Some people are better than others at adapting to new situations, but the ability to rapidly adopt new courses of action as circumstances change is a fundamental brain-based capacity rooted in the evolution of our species. When it is impaired, neither we, nor the myriad other spe … | Continue reading
A new window may be opening on the treatment of chronic PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Results of a newly published clinical trial suggest that repeated infusions of the drug ketamine over a 2-week period can significantly reduce symptom severity in many patients, while a … | Continue reading
Doctors have observed that patients with bipolar disorder may suffer from cognitive dysfunction -- deficits in executive functioning, verbal learning and memory, attention, and processing speed – even during periods of clinical remission. These problems, in other words, can be pe … | Continue reading
A long-term study of 1,420 people finds that childhood trauma is more commonplace than is often assumed, and that its effects upon the transition to adulthood and adult functioning are not only confined to post-traumatic stress symptoms and depression but are more broadly based. | Continue reading
The birth of new neurons in the adult brain is important for resilience to chronic stress, researchers have found. The new discovery, made in mice, suggests that adult-born cells in the hippocampus—a part of the brain that regulates mood—rein in the activity of stress-responsive … | Continue reading
People with anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder, severely restrict the amount of food they eat. They may see themselves as overweight even after they have become dangerously underweight, but what causes this behavior? | Continue reading