Category: Neuroscience/Mental Health
Virtual Reality Treatment for PTSD
What does the evidence say about using virtual reality to treat PTSD?
Holotropic Breathwork
Holotropic breathwork is essentially voluntary hyperventilation, and old technique gaining in popularity as a way of generating "spiritual" experiences.
Improving mental health is a walk in the park (but mind the volcanoes)
Using Twitter and geotagging, researchers add to the growing body of evidence demonstrating an association between contact with nature and improved mood.
One reason mouse studies often don’t translate to humans very well
Mouse models are often used as preclinical models of human disease, but the number of drugs that succeed in mice but go on to be approved as a drug for humans is only about one in ten. A new study comparing gene expression in the cells of human brains with those of mouse brains provides new insight into why.
For-profit stem cell clinics, universities, and “pay-to-play” clinical trials for autism
Stem cell therapies show great promise, but as yet the vast majority of that promise has not been validated in rigorous clinical trials. Unfortunately, for-profit stem cell clinics are running clinical trials that require patients to pay to be part of it. These trials are not rigorous. Even more unfortunately, it appears that some universities are also running "pay-to-play" clinical trials that...
Zapping Antipsychiatry ECT Nonsense
These days people's perceptions of electroconvulsive therapy have a fictionalized understanding of what it is, and its harms. The reality is quite different.
A new study reinforces the conclusion that autism is primarily genetic
Last week, the largest epidemiological study of its kind was published and concluded, once again, that autism is primarily due to genes and that the environmental component of autism risk is much smaller. Not surprisingly, once again antivaxers didn't want to hear that message.
New Drug Is Effective for Post-Partum Depression, But There Are Drawbacks
A new drug promises to cure postpartum depression, but it is restricted and patients must be hospitalized for a 60-hour IV infusion.
Treating Mental Illness with Nutrition: The Walsh Protocol
The Walsh Institute offers the Walsh protocol for the nutritional treatment of mental illness. This "orthomolecular psychiatry" is not supported by any clinical studies.
Pseudoscience in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
This new book addresses the neglected field of research on child and adolescent psychotherapy and does an excellent job of distinguishing treatments that have been proven to work from treatments that are based on pseudoscience.