Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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6 papers

Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative

James W. Pennebaker, Janel D. Seagal
Journal of Clinical Psychology Summary & key facts 1999 1,373 citations

This research found that writing about important personal experiences in an emotional way for as little as 15 minutes on three separate days was linked to better mental and physical health. The results were seen across ages, genders, cultures, social classes, and personality types. Computer text analysis showed that people…

Humor Studies and Applications Identity, Memory, and Therapy Mental Health via Writing

Telling Stories: The Health Benefits of Narrative

James W. Pennebaker
Literature and medicine Summary & key facts 2000 410 citations

Pennebaker reviews more than ten years of research on how telling or writing stories about traumatic or difficult experiences relates to health. He highlights studies done by him and other teams around the world. The essay focuses mainly on reported physical health benefits of writing about these experiences and summarizes…

Art Therapy and Mental Health Mental Health via Writing Pain Management and Placebo Effect

Writing Technique Across Psychotherapies—From Traditional Expressive Writing to New Positive Psychology Interventions: A Narrative Review

Chiara Ruini, Cristina C. Mortara

Writing Therapy (WT) is defined as a process of investigation about personal thoughts and feelings using the act of writing as an instrument, with the aim of promoting self-healing and personal growth. WT has been integrated in specific psychotherapies with the aim of treating specific mental disorders (PTSD, depression, etc.).…

Identity, Memory, and Therapy Mental Health via Writing Resilience and Mental Health

Exploring the Ethical Challenges of Conversational AI in Mental Health Care: Scoping Review

Mehrdad Rahsepar Meadi, Tomas Sillekens, Suzanne Metselaar, Anton J.L.M. van Balkom, Justin Bernstein, Neeltje M. Batelaan
JMIR Mental Health Summary & key facts 2025 59 citations

This scoping review looks at the ethical issues raised by conversational AI (CAI) in mental health care. It finds that AI tools are already in use or development, but there is little specific ethical discussion or formal codes of practice. The review shows some topics are underexplored and that the…

Digital Mental Health Interventions Mental Health via Writing Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

The feeling of the story: Narrating to regulate anger and sadness

Monisha Pasupathi, Cecilia Wainryb, Cade D. Mansfield, Stacia Bourne
Cognition & Emotion Summary & key facts 2016 56 citations

These experiments tested whether telling a story about a sad or angry event helps reduce those feelings. Across studies (n = 93 for sadness; n = 89 for anger), narrating did lower negative emotion, and it worked best when people described the event in the past tense and included positive…

Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics Identity, Memory, and Therapy Mental Health via Writing

Technological folie à deux: Feedback Loops Between AI Chatbots and Mental Illness

Sebastian Dohnány, Zeb Kurth‐Nelson, Eleanor Spens, Lennart Luettgau, Ann Reid, Iason Gabriel, et al.
ArXiv.org Summary & key facts 2025 6 citations

This paper says that millions of people now use AI chatbots for emotional support. The authors note reports of harms — including suicide, violence, and delusional thinking — linked to people forming emotional relationships with chatbots. They argue that chatbot traits like strong agreeableness and fast adaptation can interact with…

AI in Service Interactions Digital Mental Health Interventions Mental Health via Writing
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