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.

8 papers

Purpose in Life Predicts Better Emotional Recovery from Negative Stimuli

PLoS ONE Summary & key facts 2013 234 citations

Researchers studied adults aged 36–84 from the MIDUS study and found that people who reported a stronger sense of purpose in life (measured about two years earlier) showed better emotional recovery after seeing negative pictures. Recovery was measured by the eyeblink startle reflex (EBR); smaller eyeblinks after the picture ended…

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Optimism, Hope, and Well-being Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

Narrative meaning making and integration: Toward a better understanding of the way falling ill influences quality of life

Iris D. Hartog, Michael Scherer‐Rath, Renske Kruizinga, Justine E. Netjes, José P.S. Henriques, Pythia T. Nieuwkerk, et al.
Journal of Health Psychology Summary & key facts 2017 68 citations

This article offers a new humanities-based theory about how falling seriously ill can affect a person’s quality of life. The authors combine ideas about contingency (the feeling that life could have been different), narrative identity (how people make life stories), and quality of life to explain how people make meaning…

Identity, Memory, and Therapy Optimism, Hope, and Well-being Resilience and Mental Health

Midlife Crisis in Men: Affective Organization of Personal Meanings

Hubert J. M. Hermans, Piotr Oleś
Human Relations Summary & key facts 1999 25 citations

This study looked at emotions tied to personal meanings in 104 men in Poland who were measured for midlife crisis. Men were put into three groups by a Midlife Crisis Scale: high (27 men), medium (37), and low (40). The high-crisis group had less self-enhancing and less positive affect, and…

Optimism, Hope, and Well-being Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction

The association between anemia and depression in older adults and the role of treating anemia

Tamer Ahmed, Catherine Lamoureux‐Lamarche, Djamal Berbiche, Helen‐Maria Vasiliadis
Brain and Behavior Summary & key facts 2023 16 citations

This study looked at 1,447 older adults (65+) in Quebec. People who said they had anemia but had no record of anemia treatment were more likely to have symptoms of depression. People who had anemia and had treatment did not have higher odds of depression. The study was cross-sectional, used…

Hemoglobinopathies and Related Disorders Iron Metabolism and Disorders Optimism, Hope, and Well-being

Relationship between depressive symptoms and anemia among the middle-aged and elderly: a cohort study over 4-year period

Congqi Liu, Ruihao Zhou, Xilin Peng, Tao Zhu, Wei Wei, Xuechao Hao
BMC Psychiatry Summary & key facts 2023 13 citations

This study used China’s CHARLS data from 2011 and 2015 to look at people aged 45 and older. In 10,179 people at baseline, higher depressive symptom scores were linked to lower hemoglobin and to having anemia. Over 4 years (5,887 people followed), people with depressive symptoms had higher odds of…

Health disparities and outcomes Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum Optimism, Hope, and Well-being

Editorial: Emotional intelligence: Current research and future perspectives on mental health and individual differences

Mancini, Giacomo, Biolcati, Roberta, Joseph, Dana, et al.
www.frontiersin.org Summary & key facts 2022 12 citations

This editorial reviews a collection of 10 articles about emotional intelligence (EI). It says EI research has grown a lot over the last two decades, but many different models and tests have created confusion. The editors note links between EI and mental health, stress, and school outcomes in several studies,…

Emotional Intelligence and Performance Optimism, Hope, and Well-being Personality Traits and Psychology

Compassion fatigue in helping professions: a scoping literature review

Amelia Mohd Noor, Dodi Suryana, Engku Mardiah Engku Kamarudin, Noor Banu Mahadir Naidu, Siti Rozaina Kamsani, Priyalatha Govindasamy
BMC Psychology Summary & key facts 2025 11 citations

This scoping review looked at research on compassion fatigue in helping jobs like nursing, counselling, social work, and teaching. The authors found 43 articles and say compassion fatigue is a complex, hard-to-define idea that has been studied most in health care—especially nursing—and that different personal and work factors are linked…

Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout Optimism, Hope, and Well-being Resilience and Mental Health

Association between changes in depressive symptoms and risk of anemia: from the China Health and Retirement longitudinal study

Yucong Bi, Liping Zheng, Le‐Ping Zhang, Longyang Han, Yang Liu, Xiaowei Zheng, et al.
Archives of Public Health Summary & key facts 2024 2 citations

This study followed 6,112 Chinese adults aged 45 and older across three survey waves (2011–2016). It found that people with depressive symptoms at the start, and especially those whose symptoms persisted across the first two waves, had higher odds of being diagnosed with anemia later. For example, baseline depressive symptoms…

Cardiac Health and Mental Health Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
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.