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.

3 papers

The Only Way Out Is Through: The Peril of Spiritual Bypass

Craig S. Cashwell, Paige Bentley, J. Preston Yarborough
Counseling and Values Summary & key facts 2007 63 citations

Given the increased attention to spirituality in the counseling literature, with a primary emphasis on helping clients find their spiritual path, it is important for counselors to be aware of one potential pitfall of the spiritual path, namely spiritual bypass . Spiritual bypass occurs when clients seek to use their…

Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology Workplace Spirituality and Leadership

Effect of long-term yoga training on autonomic function among the healthy adults

R Shobana, Maheshkumar Kuppusamy, Sankaralingam Thirupathy Venkateswaran, M Bagavad Geetha, R. Padmavathi

This small cross-sectional study compared 33 regular yoga practitioners with 35 non‑practitioners aged 17–30. The yoga group had a lower resting heart rate (about 69 vs 81 bpm) and a smaller blood‑pressure response on the sustained handgrip test (about 10.2 vs 16.3), differences the authors report as statistically significant. Other…

Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions Stress Responses and Cortisol

Harnessing the Four Elements for Mental Health

Jerome Sarris, Michael de Manincor, Fiona Hargraves, Jack Tsonis
PubMed Summary & key facts 2019 21 citations

This 2019 scoping review explores how the four classical elements—Fire, Water, Earth, and Air—can map onto modern, changeable exposures and therapies that might affect mental health. The authors summarize emerging evidence from both population studies and intervention trials for things like UV or heat therapy (Fire), sauna and hydrotherapy (Water),…

Complementary and Alternative Medicine Studies Mindfulness and Compassion Interventions Urban Green Space and Health
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