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

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…

Read More

Study: Personalized, closed-loop neuromodulation can (one day) become a “pacemaker for the brain”

Treat­ing Severe Depres­sion with On-Demand Brain Stim­u­la­tion (UCSF press release): UCSF Health physi­cians have suc­cess­ful­ly treat­ed a patient with severe depres­sion by tap­ping into the spe­cif­ic brain cir­cuit involved in depres­sive brain pat­terns and reset­ting them using the equiv­a­lent of a pace­mak­er for the brain. “This study points the way to a new par­a­digm that is…

Read More

On cognitive reframing and biases, stress, mental health tech, Aduhelm backlash, Britney Spears, and more

Wel­come to a new edi­tion of Sharp­Brains’ e‑newsletter, fea­tur­ing this time nine sci­en­tif­ic reports and indus­try devel­op­ments to help pro­mote life­long brain and men­tal health. #1. To low­er stress lev­els and improve prob­lem-solv­ing, prac­tice cog­ni­tive refram­ing instead of vent­ing “… vent­ing like­ly doesn’t soothe anger as much as aug­ment it. That’s because encour­ag­ing peo­ple to…

Read More

Headspace and Ginger merge to expand and scale up digital mental health

Head­space and Gin­ger are merg­ing to form Head­space Health (TechCrunch): Med­i­ta­tion app Head­space this morn­ing announced plans to merge with on-demand men­tal health ser­vice Gin­ger. Bar­ring unfore­seen reg­u­la­to­ry road­blocks, the two com­pa­nies will com­bine to form Head­space Health. The new orga­ni­za­tion would sport a com­bined val­ue of $3 bil­lion and a head­count of more than 800.…

Read More

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

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…

Read More