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.

7 papers

Muscle fatigue: what, why and how it influences muscle function

Roger M. Enoka, Jacques Duchateau
The Journal of Physiology Summary & key facts 2007 1,374 citations

This review explains that muscle fatigue can come from many different causes and that there is no single global cause. Fatigue is usually measured as a drop in the maximum force or power a muscle can make, but people can still do less-demanding tasks after that drop begins. Which processes…

Motor Control and Adaptation Muscle activation and electromyography studies Sports Performance and Training

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

Gardening for health: a regular dose of gardening

Richard Thompson
Clinical Medicine Summary & key facts 2018 97 citations

There is increasing evidence that exposure to plants and green space, and particularly to gardening, is beneficial to mental and physical health, and so could reduce the pressure on NHS services. Health professionals should therefore encourage their patients to make use of green space and to work in gardens, and…

Climate Change and Health Impacts Therapeutic Uses of Natural Elements Urban Green Space and Health

Personality Assessment for Employee Development: Ivory Tower or Real World?

Penny Moyle, John Hackston

Over the last 40 years, personality tests have become much more common at work. Companies use them for things like coaching, building teams, and hiring. But most published research looks at tests only for hiring. That means reviews often use rules that fit hiring, not the different needs of helping…

Emotional Intelligence and Performance Gender Diversity and Inequality Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior

The association of burnout with work absenteeism and the frequency of thoughts in leaving their job in a cohort of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Cerina Lee, Thanh‐Huyen T. Vu, John A. Fuller, Melanie E. Freedman, Jacqueline Bannon, John T. Wilkins, et al.
Frontiers in Health Services Summary & key facts 2023 26 citations

Overall, this study cohort showed a positive association between burnout scores and unplanned work absenteeism (and frequency of thoughts in leaving job) during the COVID-19 pandemic. More research is needed to support healthcare worker well-being during times of stress and direct solutions to addressing unplanned absenteeism in the light of…

COVID-19 and Mental Health Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout Workplace Health and Well-being

Depression: Out-of-Tune Embodiment, Loss of Bodily Resonance, and Body Work

Mette Toft Rønberg
Medical Anthropology Summary & key facts 2018 24 citations

Based on fieldwork among adults suffering from depression in Denmark, I explore depression as an out-of-tune embodiment, characterized by disturbances of bodily experiences and loss of bodily resonance. I depict my informants' efforts to attune to the rhythm of the everyday through different kinds of body work. This perspective calls…

Art Therapy and Mental Health Body Image and Dysmorphia Studies Empathy and Medical Education

ACMT Position Statement: Limiting Harms of Vaping and E-cigarette Use

Maryann Mazer-Amirshahi, Fiona M Garlich, Diane P Calello, Andrew I Stolbach
PubMed Central (PMC) Summary & key facts 2020 4 citations

This is an American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) position paper about the harms of vaping and a recent outbreak of severe lung injury called EVALI. Vaping use has grown, including large increases among teenagers. Thousands of cases of EVALI were reported to public health authorities, many patients used THC-containing…

Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology Smoking Behavior and Cessation
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