Feature Channels: Psychology and Psychiatry

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From Sinatra to Katy Perry, celebrities have long sung about the power of a smile – how it picks you up, changes your outlook, and generally makes you feel better. But is it all smoke and mirrors, or is there a scientific backing to the claim? Groundbreaking research from the University of South Australia confirms that the act of smiling can trick your mind into being more positive, simply by moving your facial muscles.

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The Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology has received a $50,000 grant from Los Angeles-based PHASE ONE Foundation to support psychosocial care for people with cancer, their families and frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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A new study led by researchers at NYU Langone Health found that yoga improves symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder.

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Low leadership quality, as rated by employees, is a risk factor for long-term sickness absence (LTSA) in the workforce, according to a study in the August Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is rarely diagnosed until symptoms arise, often well into childhood. Evidence however, is mounting that developmental abnormalities likely emerge in the brain long before then: early identification of babies at risk for ASD could allow for interventions that would improve their developmental outcomes.

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It's commonly known that gun sales go up after a mass shooting, but two competing hypotheses have been put forth to explain why that's the case: is it because people fear more violence and want to protect themselves, or is it because mass shootings trigger discussions about tighter gun regulations, which sends people out to stock up? In a new study appearing August 11 in the journal Patterns, investigators used data science to study this phenomenon.

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Jealousy can be important for maintaining friendships, which are crucial to physical and emotional health. A study conducted by scientists at Arizona State University, Oklahoma State University, and Hamilton College found feelings of jealousy were sensitive to the value of the friendship and motivated behaviors aimed at keeping friends.

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A Rutgers mental health expert discusses how to prepare children to return to school, signs of emotional distress and benefits of virtual learning

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A combination of genetic and emotional differences may lead to post-traumatic stress (PTS) in police officers, a new study finds.

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Stress-induced activity in the inferior frontal lobe of the brain may have a direct correlation with chest pain among people with coronary artery disease, according to new research released today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, an American Heart Association journal.

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Tulane mental health experts say many of the strategies that are critical to ensuring public health are having a major impact on families experiencing intimate partner violence., also known as IPV.

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Rutgers School of Public Health Dean, Perry N. Halkitis, has received the Distinguished Book Award from the American Psychological Association’s Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity for Out in Time: The Public Lives of Gay Men from Stonewall to the Queer Generation.

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A new study finds that the more people know about COVID-19, the less pandemic-related stress they have. The study also found that making plans to reduce stress was also effective for older adults – but not for adults in their 40s or younger.

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The “invisible” words that shaped Dickens classics also lead audiences through Spielberg dramas. And according to new research, these small words can be found in a similar pattern across most storylines, no matter the length or format.

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Attention to climate change has significantly declined in recent months, as the pandemic has monopolized news coverage. That's concerning, say study authors who found that simply directing one's attention to an environmental risk—even briefly and involuntarily—makes people more concerned about it and willing to take action.

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A study led by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai found that two different blood epigenetic signatures associated with ADNP syndrome (also known as Helsmoortel-Van Der Aa syndrome) have only a modest correlation with clinical manifestations of the syndrome.

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As the nation continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, the future of school sports and extracurricular activities remains unclear. Sports psychologists at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center say this time can be difficult for students, whose identities are deeply rooted in their sport.

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Study finds that men who harbor more harmful attitudes about masculinity – including beliefs about aggression and homophobia – also tend toward bullying, sexual harassment, depression and suicidal thoughts.

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New research into people's coping strategies faced with COVID-19 highlights the mental health toll for those shielding

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In this age of racial reckoning, new research findings indicate that racial discrimination is so painful that it is linked to the ability to die by suicide, a presumed prerequisite for being able to take one's own life.