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<td><span style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;">PsyPost – Psychology News</span></td>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/less-anxious-individuals-are-more-sensitive-to-future-consequences/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Less anxious individuals are more sensitive to future consequences</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 18th 2025, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>An online experiment found that individuals with lower anxiety and higher levels of behavioral activation, perseverance, and optimism tended to be more sensitive to future consequences when making decisions. In contrast, depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and non-planfulness were not significantly associated with this sensitivity. The research was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113212"><em>Personality and Individual Differences</em></a>.</p>
<p>Sensitivity to future consequences refers to the tendency to consider and weigh the long-term outcomes of one’s actions before making decisions. People high in this trait are more likely to delay immediate gratification in favor of achieving better outcomes in the future. It is often linked to self-control, planning ability, and risk management. Low sensitivity to future consequences may contribute to impulsive behavior, as individuals focus more on short-term rewards than delayed benefits.</p>
<p>This concept is widely studied in psychology, behavioral economics, and decision-making research. It plays a role in health-related behaviors, such as adhering to exercise programs or avoiding harmful habits like smoking. In academic and professional settings, higher sensitivity to future consequences has been associated with better performance and long-term success. It also influences financial decisions, including saving for retirement or making investment choices. Cultural and environmental factors can shape how strongly people weigh future outcomes.</p>
<p>Study authors Xinyao Ma and John E. Roberts noted that individuals struggling with anxiety or depression often exhibit insensitivity to future consequences, meaning their decisions are guided more by short-term emotional relief than long-term goals. Such individuals may engage in behaviors that provide immediate comfort but carry harmful long-term consequences.</p>
<p>To explore this, the researchers examined whether individual differences in sensitivity to future consequences were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and related psychological traits. They hypothesized that hopelessness—a cognitive state frequently linked to both depression and anxiety—could lead individuals to discount the benefits of future-oriented behavior due to a pessimistic outlook. Similarly, anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure, might cause future rewards to seem less motivating or attainable.</p>
<p>The study included 504 adult participants recruited online. Participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group and completed a “Scenario Task” involving 14 everyday situations that posed an approach-avoidance dilemma. An approach-avoidance dilemma is a psychological conflict in which a single goal has both appealing and aversive features, creating inner tension about whether to engage.</p>
<p>In the experimental group, scenarios included information about the long-term consequences of each decision, embedded within other details. In the control group, the same scenarios omitted this future-oriented information. After reading each scenario, participants rated how likely they would be to engage in approach behaviors—i.e., taking action toward the described goal.</p>
<p>Participants also completed a series of validated questionnaires assessing depressive and anxiety symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire–8 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder–7), social anxiety (Social Phobia Scale), optimism (Revised Life Orientation Test), behavioral activation (Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale), and traits such as anhedonia, non-perseverance, and non-planfulness (Comprehensive Assessment of Traits Related to Personality Disorder).</p>
<p>Results showed that participants in the experimental group—those exposed to information about long-term consequences—were significantly more likely to choose approach behaviors than those in the control group. This suggests that making future outcomes salient can increase goal-directed behavior.</p>
<p>Importantly, individual differences influenced this effect. Participants with lower levels of anxiety, and those higher in behavioral activation, perseverance, and optimism, showed greater sensitivity to long-term consequences. In other words, they were more likely to choose the approach behavior when future consequences were made explicit. By contrast, depressive symptoms, anhedonia, and non-planfulness did not significantly moderate responses to future-oriented information.</p>
<p>“Our study found that individual differences in sensitivity to future consequences are associated with greater anxious symptomatology and non-perseverance and lower levels of behavioral activation,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study sheds light on the psychological characteristics associated with sensitivity to long-term consequences. However, it should be noted that the exploration of sensitivity to long-term consequences in this study was completely based on self-reports and fictional scenarios. Results using more objective measures and real-world scenarios might not yield equal results.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2025.113212">An experimental investigation of individual differences in sensitivity to future consequences: Depression, anxiety, and personality,</a>” was authored by Xinyao Ma and John E. Roberts.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/childhood-attention-problems-may-set-the-stage-for-adolescent-delinquency/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Childhood attention problems may set the stage for adolescent delinquency</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 18th 2025, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>Children who exhibit attention problems in elementary school may face heightened risks for certain negative outcomes in adolescence, according to new research published in the <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547251352364" target="_blank">Journal of Attention Disorders</a></em>. Using a large, nationally representative U.S. sample, the study found that children with higher scores for attention problems at age 9 were more likely to smoke cigarettes and engage in delinquent behaviors by age 15.</p>
<p>Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common condition that begins in childhood and often continues into adolescence and adulthood. It is typically marked by persistent difficulties with paying attention, controlling impulses, and regulating activity levels. These symptoms can interfere with performance at school and relationships with peers and family members.</p>
<p>While the core symptoms of ADHD tend to fall into categories of inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity, the disorder often co-occurs with other challenges, including learning problems and emotional difficulties. Estimates suggest that between 8 and 10 percent of children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD, making it one of the most frequently identified neurodevelopmental conditions in youth.</p>
<p>Previous research has linked ADHD to a variety of long-term difficulties, including increased risk for substance use, risky sexual behavior, and criminal involvement. However, much of that research has focused on clinical samples or examined outcomes in adulthood. Fewer studies have explored how attention problems during middle childhood might relate to risk-taking behaviors during adolescence—a critical developmental period when experimentation with substances, rule-breaking, and impulsive actions often begin.</p>
<p>The new study aimed to address that gap by analyzing longitudinal data from a large, population-based cohort. The goal was to determine whether children with attention problems—regardless of a formal ADHD diagnosis—were more likely to engage in specific risky or antisocial behaviors during their teenage years.</p>
<p>“ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder among children and adolescents in the United States. And every year more and more children and adults are being diagnosed with this condition,” said study author Myriam Casseus, an instructor at Child Health Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.</p>
<p>“We hear about the negative outcomes associated with having ADHD. However, much of the research has focused on attention problems in childhood and negative outcomes in adulthood. Few studies have looked at attention problems in middle childhood and adolescent outcomes. My colleagues and I felt that this study of a prospective cohort of children was an opportunity to address this gap in the literature.”</p>
<p>The researchers used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a national birth cohort that followed nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. Participants were surveyed multiple times from birth through early adulthood.</p>
<p>For the present analysis, the team focused on 2,716 adolescents who had complete data on attention problems at age 9 and risk behaviors at age 15. Attention issues were assessed using a widely used checklist completed by primary caregivers, typically the mother. The measure asked caregivers to rate how true various statements were about the child’s behavior, including whether the child was easily distracted or had trouble staying focused. Scores above a certain threshold—one standard deviation above the sample mean—were considered “elevated.”</p>
<p>At age 15, the adolescents themselves answered questions about their experiences with cigarette smoking, alcohol and marijuana use, unprotected sex, and a range of delinquent behaviors such as stealing or fighting.</p>
<p>About 18 percent of the children in the sample had elevated attention problem scores at age 9. The researchers found that these children were more likely to engage in some risky behaviors as adolescents, particularly smoking and delinquency.</p>
<p>By age 15, 9 percent of children with elevated attention problem scores had smoked an entire cigarette, compared to 4 percent of those without elevated scores. After accounting for demographic factors such as gender, race, family income, and parental education, the researchers found that children with elevated attention problems were more than twice as likely to have tried smoking.</p>
<p>These children also had higher scores on a delinquency scale that included acts like physical fights, damaging property, shoplifting, and stealing. On average, they scored 30 percent higher on this scale than their peers.</p>
<p>“Children with attention problems in middle childhood are at higher risk of engaging in health risk behaviors including tobacco use and delinquent behaviors,” Casseus told PsyPost. “The results of this study provide support for screening for attention problems among elementary school-age children and early intervention strategies to prevent health risk behaviors in adolescence.”</p>
<p>In contrast, there was no clear association between elevated attention problem scores and alcohol use, marijuana use, or unprotected sex once demographic factors were taken into account. While unadjusted data suggested a slight increase in marijuana use, this difference disappeared when controlling for other variables.</p>
<p>“We were surprised that children in our study with elevated attention problem scores did not have higher risk of alcohol or marijuana use in adolescence compared with their peers who did not have elevated attention problem scores,” Casseus said. “However, this finding is consistent with previous research.”</p>
<p>The researchers also examined which types of delinquent behaviors were more common among adolescents who had attention problems in childhood. These adolescents were more likely to report physically aggressive acts, such as getting into serious fights or injuring someone badly enough to need medical care. They were also more likely to engage in property-related offenses, such as damaging property, shoplifting, or stealing small items.</p>
<p>The researchers did not find a significant link between attention problems and more severe or less common behaviors, such as armed robbery or breaking into buildings. Still, the pattern of findings suggests that early attention difficulties may contribute to a broader tendency toward impulsive or rule-breaking behavior during adolescence.</p>
<p>The findings are in line with previous research suggesting that children with ADHD or similar attention difficulties may be more prone to smoking and antisocial behavior. One explanation is that attention problems in childhood often co-occur with impulsivity, poor decision-making, and difficulty with self-regulation—all traits that can increase the likelihood of engaging in risky behavior during adolescence.</p>
<p>While the study did not examine brain mechanisms directly, previous work has linked attention problems and impulsivity to altered development in brain areas involved in decision-making and reward processing. These changes may make adolescents more sensitive to the immediate rewards of smoking or acting out, while being less able to consider long-term consequences.</p>
<p>“The findings highlight the importance of screening young children for attention problems and providing treatment based on accepted guidelines to improve health outcomes for this vulnerable population,” Casseus said.</p>
<p>Early interventions, such as parent training, classroom supports, or behavioral therapy, may help reduce the likelihood that these children will engage in harmful behaviors during adolescence.</p>
<p>But like all observational studies, this one cannot demonstrate cause and effect. It is possible that other unmeasured factors—such as exposure to trauma or parenting style—could explain some of the observed associations. The sample also overrepresented children born to unmarried mothers in large cities, which may limit how well the results apply to the broader population.</p>
<p>“We used data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, which is a prospective observational study and thus causality cannot be inferred,” Casseus noted.</p>
<p>Additionally, the data relied on self-reports from adolescents about sensitive behaviors, which may be subject to underreporting. The measure of sexual risk behavior was also limited, focusing only on condom use and possibly missing other dimensions of risk.</p>
<p>The study raises several questions for further investigation. Future research could examine whether early intervention for attention problems reduces the likelihood of adolescent smoking or delinquency. It may also be useful to explore whether the timing, intensity, or type of intervention makes a difference in long-term outcomes.</p>
<p>Longer follow-up could help determine whether the patterns seen in adolescence continue into adulthood, affecting employment, relationships, or involvement in the criminal justice system. Researchers may also want to examine how peer relationships, school environments, or mental health services influence the pathways from childhood attention problems to adolescent behavior.</p>
<p>“My colleagues and I want to continue to explore the developmental trajectories associated with attention problems throughout childhood, adolescence and adulthood,” Casseus said.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10870547251352364" target="_blank">Attention Problems in Childhood and Subsequent Health Risk Behaviors in Adolescence</a>,” was authored by Myriam Casseus, Hope Corman, Kelly Noonan, and Nancy E. Reichman.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/scientists-are-uncovering-terrifying-truths-about-loneliness-and-how-it-rewires-us/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Scientists are uncovering terrifying truths about loneliness and how it rewires us</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 18th 2025, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>Loneliness has become one of the most discussed psychological issues of our time, and researchers are uncovering just how deeply it can shape our minds, bodies, and behavior. Once considered a fleeting emotion, loneliness is now recognized as a powerful force linked to mental health problems, physical illness, and even changes in how we think about ourselves and others.</p>
<p>Recent scientific studies reveal that loneliness not only affects how we feel in the moment but can leave lasting imprints on our personality, physiology, and even the way our brains process the social world.</p>
<p>Taken together, this growing body of research suggests that loneliness is not simply the absence of company—it is a complex experience that reshapes people from the inside out. Below are 11 recent studies that provide new insights into the many ways loneliness touches human life, from personality development to nightmares, social media use, and even the way we interpret fictional characters.</p>
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<h2>1. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/loneliness-leads-to-changes-in-personality-over-time/">Loneliness leads to changes in personality over time</a></h2>
<p>A large study of older adults suggests that loneliness can gradually shift core aspects of personality. Published in <em>Personality and Individual Differences</em>, the research analyzed data from nearly 10,000 participants in the Health and Retirement Study, who were tracked over the course of eight years. The results indicated that persistent loneliness predicted declines in extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness—traits associated with sociability, kindness, and self-discipline. At the same time, higher levels of neuroticism predicted greater loneliness in the future, suggesting a self-reinforcing cycle between negative emotions and social disconnection.</p>
<p>The study also highlighted the role of negative affect—feelings like sadness or anger—which both predicted and were predicted by loneliness. Importantly, these results held even after accounting for negative emotions, indicating that loneliness exerts unique effects on personality beyond just making people feel bad. Lead author Mohsen Joshanloo emphasized that personality traits are more malleable than once thought, meaning that prolonged loneliness can shape who we are over time. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing loneliness may not only improve relationships but also promote positive personality growth.</p>
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<h2>2. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/lonely-individuals-show-greater-mood-instability-especially-with-positive-emotions-study-finds/">Lonely individuals show greater mood instability</a></h2>
<p>Loneliness does not just affect how people feel on average—it also appears to make emotions less stable from day to day. A study published in <em>Cognition and Emotion</em> tracked the emotional lives of 252 adults over two weeks, asking them to report how they felt several times a day via smartphone prompts. The results showed that people who reported higher levels of loneliness experienced more emotional volatility, especially in their positive emotions. In other words, even when something uplifting happened, their boost in mood was more fleeting.</p>
<p>The researchers found that this link between loneliness and unstable positive emotions persisted even after controlling for depression, demographic factors, and objective social isolation. Lead author Jee eun Kang suggested that lonely people may struggle to sustain good feelings, which could contribute to poorer health over time. This pattern suggests that interventions for loneliness may need to focus not only on creating more positive experiences but also on helping people hold onto those feelings for longer.</p>
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<h2>3. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/lonely-individuals-tend-to-view-themselves-as-a-burden-to-others/">Lonely individuals tend to view themselves as a burden</a></h2>
<p>Another line of research has shown that loneliness affects not just how we see others, but how we view ourselves. A study published in <em>Psychophysiology</em> found that lonely people tend to believe they offer less support and create more strain in their relationships—particularly within their families. Using data from over 800 participants in the Midlife Development in the United States project, researchers observed that loneliness consistently predicted more negative self-perceptions across both friendships and family ties.</p>
<p>The study also explored whether heart rate variability—a physiological marker of flexibility in emotional regulation—could buffer these effects. Individuals with higher resting heart rate variability were less likely to interpret themselves as burdensome in family relationships, even when they reported feeling lonely. This suggests that the way the body regulates stress might help protect against self-critical social judgments. The findings highlight how loneliness can distort self-perception, feeding a cycle of withdrawal and disconnection.</p>
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<h2>4. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/social-media-may-be-trapping-us-in-a-cycle-of-loneliness-new-study-suggests/">Social media may be trapping us in a cycle of loneliness</a></h2>
<p>Although social media promises connection, a large-scale study published in <em>Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</em> suggests that it may actually fuel feelings of loneliness over time. Analyzing nine years of data from nearly 7,000 adults in the Netherlands, researchers found that both passive (scrolling) and active (posting and commenting) forms of social media use predicted increases in loneliness. Surprisingly, even active engagement—often believed to foster interaction—was associated with growing disconnection.</p>
<p>Even more concerning was the feedback loop uncovered in the data: loneliness also predicted increased social media use over time, suggesting that people may turn to these platforms for relief, only to find themselves feeling even more isolated. Lead author James A. Roberts argued that online interaction may be a poor substitute for face-to-face connection. The study supports concerns raised by public health officials about a growing “epidemic of loneliness,” indicating that time spent on social media may be displacing more meaningful human interaction.</p>
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<h2>5. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/loneliness-and-social-isolation-linked-to-disease-via-specific-proteins-research-finds/">Loneliness linked to disease-related proteins in the body</a></h2>
<p>A groundbreaking study published in <em>Nature Human Behaviour</em> found that loneliness and social isolation are associated with biological changes that may increase disease risk. Drawing from data on over 42,000 participants in the UK Biobank, researchers examined nearly 3,000 plasma proteins and discovered that lonely individuals had elevated levels of specific proteins linked to inflammation, immune function, and brain health. Some of these proteins were also associated with conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke.</p>
<p>Notably, the study identified five proteins expressed in the brain that were positively associated with loneliness. This suggests that prolonged feelings of disconnection may trigger changes in protein expression that contribute to poor health outcomes over time. The findings help explain why loneliness has been linked to premature mortality and underscore the biological consequences of lacking meaningful social ties. The researchers emphasize that building strong relationships—and maintaining them—could play a protective role at the molecular level.</p>
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<h2>6. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/massive-meta-analysis-finds-loneliness-has-increased-in-emerging-adults-in-the-last-43-years/">Loneliness has risen among young adults over the last 40 years</a></h2>
<p>A massive meta-analysis published in <em>Psychological Bulletin</em> examined data from 345 studies involving over 124,000 emerging adults aged 18 to 29. The analysis revealed a steady increase in loneliness among young adults from 1976 to 2019. While this age group is typically a time for building relationships and establishing identity, many are now reporting unmet social needs, which may contribute to depression, poor coping behaviors, and a sense of social disillusionment.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the study found that loneliness levels have remained relatively stable since 2012, despite widespread smartphone adoption and the rise of social media. This suggests that the long-term increase in loneliness predates the digital era, pointing instead to broader generational or societal shifts. Lead author Susanne Buecker noted that both student and non-student populations showed similar trends, and the rise in loneliness appeared consistent across different countries. While the analysis does not identify specific causes, it provides compelling evidence that loneliness is a growing concern for younger generations.</p>
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<h2>7. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/loneliness-haunts-us-even-in-our-dreams-new-psychology-research-suggests/">Loneliness may increase the frequency and intensity of nightmares</a></h2>
<p>A study published in <em>The Journal of Psychology</em> suggests that loneliness doesn’t only affect waking life—it can also seep into our dreams. Drawing on data from two studies involving over 1,600 U.S. adults, researchers found that loneliness significantly predicted both the frequency and intensity of nightmares. The connection was mediated by factors like hyperarousal (heightened alertness) and rumination (repetitive negative thinking), which are both elevated in lonely individuals.</p>
<p>These findings align with the evolutionary theory of loneliness, which proposes that feelings of social disconnection increase our sensitivity to threat as a survival mechanism. Lead author Kory Floyd explained that loneliness can leave people feeling emotionally exposed and hypervigilant, even during sleep. The result may be more frequent and emotionally intense nightmares, further disturbing rest and exacerbating stress. The study raises the possibility that improving social connectedness could also improve sleep quality for those plagued by distressing dreams.</p>
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<h2>8. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/lonely-individuals-tend-to-think-and-talk-in-an-unusual-way-study-finds/">Loneliness is linked to unusual patterns of thought and language</a></h2>
<p>A pair of studies published in <em>Communications Psychology</em> found that lonely individuals may literally think and speak differently from their peers. Researchers used neuroimaging to examine how people represented well-known celebrities in their brains. In lonelier participants, these neural patterns—particularly in the medial prefrontal cortex, a region involved in social cognition—diverged more from the group consensus. In other words, lonely people processed familiar public figures in more idiosyncratic ways, suggesting their mental models of social reality may be less aligned with those of others.</p>
<p>A second study reinforced this idea at the linguistic level. When participants were asked to describe celebrities in their own words, lonelier individuals used language that was more semantically distant from that of their peers. They were also more likely to feel that their perceptions of these public figures were not shared by others. Together, the studies suggest that loneliness is tied to a kind of social disconnection not just in behavior, but in thought and communication. This may help explain why lonely people often feel misunderstood—they may actually experience the social world in meaningfully different ways.</p>
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<h2>9. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/loneliness-blurs-brains-line-between-real-friends-and-fictional-characters-study-finds/">Loneliness blurs the brain’s boundary between real and fictional others</a></h2>
<p>A neuroimaging study published in <em>Cerebral Cortex</em> explored how lonely individuals differentiate between real-life friends and fictional characters. The researchers recruited fans of <em>Game of Thrones</em> and found that while most people’s brains showed clear distinctions between their personal acquaintances and TV characters, lonely participants had more similar neural responses to both. In particular, the medial prefrontal cortex—a brain region involved in representing people—treated fictional characters and real friends more alike in lonelier individuals.</p>
<p>This effect remained even after accounting for how much participants liked or related to the characters. The results suggest that in lonely people, parasocial relationships—those one-sided emotional bonds with fictional figures—may fill some of the same cognitive space as actual social relationships. While fictional characters may offer a sense of connection, researchers caution that this blurred boundary could reflect a deeper erosion of real-world social engagement. The study provides a neurological perspective on how loneliness shapes not only how we feel but also how we mentally represent others.</p>
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<h2>10. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/lonely-teens-face-higher-risk-of-ptsd-and-depression-later-in-life/">Lonely teens are at greater risk for PTSD and depression as adults</a></h2>
<p>Loneliness during adolescence may have long-term consequences for mental health, according to a longitudinal study published in the <em>Journal of Adolescent Health</em>. Researchers followed more than 11,000 U.S. adolescents from the mid-1990s into adulthood, examining how self-reported loneliness at age 15 predicted later-life outcomes. Teens who frequently felt lonely were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and significantly more likely to develop depression and stress-related conditions as adults.</p>
<p>Interestingly, loneliness during adolescence did not appear to predict most physical health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, nor was it strongly tied to risky behaviors like smoking or drinking. The effects were most pronounced in the emotional and social domains, including lower life satisfaction and weaker romantic relationships. The findings suggest that loneliness may leave a psychological imprint during a sensitive period of development, increasing vulnerability to mental health issues years down the line—even in the absence of major physical health consequences.</p>
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<h2>11. <a href="https://www.psypost.org/brain-imaging-study-shows-that-lonely-individuals-process-the-world-idiosyncratically/">Lonely individuals process social information in idiosyncratic ways</a></h2>
<p>A study published in <em>Psychological Science</em> found that lonely individuals process the world around them in more unique—and sometimes socially divergent—ways. Using functional MRI scans, researchers tracked how college students’ brains responded to a socially rich video clip. They found that lonely participants had less synchronized brain activity with others, especially in regions involved in social cognition, like the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and superior temporal sulcus.</p>
<p>In addition to this neural divergence, lonely individuals also showed greater activation in areas tied to negative emotions, such as the insula and amygdala. This pattern suggests that lonely people may be more sensitive to social threat or negativity, which could contribute to feeling misunderstood or excluded. As the researchers noted, loneliness isn’t just about being alone—it’s about experiencing the world differently from those around you. This idiosyncratic processing may reinforce a sense of disconnection, even in the presence of others, by making shared understanding harder to achieve.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/near-death-visions-and-dmt-trips-share-eerie-similarities-but-key-differences-set-them-apart/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Near-death visions and DMT trips share eerie similarities — but key differences set them apart</a>
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<p><p>Have you ever wondered why people who nearly die <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15793/9780712602730">often describe</a> speeding toward supernatural light, or seeing their life flash before their eyes? You may have also heard about the powerful psychedelic dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a class A illegal drug in the UK, and how it <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15793/9780892819270">might generate</a> the so-called near-death experiences. In a recent study I <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1532937/full">compared both types of experience</a> and found they share fascinating similarities – but also critical differences.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01424/full">Some studies</a> have suggested there are some basic overlaps between the experiences people have during a near-death experience and taking DMT. But my doctoral research was the first to make an in depth and nuanced qualitative comparison between DMT trips and NDEs. It was also the first field study of its kind, capturing authentic experiences instead of asking participants to take DMT in a laboratory.</p>
<p>Thirty-six participants took vaporised high-dose DMT, typically inhaled from a glass pipe, in familiar settings like their own homes. My colleagues and I used an <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11097-018-9597-4">interviewing technique</a> inspired by <a href="https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/institutes/cognition/micro-phenomenology">micro-phenomenology</a>, a new scientific approach which aims help people discover ordinary but inaccessible dimensions of our lived experience.</p>
<p>This approach helps interviewees recall details of their experience by asking them to articulate it moment by moment in their own words and in chronological order, while expanding out different dimensions such as sensory or emotional experiences.</p>
<p>This allowed us to explore the experiences with greater granularity. For example, in what way the general themes, such as <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.720717/full">meeting unusual beings</a> or feeling yourself dissolve entirely, specifically expressed itself.</p>
<p>It also allowed us to measure how often each type of these details occurred. We then compared these descriptions to our analysis of another team’s raw data from their <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29444184/">2018 publication</a> studying 34 cardiac arrest-induced NDEs.</p>
<p>My study found both types of experiences also had important differences which researchers have previously overlooked.</p>
<p>People in both groups commonly reported feeling detached from their bodies, encountering beings, travelling through mysterious spaces such as tunnels or voids, and seeing bright lights. These shared experiences hint at similar brain processes at play, like disruptions in the <a href="https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48699/">parts of the brain</a> that handle the map of our body, how we simulate other people’s perspectives, sensory perception and spatial processing.</p>
<p>However, DMT trips almost never involved the more classic <a href="http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/48699/">NDE “life review”</a>, or dramatisations of experiencers’ return to life as in encountering a symbolic threshold of no return. Conversely, NDEs virtually never entailed the visuals of complex geometric patterns iconic to the DMT trip.</p>
<p>The most compelling difference, however, was in the way these features were represented. For example, while people with NDEs frequently reported meeting dead loved ones, DMT users universally described encounters with otherworldly or alien beings.</p>
<p>Suddenly finding yourself transformed into a spirit witnessing your body from above, before being greeted by a guide seemed to be characteristic of NDEs. DMT would simply dissolve people’s bodily awareness, as they rapidly shot into a transcendent world inhabited by mechanical clowns or serpentine scientists.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I suggest that a blend of shared brain biology and personal psychology may explain why these experiences are so similar in their generic elements but differ in their content.</p>
<p>Some especially intriguing phenomena in NDEs, such as the “<a href="https://med.virginia.edu/perceptual-studies/wp-content/uploads/sites/360/2017/01/OTH23_Peak-in-Darien-A-H.pdf">Peak in Darien</a>” experience where the dying see others they did not know were dead, or correctly perceive things in their surroundings when out of body, are not yet fully explained by neuroscience. B</p>
<p>ut the common features mentioned above probably come directly from how DMT or the near-death state affects our brains. Think of these as universal stage props, set by our brain’s biology. But the stories we attach to these props – seeing your dead aunt or a multi-eyed octopoid alien – are influenced by our personal backgrounds, cultural expectations and memories.</p>
<h2>DMT and the brain</h2>
<p>Early <a href="https://uk.bookshop.org/a/15793/9780892819270">psychedelic researchers suggested</a> that DMT might flood the brain. during near-death conditions. But life isn’t that simple – and nor is death.</p>
<p>Studies have shown, for example, that <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-45812-w">rats produce DMT</a> not only via their pineal glands, but in their cortical tissue, including at the point of death. But there isn’t yet evidence that this <a href="https://www.consciousness-quotient.com/interview-with-leading-dmt-researcher-dr-jimo-borjigin/">happens in human brains</a>. Even if humans do produce DMT at psychoactive quantities in the throes of dying, our body’s <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881117736919">enzymes could break it down</a> before it reaches or has enough impact on the brain. Additionally, serotonin surges dramatically when you’re under extreme stress, which may itself confer psychedelic effects – and also sticks to the serotonin receptor more happily than DMT, <a href="https://www.aliusresearch.org/uploads/9/1/6/0/91600416/dmt_in_the_mammalian_brain_nichols_nichols_ready.pdf">possibly eclipsing any DMT activity</a>.</p>
<p>All this said, some scientists argue the measuring methods used to measure rat brain DMT during cardiac arrest might miss short-lived, higher DMT spikes throughout the brain. And some researchers <a href="https://dmtquest.org/interview-with-leading-dmt-researcher-dr-jimo-borjigin/">also think</a> damage to certain neural networks and oxygen deprivation near death might amplify DMT’s psychedelic effects.</p>
<p>Interestingly, our study also discovered a subset of near-death experiences that lacked the imagery of a prototypical NDE, and instead presented abstract, cosmic visions more typical of DMT trips. It’s not easy to say where these atypical NDEs could be coming from. But it could be when someone has less preconceptions of NDEs or greater preconceptions of a psychedelic trip. Perhaps their body was synthesising higher levels or DMT than is usual for an NDE. The next frontier of this research would be to track brain activity when general features crop up. We also need more research to explore potential psychological and cultural reasons why these features are expressed in the way that they are.</p>
<p>Many indigenous people around the globe may feel contemporary science is superfluous. Ayahuasca, a shamanic brew that contains DMT, has been used by tribes <a href="https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/591084834/2024_Bosse_-_Re-examining_the_wild_story_of_the_ayahuasca_plant_patent.pdf">all over the Amazon</a> to connect to the spirit world and commune with their ancestors.</p>
<p>People who have an NDE almost always <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0271926">feel their fear of death</a> lift afterwards. Since DMT reproduces many aspects of NDEs, it could become a powerful therapeutic tool (alongside psychological support) particularly for people facing existential anxiety or <a href="https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2547/1/Hoelterhoff_DeathAnxietyResilience.pdf">fear of death</a>, whether they are terminally ill or physically healthy. Scientists are already exploring whether ayahuasca <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.832879/full">may treat</a> prolonged grief disorder.</p>
<p>We’re just starting to demystify what the implications of DMT – this “mystical” substance – may be.</p>
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<p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/psychedelic-drug-dmt-and-near-death-experiences-have-long-been-linked-my-study-is-the-first-to-explore-the-connection-in-depth-258641">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/financial-instability-during-pregnancy-appears-to-influence-infant-brain-development/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Financial instability during pregnancy appears to influence infant brain development</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 17th 2025, 14:00</div>
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<p><p>A new study published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Developmental Science</a></em> provides evidence that household income instability during pregnancy may be linked to differences in the developing brain. The researchers found that infants whose families experienced sudden income losses during the prenatal period tended to have smaller volumes in brain regions involved in stress regulation and emotional processing.</p>
<p>The study highlights the possibility that fluctuations in financial stability — rather than income level alone — can shape early neural development. The findings add to growing evidence suggesting that the stress associated with unpredictable life conditions may affect the developing brain as early as infancy.</p>
<p>“Previous work has found that living in poverty is widely associated with poorer outcomes in parents and children. Despite the fact that many families experience frequent changes in income, researchers rarely examine these changes directly,” said study author Genevieve Patterson, a graduate student in <a href="https://liberalarts.du.edu/psychology/family-child-neuroscience" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Family and Child Neuroscience Lab</a> at the University of Denver.</p>
<p>“While doing interviews with families as part of this project, I observed that pregnancy and postpartum are times when families are particularly vulnerable to changes in income (e.g., stopping work due to pregnancy complications, lack of available parental leave), and that this can be very stressful. This was also consistent with my observations from outside of the lab. Given that prenatal stress has been associated with infant development, we decided to explore whether prenatal income instability is a stressor associated with infant brain outcomes after birth.”</p>
<p>The study was part of a larger longitudinal research project focused on the developmental effects of early life experiences. A total of 63 infants and their birthing parents were recruited from obstetrics and gynecology clinics in the Denver area. The research team deliberately oversampled low- and middle-income families in order to capture a range of financial experiences during pregnancy.</p>
<p>To track household income over time, researchers conducted detailed interviews at multiple points during pregnancy. They collected information about monthly income from employment and other sources and calculated both the average income-to-needs ratio and month-to-month changes. A significant income loss, or “negative income shock,” was defined as a decrease of at least 25% in household earnings from one month to the next.</p>
<p>After birth, the infants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan while sleeping. The scans measured the size of two brain regions: the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory and stress regulation, and the amygdala, which is involved in emotional processing and fear responses. Both regions have been shown in past research to be sensitive to stress exposure during development.</p>
<p>Nearly half of the families in the study experienced at least one significant drop in income during pregnancy. These negative income shocks were more common among lower-income families but occurred across the entire income range of the sample.</p>
<p>The researchers found that a higher number of income losses during pregnancy was associated with smaller volumes in the right hippocampus and right amygdala in infants. These associations held even after accounting for factors such as birthweight, the infant’s age at the time of the scan, and overall brain size. The effect sizes were modest but statistically significant, indicating a consistent pattern in the data.</p>
<p>The findings also indicated that parents who experienced more negative income shocks reported higher levels of anxiety and depression during pregnancy. These psychological symptoms were also related to smaller hippocampal and amygdala volumes in their infants, raising the possibility that stress-related changes in the parent could play a role in shaping early brain development.</p>
<p>“Instability in income, specifically month-to-month income losses, can be a significant stressor, especially during critical periods like pregnancy,” Patterson told PsyPost. “Stress during this time can have impacts on two generations — parents and infants. Therefore, income instability is an important factor to consider in the development of public policy. Programs can best support families by providing stable sources of reliable income during pregnancy and postpartum.”</p>
<p>The authors suggest that unpredictability in income could create a psychological burden. Financial instability may increase uncertainty, limit planning, and reduce perceived control — all of which can contribute to chronic stress. These stressors, in turn, may influence biological processes such as hormone levels, immune function, or inflammation, which can affect the developing brain.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the study did not find significant links between average income levels and the size of these brain regions. Nor were positive income changes — unexpected gains — associated with differences in brain structure. This suggests that it may not be financial hardship in general, but rather the stress of losing income, that influences brain development in these specific areas.</p>
<p>“We were surprised that the number of significant monthly income losses significantly predicted infant brain volumes but not income-to-needs ratio (a more general measure of household resources),” Patterson said. “There may be something uniquely stressful about instability and income loss that is important for future researchers to consider. However, it is also important to note that monthly income losses are more common in families with lower incomes. Future research with larger samples is needed to help disentangle the relationships between income instability, overall income, and infant outcomes.”</p>
<p>As with all research, there are some limitations. The study was correlational, meaning it cannot establish causality between income loss and changes in brain development.</p>
<p>“We want to remind readers that while we found an interesting association with important policy implications, the design of our study cannot prove that income shocks caused differences in brain development, and there are many interacting factors that influence both parent stress and infant brain development,” Patterson said. “We are planning to explore these relationships in other periods (e.g., later in childhood) to further develop our understanding of the role of income instability in child development.”</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.70022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prenatal Household Income Instability and Infant Subcortical Brain Volumes</a>,” was authored by Genevieve Patterson, Alexander J. Dufford, Taryn W. Morrissey, Martin Styner, Sun Hyung Kim, and Pilyoung Kim.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/frequent-nightmares-tied-to-greater-suicidal-and-self-harm-thoughts-in-high-risk-teens/" style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; letter-spacing:-1px;margin:0;padding:0 0 2px;font-weight: bold;font-size: 19px;line-height: 20px;color:#222;">Frequent nightmares tied to greater suicidal and self-harm thoughts in high-risk teens</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Aug 17th 2025, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A study of adolescents discharged from acute psychiatric care found that those who generally reported more frequent and intense nightmares also tended to have higher overall levels of negative affect. In turn, higher negative affect was associated with greater intensity of suicidal thoughts and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) thoughts. The paper was published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.054"><em>Journal of Affective Disorders</em></a>.</p>
<p>Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs) include a range of experiences, from thinking about intentionally harming oneself to engaging in acts with that aim. They encompass suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and nonsuicidal self-injury such as cutting, burning, or hitting oneself. SITBs can arise from intense emotional distress, feelings of hopelessness, or a desire to regulate overwhelming emotions.</p>
<p>Nonsuicidal self-injury is often used as a coping mechanism to relieve emotional pain, express anger, or regain a sense of control. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors, in contrast, involve intent to end one’s life. Risk factors for SITBs include mental health disorders, trauma, abuse, social isolation, and significant life stressors. While they can occur at any age, these behaviors are especially common during adolescence and young adulthood.</p>
<p>Study author Kinjal K. Patel and her colleagues sought to examine whether negative affect—a state of heightened unpleasant emotions—is a mechanism linking nightmares to SITBs in adolescents. Prior research has linked nightmares to SITBs, but the psychological pathways connecting the two remain less understood. Nightmares are vivid, distressing dreams that result in awakening from sleep, and they are considered a specific type of sleep disturbance.</p>
<p>Participants were 86 adolescents aged 12–18 who had been hospitalized in the past three months due to suicide risk. Their average age was 14 years, and about 49% were girls.</p>
<p>The study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA), a method that captures participants’ experiences in real time. At baseline, participants completed structured interviews and self-report questionnaires assessing suicidal ideation, other SITBs, and sleep problems. They then used a smartphone application (Catalyst by MetricWire) to complete EMA surveys for 28 days. Adolescents without smartphones were provided with a loaner device.</p>
<p>Surveys were scheduled according to each participant’s sleep/wake patterns and school hours. Morning surveys, completed within two hours of waking, assessed the presence and intensity of nightmares from the previous night. Other surveys, delivered up to four times per day, assessed current negative affect, suicidal thought intensity, and NSSI thought intensity. Participants had one hour from the first notification to complete each survey. They received $40 for the baseline assessment and $25 per week for at least 75% survey adherence.</p>
<p>During the 28-day monitoring period, 54.7% of participants reported at least one nightmare, totaling 153 nightmare instances.</p>
<p>Adolescents who, on average across the month, experienced more frequent or more intense nightmares also tended to report higher average negative affect. Higher average negative affect, in turn, was associated with greater average intensity of both suicidal thoughts and NSSI thoughts.</p>
<p>These associations were evident in between-person analyses—comparisons across different individuals—but not in within-person analyses, which track day-to-day changes within the same person. This pattern suggests that stable individual differences, rather than short-term fluctuations, drove the observed relationships.</p>
<p>“Results identify NA [negative affect] intensity as a person-level mechanism linking nightmares and self-injurious thoughts. Future research should investigate additional mechanisms and employ temporally sensitive designs to clarify dynamic (within-person) processes underlying suicidal and non-suicidal self-injurious thoughts in adolescents,” the authors wrote.</p>
<p>While the findings highlight a potential pathway connecting nightmares and SITBs, the study’s design does not establish causation. The associations were observed in average differences between participants, not in immediate changes from one day to the next.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.04.054">Nightmares and self-injurious thoughts among clinically acute adolescents: Examining negative affect as a potential mechanism</a>,” was authored by Kinjal K. Patel, Annabelle M. Mournet, Abigail J. Luce, Emelyn C. Auad, Richard T. Liu, Evan M. Kleiman, and Catherine R. Glenn.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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