Mindfully Healing

Depression symptoms are affected by how you listen to music.
• Try one of PsyBlog's ebooks, all written by Dr Jeremy Dean:

Activate: How To Find Joy Again By Changing What You Do (NEW)
The Anxiety Plan: 42 Strategies For Worry, Phobias, OCD and Panic
Spark: 17 Steps That Will Boost Your Motivation For Anything

The psychological factor that affects colds. People who have strong social networks have less severe colds than those who are lonely, new research finds. Lonely people, though, were no more or less likely to get a cold than socially connected people. Loneliness has already been linked to other physical problems, said Ms Angie LeRoy, the study’s first author: “Loneliness puts people at risk for premature mortality and all kinds of other physical illnesses. Previous research has shown that different psycho-social factors like feeling rejected or feeling left out or not

Autism research finds link between this vitamin and serotonin production. Many scientists have speculated that the problematic social behaviour of people with autism is related to low vitamin D and serotonin levels. Now a new study has found a causal link between vitamin D and three hormones which are important in social behaviour: serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. Genetic research has shown that vitamin D hormone activates a gene which produces an enzyme leading to higher levels of serotonin (Patrick & Ames, 2014). In the brain, serotonin acts as a neurotransmitter,

Effects of the drug last up to five weeks on people who have not responded to other treatments. Psilocybin — the psychedelic component of magic mushrooms — ‘resets’ the brains of people with severe depression, new research finds. The small trial found that the positive effects of two doses of psilocybin lasted up to five weeks. The depressed people who took part in the study had tried all kinds of other treatments, and none had worked. Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, the study’s first author, said: “We have shown for the first