Schizophrenia is associated with abnormal white matter structural connectivity, and meditation has been investigated as an adjunctive intervention for clinical symptoms. This study examined whether an 8-month meditation intervention was associated with longitudinal changes in clinical symptoms, white matter structural connectivity, and graph-theoretical network properties in participants with...
BMC PsychiatryAugust 19, 2026Adam O’Neill, Gillian Haddock, Kate Stalker et al.
Abstract Background Non-affective psychosis is associated with elevated risk of suicide, self-harm, and reduced life expectancy. Symptoms of dissociation are common in non-affective psychosis, and dissociative experiences are known to be linked to multiple markers of elevated clinical risk, including sleep disturbance and negative affect. The present review represents the first comprehensive...
Abstract Introduction Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by dysfunction in higher-order cortical regions involved in emotional and cognitive processes; however, its neurobiological basis remains unclear. Pharmacological treatments, including esketamine and sertraline, produce rapid antidepressant effects. We investigated the local intrinsic neural dynamics underlying these...
This case describes a substance-induced manic episode with psychotic features in which interaction with an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot appeared to corroborate and reinforce the patient's delusional thought content and to contradict medical advice. Excerpts from the patient's interactions with the AI chatbot provide novel clinical insight into this phenomenon, which to date has...
The subjective lived experience of schizophrenia among China's Z Generation (born 1995-2009) remains understudied. This population navigates a unique socio-cultural context, making their personal narratives crucial for developing effective, person-centered mental health interventions. We employed a descriptive phenomenological approach, conducting in-depth interviews with four Chinese...
BMC PsychiatryApril 26, 2026Sergi López-rodríguez, Cinto Segalàs, Eva Real et al.
BACKGROUND: Patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) represent a severe subgroup with increased treatment resistance, greater functional impairment, and limited therapeutic options. Intranasal esketamine is a rapidly acting treatment for resistant depression, with emerging interest in potential anti-obsessional effects. However, prospective...
BMC PsychiatryApril 6, 2026Michael Schlegelmilch, Amy C. Plint, Nicholas Barrowman et al.
BACKGROUND: Suicidal ideation (SI) is a common reason for emergency department (ED) visits by adolescents. While intravenous (IV) ketamine rapidly reduces SI in adults, its efficacy in adolescents remains unstudied. We assessed the feasibility of a trial of a single dose IV ketamine to reduce adolescent SI in the ED. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial was...
Abstract Background Psychotic disorders substantially impact individuals psychologically, occupationally, and socially. Although modifiable risk factors such as insecure attachment styles, history of psychological trauma, and substance use disorders (of which cannabis is the most frequent) are known to increase risk, it remains unclear how they may interact with each other to create pathways of...
BACKGROUND: Intranasal esketamine has recently emerged as an innovative treatment option for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). This retrospective, uncontrolled study aimed to evaluate the real-world effectiveness of esketamine in an naturalistic inpatient setting and explore demographic and clinical factors associated with treatment response. METHODS: We conducted a chart review of 101...
BMC PsychiatryFebruary 9, 2026Song-Yuan Liu, Rong Huang, Zhuang Liu et al.
BACKGROUND: In recent years, evidence has suggested that subanesthetic doses of esketamine may have beneficial effects on perioperative anxiety and depression. Concurrently, various factors contribute to a high incidence of perioperative depression and anxiety in the breast cancer patient population. This study aimed to explore the impact of preoperative induction and intraoperative maintenance...
In acute psychiatric inpatient settings, where perception is altered and emotional vulnerability is heightened, many facilities use coercive seclusion rooms for safety. This practice has been increasingly criticized for its psychological impact. While architectural guidelines emphasize human-centered and biophilic design to support well-being, empirical evidence on how design features in this...
BMC PsychiatryJanuary 4, 2026Carl D. Marci, Kruti Joshi, Stevan Geoffrey Severtson et al.2 citations
Abstract Background Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is often characterized by inadequate response to ≥ 2 oral antidepressant treatments of adequate dose and duration during a major depressive episode (MDE). Esketamine nasal spray (ESK) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2019 for TRD in conjunction with an oral antidepressant under a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation...
Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness with a significant disease, economic and social burden. Persecutory delusions (beliefs that one will be harmed or mistreated) are a common symptom of schizophrenia with associated high levels of depression. International clinical guidelines recommend individual cognitive behaviour therapy for schizophrenia, but there are currently no group psychological...
BMC PsychiatryNovember 3, 2025Ahmet Selim Başaran, Hande Gazey, Sena Çağlayan et al.
BACKGROUND: Politically charged public life supplies powerful symbols that can be recruited into delusional meaning-making. This study examined how political contexts shape the content and experiential structure of delusions in patients with psychotic disorders in Turkey. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, archive-based qualitative study of inpatient psychiatric records from a tertiary...
Oxytocin administration is increasingly considered a novel therapeutic support option for alleviating psychological distress in stress-related neuropsychiatric conditions, including anxiety disorders and depression. However, oxytocin as a stand-alone treatment may fail to consistently target the relevant central autonomic circuitry without a complementary supportive therapeutic context that...
BMC PsychiatryJune 4, 2025Yuekun Wu, Yue Ban, Guoliang Pan et al.6 citations
Psychiatric healthcare workers experience prolonged exposure to psychological trauma and negative emotions, which ultimately predisposes them to mental health issues. The effectiveness of online mindfulness-based stress reduction training on depression and anxiety symptoms among psychiatric healthcare workers (HCWs) and the possible mechanisms that benefit these outcomes remain unclear. This...
Despite extensive research on mindfulness, there is a dearth of studies exploring its impact on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the intermediaries of psychological resilience and perceived stress. In response to a violent campus event, this article investigates the association between mindfulness levels among college students and the presence of PTSD using a sequential mediation...
To analyze the symptoms, courses, and severities of depressive disorder, as well as the morphological changes in the spleens and related immune mechanisms, we recruited patients with first-episode or recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) (patient group) and healthy controls (normal group) matched in age and gender. We measured their plasma MICB (pg/ml), ULBP1 (ng/ml), and splenic volume...
Many individuals who engage in mindfulness experience decreased anxiety. Yet some individuals, particularly those with panic disorder (PD) or elevated anxiety sensitivity (AS), note heightened anxiety when observing particular sensations. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) is one of the most widely utilized mindfulness questionnaires. However, its Observe facet has shown...
This case highlights the tensions between legal and underground psychedelic use within psychedelic therapy training programs, psychiatry and neo-shamanism, and the use of psychiatric interventions (i.e., ECT) and energy medicine to address prolonged adverse effects from psychedelics. Clinicians should be aware of these potential conflicts between psychiatric conceptualizations of PAEs and...
Internalizing problems, such as worrying, anxiety and low mood, are increasingly common in youth and may constitute an early stage of mental illness development. There is thus an urgent need for effective measures to address mental health complaints as they develop and to prevent progression into more serious mental illness. Enhanced understanding of early-stage mental illness development,...
Ketamine is a promising therapy for treatment-resistant depression due to its rapid onset, although benefits are often transitory, with patients needing maintenance therapy to prevent relapse. Most data supporting ketamine for treatment-resistant depression refers to the intravenous route of administration, leaving alternative routes lacking in data, especially as maintenance regimens....
Background: Anxiety during pregnancy is linked to adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes, as well as dissatisfaction with childbirth, and may contribute to the development of postpartum depression. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of mindfulness-based counselling on the anxiety levels and childbirth satisfaction among primiparous pregnant women. Methods: This two-group, parallel,...
BMC PsychiatryOctober 28, 2024Sumaya Jobnah, Youssef Latifeh, Dina Al Kabani et al.2 citations
Chronic treatment-resistant depression (TRD) poses a major challenge for clinicians. Ketamine has shown a rapid but short-lived antidepressant effect in several studies involving TRD patients with different demographic and clinical profiles. Our study aimed to assess the antidepressant effect of serial infusion sessions of ketamine in patients with chronic TRD and evaluate the severity of...