Physical Inactivity Associated with Worse Cognitive Functioning in Psychosis

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Higher levels of sedentary behavior are associated with poorer cognitive functioning in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Pain Increases Later Risk for Anxiety and Depression

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Experiencing moderate to severe pain, or having at least moderate life interference from pain, doubles risk for anxiety or depression.

New Collaborative and Feedback-Informed Family Therapy Approach

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Attempts to bridge the gap between research and practice result in a family therapy approach which employs clients as co-researchers.

Non-Medical Treatments for PTSD Effective, Study Suggests

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Group-based MBSR and PCGT therapies effective as a complementary treatment for PTSD.

Study Explores Impact of Urban vs. Rural Upbringing on Stress Response

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A new study investigates the relationships between early-home environmental factors and later-life physiological response to psychosocial stressors.

Study Finds No Correlation between Personality at 14 and 77

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This result calls into question popular notions about the correlations between personality and later-life achievement and health outcomes.

Eat Breathe Thrive: Chelsea Roff on Eating Disorders, Trauma, and Healing with Yoga and...

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Chelsea Roff is the Founder and Director of Eat Breathe Thrive (EBT), a non-profit with an inspired mission to bring yoga, mindfulness, and community support to people struggling with negative body image and disordered eating. I reached out to Chelsea to learn more about her life and organization, which she writes, “
is like AA for people with food and body image issues, plus yoga and meditation.” Chelsea shared her journey from life as a patient to yogi, author, and innovative community organizer. With her permission, you can find this interview below.

Experts Stress Importance of Social Networks for Psychosis and Bipolar Interventions

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Researchers develop a novel approach to mapping personal well-being networks for those diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI) that incorporates social ties, connections to place, and meaningful activities.

Doing It Alone Together: Core Issues In Dutch Self-Managed Residential Programs

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For the last six years we, a group of researchers, social work students, peer experts, and social professionals associated with the Amsterdam University for Applied Sciences, have been studying and facilitating the development of self-managed programs in homelessness and mental health care in the Netherlands. With our research we want to contribute to the development of new and existing programs through critical reflection. With this blog, I hope to share some of our findings, to give back to the respites from which we learned so much.

Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Interventions Target Depressive Symptoms

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A new study finds self-coldness predicts depressive symptoms and supports self-compassion as a buffer.

How Does the Brain-Body Connection Affect Creativity?

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From Big Think: Recent studies show that walking helps people think more creatively and originally. In three different studies, 81%, 88%, and 100% of participants...

Flexible Treatment Planning Improves Depression Outcomes in Youth

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Researchers explore the effects of augmented treatment at various points in interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents diagnosed with depression, highlighting previously unidentified critical decision points (i.e., relatively early in the treatment sequence).

Case Study of Liberation Approach to International Mental Health Care

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Study in Brazil demonstrates how the exploration of contextual determinants of distress in mental health care can inform therapeutic change.

Creatively Managing Voice-Hearing Through Spiritual Writing

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I am a psychiatric survivor of over thirty-six years. Since my nervous breakdown in 1978, I have undergone multitudinous experiences ranging from the subtly humiliating to the horrifically debilitating at the hands of incompetent psychiatrists and psychopharmacologists who, in the name of medicine, did more harm than good.

Non-Pharmacological Interventions More Effective For Health in Schizophrenia

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Review compares the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for improving physical health outcomes in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
butterflies healing

A Healing Journey: Leaving Psychiatry Behind

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The world calls what was "wrong" with me "bipolar." I prefer the notion that I went through a birth process to become the healer that I am today. I can't be silent because I know there are people like I was who are trapped and may not realize it yet. When they begin to see the prison bars that surround them, I want to be there for them as others were for me.

Animal Study Supports Influence of Probiotics on Resilience to Stress

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Researchers experimenting on mice found that Lactobacillus—the probiotic commonly found in yogurt—may help reduce depressive symptoms in reaction to chronic stressors. But human studies have found mixed results.

Addressing Depression and Heart Disease with Exercise and Physical Activity

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A new study examines the effects of midlife exercise on depression and cardiovascular health later in life.

“Loneliness May Warp Our Genes, And Our Immune Systems”

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NPR reports how loneliness can change our bodies and affect our physical and mental health. "There are things we can do to get out of a depressed or lonely state, but they're not easy," they report. "Part of the reason is because these negative psychological states develop some kind of molecular momentum."

JAMA Article Challenges CBT as Gold Standard for Psychotherapy

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A review of CBT research findings raises questions about its status as the “evidence-based” psychotherapy of choice.

Study Finds First-Episode Psychosis Patients Fare Better with Vitamin D

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Researchers examine the relationship between vitamin D and clinical and cognitive symptoms in first-episode psychosis.

“Group Drumming Bangs Away at Anxiety and Depression”

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“Prozac? Actually, percussion.” Researchers in the UK found that a ten-week drumming intervention significantly improved anxiety and depression for people seeking mental health treatment....

Treating Metabolic Conditions May Resolve Some Depressive Symptoms

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New research suggests that treatable metabolic abnormalities underlie some treatment-resistant cases of depression—and treating the metabolic condition has the possibility of dramatically reducing depressive symptoms

Arts Participation May Improve Mental Well-Being and Social Inclusion

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Introductory arts courses at Open Arts Essex show improvements in mental well-being and social inclusion for individuals with mental health challenges.

CDC Advises Nonopioid Treatments for Chronic Pain

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Primary care clinicians and mental health providers face a particular set of challenges when treating individuals with chronic pain. These problems are compounded by...