Anhedonia, a complex symptom, is characterized by a decrease in experience of pleasure, reduced motivation, and/or impaired reward learning. Although these aspects are often linked to dopaminergic pathways, recent research shows that immuno-inflammatory alterations present in psychiatric disorders may also play a role, affecting dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and opioid pathways, as well as...
Suicidal thoughts and behaviors represent a transdiagnostic dimension independent of traditional psychiatric diagnoses. This specificity is supported by genetic studies, biomarkers, and preclinical research on endophenotypes associated with suicidal behaviors, such as impulsivity, anhedonia, and hopelessness. Clear mechanisms involving inflammation, the stress response, the serotonergic system,...
This article reviews the recent knowledge on LSD stemming from various disciplines among which pharmacology, sociology and epidemiology. The d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a particularly powerful hallucinogenic substance. It produces distortions and hearing, visual and tactile hallucinations. Rarely used (only 1.7% of people aged 15-64 years old have tried it in their lifetime), this...
A classical approach in the neurosciences is to study neural activity modulations induced by a stimulus, a task, etc. This approach is anchored in a behaviourist culture and has proven informative within certain limits. The present paper shows that this approach nonetheless neglects aspects of neural activity that can also contribute important information about brain function. Over the last...
Vegetative and minimally conscious states diagnosis remained a major clinical challenge. New paradigms such as measurement of the global cerebral metabolism, the structural and functional integrity of fronto-parietal network, or the spontaneous activity in resting state have been shown to be helpful to disentangle vegetative from minimally conscious patients. Active neuroimagery paradigms also...