Although the precise mechanisms for control of consciousness are not fully understood, emerging data show that conscious information processing depends on the activation of certain networks in the brain and that the impairment of consciousness is related to abnormal activity in these systems. Epilepsy can lead to transient impairment of consciousness, providing a window into the mechanisms...
Ecstasy use remains a key concern for professionals working in fields related to youth and drug use. At the forefront of these concerns are issues related to neurological dysfunction and depression--both acute and long-term--associated with MDMA use. Ecstasy users have been shown to assess Ecstasy related harms and to engage in a variety of practices to manage these risks. To contend with risk...
Mindfulness is associated with low levels of neuroticism, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as well as high levels of self-esteem and satisfaction with life (Brown & Ryan, 2003). As part of a 3-month randomized waitlist-controlled trial of the effects of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program on university students (N=295), we examined the impact of TM practice on mindfulness as measured by...
Most patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience a period of lengthy trial and error when trying to find optimal antidepressant treatment; identifying biomarkers that could predict response to antidepressant treatment would be of enormous benefit. We tested the hypothesis that pretreatment anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity could be a putative biomarker of rapid...
Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are key activity-dependent signals regulating synaptic transmission throughout the CNS. Accordingly, eCBs are involved in neural functions ranging from feeding homeostasis to cognition. There is great interest in understanding how exogenous (e.g. cannabis) and endogenous cannabinoids affect behavior. As behavioral adaptations are widely considered to rely on changes in...
Objective: Studies conducted in community samples suggest that psychotic-like experiences are common in the general population, leading to suggestions that they are either variations of normal personality or are different expressions of underlying vulnerability to psychotic disorder. Different types of psychotic symptoms may exist, some being normal variants and some having implications for...
AbstractThe interface of religiously accommodative and oriented treatments and the cognitive–behavioral tradition is explored. In terms of Hayes' characterization of the evolution of the cognitive–behavioral tradition through three waves, considerable theoretical, clinical, and empirical work emerged to support a religiously accommodative cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) during the...
Previous research has demonstrated a link between insomnia symptoms, nightmares, and suicidal ideation. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether insomnia symptoms and nightmares were related to suicidal ideation independent of each other. Further, the study aimed to determine whether suicidal ideation and nightmares were related with suicidal ideation independent of the symptoms of...
Recently most interest has been focused on active compounds extracted from natural sources. This is due to the fact that many of these natural products in plants of medicinal value can offer new sources of drugs. The genus Salvia from the Lamiaceae family has numerous different species - about 900 species- which are extensively distributed in various regions of the world. Many Salvia species...
Qigong is an ancient Chinese psychosomatic exercise that integrates movement, breathing and meditation into a single multifaceted practice. The present study was designed to assess the effects of qigong practice on serum cytokines, mood and subjective sleep quality. Experimental participants underwent a qigong training program for one month. Blood samples for the quantification of TNF-alpha and...