Brain and behavior
July 1, 2024
Rami Rajjoub, Sally El Sammak, Tamim Rajjo et al.
11 citations
A systematic review of 16 randomized controlled trials examined whether meditation practices can reduce pain and anxiety during the perioperative period. Among eight studies measuring pain after invasive procedures, five reported improvements and three found no change. Ten studies assessed anxiety: nine showed decreased anxiety levels, while one reported no change. The evidence suggests that various meditation techniques may help alleviate pain and anxiety for patients undergoing surgeries or other invasive procedures, but more prospective research is needed to confirm routine effectiveness.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2024
Brandon Taraku, Joana R Loureiro, Ashish K Sahib et al.
11 citations
Ketamine infusions alter brain connectivity in people with major depressive disorder, particularly in circuits involving the habenula and nucleus accumbens, which are linked to reward processing. After four infusions, changes in functional connections between these regions and visual, parietal, and cerebellar areas correlated with improvements in mood and anhedonia. For example, decreased variability in connectivity between the left habenula and right precuneus/visual cortex was associated with better mood, while altered connectivity between the left habenula and visual/parietal cortices and between the left nucleus accumbens and visual/parietal cortices correlated with reduced anhedonia. No such changes occurred in healthy controls.
Brain and behavior
July 1, 2020
Marco Aurélio Vinhosa Bastos, Paulo Roberto Haidamus de Oliveira Bastos, Loyná Euá Flores E Paez et al.
8 citations
Alleged mediums showed no differences in pineal gland or pituitary volumes, or in urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels, compared to nonmedium controls. During mediumistic experience, anxiety and heart rate increased to a level between reading and a stressful test, but 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels did not differ across conditions. Salivary cortisol response to stress was attenuated. The normal neuroimaging and stress reactivity findings contrast with abnormalities typically seen in psychotic and dissociative disorders.
Brain and behavior
December 1, 2024
Na Mi, Shu-Ting Zhang, Xiao-Li Sun et al.
5 citations
Mindfulness meditation combined with a BrainLink intelligent biofeedback instrument significantly reduces anxiety, pain, and brain fatigue while improving quality of life in pancreatic cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. In a trial with 145 patients, those receiving the combined intervention showed lower anxiety scores, lower pain scores, and higher quality-of-life scores at 4, 8, and 12 weeks compared to a control group receiving routine nursing care. The intervention also improved brain fatigue relief, concentration, and relaxation levels, and increased alpha and theta brain waves. The findings suggest this approach offers a novel way to support psychosomatic health in this patient group.
Brain and behavior
January 1, 2025
Hoang Cuu Long, Ho Minh An, Pham Thi Phuong Dung et al.
4 citations
Mindfulness directly boosts job performance, and emotional intelligence partly explains how. Among 263 office employees in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, mindfulness had a direct positive influence on performance. Emotional intelligence mediated this relationship, with an indirect effect larger than the direct effect. Psychological capital also mediated the link, but its indirect effect was smaller than the direct effect of mindfulness. The findings suggest that emotional intelligence is a key personal resource transmitting mindfulness's workplace benefits. Integrating emotional intelligence training into mindfulness programs could improve employee productivity.
Brain and behavior
August 1, 2024
Mona Lisa Hordila, Cristina García-bravo, Domingo Palacios-Ceña et al.
2 citations
A compelling narrative emerges from the life history of a 54-year-old man with locked-in syndrome (LIS) and his 50-year-old wife. Through qualitative interviews and autobiographical documents, five key themes were identified: navigating new realities, care and rehabilitation processes, communication challenges, the therapeutic power of writing, and the importance of personal autonomy. The couple emphasized the critical role of family and friends in their journey, highlighting how effective communication and medical support significantly aided their acceptance and adaptation to this profound life change.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2026
Aloysius Amos Lau, Shalini Arunogiri, Boen Raner-Galutera et al.
1 citation
Peer Support Workers (PSWs) in mental health and substance use treatment largely support psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) and are willing to recommend it to clients. A survey and follow-up interviews with five PSWs revealed that while interest is strong, concerns exist around client safety, psychoeducation, stigma, and accessibility. The study identifies key factors shaping PSWs' perspectives on PAT, which can inform safe implementation and the potential role of PSWs in this emerging treatment modality.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2026
Christopher Poppe, Liisa Lyck, Laura Bechtold et al.
1 citation
In people with treatment-resistant depression entering psychedelic clinical trials, motivations and expectations are complex and may shift over time. Interviews with 17 participants before screening for 5-MeO-DMT or psilocybin trials revealed two main themes: motivations (hope, demoralization, prior psychedelic experience, social reasons) and expectations (anticipated symptom reduction, perceived mechanisms of change, role of setting, and retrospective expectations). Many viewed trial participation as a last resort after chronic illness and failed treatments. In two cases, initially cautious expectations were later reinterpreted as stronger after participation. These findings suggest that expectancy should be systematically addressed in trial design, informed consent, and interpretation of outcomes.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2026
T Rowe, T Hurzeler, E Towers et al.
1 citation
Music amplifies and intensifies emotions during psychedelic experiences, recruits brain networks involved in meaning-attribution and visual imagery, and increases overall neural entropy. These findings come from a scoping review of 19 quantitative studies (total 330 human participants) that examined interactions between psychedelics and music, primarily with psilocybin and LSD. No studies investigated MDMA and music. Music conditions across studies have been limited. Considerable gaps remain in understanding mechanisms of action and how music is delivered to optimize therapeutic response, due in part to methodological inconsistencies and small sample sizes.
Brain and behavior
April 1, 2026
Hamish Grime, Eugenia Drini
1 citation
A realist review of historical studies from 1954 to 1965 identifies features of psycholytic therapy—using LSD to enhance psychoanalytic therapy—that were associated with better outcomes and fewer adverse events. These features include a flexible, intuitive therapeutic approach, prompt correction of transference issues, continuous therapist presence, more than ten treatment sessions with extensive preparation, creative activities during integration, use of maximal tolerated doses, and avoidance of abrupt pharmacological termination. Psycholytic therapy showed potential to improve severe mental health conditions, particularly when trust in the therapist was fostered, helping address trauma-based responses resistant to psychotherapy alone.
Brain and behavior
February 1, 2026
Rachel Ham, John Gardner, Adrian Carter et al.
1 citation
In psilocybin-assisted therapy, therapeutic touch can foster emotional connection, provide grounding during intense experiences, and modulate the depth of the psychedelic state, but its acceptability depends on the quality of the therapeutic relationship and robust consent processes. Most participants valued having touch available, especially after firsthand experience, and several attributed therapeutic benefit directly to touch. However, some also identified potential for discomfort or distraction, highlighting the need for sensitivity to individual history and context. The findings underscore the importance of explicit preparation, consent, and attunement when incorporating touch into psychedelic therapy.
Brain and behavior
February 1, 2026
Simon Halm
1 citation
Psychedelic- and substance-assisted therapies for PTSD and depression are mostly developed in high-income countries, but they could be relevant for global mental health, especially in conflict zones and humanitarian settings. Their equitable use faces cultural, ethical, regulatory, and resource challenges. Responsible implementation needs culturally grounded, ethically robust, and context-sensitive approaches, not uncritical expansion.
Brain and behavior
July 1, 2025
H T McGovern, L Bajo, G Hassed et al.
1 citation
People who discuss psychedelic experiences on online forums describe them in a sequential structure: what happens before, during, and after ingestion. Before the experience, they mention their existing knowledge and perceptions of psychedelics, their intentions and mental preparation, and aids they use to support the experience. During the experience, they report sensory and cognitive distortions, their mindset and emotional state, and the stability and support of their environment. Afterward, they describe how the experience changed their behavior and outlook. The analysis suggests that set and setting should be studied across all three stages, not just the acute phase.
Brain and behavior
December 1, 2024
Weirui Xiong, Lu Yu
1 citation
Consciousness remains scientifically unexplained, with no hypothesis yet ruled out or universally accepted. This paper argues that consciousness is fundamentally first-person perception. It proposes the antagonism hypothesis: consciousness arises from conflicts in mature individual experiences that cannot be seamlessly integrated, and the function of consciousness is to address and navigate these conflicts. The hypothesis draws on predictive processing, information theory, thermodynamics, and neuroscience.
Brain and behavior
October 1, 2024
Najmeh Shahriyari, Shabnam Omidvar, Farideh Mohsenzadeh-Ledari et al.
1 citation
Online mindfulness-based counseling improved postpartum mental health among women in Iran who had COVID-19 during pregnancy. After eight weekly sessions, the intervention group's mean mental health score dropped from 29.42 to 19.80 (lower scores indicate better mental health), while the control group remained nearly unchanged (26.26 to 25.92). Somatic symptoms, depression, anxiety and insomnia, and social dysfunction all showed significantly greater improvement in the counseling group. The authors suggest the approach is beneficial but caution that further randomized clinical trials are needed before drawing definitive conclusions.
Brain and behavior
July 1, 2026
Lena K L Oestreich, Nathalie M Rieser
Psychedelic and substance-assisted therapies show promise for mental health disorders like treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and substance use disorders, but major questions remain as the field moves toward clinical implementation. This editorial introduces a special issue that brings together empirical studies, reviews, and commentaries on these emerging priorities. A central theme is that psychedelic therapy cannot be understood as a pharmacological intervention alone; therapeutic relationships, preparation, integration, music, touch, peer support, cultural context, and patient expectations all shape outcomes. Subjective meaning-making and altered states are potentially central to therapeutic change. Implementation challenges include models of care for veterans, global mental health equity, and culturally responsive access. The field requires greater conceptual precision, attention to safety and consent, and frameworks prioritizing equity and cultural appropriateness.
Brain and behavior
February 1, 2026
Burçin Ün, Zeki Akarsakarya, Özlem Yorulmaz Özü et al.
THC induces anxiety-like behavior in mice, and this effect involves an interaction between the brain's adenosinergic and cannabinoidergic systems. Gene expression patterns showed that THC's effects were partially modulated by changes in the expression of both CB1R and A2A receptors. The data suggest that THC plays a predominant role in this molecular interplay, highlighting the importance of receptor cross talk in modulating anxiety.
Brain and behavior
January 1, 2026
Filipa Alves Da Silva, Rita Avelar, Bernardo Peixoto et al.
A pilot study tested ketamine infusions combined with psychotherapy in nine patients with treatment-resistant depression at a Portuguese general hospital. After eight weeks, all participants showed reduced depression severity, with median PHQ-9 scores dropping from severe to moderate. 44% of participants had a response to treatment, defined as at least a 50% reduction in score. Among those with suicidal ideation, slightly over half experienced remission of these thoughts. In follow-up, only 29% of outpatients had mood deterioration within three months. The findings suggest that combining ketamine with psychotherapy may improve depressive symptoms even in severe, treatment-resistant cases.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2025
Alessandro Agostini, Sara Ventura, Silvia Tempia Valenta et al.
Crohn's disease (CD) is linked to psychological disorders and insecure attachment styles, but the brain mechanisms underlying attachment in CD are not well understood. In an fMRI study of 19 CD patients and 18 healthy controls, attachment style questionnaire scores were similar between groups. However, resting-state brain scans revealed opposite patterns in the default mode network (DMN): in healthy controls, higher attachment insecurity scores correlated with reduced DMN connectivity, while in CD patients they correlated with increased DMN connectivity, particularly in the superior frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate, and orbitofrontal regions. These DMN changes may reflect altered self-monitoring and relational processing, potentially contributing to psychological stress and reduced mentalization in CD. The findings suggest attachment dimensions should be considered in inflammatory bowel disease treatment and encourage mentalization-based psychotherapeutic approaches.
Brain and behavior
June 1, 2025
Chenyi Wan, Menghua Li, Yanyan Yu et al.
Cytotoxic lesions of the corpus callosum (CLOCCs) are a rare brain condition that can occur with COVID-19. Among eight patients with confirmed COVID-19 who had brain MRIs, most had fever before neurological symptoms appeared. Neurological findings included altered consciousness, headache, cognitive and behavioral disturbances, ataxia, dysarthria, pyramidal signs, and visual impairments. Blood markers of inflammation and cell damage changed with disease progression. One patient had elevated cerebrospinal fluid protein. Treatment with glucocorticoids and antivirals led to complete recovery, and follow-up MRIs in seven patients showed radiological improvement within days to weeks. The condition has a favorable prognosis and distinct MRI features, emphasizing the need to consider CLOCCs in COVID-19 patients.
Brain and behavior
November 1, 2024
Jules S Mitchell, Toomas E Anijärv, Adem T Can et al.
Subanesthetic doses of ketamine show promise for treating suicidality, but predictive biomarkers are lacking. This study examined EEG-derived complexity measures—Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) and multiscale entropy (MSE)—in 31 participants receiving six weekly oral doses of racemic ketamine (0.5-3 mg/kg). Responders, defined by a ≥50% reduction in Beck Suicide Scale score or a score ≤6, showed elevated baseline eyes-open complexity compared to nonresponders, which decreased from baseline to post-treatment. Elevated baseline eyes-open LZC in responders was localized to the left frontal lobe. EEG complexity metrics may serve as sensitive biomarkers for predicting and evaluating oral ketamine treatment response.