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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Mapping ‘psychedelic trips’ in the brain to better direct their therapeutic effects

By The Conversation | April 4, 2022

For the past sev­er­al decades, psy­che­delics have been wide­ly stig­ma­tized as dan­ger­ous ille­gal drugs. But a recent surge of aca­d­e­m­ic research into their use to treat psy­chi­atric con­di­tions is spurring a recent shift in pub­lic opin­ion. Psy­che­delics are psy­chotrop­ic drugs: sub­stances that affect your men­tal state. Oth­er types of psy­chotrop­ics include anti­de­pres­sants and anti-anx­i­e­ty medications.…

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Top 10 Mental Health Innovations to Watch: Special SciAm/ WEF report

By World Economic Forum | September 14, 2021

The World Eco­nom­ic Forum’s Glob­al Future Coun­cil on Men­tal Health, com­pris­ing some of the fore­most lead­ers in men­tal health, tech­nol­o­gy, infor­mat­ics, busi­ness, pub­lic pol­i­cy and advo­ca­cy is pub­lish­ing its selec­tions for the Top 10 Inno­va­tions in Men­tal Health. The ini­tia­tive is in part­ner­ship with Sci­en­tif­ic Amer­i­can, which is pub­lish­ing arti­cles by these lead­ers on its…

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On building better brains at any age, treating Depression vs. Dementia, emerging neurotechnologies, psychedelics, and more

By SharpBrains | May 28, 2021

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing eleven new research find­ings and inno­v­a­tive resources for life­long cog­ni­tive and brain health. #1. Debate: Are depres­sion and demen­tia two sides of the same coin? And, if they are, how to best approach treat­ment? #2. Either way, the ear­li­er the bet­ter, but it’s nev­er too late: New…

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Study finds MDMA-assisted therapy to be safe and highly effective to treat severe PTSD

By SharpBrains | May 18, 2021

The First Phase 3 Suc­cess for Psy­che­delics Will Pave the Way for an Indus­try (Bar­ron’s): Post-trau­­mat­ic stress dis­or­der is a crip­pling, hard-to-treat psy­chi­atric afflic­tion. Amer­i­ca spends bil­lions of dol­lars year­ly just on the vet­er­ans who suf­fer from PTSD. So it’s heart­en­ing to see the report of a promis­ing new treat­ment, pub­lished Mon­day in Nature Medicine.

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On Brain Awareness Week, mental health innovation, tDCS, biofeedback, psychedelics, and more

By SharpBrains | February 26, 2021

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, start­ing with some ideas to get in the mood for Brain Aware­ness Week next month (March 15–21st). May BAW 2021 be a hun­dred times more upbeat than last year’s… #1. Sev­en brain teasers and a neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty pod­cast to cel­e­brate Brain Aware­ness Week 2021 #2. Imag­ine what this capability…

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