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Pearl Mok , University of Manchester Alex Trafford , University of Manchester Evidence tells us the COVID pandemic and measures put in place to contain the virus negatively affected the mental health of adolescents and young people in the UK and elsewhere. One review study published in August 2021 estimated that the global prevalence of children and adolescents with depression and anxiety had doubled since the start of the pandemic.

How can cognitive abilities and well-being be enhanced in virtual worlds? An international team from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, led by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Hamburg, has found that the presence of plants in a virtual office environment can increase mental productivity, memory performance and well-being.

Discovery could advance both computing and understanding of the brain  University of Sydney and Fudan scientists have discovered human brain signals travelling across the outer layer of neural tissue that naturally arrange themselves to resemble swirling spirals. The research, published today in Nature Human Behaviour , indicates these ubiquitous spirals, which are brain signals observed on the cortex during both resting and cognitive states, help organise brain activity and cognitive processing.

Learning that you are autistic at an older age, like Christine McGuiness, is no bad thing say researchers from the University of Bath and King's College London. Receiving an autism diagnosis in your 20, 30s, 40s, 50s or even 60s may seem daunting, but a new study from psychologists in Bath and London finds that the link between the age at which someone gets diagnosed has little bearing on their quality of life.

Current psychological study on gender and age differences Psychologists at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität (WWU) in Münster, Germany, have joined forces with an international consortium to conduct the most comprehensive study to date on gender and age differences on the topic of narcissism. The scientists surveyed around 270,000 people for their study.

Across Europe, depression and anxiety disorders became more common following the onset of the pandemic, reports a major review of evidence led by UCL researchers. Later in 2020, depression and anxiety rates reduced again, but fluctuated over the following year. The systematic review, published in The Lancet Psychiatry , pulls together evidence from 177 studies in 20 European countries to assess how the Covid-19 pandemic affected mental health across the continent for the first two years after lockdowns began.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are more than twice as likely than their straight peers to experience suicidal thoughts or self-harming behaviours, finds a new study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology , is the first ever to analyse nationally representative data on sexual orientation and suicidality in England whilst being able to compare individual sexual minority groups.

Eco-distress is rising around the world, but a new article in the journal Nature by psychologists suggests this could be a positive catalyst for action. More and more people are experiencing -eco-distress existential fears about the future of the planet in view of increased extreme weather events and ecological loss.

In everyday life, our emotions often change from moment to moment, and people experience these fluctuations to varying degrees. Psychologists at the University of Leipzig have investigated the connection between the personality trait neuroticism - a potential risk factor for mental health - and emotional experience.

Adolescents who show signs of alcohol dependence are more likely to develop depression by their mid-20s, according to a new study led by UCL and University of Bristol researchers. Drinking large amounts of alcohol regularly, but with no signs of dependency, did not predict depression risk, according to the findings published in The Lancet Psychiatry .

A new cohort study has provided compelling evidence that quitting smoking can lead to improved mental health outcomes among people with and without mental health disorders, alleviating concerns raised by both clinicians and smokers. Published in JAMA Network Open , the findings revealed that smoking abstinence between weeks nine and 24 was associated with significant improvements in anxiety and depression scores.

In the first study of its kind, researchers at the University of Oxford and Tilburg University have collaborated with game developer FuturLab to create a unique open online data resource to study the effects of playing video games on the well-being of players. The scientists worked with FuturLab to develop a research edition of video game PowerWash Simulator.

People suffering from obesity are at a significantly greater risk of also developing mental disorders. This applies to all age groups, whereby women are more at risk than men for most diseases, as a recent study by the Medical University of Vienna and the Complexity Science Hub Vienna shows. The results were published in the specialist journal "Translational Psychiatry".

People who meditate every day are less likely to avoid negative information. This is a finding in a new study by a research team including researchers from ETH Zurich. Smart decision makers gather all the pertinent information, and weigh the pros and cons dispassionately. This also includes gathering information that could prove unsettling or unpleasant.

The first moments of police interactions with drivers can tell us about what happens next-with officers often giving orders rather than providing reasons for traffic stops, according to a new study that analyzed law enforcement encounters. Nationwide, the public has highlighted the need for police officers to deescalate routine car stops, where Black drivers are disproportionately pulled over.

A UdeM researcher has found that teenage girls are more likely to experience momentary anxiety when their classmates are anxious. Boys are not. It is well known that adolescents tend to adopt the same behaviours as their peers. As Canadian students spend an average of 923 hours per school year in the company of their classmates, Sandrine Charbonneau wanted to see if there was any association between a student's "state" (momentary) anxiety and the "trait" (longer-term) anxiety of his or her classmates.

A University of Queensland study has found a child's repeated exposure to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) puts them at higher risk of behavioural problems. IPV is a pattern of behaviour between adults that includes physical, sexual, psychological violence and threats of violence which can have negative impacts on children who witness it.

Psychologists surveyed over 4,000 people to test social ability to analyse what factors determine how well you understand and get on with others. Political parties regularly claim to have their finger on the pulse and be able to read the public mood. Yet a new study challenges the idea that being political makes you good at understanding others: it shows gender, not politics, is a far more important factor in determining people's social skills.

Married people who have affairs find them highly satisfying, express little remorse, and believe the cheating didn't hurt their otherwise healthy marriages, finds a new Johns Hopkins report on the psychology of infidelity M arried people who have affairs find them highly satisfying, express little remorse and believe the cheating didn't hurt their otherwise healthy marriages, finds a new report on the psychology of infidelity.

May 16, 2023 With scarce clinical resources unable to keep pace with elevated rates of mental illness, technological solutions could help decrease waitlists and disparities in access to therapy. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have fueled interest in the use of chatbots and virtual assistants for mental health treatment.