Next: Harnessing Neuroplasticity, Medication AND Psychotherapy to treat mental health conditions

By The Conversation | September 6, 2023 |

There is mount­ing recog­ni­tion in the sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ty that com­bin­ing dif­fer­ent treat­ment approach­es for men­tal health con­di­tions can cre­ate a ben­e­fit greater than the sum of its parts. As a clin­i­cal psy­chol­o­gist and neu­ro­science researcher, I have been work­ing to inte­grate insights from both fields to expand treat­ment options for those suf­fer­ing from depres­sion, anx­i­ety and…

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Study identifies cognitive benefits of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression

By The Conversation | December 8, 2022

Which fac­tors deter­mine what we believe about our world, our­selves, our past, and our future? Cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science sug­gests that our beliefs are depen­dent on brain activ­i­ty, specif­i­cal­ly on the way our brains process sen­so­ry infor­ma­tion in order to make sense of our envi­ron­ment. These beliefs (defined as prob­a­bil­i­ty esti­mates) are cen­tral to our brain’s predictive…

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Building cognitive reserve helps delay memory and thinking decline regardless of genetic or childhood markers

By SharpBrains | August 30, 2022

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing time­ly brain news and a few fun brain teasers to test your per­cep­tu­al and cog­ni­tive skills. #1. Study: Build­ing cog­ni­tive reserve helps delay mem­o­ry and think­ing decline regard­less of genet­ic or child­hood mark­ers “While our child­hood can influ­ence our mem­o­ry and think­ing skills lat­er in life,…

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Debunking the “chemical imbalance” theory yet not throwing out the antidepressant baby with the bathwater

By The Conversation | August 3, 2022

A recent study found incon­sis­tent evi­dence link­ing the neu­ro­trans­mit­ter sero­tonin to depres­sion. In an arti­cle for The Con­ver­sa­tion, the authors of the study con­clud­ed that it is impos­si­ble to say that tak­ing SSRI anti­de­pres­sants is worth­while. But is it safe to con­clude that sero­tonin is not involved in depres­sion or that mod­ern anti­de­pres­sants aren’t helpful…

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Computer-assisted cognitive behavior therapy (CCBT) may outperform Treatment as Usual (TAU) in helping patients reduce depression, improve 6‑month remission rates

By SharpBrains | February 16, 2022

Study: Com­put­er-assist­ed cog­ni­tive behav­ioral ther­a­py (CCBT) improved depres­sion for pri­ma­ry care patients (Mobi­Health News): Researchers found patients who used CCBT in addi­tion to reg­u­lar treat­ment led to “sig­nif­i­cant­ly greater improve­ment” on the Patient Health Questionnaire–9, used to screen for and mea­sure depres­sive symp­toms. Those results also held up over time. “Results of this study show that…

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