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Retiring abroad puts older adults at risk for loneliness, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-older-adults-loneliness.html

Published: March 13, 2025 09:00

Many people dream of retiring to a warmer, less expensive country. But retirees who move abroad may be at greater risk of loneliness than those who stay in their home country, according to research published in Psychology and Aging.

Depressing findings for those suffering from eating disorders

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-depressing-disorders.html

Published: March 13, 2025 08:56

New research shows that people with eating disorders are more harshly judged than those suffering from depression, making it much harder for them to seek treatment.

What is Ulysses syndrome, and why might immigrants experience it?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-ulysses-syndrome-immigrants.html

Published: March 13, 2025 08:40

At night, Alex Mercado could feel the walls closing in. The 28-year-old living in Dallas, far from his family in Ciudad Juarez, struggled with insomnia.

AI emotion detection may fall short: Study finds real-life fear is communicated through context, not facial cues

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-ai-emotion-fall-short-real.html

Published: March 13, 2025 08:12

A new study challenges the longstanding belief that fear is primarily communicated through facial expressions, showing instead that context plays the dominant role in real-life fear recognition.

Watching nature scenes can reduce pain, neuroimaging study shows

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-nature-scenes-pain-neuroimaging.html

Published: March 13, 2025 06:00

A new neuroimaging study has revealed that viewing nature can help ease how people experience pain, by reducing the brain activity linked to pain perception.

Dopamine plays an unexpected role in memory devaluation, research reveals

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-dopamine-plays-unexpected-role-memory.html

Published: March 12, 2025 16:48

New research out of Michigan State University expands on current understanding of the brain chemical dopamine, finding that it plays a role in reducing the value of memories associated with rewards. The study, published in the journal Communications…

For teens' mental health, strong friendships matter more than social media use, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-teens-mental-health-strong-friendships.html

Published: March 12, 2025 15:09

Teens who report strong, high-quality friendships tend to have better mental health—an influence that appears nearly three times stronger than the link between social media use and mental health challenges, according to a new study published in the Journal…

New research explores mental health costs of emotional labor at work

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-explores-mental-health-emotional-labor.html

Published: March 12, 2025 14:21

"Fake it till you make it" might be common advice to climb the corporate ladder, but new University of Mississippi research shows that this attitude could also adversely affect job satisfaction and mental health.

How to learn a language like a baby

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-language-baby.html

Published: March 12, 2025 14:20

Learning a new language later in life can be a frustrating, almost paradoxical experience. On paper, our more mature and experienced adult brains should make learning easier, yet it is illiterate toddlers who acquire languages with apparent ease, not…

Poor sleep may fuel conspiracy beliefs, research suggests

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-poor-fuel-conspiracy-beliefs.html

Published: March 12, 2025 14:00

A new study from the University of Nottingham has revealed that poor sleep quality may increase susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs, with depression likely playing a key role in this relationship.

Fluorescent sensors reveal dopamine signals in primate brains

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-fluorescent-sensors-reveal-dopamine-primate.html

Published: March 12, 2025 12:08

Most people are familiar with Pavlovian conditioning, in which a reward-anticipatory behavior follows a reward-predicting stimulus. Behind this mechanism is dopamine released within the striatum, the largest structure of the subcortical basal ganglia,…

How the brain uses 'building blocks' to navigate social interactions

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-brain-blocks-social-interactions.html

Published: March 12, 2025 12:00

Our brains use basic "building blocks" of information to keep track of how people interact, enabling us to navigate complex social interactions, finds a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers.

Transgender and gender diverse people less likely to receive follow-up after a mental health hospitalization: Study

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-transgender-gender-diverse-people-mental.html

Published: March 12, 2025 10:08

Transgender and gender diverse individuals who were hospitalized for psychiatric care were less likely to have a follow-up visit compared to the general population, suggesting they face transphobia in the hospital system.

Understanding children's subjective experiences through color

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-children-subjective.html

Published: March 12, 2025 09:44

In psychology and neuroscience, the relationship between subjective experience, such as how we perceive color, and physical brain activity has remained an unresolved problem. Furthermore, due to their limited language abilities, studying conscious…

How to avoid bankrupting your 'hope budget'

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-bankrupting.html

Published: March 12, 2025 09:38

Turn on the news. Another war. Another environmental disaster. Another political scandal. The digital age delivers an unrelenting cycle of crisis, driven by the fact that many publishers know that negativity does drive online consumption.

Study finds cellular differences in Tourette patients' brain tissue

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-cellular-differences-tourette-patients.html

Published: March 12, 2025 07:37

The biological roots of Tourette disorder occur in the basal ganglia, structures deep in the brain involved in the control of movement—particularly learned motor routines and habits. However, the role of individual cells in triggering the involuntary body…

Study links Doomsday Clock to US mortality and mental health patterns

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-links-doomsday-clock-mortality-mental.html

Published: March 12, 2025 05:00

Results indicate that the closer the Doomsday Clock ticks to midnight, the higher the rates are for mortality specific to Alzheimer's disease, suicide, unintentional injuries, alcohol and substance-related disorders.

Why do children use loopholes? New research explains the development of intentional misunderstandings in children

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-children-loopholes-intentional.html

Published: March 12, 2025 03:00

Most people are familiar with loopholes. When your boss, landlord, partner, customer, or government asks you to do something you don't want to do, and yet you can't say "no," you may resort to malicious compliance—doing what someone asked, but not actually…

Study finds patients are more than twice as likely to quit smoking with talking therapies

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-patients-therapies.html

Published: March 11, 2025 20:10

Research from the University of Bath, published on No Smoking Day 2025, shows that integrating smoking cessation support into NHS Talking Therapies for depression and anxiety increases quit rates. This is an important step in addressing the high rates of…

High social media use linked to delusional disorders

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-high-social-media-linked-delusional.html

Published: March 11, 2025 12:15

A new study from Simon Fraser University researchers has found a close link between high levels of social media use and psychiatric disorders that involve delusions, such as narcissism and body dysmorphic disorder.

Study reveals teenage girls' own views on why low mood and anxiety are increasing

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-reveals-teenage-girls-views-mood.html

Published: March 11, 2025 11:32

New research published in BMC Women's Health has shed light on adolescent girls' own views on why their demographic is experiencing increasing rates of low mood and anxiety.

Washington lawmakers push to expand mental health insurance coverage

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-washington-lawmakers-mental-health-coverage.html

Published: March 11, 2025 11:10

When people seek mental health treatment in Washington, insurance companies are supposed to cover that care just like they would physical ailments.

Assessing pain, anxiety and other symptoms of nursing home residents unable to speak for themselves

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-pain-anxiety-symptoms-nursing-home.html

Published: March 11, 2025 10:48

As many as half of nursing home residents are cognitively impaired and may be unable to communicate symptoms such as pain or anxiety to the staff and clinicians caring for them. Therefore, information needed for the evaluation of symptoms and subsequent…

Higher income is linked to both greater life satisfaction and more stress, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-higher-income-linked-greater-life.html

Published: March 11, 2025 06:30

For decades, psychologists and social scientists have been trying to understand what contributes to people's mental health, happiness and overall feeling of well-being. Their efforts have already helped to design numerous social and therapeutic…

Advanced computational models enhance understanding, diagnoses of neuropsychiatric and neurological diseases

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-advanced-neuropsychiatric-neurological-diseases.html

Published: March 11, 2025 05:11

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious mental health condition that impacts individuals of all ages, including children and adolescents. Early detection and diagnosis, especially at an earlier age, is crucial for effective prevention and treatment.…

Adults abused as children twice as likely to develop health and mental health conditions, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-adults-abused-children-health-mental.html

Published: March 11, 2025 00:00

A study published in Child Maltreatment found that in comparison to those who had not been abused in childhood, adults who had experienced both childhood physical and sexual abuse had approximately double the odds of physical and mental health conditions,…

In the body, psilocybin becomes psilocin, which can increase nerve cell communication even in a single dose

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-body-psilocybin-psilocin-nerve-cell.html

Published: March 10, 2025 16:04

A recent study by the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research (HITBR) at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim provides the first detailed cellular insights into how psilocin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, promotes…

I researched poetry written during COVID. Five years on, here's how people say it helped them

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-poetry-written-covid-years-people.html

Published: March 10, 2025 14:10

Historically, poets have had less to say about pandemics than you might imagine. Hardly any English-language poetry written during successive waves of bubonic plague focused directly on the effects of the disease, for instance, and exceptions often had a…

Worldwide study finds high rates of depression and anxiety in people with chronic pain

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-worldwide-high-depression-anxiety-people.html

Published: March 10, 2025 13:35

A novel analysis of more than 375 published studies concluded that the association between chronic pain and rates of depression and anxiety is staggering. The study, led by investigators at Johns Hopkins Medicine found that 40% of adults with chronic pain…

Reproductive justice-driven pregnancy interventions can improve mental health

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-reproductive-justice-driven-pregnancy-interventions.html

Published: March 10, 2025 13:15

Perinatal interventions guided by reproductive justice principles can have positive effects on the perinatal mental health of Black birthing patients and, perhaps, the mental health development of their infants, states a systematic review published in a…

Machine learning model predicts PTSD symptom severity over time

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-machine-ptsd-symptom-severity.html

Published: March 10, 2025 13:09

The severity of symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) varies greatly across individuals in the first year after trauma and it remains difficult to predict whether someone might worsen, improve, or recover.

Scientists discover that neural changes in teens may predict how decision-making and behavioral control develop

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-scientists-neural-teens-decision-behavioral.html

Published: March 10, 2025 13:00

Many psychiatric disorders are linked to altered functioning of brain networks that drive reward processing and executive functions like making decisions, taking risks, planning, and memory. But a better understanding of how these networks typically…

How can parents talk to their kids about Cyclone Alfred?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-parents-kids-cyclone-alfred.html

Published: March 10, 2025 12:22

Cyclones and floods are terrifying and unpredictable. The stress of ensuring your family's safety, worrying about what might happen and then coping with the aftermath can feel overwhelming.

For narcissistic people, the gap between perception and reality may go far deeper than we thought

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-narcissistic-people-gap-perception-reality.html

Published: March 10, 2025 12:11

Despite exuding confidence, narcissistic people relentlessly crave admiration. In other words, they are unable to convince themselves of their own brilliance.

Better screening needed for social isolation, loneliness in people living with chronic disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-screening-social-isolation-loneliness-people.html

Published: March 10, 2025 11:46

A new study reveals social isolation and loneliness can adversely affect mental and physical health, with researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) calling on Australians to look out for those who might be at risk.

New study finds gap in tools assessing emotional well-being in individuals with intellectual disabilities

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-gap-tools-emotional-individuals-intellectual.html

Published: March 10, 2025 11:29

Researchers in the University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education have published a new study that provides unique insights into how emotional well-being is evaluated among individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Decoding the neural basis of affective empathy: How the brain feels others' pain

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-decoding-neural-basis-affective-empathy.html

Published: March 10, 2025 10:18

Empathy—the ability to share and understand the emotions of others—is a cornerstone of human social interactions. When we witness someone in pain, we often experience a mirrored emotional response, a phenomenon known as affect sharing. While this ability…

Study: 4 in 10 adults with chronic pain report depression, anxiety

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-adults-chronic-pain-depression-anxiety.html

Published: March 10, 2025 07:32

Approximately 40 percent of adults with chronic pain experience depression or anxiety, according to a review published online March 7 in JAMA Network Open.

Pressure to seem perfect can strain teen relationships, but kindness from peers can help

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-pressure-strain-teen-relationships-kindness.html

Published: March 8, 2025 15:00

Imagine trying to always appear perfect. You stay on top of the latest beauty trends, excel academically and project confidence in social settings, even when you're struggling or feeling completely overwhelmed. You work hard to hide any potential flaws,…

No evidence for 'wind turbine syndrome' claims: Windmill noise is no more stressful than traffic sounds, study suggests

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-evidence-turbine-syndrome-windmill-noise.html

Published: March 8, 2025 10:10

A team of cognitive neuroscientists and acoustic engineers at Adam Mickiewicz University, in Poland, has found no evidence that wind turbine noise causes mental impairment. In their study, published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences…

Do we see the same red? New qualia structure paradigm measures shared sensory experiences

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-red-qualia-paradigm-sensory.html

Published: March 7, 2025 13:03

A team of psychologists, bioengineers and neurologists from The University of Tokyo and Monash University in Australia has tested the possibility of using a qualia structure paradigm to understand whether sensory experiences are intersubjectively…

Music therapy shows promise in reducing depression for dementia patients

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-music-therapy-depression-dementia-patients.html

Published: March 6, 2025 20:00

A new review has found evidence that music-based therapy may benefit people living with dementia, particularly by improving symptoms of depression. The work has been published in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Exposure to wildlife and forest walks can help ease symptoms of PTSD in US war veterans

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-exposure-wildlife-forest-ease-symptoms.html

Published: March 6, 2025 16:40

A new study published in the journal Human-Animal Interactions has revealed that exposure to wildlife and forest walks can help ease the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in US war veterans.

Brain changes may help explain postpartum depression

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-brain-postpartum-depression.html

Published: March 6, 2025 12:29

Subtle changes in the brain during pregnancy may help explain why some women develop postpartum depression.

Dark thoughts before and after giving birth are almost universal—now psychologists want to find out why

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-dark-thoughts-birth-universal-psychologists.html

Published: March 6, 2025 11:51

Researchers aim to investigate the causes and potential treatments for perinatal intrusions—intense and vivid thoughts that impact most people during and after pregnancy.

Study finds mental health care gap worsens COPD symptoms

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-mental-health-gap-worsens-copd.html

Published: March 6, 2025 11:06

Mental health disorders in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are underdiagnosed and undertreated, leading to worsened symptoms and decreased quality of life, according to a new study. The study is published in the January 2025 issue…

Are our thoughts 'real?' Here's what philosophy says

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-thoughts-real-philosophy.html

Published: March 6, 2025 10:52

You can doubt just about anything. But there's one thing you can know for sure: you are having thoughts right now.

Could you replace your therapist with an AI chatbot?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-therapist-ai-chatbot.html

Published: March 6, 2025 10:16

Artificial intelligence used as a therapeutic tool dates back to the 1960s when a program called ELIZA gave scripted responses to users who described their emotional states. While novel, it had no real understanding of the process it was involved in.

AI may help clinicians personalize treatment for generalized anxiety disorder

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-ai-clinicians-personalize-treatment-generalized.html

Published: March 6, 2025 09:30

Individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a condition characterized by daily excessive worry lasting at least six months, have a high relapse rate even after receiving treatment. Artificial intelligence (AI) models may help clinicians identify…

Working in border cities compounds emergency medical services workers' physical and mental stress, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-border-cities-compounds-emergency-medical.html

Published: March 6, 2025 04:56

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) clinicians—highly skilled clinicians who are typically the first on the scene at medical emergencies—are known to experience significant stress related to work performed in hazardous conditions. As a result, their rates of…

AI model predicts risks and potential causes of adolescent mental illness

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-ai-potential-adolescent-mental-illness.html

Published: March 5, 2025 14:50

An artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Duke Health researchers accurately predicted when adolescents were at high risk for future serious mental health issues before symptoms become severe.

Sports gambling and binge drinking: Study suggests the two habits may be intertwined

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-sports-gambling-binge-habits-intertwined.html

Published: March 5, 2025 14:45

March Madness, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Super Bowl—these iconic events have one thing in common beyond the thrill of the game: Americans can now bet on virtually every aspect of the action.

Children's perception of normal body shape is affected by who they see around them: New research

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-children-perception-body-affected.html

Published: March 5, 2025 14:34

What we think of as "normal" body shape is affected by what we're accustomed to—the range of body shapes we see. My new research with colleagues shows that this is true for young children as well as adults.

The art of well-being: Group activities shown to ease depression and anxiety in older adults

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-art-group-shown-ease-depression.html

Published: March 5, 2025 13:22

A new study led by Queen Mary University of London researchers reveals that group arts interventions—such as painting, music, or dance—can significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety among older adults. The findings, published in Nature Mental…

For some, childhood adversity can promote resilience to anxiety disorders

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-childhood-adversity-resilience-anxiety-disorders.html

Published: March 5, 2025 12:52

Research has shown that young people who face adversity such as traumatic or stressful events during brain development are 40% more likely to develop anxiety disorders by adulthood. But most people who endure these experiences during childhood and…

Should I keep going? Brain switchboard provides insights into perseverance, exploration and disengagement

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-brain-switchboard-insights-perseverance-exploration.html

Published: March 5, 2025 11:00

Researchers have revealed neural circuits in the brainstem that are crucially involved in implementing decisions by controlling three fundamental behavioral states or strategies: perseverance, exploration and disengagement.

A basic income can be a strong investment in mental health

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-basic-income-strong-investment-mental.html

Published: March 5, 2025 10:56

Over half of Canadians feel "financially paralyzed" by the cost-of-living crisis, according to a recent poll. As life becomes more unaffordable for more people, we need governments to create policies that will improve public health and well-being.

How our bodies react when we use social media—and when we stop

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-bodies-react-social-media.html

Published: March 5, 2025 10:53

The typical adult in the UK spends nearly two hours on social media per day. And for younger users, this can easily be up to five hours. The likes of Instagram or TikTok seem to draw us into their ever-changing feeds and it's difficult to tear ourselves…

New study to inform Australia's first psychedelics clinical guideline

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-australia-psychedelics-clinical-guideline.html

Published: March 5, 2025 10:06

Australia's first clinical practice guideline on the appropriate use of methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a step closer following the publication of a new Monash-led study.

AI could be better than humans at predicting correlations between answers to personality test questions

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-ai-humans-personality.html

Published: March 5, 2025 07:00

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based models have proved to be promising tools for predicting some data trends and future outcomes with good accuracy. These models' ability to make predictions by analyzing data can be particularly valuable for research, for…

Searching for structure and purpose in disordered behavior

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-purpose-disordered-behavior.html

Published: March 5, 2025 06:32

The inevitability of variation in human behavior is a phenomenon psychologists have long recognized and developed statistical methods to account for in their analyses. Human behavior varies not only between people, but within separate instances for one…

Children's body image perceptions form as early as age 7, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-body-image-perceptions-early-childhood.html

Published: March 5, 2025 06:14

Our perceptions of body image are shaped by what we see from as early as seven years old, according to new research by Durham University (UK).