The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 that first emerged in Wuhan, China, in Nov-Dec 2019 has already impacted a significant proportion of the world population. Governments of many countries imposed quarantines and social distancing... more
The novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 that first emerged in Wuhan, China, in Nov-Dec 2019 has already impacted a significant proportion of the world population. Governments of many countries imposed quarantines and social distancing measures in 2020, many of which remain in place, to mitigate the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus causing the COVID-19 disease. The direct impact of COVID-19 on people infected with the virus, their families and the health care workers, as well as the impact of the mitigation measures such as quarantine, social distancing, and self-isolation on the rest of the population have contributed to a global mental health pandemic, including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychosis, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and suicidality. These effects are present acutely (for example, due to fear of contamination or losing loved ones, effects of quarantine/isolation, withdrawal of community and social services, etc.) and may ...
Research Interests:
Neuroscience, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Neuropsychology, and 15 morePhilosophy, Psychosis, Individuality, Mindfulness, Attention, Cognitive Neuropsychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Executive Function, Meditation, Humans, Saccades, Male, Mindfulness Meditation, Middle Aged, and Adult
Research Interests:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Attention, MRI, Brain Mapping, Prepulse Inhibition, and 15 moreBrain, Humans, Male, Risk factors, Middle Aged, Arousal, Adult, Psychotic Disorders, Risk Factors, Individual Difference, Reference Values, Blinking, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, european psychiatry, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests:
This review investigates how recent neuroimaging findings on vulnerability for depression and the mechanisms of mindfulness may serve to inform and enhance the understanding that is guiding the use of mindfulness training in the... more
This review investigates how recent neuroimaging findings on vulnerability for depression and the mechanisms of mindfulness may serve to inform and enhance the understanding that is guiding the use of mindfulness training in the prevention and treatment of recurrent and chronic depression. In particular, we review evidence suggesting that alterations in default-mode-network activity and connectivity represent a fundamental deficit underlying cognitive vulnerability for depression and explore the ways in which mindfulness meditation may reverse such alterations. Furthermore, we discuss findings from studies that have investigated the effects of mindfulness on emotion regulatory capacities. These findings suggest mindful emotion regulation has a characteristic neural signature that is particularly conducive to therapeutic learning. We conclude that training in mindfulness has unique strengths for addressing neural mechanisms associated with cognitive vulnerabilities for recurrent and chronic depression and propose future lines of research to more effectively harness this potential.
Research Interests:
Neuroscience, Depression, Mindfulness, Affective Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, and 7 moreDepression (Psychology), Mindfulness and well being, Mindfulness and Resilience and Psychological Well Being, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Mindfulness Meditation, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and Mindfulness , Art therapy , depression and anxiety disorder
The suggestibility-enhancing effects of hypnosis are widely accepted, although poorly understood. In the present study, an attempt was made to address the effect of absorption and reduced critical thought on suggestibility change... more
The suggestibility-enhancing effects of hypnosis are widely accepted, although poorly understood. In the present study, an attempt was made to address the effect of absorption and reduced critical thought on suggestibility change occurring in the hyp- notic context. Study participants were presented with a waking suggestibility assessment followed by an induction consisting of instructions for progressive relax- ation and a
Mindfulness-based therapies have been shown to be effective in treating depression and reducing cognitive biases. Anxiety sensitivity is one cognitive bias that may play a role in the association between mindfulness and depressive... more
Mindfulness-based therapies have been shown to be effective in treating depression and reducing cognitive biases. Anxiety sensitivity is one cognitive bias that may play a role in the association between mindfulness and depressive symptoms. It refers to an enhanced sensitivity toward symptoms of anxiety, with a belief that these are harmful. Currently, little is known about the mechanisms underpinning the association between mindfulness, depression, and anxiety sensitivity. The aim of this study was to examine the role of genetic and environmental factors in trait mindfulness, and its genetic and environmental overlap with depressive symptoms and anxiety sensitivity. Over 2,100 16-year-old twins from a population-based study rated their mindfulness, depressive symptoms, and anxiety sensitivity. Twin modeling analyses revealed that mindfulness is 32% heritable and 66% due to nonshared environmental factors, with no significant influence of shared environment. Genetic influences expla...
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A key feature of schizophrenia is the inability to screen out irrelevant sensory input. Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response, a cross-species measure of sensorimotor gating, provides a valuable opportunity to study this... more
A key feature of schizophrenia is the inability to screen out irrelevant sensory input. Prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response, a cross-species measure of sensorimotor gating, provides a valuable opportunity to study this feature. PPI is reliably impaired in schizophrenia. Animal models of disrupted PPI have proved valuable for the evaluation of antipsychotic substances. The cortico-striato-pallido-thalamic circuitry is primarily responsible for modulation of PPI in animals. We examined PPI and its brain correlates, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in men with schizophrenia treated with typical or atypical antipsychotics. Thirty men with schizophrenia on stable doses of typical antipsychotics (n=10), risperidone (n=10) or olanzapine (n=10; 9 with usable fMRI data) and 12 healthy men underwent psychophysiological testing and fMRI during a tactile PPI paradigm. The results showed reduced PPI of the eye-blink startle response in patients compared with heal...