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.
14 papers
This paper explains how habits form and how doctors might use habit-based advice in routine care. It says repeating a simple action in the same context can make that action automatic, so it needs less attention and may last after motivation falls. The authors report studies (for example, an average…
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…
Researchers reviewed many outcome studies and meta-analyses of psychodynamic therapy, which is a type of talking therapy that explores feelings, relationships, and past experiences. They found that psychodynamic therapy often works better than doing nothing (for example being on a waitlist, getting only usual care, or a placebo) for depression,…
This review paper suggests that problems in body-based senses — especially the vestibular system (balance/motion) and the somatosensory system (touch and body position) — may help explain many symptoms of trauma-related disorders. The authors propose that trauma can disrupt low-level, brainstem sensory processing and that this disruption can cascade into…
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…
This review looks at research on emotional awareness, awareness of bodily signals (interoception), and the body's autonomic homeostatic processes. The authors say limbic brain systems link these processes, that measures of autonomic activity and stress reactivity relate to both kinds of awareness, and that problems in autonomic function may be…
This review compares three recent brain-based ideas for pathological fatigue and the evidence for them. One idea, the sensory attenuation model (SAF), says poor suppression of self-generated sensory signals makes movements feel harder and so raises perceived effort; a study found that long-term (trait) fatigue, but not day-to-day (state) fatigue,…
This fMRI study tested how expecting an anxiety-reducing treatment (a placebo) changed large-scale brain networks. Under placebo, the brain's salience network became less active, especially to threat cues. The rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) showed stronger ongoing connections with the salience network, and this stronger connectivity was linked with lower…
This paper reviews research showing that emotion dysregulation (ED) is not only part of borderline personality disorder (BPD) but also appears across other diagnoses. The authors examined evidence for ED in 8 specific disorders and propose a transdiagnostic model that describes core triggers and interpersonal styles. They say this model…
The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, now in its fourth edition (MCMI-IV), is a 175-question true-or-false test that clinicians use to identify personality problems and related clinical syndromes. It was built from Theodore Millon’s ecological-motivational theory, which says personality grows from basic survival drives and life experiences. When used alongside a…
This review looked at research on the biology of cluster B personality disorders (for example, borderline and antisocial types). Brain imaging studies report differences in areas that handle emotion and self-control, and emotional instability and impulsiveness are common features. The authors say genes and early-life experiences may contribute, psychotherapy is…
This review describes the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), a low-intensity, body-based self-care approach that teaches six core skills to help people notice sensations in their bodies (interoceptive awareness). The paper summarizes existing studies, program evaluations, and anecdotes, links CRM to the neurobiology of trauma and concepts like neural synchrony, and…
