Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
276 papers
Researchers gave the new Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the older Rutter questionnaires to parents and teachers of 403 children from dental and psychiatric clinics. SDQ scores were highly correlated with Rutter scores, and parent-teacher agreement was similar or sometimes better for the SDQ. Both tools were about equally…
This 1992 review describes the five-factor model, which groups personality into five basic traits: Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience. The authors summarize research using natural-language adjectives and personality questionnaires that supports the model’s broad coverage of personality and its usefulness across different observers and cultures. They review…
This study reviewed surveys and used global models to measure how the COVID-19 pandemic changed rates of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders in 2020. It found that places with higher COVID-19 infection rates and bigger drops in movement had larger increases in these disorders. The authors estimate about 53.2…
This 2012 paper reviewed meta-analyses on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The authors found 269 meta-analytic studies and examined a representative sample of 106 reviews across many problems. They reported the strongest support for CBT for anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, bulimia, anger control problems, and general stress. The paper concluded the…
This paper reviews research on procrastination and runs a meta-analysis of 691 correlations. It finds that some personality traits (neuroticism, rebelliousness, sensation seeking) have only weak links to procrastination. Strong and consistent predictors include task aversiveness, task delay, low self-efficacy, impulsiveness, and low conscientiousness (including poor self-control, distractibility, poor organization,…
This fact sheet reports that people with eating disorders have higher death rates than the general population. Death rates are highest for anorexia nervosa (AN). Bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) have similar death rates. The sheet says older age at assessment was linked to higher…
This 2011 review looked at many studies on mindfulness and mental health. It defines mindfulness as paying attention in the present with nonjudgmental acceptance and says this involves both focusing attention and an open, curious attitude. The authors examined three kinds of research—correlational studies, intervention trials, and lab experiments—and concluded…
This randomized, double‑blind, cross‑over trial gave 51 patients with life‑threatening cancer two sessions of psilocybin (one very low dose and one high dose) spaced five weeks apart. The high dose (22–30 mg/70 kg) produced large drops in clinician‑ and self‑rated depression and anxiety, and increased quality of life, meaning, and…
This study reviewed systematic reviews to measure death risks in major mental disorders. The authors screened 407 reviews and found 20 that reported mortality risks for 20 different disorders, covering over 1.7 million patients and more than a quarter of a million deaths. Every disorder showed higher all-cause death rates…
MBSR is able to reduce stress levels in healthy people. However, important limitations of the included studies as well as the paucity of evidence about possible specific effects of MBSR in comparison to other nonspecific treatments underline the necessity of further research.
This systematic review looked at studies from 2000–2018 that measured how common eating disorders are. The authors followed PRISMA rules and included 94 studies with accurate diagnoses and 27 studies with broader categories. Across the accurate-diagnosis studies, women had higher rates than men. Point prevalence estimates rose over time from…
Researchers compared how well computers and humans can judge personality. They used data from 86,220 volunteers who took a 100-item personality questionnaire and looked at people’s Facebook Likes as the computer’s input. Computer predictions based on Likes matched the questionnaire scores better (r = 0.56) than friends’ judgments did (r…
