TL;DR: A 2026 longitudinal study in Appetite following 491 Quebec children found that infants breastfed for at least three to six months showed better inhibitory control — the ability to suppress an automatic response — at age three and a half than infants who were never breastfed, with the largest behavioral benefits in those breastfed …
Childhood Loneliness Multiplied Psychosis Risk in EU-GEI TL;DR: Loneliness that started before age 12 and persisted into adolescence tracked with sharply higher schizophrenia-spectrum risk, especially when it stacked on top of genetic liability. Key Findings Persistent loneliness carried the risk signal: The EU-GEI analysis included 1,261 people with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, 1,282 unaffected siblings, and 1,525 …
Cannabinoids Had Weak Evidence for Mental Disorders TL;DR: A Lancet Psychiatry review of randomized trials found little support for routine cannabinoid treatment in common mental disorders, despite possible weak signals in a few narrower conditions. Key Findings 54 randomized controlled trials were reviewed: The analysis covered 2,477 participants across mental disorders and substance-use disorders. Routine …
Old Autonomy Wounds Made COVID Conspiracies Stickier TL;DR: COVID conspiracy beliefs became stronger when restrictive situations reactivated memories of lost autonomy, suggesting that misinformation can feel persuasive because it repairs an old sense of being controlled. Key Findings 141 Quebec adults linked restriction to later belief: In Study 1, participants read a mask-rule scenario, described …
Mediodorsal Thalamus Activity Restored Belief Updating TL;DR: A Nature Neuroscience mouse study linked a schizophrenia-risk Grin2a mutation to weaker mediodorsal thalamus activity, impaired belief updating, and behavioral rescue when researchers reactivated the thalamus-prefrontal circuit during flexible decision-making in mice. Key Findings Grin2a was the genetic entry point: The mutation affects an NMDA receptor subunit gene …
Loneliness Lowered Memory Without Speeding Decline TL;DR: In 10,217 older Europeans, loneliness was linked to lower immediate and delayed recall at baseline, but it did not make memory decline faster over 6 years. Key Findings 10,217 SHARE participants: The analysis included adults aged 65 to 94 from 12 European countries who participated in waves 5, …
How Often Trauma-Exposed Kids Develop PTSD Now TL;DR: An updated meta-analysis of 95 studies found that about 1 in 5 trauma-exposed children met DSM-IV PTSD criteria and about 1 in 8 met DSM-5 criteria, with the highest rates in girls and in youth exposed to interpersonal trauma. Key Findings 95 studies over 30 years: The …
TL;DR: A 2019 county-level analysis found that income, SSI, SNAP, education, commute, and work patterns explained about 70% of U.S. variation in frequent poor mental health days. Key Findings 70% county variation explained: The overall model explained 70.0% of between-county variation in adults reporting more than 14 poor mental health days in the past month. …
Counterfactual Curiosity Lit Up the Striatum TL;DR: People paid a waiting cost to reveal a missed payoff in a balloon task, and reward-related striatum activity tracked both the choice to know and the size of the missed opportunity. Key Findings Functional MRI kept 38 usable datasets: The study recruited 41 participants and excluded 3 for …
AVATAR Therapy Outlasted CBT for Auditory Hallucinations TL;DR: AVATAR therapy matched CBT on voice severity right after treatment, then pulled ahead at 3 months — with roughly half the sessions. A 26-trial meta-analysis, 2,273 patients. Key Findings No clear edge at treatment end: AVATAR did not significantly beat CBT on voice severity right after therapy …
