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.

36 papers

The Relationship Between Burnout, Depression, and Anxiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Koutsimani, Panagiota, Montgomery, Anthony, Georganta, Katerina
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2019 1,003 citations

This review pooled studies from 2007–2018 to measure how strongly burnout is related to depression and to anxiety. The authors found a moderate positive link with depression (r = 0.52) and a moderate link with anxiety (r = 0.46). They also report that measurement choice and study quality changed the…

Health and Well-being Studies Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout Stress and Burnout Research

Interoceptive Awareness Skills for Emotion Regulation: Theory and Approach of Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT)

Price, Cynthia J., Hooven, Carole
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2018 388 citations

This paper explains how being aware of internal body signals (called interoceptive awareness) is tied to understanding and managing emotions. It describes a therapy named Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT) that teaches three core interoceptive skills—identifying, accessing, and appraising bodily signals—using education and hands-on body work. The authors present…

Action Observation and Synchronization Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments

Somatic experiencing: using interoception and proprioception as core elements of trauma therapy

Peter Payne, Peter A. Levine, Mardi A. Crane‐Godreau
Frontiers in Psychology Summary & key facts 2015 306 citations

This paper explains Somatic Experiencing (SE), a form of trauma therapy that focuses on guiding a person's attention to internal body sensations (like heartbeat, breathing, muscle feeling) instead of mainly talking about thoughts or memories. The authors describe how SE claims these bodily sensations can help complete interrupted defensive responses…

Mental Health and Psychiatry Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Social support and mental health: the mediating role of perceived stress

Acoba, Evelyn F.
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2024 281 citations

This study surveyed 426 Filipino adults online during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to see if perceived stress helps explain links between social support and mental health. Using standard questionnaires, the researchers found that lower perceived stress was linked to more positive feelings and less anxiety and depression when…

COVID-19 and Mental Health Health disparities and outcomes Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Psychedelic integration: An analysis of the concept and its practice

Geoff J Bathje, Eric Majeski, Mesphina Kudowor
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2022 125 citations

This paper reviews how people talk about and practice “psychedelic integration.” The authors say the term has many different definitions and many kinds of practices, which has created confusion. They present the first wide-ranging review and a new, synthesized definition and model of integration, plus a long list of integration…

Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration: A Transtheoretical Model for Clinical Practice

Ingmar Gorman, Elizabeth M Nielson, Aja Molinar, Ksenia Cassidy, Jonathan Sabbagh
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2021 124 citations

Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration (PHRI) is a clinical model for working with people who use or are thinking about using psychedelics. It blends harm-reduction therapy with methods from psychedelic-assisted therapy, can be used in short or ongoing psychotherapy, and aims to be compassionate and non-stigmatizing rather than focused only…

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

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy—A Systematic Review of Associated Psychological Interventions

Cavarra, Mauro, Falzone, Alessandra, Ramaekers, Johannes G., et al.
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2022 122 citations

This systematic review looked at clinical studies that paired psychedelics with a structured psychotherapy. It found that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can give promising results across many clinical conditions when given to carefully screened people in controlled settings, but some patients relapse or do not respond. The review highlights that individual and…

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

Social Support Mediates the Effect of Burnout on Health in Health Care Professionals

Pablo Ruisoto, Marina R. Ramírez, Pedro Antonio García López, Belén Paladines-Costa, Silvia Vaca, Vicente Javier Clemente‐Suárez
Frontiers in Psychology Summary & key facts 2021 100 citations

Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion and caused by exposure to excessive and prolonged stress related to job conditions. Moreover, burnout is highly prevalent among health care professionals. The aim of this study is, first, to examine the mediating role of social support over the effect of burnout in health…

Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout Stress and Burnout Research Workplace Health and Well-being

Integrative Psychotherapy Works

Cristina Zarbo, Giorgio A Tasca, Francesco Cattafi, Angelo Compare
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2016 84 citations

This article explains that integrative psychotherapy joins ideas and techniques from different therapy schools and focuses on shared, helpful elements such as the therapeutic relationship. It notes there are many psychotherapy models, that most therapists use more than one approach, and that research shows integrative treatments can be effective for…

Mental Health and Psychiatry Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Anxiety and Performance in Sex, Sport, and Stage: Identifying Common Ground

David L. Rowland, Jacques van Lankveld
Frontiers in Psychology Summary & key facts 2019 75 citations

Anxiety has long been linked to worse performance in evaluative social settings such as sex, sport, and stage. This paper asks three main questions: how each field understands anxiety and performance, what they can learn from one another, and how they could share useful ideas. The authors review existing models…

Behavioral Health and Interventions Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports Sport Psychology and Performance

Sound frequency affects speech emotion perception: results from congenital amusia

Sydney L. Lolli, Ari D. Lewenstein, Julian Basurto, Sean Winnik, Psyche Loui
Frontiers in Psychology Summary & key facts 2015 58 citations

This study tested whether people who are poor at hearing small pitch differences (congenital amusics) are worse at identifying emotions in speech. The researchers used normal speech, low-pass filtered speech (frequencies above ~500 Hz removed), and high-pass filtered speech (frequencies below ~4800 Hz removed). They found that worse pitch perception…

Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation Multisensory perception and integration Neuroscience and Music Perception

On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research

Sjöstedt-Hughes, Peter
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2023 46 citations

This paper argues that psychedelic-assisted therapy should include optional, clear discussion of metaphysical views during integration. It presents a "Metaphysics Matrix" schema and a new "Metaphysics Matrix Questionnaire (MMQ)" as tools to help integrate and to measure metaphysical aspects of psychedelic experiences. The authors say metaphysics (a branch of philosophy…

Chemical synthesis and alkaloids Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies Psychedelics and Drug Studies
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.