International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
April 12, 2021
55 citations
An eight-week loving-kindness meditation (LKM) training program improved empathy and communication skills among 106 doctors in a Chinese hospital, but did not significantly change their mindfulness levels. Doctors randomly assigned to LKM training showed greater gains in empathy and communication compared with a waiting-list control group. The findings suggest LKM may help enhance physician-patient interactions, though the reasons for the lack of effect on mindfulness require further study.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
August 2, 2021
Lisa Reynolds, Amelia Akroyd, Frederick Sundram et al.
33 citations
Cancer healthcare professionals—doctors, nurses, psychologists, and social workers—show openness to psychedelic-assisted therapy for advanced cancer patients, driven by a desire to alleviate suffering and a lack of effective current treatments. However, this openness is tempered by concerns about patient safety and the need for rigorous, well-designed trials. The study identified four themes: beneficence (alleviating suffering), non-maleficence (keeping vulnerable patients safe), viewing psychedelic-assisted therapy as a transformative approach with real potential, and recognizing that new frontiers carry risks. These findings offer a foundation for engaging healthcare professionals in future research and clinical applications.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
December 13, 2021
Yuzheng Wang, Lingqiu Liao, Xiaoxiao Lin et al.
30 citations
From 1900 to 2021, research on meditation—especially mindfulness meditation—grew from a single article in 1963 to 19,752 publications. The United States leads in collaboration, output, and citations. The journal Mindfulness published the most articles, and the most cited paper is Brown and Ryan's work on mindfulness and psychological well-being. Frequently studied topics include mindfulness, meditation, depression, intervention, stress reduction, stress, and anxiety. Before 2010, research focused on hypertension, cancer, and generalized anxiety disorder; after 2010, interest shifted to meta-analysis, attention, self-assessment, and mindfulness-based interventions. These results map the field's development and guide future research.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
January 19, 2023
Iga Stokłosa, Gniewko Więckiewicz, Maciej Stokłosa et al.
25 citations
No single effective drug for alcohol abuse has been identified, despite centuries of effort, due to the complexity of alcohol dependence. Psychotherapy remains the main treatment, with few FDA-approved medications—acamprosate, disulfiram, and naltrexone—and nalmefene approved by the EMA available to augment it. Recent reports suggest baclofen, topiramate, varenicline, and gabapentin may be useful. Clinical trials with psilocybin and MDMA show promise as breakthroughs, but much more research is needed before new pharmacological treatments become widely available.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
January 19, 2023
Koen Ponnet, Bert Hauspie, Nicky Dirkx et al.
21 citations
Attendees of electronic dance music events are a high-risk group for substance use. A survey of 1345 Belgian attendees found that ecstasy/MDMA/Molly (52.28%), other synthetic hallucinogens (53.68%), ketamine (42.13%), amphetamines (40.45%), and alkyl nitrites (32.76%) were most used at festivals, outdoor parties, and raves. Cocaine was prevalent in nightclubs (32.29%), while cannabis (68.88%) and magic mushrooms (66.44%) were most used at private events. Overall enjoyment was the key motive for attendance, followed by music and socialization. Users rated many motives (dance, exploration, escapism, excitement, alcohol, drugs) as more important than non-users. Substance use prevalence depended on the event setting, and a three-dimensional classification of attendance motives was supported.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
November 1, 2021
Andrea Poli, A. Gemignani, F. Soldani et al.
21 citations
Lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of vagal tone, is linked to PTSD and OCD, and contemplative practices may increase RSA by activating the ventral vagal complex, aiding recovery. A systematic review of six studies (one cross-sectional, one pre-post, two cohort, two randomized controlled trials) found that mindfulness-related interventions increased parasympathetic activity and vagal tone while improving PTSD and OCD symptoms. Under polyvagal theory, mindfulness and compassion meditations act as neural exercises that expand the ventral vagal complex's capacity to regulate present states and build resilience.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
September 9, 2022
Christin Mellner, Micael Dahlen, Otto Simonsson
18 citations
People who have ever used classic psychedelics (such as LSD or psilocybin) report slightly fewer sick days in the past month than those who have never used them, after accounting for demographics, risky behavior, and other substance use. The analysis of a large, nationally representative US sample (over 400,000 adults) found a small but statistically significant negative association. The authors caution that the finding is correlational and that more research is needed to determine whether psychedelics actually cause reduced sick leave and to understand possible mechanisms.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
September 17, 2022
Karin Matko, Peter Sedlmeier, Holger C. Bringmann
17 citations
All four 8-week treatments—mantra meditation alone, meditation plus physical yoga, meditation plus ethical education, and all three combined—similarly improved body awareness, emotion regulation, self-compassion, and distress tolerance in adults new to yoga and meditation. These benefits persisted at 2- and 12-month follow-ups despite declining home practice. Mantra meditation alone had the least favorable effect on daily affect, while adding physical yoga best prevented negative affective responses. The findings suggest that mantra meditation is the central component driving improvements in interoception, self-awareness, and embodied processing, even though it negatively influenced affect on its own.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
July 1, 2022
Elin Pöllänen, Walter Osika, Otto Simonsson et al.
12 citations
People who have used classic psychedelics tend to report less speciesism and more solidarity with animals, though no link was found with their desire to help animals. Among those who used psychedelics, stronger ego dissolution during their most intense experience was associated with less speciesism, more animal solidarity, and a greater desire to help animals. These associations come from a large US-representative sample of 2,822 adults. The authors caution that the findings do not demonstrate causality and call for longitudinal studies to explore whether psychedelic use directly influences human–animal relations.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
May 29, 2022
Ahmed Al-Imam, Marek A Motyka, Zuzanna Witulska et al.
7 citations
Psychedelics induce altered consciousness via the 5-HT2A receptor. Online searches in Poland for twenty psychedelics from 2017 to 2022 were analyzed using Google Trends data. Holt–Winters exponential smoothing revealed that twelve (60%) of the substances had significant seasonal patterns: psilocybin and ayahuasca showed annual seasonality, four substances (LSD, AL-LAD, DXM, DOB) had half-yearly seasonality, and six (cannabis, dronabinol, ergine, NBOMe, phencyclidine, salvinorin A) followed a quarterly pattern. The pandemic led to a significant positive change in search trends for psilocybin, ergine, and DXM. These spatiotemporal patterns may aid health authorities in monitoring and preventing addictions.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
October 1, 2021
S. Amigó
3 citations
A brief psychological intervention called Self-Regulation Therapy (SRT), which uses suggestion and classical conditioning to reproduce the positive effects of illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, and ecstasy, improved coping with stress and emotionality in young adults. Fifteen volunteers (8 males, 7 females, average age 24.6) completed pre- and post-intervention assessments over 10 days and a 4-week follow-up. SRT outperformed no intervention across four coping strategies and both positive and negative emotionality, with improvements maintained at follow-up. The findings suggest that reproducing the positive effects of illegal drugs via SRT can enhance coping and emotional regulation.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
February 17, 2026
Carla J. Berg, Cassidy R. Loparco, Darcey M. Mccready et al.
1 citation
Among 3,227 US adults aged 18–34 surveyed in 2025, past-6-month cannabis use was reported by 40.5% and past-year psychedelic use by 11.9%. Psychedelics had less legalization support, less promotional and risk-message exposure, and lower social acceptability than cannabis, while being perceived as more addictive and harmful. Factors linked to both cannabis and psychedelic use included lower perceived addictiveness and harm, higher social acceptability, more adverse childhood experiences, more promotional and risk-message exposure, and higher scores on a mental health questionnaire. Greater legalization support for both substances was associated with lower perceived addictiveness and harm, higher social acceptability, and more promotional-message exposure. Message exposure may be especially important in shaping psychedelic use and legalization support.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
May 29, 2026
Simin Kazemi, Julia Torquati, Tuyen Huynh
Connection to nature is linked to psychological wellbeing, and two studies tested whether mindfulness or spirituality explain this link. In Study 1 (219 young adults), mindful attention reduced anxiety and perceived stress, and mindful awareness reduced depression and increased positive states of mind; spirituality did not mediate these effects. In Study 2 (180 young adults), spirituality (self-transcendence) mediated wellbeing outcomes except anxiety, while none of the five facets of mindfulness were significant mediators. The roles of mindfulness and spirituality depend on how they are conceptualized and measured, indicating a need for conceptual clarity in future research.