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Psychology News

These research articles involve many aspects of psychology such as cognitive psychology, depression studies, mental health, stress, happiness and neuropsychology, Scroll below for more specific categories.

Creatine Shows Mixed Results in Treating Depression

A new study reveals a split decision on using creatine to treat depression. While combining creatine with standard therapy or antidepressants significantly accelerated remission in adult women, it failed in adolescent, treatment-resistant, and bipolar cohorts, even triggering mania in some bipolar patients.

Half of Infant Bonding Issues Happen Without Postpartum Depression

Mothers without postnatal depression account for nearly half of all cases of Mother-to-Infant Bonding Difficulties (MIBD). The strongest predictor for MIBD was a mother's difficulty holding an infant due to crying or back-arching at one month postpartum, which increased long-term bonding risks by 3.45 times.

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Comforting Others Is a Cultural Trait, Not a Universal Instinct

Comforting others is a culturally bounded motive rather than a universal human instinct. While individualistic societies actively try to eliminate a peer's distress to foster intimacy, collectivistic cultures accommodate negative emotions, viewing them as vital instruments for self-reflection and relationship cohesion.

Study Maps the Global Matrix of Self-Control

A massive, 77-nation collaborative study is surveying 15,000 participants globally to map out how different cultural and situational backgrounds alter intertemporal choices, the critical decisions balancing immediate gratification against long-term future rewards.

Adolescent Social Isolation Permanently Blunts Adult Empathy

A brief two-week period of social isolation during adolescence permanently destroys an animal's adult capacity to sense emotional distress in peers and perform consolation grooming. This socio-emotional blindness persists despite later re-socialization, whereas adult isolation leaves emotional discrimination fully intact.

Can We Synchronize Human Brainwaves to Boost Connection?

Researchers mapped "social synchrony," showing that face-to-face communication physically aligns the brainwaves of participants.

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Pop Music Echoes a Growing Culture of Vices

An extensive computational analysis of over 380,000 songs spanning 1960 to 2023 has revealed that popular music lyrics have become increasingly negative, showcasing a steady historical decline in language related to moral virtues like care and decency, alongside a marked rise in themes of harm, cheating, and anger.

Personalized fMRI Scans Supercharge TMS Depression Treatment

Using personalized fMRI resting-state scans to target accelerated TMS improves depression response rates to 80% compared to 60% for standard scalp targeting, offering a fast, one-week therapeutic timeline for treatment-resistant patients.

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Heart Rates Align in Real-World Social Interactions

Researchers track 72 students in NYC to prove heart rates synchronize during close proximity and shared attention, serving as a real-world marker for social engagement.

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Comfort Food Shuts Down Chronic Stress

A new study reveals that palatable food triggers dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, activating a neural circuit that acts as a top-down brake to suppress chronic stress-induced hyperactivity.

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Network Mapping Uncovers 641 Hidden Schizophrenia Risk Genes

Researchers utilized long-range co-expression networking to identify 641 novel schizophrenia risk genes. By mapping how distant genetic variants coordinate across six brain regions, the global project moves psychiatry closer to network-based precision treatments.

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Trauma Therapy Reverses PTSD in Psychosis Patients

A new study reveals that an integrated Trauma-Focused CBT for psychosis (TF-CBTp) safely and effectively eliminates PTSD diagnoses for 50% of patients.