Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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.

The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure.

Piers Steel

Psychological Bulletin Summary & key facts 2007 3,145 citations

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,…

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Perfectionism, Procrastination, Anxiety Studies Work-Family Balance Challenges

Exploring the effect of microdosing psychedelics on creativity in an open-label natural setting

Luisa Prochazkova, Dominique P. Lippelt, Lorenza S. Colzato, Martin Kuchař, Zsuzsika Sjoerds, Bernhard Hommel

Psychopharmacology Summary & key facts 2018 176 citations

In a natural, open-label study at a microdosing event, researchers tested people before and while they expected the effects of a psychedelic truffle microdose. They found better performance on a task that measures convergent thinking and on a task that measures divergent thinking. A short test of fluid intelligence did…

Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior Psychedelics and Drug Studies

The acute effects of classic psychedelics on memory in humans

C. J. Healy

Psychopharmacology Summary & key facts 2021 91 citations

This 2021 review of human studies found that classic psychedelics (for example psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca) tend to reduce performance on standard memory tests in a dose-dependent way: low doses usually showed no impairment and higher doses caused more impairment. At the same time, these drugs often made autobiographical memories feel…

Biochemical Analysis and Sensing Techniques Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Psychedelics and Drug Studies

The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation

Leonie Anne Kathrin Loeffler, Anna K. Huebben, Sina Radke, Ute Habel, Birgit Derntl

Frontiers in Psychology Summary & key facts 2020 39 citations

This study tested 60 healthy adults (30 women, 30 men) to see how two types of narcissism — vulnerable and grandiose — relate to emotion regulation. Researchers used questionnaires and a lab task that asked people to either feel naturally or use reappraisal (change how they think) while viewing sad…

Emotional Intelligence and Performance Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Personality Traits and Psychology

Neurophysiological activity following rewards and losses among female adolescents and young adults with borderline personality disorder.

Jeremy G. Stewart, Paris Singleton, Erik M. Benau, Dan Foti, Hannah Allchurch, Cynthia S. Kaplan, et al.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology Summary & key facts 2019 16 citations

This study recorded brain activity (EEG) while 68 females aged 13–23 (35 with borderline personality disorder, 33 healthy) did a guessing task with equal wins and losses. People with BPD showed less difference in their brain responses to wins versus losses than healthy peers. Time-frequency tests suggested this smaller difference…

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Mental Health Research Topics Personality Disorders and Psychopathology

Summaries and links are for general information and education only. They are not a substitute for reading the original publication or for professional medical, legal, or other advice. Always refer to the linked source for the full study.