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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/a-common-antidepressant-shows-promise-in-treating-methamphetamine-dependence/" 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;">A common antidepressant shows promise in treating methamphetamine dependence</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 7th 2026, 10:00</div>
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<p><p>Methamphetamine – more commonly known as meth, crystal or ice – is a highly addictive, stimulant drug.</p>
<p>An estimated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32230-5">7.4 million people in the world</a> are dependent on it or “addicted” to it. They face multiple health risks <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32230-5">including</a> paranoia, feeling suicidal, heart problems, strokes, injuries from accidents, and a higher risk of early death.</p>
<p>But there are <a href="https://www.asam.org/quality-care/clinical-guidelines/stimulant-use-disorders">no medications approved</a> anywhere in the world to treat meth dependence.</p>
<p>Now, a cheap, safe and readily available medicine that has been used to treat depression for years is showing promise. Our trial of mirtazapine, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2026.0159">just published in JAMA Psychiatry</a>, shows people who take it cut back their meth use.</p>
<h2>Few other options</h2>
<p>Australia has one of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32230-5">highest number</a> of people dependent on meth per capita worldwide.</p>
<p>As there are no <a href="https://www.asam.org/quality-care/clinical-guidelines/stimulant-use-disorders">medications</a> approved for meth dependence anywhere in the world, we have few treatment options.</p>
<p>Currently available treatment options include counselling, detox or withdrawal and long-stay residential rehabilitation. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.10.001">access can be difficult</a> and treatment dropout rates are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011866.pub3">high</a>. Most people who go to rehab <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03933.x.">relapse</a>.</p>
<p>More sophisticated treatments offered within the community such as contingency management, which involves setting targets and rewards for meeting them, are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011866.pub3">more effective</a> but aren’t widely available.</p>
<p>Even though there are no approved medications for methamphetamine use, doctors sometimes prescribe existing medications that have <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11458184/">shown promise</a> in clinical trials.</p>
<p>Medications that are prescribed off label <a href="https://doi.org/10.1056/EVIDra2300160">include</a> prescription stimulants (methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine, modafinil), the anti-smoking treatment bupropion, the opioid-blocking drug naltrexone (including in combination with bupropion) and antidepressants.</p>
<p>However, these drugs may not work and may cause unnecessary side effects or safety risks.</p>
<h2>How about mirtazapine?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109295">Studies</a> in recent years suggest the antidepressant mirtazapine may provide some hope.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.124">Two</a> studies were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3655">conducted</a> in the United States in an outpatient research clinic in San Francisco, California. Both trials found mirtazapine reduced meth use.</p>
<p>These initial trials were conducted a research clinic with a small group of patients (60 and 120 respectively) who were monitored closely. Patients were at risk of HIV: men and transgender women who had sex with men. Women and people with people with depression were excluded.</p>
<p>So our Australian team wanted to know if mirtazapine would have the same benefit if it was used by doctors in community clinics to treat a larger and more diverse group of patients.</p>
<h2>What we did and what we found</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-024-08238-y">Tina Trial</a> recruited a larger and more diverse sample of 339 people dependent on meth from six outpatient clinics in Australia.</p>
<p>At the start of the trial, participants had used meth an average of 22 days out of the previous 28.</p>
<p>Half were randomly assigned to either take home mirtazapine (a 30 milligram tablet daily), or a placebo, for 12 weeks. The researchers then tracked days when participants used meth across the 12-week period.</p>
<p>People who received mirtazapine reduced their meth use by more than people who received the placebo (an average reduction of seven out of 28 days compared with 4.8).</p>
<p>So the comparative advantage of mirtazapine was modest: 2.2 days in use out of 28 days.</p>
<p>This benefit was apparent regardless of whether people had depression at the start of the study.</p>
<p>Although this reduction is small, in the absence of any alternative medication this is an important step forward.</p>
<p>Our research team believes mirtazapine has a direct effect on meth dependence, distinct from its ability to reduce depression.</p>
<p>This implies mirtazapine is acting directly on brain systems involved in drug reward, and might restore function to pathways that long-term meth use can disrupt.</p>
<p>Our study found no unexpected safety issues when using mirtazapine to treat meth dependence. The most common side effects were drowsiness and weight gain.</p>
<h2>This isn’t a ‘cure’</h2>
<p>Mirtazapine is not an instant “cure” for meth dependence. But in the absence of any approved medications for methamphetamine use worldwide, it is a critical first step in providing a medications to reduce harms from methamphetamine.</p>
<p>Mirtazapine is cheap, safe and readily available. Many doctors are familiar with its use to treat depression.</p>
<p>It is a take-home medication, making it convenient for people to use. So there is no need for daily clinic visits or close medical monitoring.</p>
<p>It is also “off patent”, meaning there are inexpensive generic versions.</p>
<p>In order for mirtazapine to be routinely prescribed for meth dependence outside a clinical trial, regulators would need to approve it for this purpose. This requires research evidence, like that provided by the Tina Trial.</p>
<p>In the meantime, doctors can prescribe mirtazapine off label. Guidelines on the off label prescribing of medications are <a href="https://www.ranzcp.org/clinical-guidelines-publications/clinical-guidelines-publications-library/off-label-prescribing-in-psychiatry">available</a> from the Royal Australian New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.</p>
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<p><em>Further information on the Tina Trial is available <a href="https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/ndarc/research-impact/research-areas/clinical-research/the-tina-trial">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>If you have concerns about your own or someone else’s drug or alcohol use, call the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015. This 24/7 hotline provides free and confidential information and support.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/272994/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1"><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></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/this-common-antidepressant-helps-people-cut-back-on-methamphetamine-new-study-272994">original article</a>.</em></p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/a-smaller-social-network-increases-loneliness-more-drastically-for-those-with-depression/" 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;">A smaller social network increases loneliness more drastically for those with depression</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 7th 2026, 08:00</div>
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<p><p>A study in Germany found that people reporting greater loneliness tend to have fewer social relationships. This association was present both in depressed individuals and in those without depression, but the correlation was notably stronger in depressed individuals. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-026-07915-3"><em>BMC Psychiatry</em></a>.</p>
<p>Loneliness is a feeling of sadness or distress that happens when a person feels socially or emotionally disconnected. It is not the same as simply being alone, because someone can be alone without feeling lonely. A person can also feel lonely even when surrounded by other people.</p>
<p>Loneliness usually reflects a gap between the relationships a person wants and the relationships they actually have. It can be temporary, such as after moving to a new place or losing contact with friends. It can also become chronic when the feeling lasts for a long time. Chronic loneliness is linked to poorer mental health, including depression and anxiety. It can also affect physical health by increasing stress and harming sleep and overall well-being.</p>
<p>Study author Valeria Koppert and her colleagues wanted to explore the relationship between the number of social relationships a person has and their feelings of loneliness. In particular, they wanted to compare the strength of this association in people suffering from depression and in those without depression. They noted that depressed individuals tend to feel lonelier than healthy people and wanted to know whether they also have fewer actual social relationships compared to nondepressed individuals.</p>
<p>The authors of this study analyzed data from the German Depression Barometer, an annual national survey of people aged 18-69 in Germany. This survey is conducted by the German Foundation for Depression and Suicide Prevention. Data were collected from the end of August to early September 2023.</p>
<p>The analyses were based on a total of 4,042 participants. Of these, 1,221 reported a lifetime diagnosis of depression, while 2,821 were considered healthy. Women comprised 61% of the depressed group and 46% of the healthy participants.</p>
<p>The survey included questions asking participants whether they had ever been diagnosed with depression and how severe their symptoms were at the moment. Participants also completed an assessment of loneliness (the 11-item De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale) and reported their number of social contacts. The item about social contacts asked for the average number of personal daily interactions with other people on a normal weekday.</p>
<p>Results showed that, in both groups, more pronounced feelings of loneliness were associated with a lower number of social contacts. However, this inverse correlation was significantly stronger in the depression group than in the group of healthy participants.</p>
<p>Confirming previous research, people with a history of depression experienced significantly higher overall levels of subjective loneliness and reported having fewer social contacts than healthy individuals.</p>
<p>When analyzing the different phases of episodic depression, researchers noticed an interesting pattern. They found that a patient’s subjective feeling of loneliness fluctuated wildly depending on their current state, spiking during an active depressive episode. However, their actual number of social relationships remained relatively stable across the different phases of the illness.</p>
<p>“Our research indicates a negative correlation between feelings of loneliness and the number of social relationships among people with depression,” the study authors concluded. “With respect to the current state of depression, we find greater variation in feelings of loneliness than in the number of social relationships.”</p>
<p>Because the study proves that the actual number of social relationships heavily impacts the internal feeling of loneliness for depressed people, the authors suggest that clinical interventions should actively focus on helping patients rebuild objective social networks, rather than treating loneliness as just an internal chemical symptom.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the links between contacts with other people and feelings of loneliness in depressed individuals. However, it should be noted that the design of the study does not allow any causal inferences to be derived from these results. Furthermore, the study relied entirely on self-reported online surveys, meaning the depression diagnoses were not clinically verified by the researchers.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-026-07915-3">The association between feelings of loneliness and the number of social relationships in depression: a cross-sectional study of German adults,</a>” was authored by Valeria Koppert, Andreas Czaplicki, and Ulrich Hegerl.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/social-media-analysis-links-polarized-political-language-to-distorted-thought-pa-2026-03-26/" 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;">Social media analysis links polarized political language to distorted thought patterns</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 7th 2026, 06:00</div>
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<p><p>As political polarization deepens in the United States, the language people use to discuss politics online is increasingly reflecting exaggerated, black-and-white thinking. A recent analysis of millions of social media posts reveals that markers of mental distortions rose alongside political extremism between the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. The research, published in <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00289-4">Communications Psychology</a></em>, highlights a growing overlap between extreme ideological views and the rigid thought patterns often addressed in psychological therapy.</p>
<p>Psychologists use the term cognitive distortions to describe thought patterns “wherein individuals think about themselves, the future, and the world in inaccurate and overly negative ways.” These habits include overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and viewing situations in absolute terms. For example, if a high school student fails a single test and immediately decides their entire academic future is ruined, they are catastrophizing. If a person assumes a peer ignored them in the hallway out of malice rather than distraction, they are engaging in mindreading.</p>
<p>In clinical settings, mental health professionals target these distortions through treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Recognizing and adjusting these rigid beliefs helps patients break negative mental habits. By teaching individuals to replace absolutist thoughts with objective facts, therapists help patients manage emotional disorders like depression and anxiety.</p>
<p>The ways people express extreme political views often mirror these same psychological habits. Partisans might attach sweeping, negative labels to their political opponents. They might also make dire, baseless predictions about the future of the country if a specific candidate wins an election. To explore whether these two phenomena are connected, a team of researchers analyzed the digital language habits of voters.</p>
<p>Andy Edinger, a researcher at Indiana University, led the investigation alongside colleagues from Indiana University and the City College of New York. They wanted to understand what it actually means to think in polarized terms. The team sought to determine if the psychological concepts used in clinical therapy could help explain the rising ideological divisions observed in recent public discourse.</p>
<p>To conduct the analysis, Edinger and his colleagues examined massive collections of posts from the social media platform Twitter, now known as X. The data included messages discussing the presidential candidates in the weeks leading up to the 2016 and 2020 elections. The researchers specifically focused on a core group of nearly 100,000 users who actively posted during both election cycles. This shared group allowed the team to track how the behavior of individual people changed over a four-year period.</p>
<p>To measure distorted thinking, the researchers applied a specialized language analysis tool originally developed by mental health experts. The tool scans text for a recognized dictionary of 241 specific word sequences. These phrases act as markers for different types of cognitive distortions. By tallying how frequently these phrases appeared in a user’s posts, the team calculated an overall prevalence score for distorted language.</p>
<p>The team also needed a mathematical way to measure political ideology and polarization. They accomplished this by analyzing the social networks of the users and the content they chose to share. By mapping which political influencers an individual consistently echoed through retweets, the researchers estimated both the user’s political leaning and their degree of ideological extremism.</p>
<p>The results pointed to a broad and marked change in the way social media users communicated. Between 2016 and 2020, the average prevalence of distorted language across the entire group of users increased by more than 43 percent. When looking at the changes within individual accounts, the average user exhibited a 76 percent increase in the prevalence of posts containing at least one cognitive distortion marker.</p>
<p>This escalation was not limited to just one or two bad mental habits. The increases persisted across every category of cognitive distortion measured by the study. The categories that experienced the greatest surges included emotional reasoning, overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and mindreading. In the context of political debate, mindreading often takes the form of assuming an opposing voter holds secret, malicious intentions.</p>
<p>The researchers then looked at how these changes related to political ideology. They found that users who became more politically isolated and extreme between 2016 and 2020 also demonstrated higher rates of distorted language. As political polarization intensified, the reliance on rigid, exaggerated language grew in tandem.</p>
<p>The data revealed somewhat different patterns for users on different ends of the political spectrum. Among left-leaning individuals, there was a steady and visible relationship between their level of ideological extremism and their use of distorted language. As their views grew more polarized over the four years, their use of cognitive distortions increased at a matching pace.</p>
<p>Right-leaning users exhibited a different trajectory. In 2016, users on the political right already displayed an initially higher baseline rate of distorted language compared to users on the left. Because they started at a higher point, their continued slide into extreme polarization had a less pronounced effect on their likelihood of using cognitive distortions in 2020. Based on the researchers’ models, this might represent a saturation effect, where the initial language was already highly rigid.</p>
<p>The team also explored the timeline of these changes to see which behavior usually manifested first. They found that individuals who heavily used distorted language in 2016 were highly likely to become more politically polarized by 2020. In contrast, being highly polarized in 2016 was not a strong predictor of adopting newly distorted language in 2020. This dynamic indicates that rigid, black-and-white thought patterns might actively fuel ideological divides over time rather than just reflecting them.</p>
<p>While the timeline suggests a directional relationship, the authors note that the findings are strictly correlational. Observational data from a single social media platform cannot definitively confirm that cognitive distortions cause political polarization. Additionally, changes in the moderation policies and algorithms of the website itself during those four years might have influenced what kind of content was promoted or suppressed.</p>
<p>The researchers also clarify that their analysis does not mean politically vocal people are experiencing clinical mental health disorders. The study measures a specific style of communicating and thinking rather than diagnosing depression or anxiety. The relationship between actual mental illness and political behavior remains a separate area of ongoing research.</p>
<p>Despite these limitations, the research offers a new way of looking at societal fractures. The authors point to existing theories suggesting that modern digital environments might be unintentionally teaching people to internalize the very thought patterns therapists try to cure. If society is adopting a backward version of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, the consequences could extend beyond individual stress to threaten broader democratic institutions.</p>
<p>Moving forward, the team hopes to incorporate data from a wider variety of digital platforms. Exploring these thought patterns in different online environments could help confirm the long-term trends seen in this study. Recognizing these psychological habits in public discourse might eventually aid in the development of targeted interventions to reduce hostility in online spaces.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00289-4" target="_blank">Cognitive distortions are associated with increasing political polarization</a>,” was authored by Andy Edinger, Johan Bollen, Hernán A. Makse, and Matteo Serafino.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/coffee-habits-boost-daytime-alertness-without-inherently-ruining-nighttime-sleep-2026-03-26/" 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;">Genetic study unravels the link between caffeine intake and sleep timing</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 6th 2026, 18:00</div>
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<p><p>Drinking coffee and tea directly improves our alertness during the day, but it does not appear to inherently disrupt how much or how well we sleep at night over the long term. Research published in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.70147">Journal of Sleep Research</a> used genetic data to determine that consuming caffeine mainly reduces daytime napping and sleepiness rather than causing insomnia. The findings suggest that common nighttime sleep problems linked to caffeinated drinks might originate from other lifestyle habits rather than the caffeine itself.</p>
<p>Most people regularly consume some form of caffeine to start their morning. The chemical is widely recognized as a stimulant that temporarily boosts mental alertness. Yet many observational studies routinely link habitual caffeine intake to poor sleep quality and chronic insomnia.</p>
<p>These traditional observational studies face a few fundamental limitations. People often misjudge or misremember exactly how many cups of coffee or tea they consume in a week. Relying on human memory to estimate dietary habits can easily introduce errors into the collected data.</p>
<p>It is also difficult to untangle caffeine consumption from other daily behaviors. People who drink heavy amounts of coffee might also be more likely to smoke, experience high stress, or exercise less. These hidden environmental factors could be the true underlying causes of their disrupted rest.</p>
<p>Another major problem is the direction of cause and effect. A person tossing and turning all night will naturally reach for an extra energy drink the next day. This creates a cycle where poor sleep drives caffeine intake, rather than the caffeine creating the poor sleep. </p>
<p>To bypass these hurdles, lead author Nilabhra R. Das and a team of researchers from the University of Bristol utilized a technique called Mendelian randomization. This method acts as a natural clinical trial by looking at the distinct genes people inherit at birth.</p>
<p>Certain genetic markers dictate how likely a person is to consume large amounts of caffeinated beverages. Other specific genes control how quickly the physical body breaks down the ingested chemical compounds. Because our DNA sequence is assigned randomly at conception, it is not influenced by later lifestyle choices or environmental pressures.</p>
<p>By tracking these specific genetic variations across huge populations, researchers can isolate the direct biological effects of a substance. In this case, the technique allowed the team to see if a genetic predisposition for drinking more coffee inherently causes sleep problems over a lifetime.</p>
<p>The researchers gathered genetic data from hundreds of thousands of individuals of European descent. The information came from large health databases, primarily focusing on the UK Biobank. The team successfully mapped genetic variants tied to how many cups of tea or coffee people naturally prefer to drink each day.</p>
<p>They also isolated genetic markers related to the internal speed of caffeine metabolism. After a person drinks a cup of coffee, the liver uses specific enzymes to break down the caffeine molecules. Some people have genetics that make this clearance process happen very rapidly.</p>
<p>Caffeine achieves its main stimulating effect by blocking a specific neurotransmitter in the brain called adenosine. Adenosine naturally builds up during waking hours to create a physiological pressure to fall asleep. When caffeine occupies the brain receptors meant for adenosine, the person temporarily feels awake and focused.</p>
<p>If caffeine lingers in the bloodstream for too long because of a slow metabolism, it continues to block adenosine when the person actually wants to rest. Individuals with a faster metabolism rate clear caffeine from their specific brain receptors rapidly. Because the stimulating chemical wears off sooner, these fast metabolizers often consume higher amounts of caffeinated beverages across the day to maintain their alertness.</p>
<p>The researchers wanted to separate the physical act of drinking coffee from the biological clearance of the chemical. By running multiple statistical models, they were able to evaluate the true impact of the beverage consumption independently from the body’s internal processing speed.</p>
<p>The team assessed how these genes influenced various daily sleep behaviors. They looked at self-reported daytime sleepiness, daytime napping, and how easy it was for the individual to get out of bed in the morning. They also evaluated nighttime characteristics like total sleep duration and clinical insomnia.</p>
<p>They discovered evidence that a genetic predisposition for higher caffeine consumption reduced the likelihood of both daytime napping and daytime sleepiness. The alertness-promoting effects of the beverages successfully carried through the natural waking hours. </p>
<p>The genetic markers for heavy caffeine consumption did not cause a decrease in total sleep duration. The variants were also not causally linked to elevated rates of clinical insomnia. This suggests the lack of sleep often blamed on coffee might actually be driven by different lifestyle habits shared among heavy drinkers, rather than the chemical itself.</p>
<p>When the researchers looked exclusively at the speed of metabolism, they found a similar pattern. People with genes for faster caffeine breakdown were less likely to take daytime naps. They also struggled less with early morning grogginess.</p>
<p>This might seem unintuitive, as fast metabolizers clear the drug from their bodies quickly. The researchers noted that a fast metabolism results in immediate alertness benefits without leaving residual caffeine in the system for extended periods. This quick fading of the drug allows for a much smoother biological transition to natural sleep when night falls.</p>
<p>The team also pointed out that the liver converts caffeine into a secondary chemical called paraxanthine. Paraxanthine has its own potent stimulating effects on the human brain. Fast metabolizers experience a rapid spike in paraxanthine, giving them sustained daytime energy without the prolonged adenosine interference that standard caffeine can cause.</p>
<p>To ensure their methods were sound, the researchers performed a negative control test. They analyzed the exact same genetic markers in a subset of people who do not currently drink any tea or coffee. The genetic variants had absolutely no effect on the sleep patterns of these non-drinkers.</p>
<p>The complete lack of results in the non-drinking group confirmed that the sleep changes were truly tied to the active consumption of the beverages. The genes were not inadvertently altering sleep pathways through an entirely unrelated biological mechanism.</p>
<p>The researchers also evaluated whether natural sleep preferences shape our dietary habits. They found that people genetically predisposed to being an evening person tended to consume less caffeine overall. Being a night owl actively drove down the amount of tea and coffee a person naturally chose to drink during the day.</p>
<p>Despite the large sample size, the study has several limitations. The genetic data regarding caffeine metabolism relied on a smaller group of people, making those specific statistical indicators weaker than the consumption data. Smaller sample sizes can occasionally obscure subtle biological effects in large populations.</p>
<p>The study also focused almost exclusively on individuals of European ancestry. Genetic markers can vary widely across different demographic populations. Future studies must incorporate diverse databases to confirm if these biological pathways operate identically across all global regions.</p>
<p>Additionally, the research relied heavily on self-reported sleep data. People are not always accurate when estimating their own sleep duration or the exact frequency of their daily naps. While the researchers cross-checked some data using wrist-worn activity trackers, the sample size for the tracker data was relatively modest.</p>
<p>Finally, the inclusion of decaffeinated beverages in some of the broad dietary surveys may have slightly diluted the strength of the genetic signals. Future research using precise data on caffeinated coffee alone could provide an even sharper picture of these biological connections.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.70147" target="_blank">Exploring the Relationship Between Caffeine Consumption, Caffeine Metabolism, and Sleep Behaviours: A Mendelian Randomisation Study</a>,” was authored by Nilabhra R. Das, Benjamin Woolf, Stephanie Page, Rebecca C. Richmond, and Jasmine Khouja.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/psychological-coping-skills-protect-young-adults-from-extreme-social-withdrawal-2026-03-26/" 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;">Hikikomori: Can psychological resilience prevent extreme social withdrawal?</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 6th 2026, 16:00</div>
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<p><p>Extreme social withdrawal is becoming a recognized issue among young adults around the world. A recent study suggests that a person’s ability to cope with stress blocks the path from depressive symptoms to severe isolation. The research was published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04165-6">BMC Psychology</a>.</p>
<p>The term hikikomori originated in Japan in the late 1990s. It describes a condition where people intentionally withdraw from everyday life. People experiencing this state often confine themselves to their homes or bedrooms for six months or longer. Originally, experts thought this behavior was unique to Japanese culture.</p>
<p>Recent global data paints a different picture. Estimates suggest that nearly eight percent of people worldwide might experience this type of severe social withdrawal. The shift from a localized issue to a global one has prompted mental health professionals to look for shared psychological triggers. Structural changes in modern society seem to play a major role in this growing trend.</p>
<p>Shifting economic conditions and highly competitive educational environments create immense pressure on young people. The normalization of digital communication and online living also makes it easier for people to avoid face to face interaction. This combination of structural factors leaves many individuals vulnerable to retreating from the outside world. The expectation to succeed can become too heavy a burden for some to carry.</p>
<p>Developmental psychologists point out that the years between 18 and 34 are particularly difficult. This life stage is marked by changing roles, shifting identities, and numerous psychosocial challenges. When young adults fail to meet societal or personal expectations, they can experience profound disappointment. This disappointment can act as a catalyst for a lifestyle of complete seclusion.</p>
<p>Depression is closely associated with this kind of extreme isolation. A depressed mood limits a person’s motivation to engage with others and drains their physical energy. At the same time, prolonged isolation cuts people off from support networks, which then deepens their feelings of sadness. The relationship operates in a cycle that is difficult to break.</p>
<p>According to cognitive models of depression, people develop negative beliefs about themselves and the world. When these negative thoughts combine with feelings of helplessness, people stop trying to interact with their environment. Withdrawing from society reinforces these harmful cognitive patterns. Every missed interaction serves as proof to the isolated individual that they do not belong in the outside world.</p>
<p>Researchers want to understand the psychological mechanisms that either speed up or slow down this withdrawal process. Specifically, they decided to look at psychological resilience. Resilience is a person’s internal capacity to adapt to stress and recover from difficult experiences. People with high resilience tend to maintain their confidence and flexibility when facing external pressures.</p>
<p>Taner Artan, a professor at Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa, led the investigation alongside colleagues Ecem Çakin, Rumeysa Dinçer, and Aydın Olcay Özkan. The team noticed a lack of empirical research on extreme social withdrawal within Turkey. They designed their study to explore how depression and resilience affect social participation among Turkish young adults. They focused exclusively on individuals between the ages of 18 and 34.</p>
<p>The researchers recruited 776 participants from across Turkey to complete a series of online questionnaires. They used social media platforms and university networks to distribute the surveys. Researchers informed all participants about the privacy protocols before any questions were answered. </p>
<p>The participants answered questions about their demographic background, including their age, gender, education, and employment status. Most of the respondents in the study were single. The majority reported a middle income level and were not actively employed at the time of the study. </p>
<p>To measure psychological health, the team used three distinct assessment tools. They used a widely recognized inventory to gauge the severity of each person’s depressive symptoms. They also utilized a brief scale to measure each participant’s psychological resilience. Finally, they employed a specific questionnaire designed to evaluate adaptive behaviors related to severe social withdrawal.</p>
<p>This behavioral scale asks participants about their daily habits and social inclinations. It measures personal values, like goal setting and life motivation. It also tracks how often participants go outside the home, communicate with family members, and ask for help. Higher scores on this scale indicate healthy social integration, while lower scores point to withdrawal.</p>
<p>The data revealed clear patterns between mood and social activity. Higher levels of depression were strongly associated with lower scores on the social adaptation scale. Young adults reporting more depressive symptoms were much less likely to participate in social activities. They tended to shy away from everyday interactions and family communication.</p>
<p>Conversely, psychological resilience acted as a robust emotional shield. Participants who scored high on the resilience scale reported much healthier levels of day to day social engagement. These individuals maintained their connections and continued to set personal goals despite experiencing stress. Coping skills appeared to keep them anchored to the outside world.</p>
<p>The researchers then used mathematical models to test how these three factors interact with one another. They found that resilience acts as a bridge between a depressed mood and the act of withdrawing from society. Depression does not simply cause a person to lock themselves in a room. Instead, depression drains a person’s psychological resilience.</p>
<p>When this internal coping mechanism is weakened, the individual becomes much more likely to pull away from society. If a person manages to maintain their resilience, the link between depressive symptoms and extreme isolation breaks down. This finding positions emotional coping skills as an essential target for mental health treatments. Strengthening a young adult’s flexibility could keep depressive feelings from spiraling into chronic withdrawal.</p>
<p>The authors noted that sociocultural factors in Turkey might exacerbate the risk of social retreat for young adults. Economic worries and high youth unemployment create a highly stressful environment for people entering adulthood. Many young adults in the country continue to live with their parents for extended periods due to financial constraints. This living situation can limit their personal privacy and delay their independence.</p>
<p>When combined with psychological vulnerabilities, societal pressures push young adults to isolate themselves as a form of self protection. Mental health professionals might need to address both individual traits and these larger cultural forces when treating young patients. Interventions that build resilience could take the form of targeted cognitive behavioral therapy. Community programs that help young people manage their emotions could also prevent long term isolation.</p>
<p>The researchers pointed out a few limitations to their work. The study relied entirely on self reported surveys, which is a common psychological research method. This approach depends on participants answering honestly and accurately. People do not always have perfect insight into their own behavior or emotional state.</p>
<p>The demographic makeup of the participants also presented a limitation. More than 75 percent of the respondents were women. Previous international research indicates that severe social withdrawal is generally more common among men. The high number of female participants might limit how well these results apply to the broader population.</p>
<p>The study used a cross sectional design, meaning all the data was collected at a single point in time. This approach identifies patterns and associations, but it cannot definitively prove cause and effect. Researchers cannot say for sure if the depression occurred before the loss of resilience based on a single snapshot. The results show a chronological sequence that makes theoretical sense, but it remains a statistical estimate.</p>
<p>The research team offered several suggestions for future studies based on these limitations. They recommended tracking participants over several years to observe how mood and isolation develop over long periods. Tracking people over time would clarify the exact sequence of these psychological changes. They also suggested using objective measures of social participation, like behavioral observations, rather than relying only on self reporting.</p>
<p>Cross cultural comparisons would additionally shed light on how extreme isolation varies across different societies. Seeing how Turkish young adults compare to young adults in Japan or the United States would be illuminating. Such studies would help separate universal human responses from culturally specific behaviors. Identifying these differences is a necessary step in creating effective public health policies.</p>
<p>The study, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-04165-6" target="_blank">Hikikomori among young adults: examining the protective function of psychological resilience</a>,” was authored by Taner Artan, Ecem Çakin, Rumeysa Dinçer, and Aydın Olcay Özkan.</p></p>
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<td><a href="https://www.psypost.org/can-a-sweet-potato-help-your-baby-sleep-through-the-night/" 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;">Can a sweet potato help your baby sleep through the night?</a>
<div style="font-family:Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align:left;color:#999;font-size:11px;font-weight:bold;line-height:15px;">Apr 6th 2026, 12:00</div>
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<p><p>A study in New Zealand examined the effects of kūmara (a type of sweet potato) on infants’ sleep. Researchers found that infants who were fed standard kūmara experienced less nocturnal wakefulness. A separate group that received kūmara with added resistant starch showed a small increase in daytime sleep, but also experienced trends toward more problematic nighttime sleep. The paper was published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2026.2635535"><em>Nutritional Neuroscience</em></a>.</p>
<p>Kūmara is the Māori name commonly used in New Zealand for the sweet potato, a root crop scientifically known as <em>Ipomoea batatas</em>. It is an edible plant in the morning glory family and is grown for its swollen, starchy roots. In New Zealand, kūmara is an important food with deep historical and cultural significance for the Māori people.</p>
<p>The Polynesian ancestors of the Māori brought kūmara to New Zealand around the 13th century as a cultivated food plant. Because New Zealand is cooler than tropical Polynesia, growing kūmara required careful agricultural techniques. Over time, kūmara became one of the most important traditional crops in Māori horticulture. Today, it is also a common food in the modern New Zealand diet. Kūmara can be baked, boiled, roasted, mashed, or used in soups, stews, chips, and salads.</p>
<p>Study author Xiaoxi Fu and colleagues note that, in New Zealand, kūmara is a common and acceptable first food for infants. It is recognized for its prebiotic effect—the ability to stimulate the growth and activity of beneficial gut bacteria. Kūmara naturally contains resistant starch, a substance that can be fermented and utilized by an infant’s gut microorganisms. A healthy gut microbiome has been shown to produce chemicals that regulate sleep hormones, leading researchers to wonder if prebiotic foods could improve an infant’s rest.</p>
<p>The authors conducted a study examining the effects of standard kūmara and kūmara supplemented with resistant starch (extracted from green bananas) on infant sleep during the early complementary feeding phase (6–10 months of age). The study looked at how the daily consumption of kūmara impacted caregiver-reported infant sleep patterns, as well as the caregivers’ own sleep quality.</p>
<p>The study participants consisted of 281 healthy infants residing in Auckland, New Zealand. To be included in the study, they needed to be 3–6 months of age at the start, born after at least 32 weeks of gestation, and weighing at least 2.5 kg at birth.</p>
<p>The participants were randomly divided into three groups: two intervention groups and a control group. The control group infants received no intervention and were simply introduced to solid foods according to New Zealand Dietary Guidelines. One of the intervention groups received a standard freeze-dried kūmara powder, while the other received a kūmara powder with added resistant starch. Both intervention groups were also introduced to standard solid foods.</p>
<p>The study was double-blinded, meaning the caregivers in the two intervention groups did not know which specific product they were receiving. The intervention products were given to the caregivers in 5-gram sachets to be consumed daily for four months, starting from the introduction of solid foods until the infants reached approximately 10 months of age. The study authors tracked adherence to this intervention through a consumption log completed by the caregivers, along with a monthly questionnaire.</p>
<p>Information regarding the infants’ and caregivers’ sleep was collected at the start of the study (before the introduction of solids), in the second month of complementary feeding, and in the fourth month. Caregivers completed an assessment of their infants’ sleep (the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire) and assessments of their own sleep quality (the PROMIS Sleep Disturbance and Sleep-Related Impairment scales).</p>
<p>Results showed that, compared to the control group, infants fed standard kūmara had significantly less nocturnal wakefulness by the end of the four months. They did not necessarily wake up fewer times, but they settled back to sleep much faster.</p>
<p>Conversely, the group of infants fed kūmara powder with added resistant starch showed a small increase in daytime sleep at the two-month mark. However, caregivers in this group also reported a trend toward more problematic nighttime sleep, with infants more likely to stay awake for more than an hour at a time during the night. The researchers suspect this may be because the longer daytime naps ruined the babies’ nighttime sleep drives, or because the heavy dose of concentrated starch caused mild gastrointestinal discomfort.</p>
<p>Caregiver sleep outcomes did not differ significantly between any of the three groups.</p>
<p>“Kūmara consumption may reduce nocturnal wakefulness in infants, but further research incorporating objective sleep measures and exploring underlying mechanisms is needed,” the study authors concluded.</p>
<p>The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the effects of kūmara consumption in infants. However, the infants’ sleep assessment was based on subjective caregiver reports rather than objective data (like electronic sleep trackers), leaving room for reporting bias to have affected the results. Furthermore, because the study started with generally healthy infants without severe sleep problems, massive improvements were unlikely to be seen.</p>
<p>The paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1028415X.2026.2635535">The effect of prebiotic intervention foods on caregiver-reported infant sleep and caregiver sleep quality during complementary feeding-secondary analysis of a randomized control trial,</a>” was authored by Xiaoxi Fu, Amy L. Lovell, Clare R. Wall, Teresa Gontijo De Castro, Yannan Jiang, Robyn L. Lawrence, Nisha Mahawar, and Barbara C. Galland.</p></p>
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<p><strong>Forwarded by:<br />
Michael Reeder LCPC<br />
Baltimore, MD</strong></p>
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