiel, Filip Rybakowski
Antidepressant response to psychedelic-assisted therapies depends more on what happens during the dosing session and how the therapeutic context shapes that experience than on static patient characteristics. Across 48 studies, greater emotional breakthrough, mystical experiences, and insight consistently predicted larger and more durable symptom reductions, while anxiety-dominant states attenuated benefit. A stronger therapeutic alliance and music perceived as resonant predicted both meaningful acute experiences and later clinical gains. Baseline factors such as PTSD comorbidity sometimes weakened outcomes, extensive prior psychedelic use was linked to smaller incremental benefits, and demographics were generally uninformative. Biological markers of increased neural flexibility and plasticity also correlated with better outcomes.
Psychiatria polska
June 30, 2024
Janusz Rybakowski, Filip Rybakowski
Consciousness is often defined as subjective experience of mental processes. This article first reviews evolutionary concepts of consciousness from scientists including Joseph LeDoux, Daniel Dennett, António Damásio, and Arthur Reber, who each offer slightly different views on how consciousness evolved alongside the nervous system and mental life. The second part discusses recent research on cognitive and neurobiological components of consciousness, focusing on work by Chris Frith and Anil Seth, covering neuroanatomical and perceptual aspects of both the level and context of consciousness. The article also aims to introduce prominent neuroscience researchers.