Psychology

Deep brain stimulation study provides biomarker to track recovery from severe depression

Health, Psychology / /

Like the bottom of the ocean, major depressive disorder (MDD) is widespread, often dangerous, and yet largely shrouded in mystery. MDD impacts about 5% of the population — 280 million people worldwide — and its symptoms include the lack of ability to feel pleasure, extreme fatigue, and sleep and appetite disturbances. These symptoms cannot be […]

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Awake or asleep? The science behind lucid dreaming

Psychology / /

Everybody dreams. Whether we remember their intricate plots or feel them slipping away the second we wake, sleep science has long known that all humans dream. Many have experienced the dread of sprinting at a snail’s pace through hellishly personalized nightmares, others discovering fantasy worlds where human flight and super strength are made possible. However,

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The magic behind misinformation

Psychology / /

Social media’s individualized, instant, and streamlined communication provides users with up-to-date information on world events, community opinions, and trending memes. However, with the uptick in AI-generated content and extremist views, social media can be incredibly deceptive, with the gap between fact and fiction looming larger and larger. Most recently, the New York Times reported that

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Yes, being ‘delulu’ is normal: Mechanisms of hallucinations

Health, Psychology / /

Everyone is capable of hallucinating. Some illnesses and the use of psychedelics may increase the frequency and likelihood of hallucinogenic episodes, but this does not mean hallucinations make one mentally ill or a drug addict. The human brain is faulty at best — it makes mistakes, and hallucinating is only one of many. There are

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Mind over medicine: The placebo effect

Health, Psychology / /

The placebo effect is a phenomenon observed in many experiments, most often medical. This peculiar occurrence is when patients are given a control treatment, such as a sugar pill rather than the true medication being tested, yet have considerable positive gains in their condition. In other words, patients’ conditions are improving despite not receiving any

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Why won’t they speak?

Psychology / /

For Matt Holdback, the symptoms started when he began shaking and sweating at the possibility of being called on in class, he wrote in a personal essay for the Selective Mutism Information & Research Association. When there was any confrontation, Holdback would try to get away with a small nod or a hand in the

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Fishing for happiness: Omega-3 and seasonal affective disorder

Environment, Health, Psychology / /

As the days get shorter and the weather colder, keeping that frown upside down becomes an arduous task. While you might think you have what it takes to bear the elements through sheer willpower, your genetics and neurochemistry disagree.  Studies of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in Iceland and in various regions globally show that genetics

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