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.
6 papers
This paper is a meta-analysis of more than 300 studies in humans that looked at links between psychological stress and measures of the immune system. It found that very short, acute stressors (minutes) were tied to increases in some natural (innate) immune measures and decreases in some specific (adaptive) immune…
This review looked at 13 studies of attachment in people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) or BPD traits. Every study found a strong link between BPD and insecure attachment. The insecure types most often seen were labeled unresolved, preoccupied, and fearful. The authors note that differences in how attachment was…
Maternity blues, also called baby blues, are short-lived mood changes after childbirth that can include tearfulness, irritability, anxiety, sleep and concentration problems. A recent review reports an overall prevalence of about 39% (studies ranged from 13.7% to 76%), but definitions and measurements vary widely. Symptoms usually start in the first…
Panic disorder is a common, often long-lasting anxiety condition that causes sudden attacks of intense fear and ongoing worry. This review says many kinds of biology are involved — genes (heritability ~43%), long-term stress, temperament, brain circuits of fear, and changes to gene activity — but notes that few specific…
Researchers tested 269 people (about 76% female, median age 21) using a virtual ball-tossing game that simulated social rejection. They measured two kinds of pathological narcissism (vulnerable and grandiose), adult attachment style, and emotional reactivity before and after the rejection. People higher in vulnerable narcissism tended to feel more insecure…
This narrative review looked at research up to 12 March 2022 on how the COVID-19 pandemic related to obsessive–compulsive (OC) symptoms in children and adolescents. The authors found six studies that fit their criteria (four clinical samples with OCD and two community samples). Five of those six studies reported increased…
