International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
September 2026
Thiago Paranhos, Anna Du, Ryan Eckbo et al.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been explored as an intervention in typical amnestic Alzheimer's Disease (AD). However, its effects on episodic and associative memory in atypical forms of AD are less known. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is primarily characterized by visuospatial and visuoperceptual symptoms, although significant episodic memory deficits are often...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marianna de Abreu Costa, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
7 citations
The mind-brain problem, which explores the relationship between the mind and brain and the nature of consciousness, remains a scientific challenge. It is not a purely theoretical issue; it profoundly shapes our understanding of human nature. This paper reviews evidence on mind-brain problem views impacting ethical, clinical, and academic domains. Evidence shows that dualism is prevalent, even...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Alexander Moreira-Almeida
4 citations
The nature of consciousness remains unclear, and academic discussions usually ignore the scientific evidence about anomalous and spiritual experiences suggestive of the mind beyond the brain, mainly because of the lack of a scientific framework that makes sense of these experiences. This manuscript proposes the 'Pragmatic interactionist' scientific framework for the mind-brain relationship...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marina Weiler, David J Acunzo
4 citations
The mind-body problem remains a central issue in the philosophy of mind. This paper examines how out-of-body experiences (OBEs) might provide insights into the relationship between the mind and body. Four interpretations of OBEs are considered. The first posits that OBEs arise from neural or sensory dysfunction, framing them as products of brain activity. From this perspective, OBEs are akin to...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Taís Oliveira Silva, Kathryn Levy, Christopher W Kerr
3 citations
Dying patients can experience vivid dreams, visions or unexpected lucid episodes despite declining clinical and mental status. This review examines patient end-of-life experiences (ELEs) and their implications to the mind-brain relationship (MBR). A Scoping Review (ScR) was conducted, searching major academic databases for qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods studies. Data were...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marjorie Woollacott, Marina Weiler
3 citations
In this review, we examine studies suggesting that conscious or mental awareness is constrained by our neural filters. These filters include sensory receptors, the ascending reticular activating system and the thalamus, the default mode network, and left hemisphere language centers. These filters limit our perception of the world to a narrow range of energy frequencies, make sense of space and...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Gregory Shushan
3 citations
While accounts of near-death experiences (NDEs) are found around the world and throughout history, descriptions of the phenomenon vary widely. Whether arguing for or against the survival hypothesis, most scholarly and scientific discussions of NDEs are predicated on seeing them as either a universal human phenomenon or as an entirely culturally-constructed one. This article will discuss the...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Bruno Angeli-Faez, Bruce Greyson, Pim van Lommel
3 citations
In this narrative review, we will critically assess whether the occurrence of near-death experience (NDE) associated with cardiac arrest (CA) may be explained by brain electrical activity or whether this empirical evidence supports an alternative theory, namely, that consciousness may persist and function beyond the brain. Empirical evidence suggests that NDEs associated with CA likely arise...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Humberto Schubert Coelho
2 citations
Despite the fact that humans experience the reality of consciousness first hand, a remarkable paradigm shift within the Western worldview has entrenched the notion of an inverted cognitive order: first we have objects, and only then minds, if we have them at all. How the community of minds developed such a counterintuitive theory, and how this mental product was elevated to the status of an...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marianna de Abreu Costa, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
2 citations
Mediums are individuals who claim to communicate with deceased persons or non-material beings. Rigorous studies have reported that mediums can provide accurate anomalous information (i.e. information not obtained through the conventional senses or inferential reasoning). This paper reviews the evidence about these claims and explores the main conventional explanatory hypotheses: fraud, sitter's...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Jim B Tucker
1 citation
Cases of young children who report memories of a previous life have been the focus of systematic study for the past 60 years. Over 2500 cases of this worldwide phenomenon have been investigated. In the strongest cases, children have provided details that proved strikingly accurate for an individual who lived in the past, sometimes at a great distance from the child's family. This overview...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Iury P A Magalhães, Daniel N Lopes, Isabel Amato et al.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) significantly impairs adolescents' development, with increasing rates of treatment resistance and suicide risk. Ketamine has emerged as a promising, rapid-acting antidepressant in adults, but its efficacy and safety in adolescents remain unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate short-term outcomes of ketamine administration in youth...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Helena Aicher, Max Wolff, Uwe Herwig
10 citations
The renewed interest in psychedelics as treatments for mental health disorders is often referred to as the "Psychedelic Renaissance." This article assesses whether this resurgence truly constitutes a paradigm shift in psychiatry, as some proponents claim, or if it should be viewed as an integration of existing therapeutic approaches. We explore historical contexts, noting that psychedelics were...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Sean P. Goldy, Peter S. Hendricks, Dacher Keltner et al.
8 citations
In this review, we discuss psychedelics' acute subjective and persisting therapeutic effects, outline the science of positive emotions, and highlight the value in considering distinct positive emotions in psychedelic science. Psychedelics produce a wide variety of acute subjective effects (i.e. the 'trip'), including positive emotions and affective states such as awe and joy. However, despite a...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Zofia Kozak, Christopher W. T. Miller
7 citations
Psychedelic compounds continue gaining scientific and regulatory traction as potential new treatments for psychiatric disorders. While most psychiatrists will likely not work directly with these compounds, psychedelic research practices provide insights that may improve conventional psychiatric care. Through its emphasis on 'set and setting' (mindset and environment, respectively), psychedelic...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Roman Palitsky, Nicholas K. Canby, Nicholas T. van Dam et al.
6 citations
Psychedelics have shown early evidence for a range of benefits and low harm profiles in extant research. However, adverse effects (AEs) research in psychedelics has been limited, leading to underspecified AE profiles, inconsistent measurement, and potential undercounting of AEs. The development of safe, effective psychedelic therapies and treatments for AEs when they occur requires a thorough...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
David S. Mathai
3 citations
Dissociative therapies are being increasingly explored for their psychiatric applications, although questions remain about how they work and how best to use them. In exploring these questions, this review highlights six key areas of clinical relevance: (1) The possible contributions of functional unblinding when interpreting efficacy data; (2) The degree to which the therapeutic effects of...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2023
Fabio Carezzato, Ilana Falcão de Arruda, Caio Petrus Monteiro Figueiredo et al.
4 citations
This comprehensive review delves into the intricate interplay between gender/sex and MDMA use, drawing upon recent evidence. It explores how girls, as a means of coping with negative emotions, often resort to drug use, while boys primarily initiate drug use due to peer pressure or sensation-seeking tendencies. Women, frequently having endured traumatic life events, may turn to MDMA as a form of...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
August 1, 2021
Sanneke De Haan
63 citations
What are the respective roles of physiological, psychological and social processes in the development of psychiatric disorders? The answer is relevant for deciding on interventions, prevention measures, and for our (self)understanding. Reductionist models assume that only physiological processes are in the end causally relevant. The biopsychosocial (BPS) model, by contrast, assumes that...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
June 1, 2016
Alex Hankey, Rashmi Shetkar
24 citations
A simple theory of health has recently been proposed: while poor quality regulation corresponds to poor quality health so that improving regulation should improve health, optimal regulation optimizes function and optimizes health. Examining the term 'optimal regulation' in biological systems leads to a straightforward definition in terms of 'criticality' in complexity biology, a concept that...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
June 1, 2016
Urvakhsh Meherwan Mehta, Matcheri S Keshavan, Bangalore N Gangadhar
Schizophrenia patients experience a 'disconnect' at multiple levels-neuronal networks, mental processes, and interpersonal relationships. The resultant poor quality-of-life and functional disability are related to the persistent cognitive deficits and negative symptoms, which are rather resistant to conventional antipsychotic medications. Yoga has emerged as an important therapeutic...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
June 1, 2016
Nirmala Maruthai, Ravindra P. Nagendra, Arun Sasidharan et al.
The present study is aimed to ascertain whether differences in meditation proficiency alter rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) as well as the overall sleep-organization. Whole-night polysomnography was carried out using 32-channel digital EEG system. 20 senior Vipassana meditators, 16 novice Vipassana meditators and 19 non-meditating control subjects participated in the study. The REM sleep...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
April 1, 2014
Michael R Nadorff, Karen K Lambdin, Anne Germain
Interest in the treatment of nightmares has greatly increased over the last several years as research has demonstrated the clinical significance of nightmare disorder. This paper provides an overview of nightmare disorder, its clinical relevance, and the leading treatments that are available. In particular, the paper defines nightmare disorder and then summarize the recent literature examining...