Neuropsychopharmacology News and Research

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Diet significantly influences mental health and wellbeing, review confirms

A new expert review confirms that diet significantly influences mental health and wellbeing, but cautions that the evidence for many diets is comparatively weak.

3 Jan 2020

Computer betting game can help predict the likelihood of opioid reuse

A computer betting game can help predict the likelihood that someone recovering from opioid addiction will reuse the pain-relieving drugs, a new study shows.

8 Dec 2019

Insights from virtual reality experiments could help break the cycle of addiction

The number of drug overdose deaths in the US has never been higher. Most of those deaths--68 percent in 2017--have involved opioids. An estimated 10 million Americans aged 12 and older misused opioids in 2018.

8 Dec 2019

Study reveals clue to preventing addiction relapse

With any addiction in which a user has successfully resisted a chemical, activity or substance, relapse is vexing. And with opioids, it's often deadly. Fatal overdoses following relapse from an opioid addiction is reaching epidemic proportions.

2 Dec 2019

Relevant social stimulus may diminish the preference to drugs

Researchers of the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Malaga (UMA), specialized in addictive disorders, have demonstrated in an animal model that the presence of a relevant social stimulus reduces interest in cocaine.

15 Nov 2019

GLP-1 receptors could serve as targets for novel medications to treat opioid use disorder

Opioid use disorder and overdose deaths are a major public health crisis in the United States. While medication-assisted treatments for opioid use disorder exist, these treatments remain inadequate for many patients, resulting in a high rate of relapse following detoxification.

31 Oct 2019

Researchers find behavioral, biological similarities between compulsive overeating and addiction

Does yo-yo dieting drive compulsive eating? There may be a connection. According to Boston University School of Medicine researchers the chronic cyclic pattern of overeating followed by undereating, reduces the brain's ability to feel reward and may drive compulsive eating.

17 Oct 2019

Siblings of people with gambling disorder display increased impulsivity, risky decision-making

Biological siblings of people with gambling disorder also display markers of increased impulsivity and risk-taking, according to a new UBC psychology study. The findings, published today in Neuropsychopharmacology, suggest people with gambling disorder - a psychiatric term for serious gambling problems - may have pre-existing genetic vulnerabilities to the illness.

9 Oct 2019

Brain networks develop differently in boys and girls at puberty, research shows

Scientists have found that brain networks develop differently in males and females at puberty, with boys showing an increase in connectivity in certain brain areas, and girls showing a decrease in connectivity as puberty progresses.

9 Sep 2019

Neurological markers in the brain can help detect people at risk for psychotic disorders

Help may be on the way for people who might lose contact with reality through a psychotic disorder, such as schizophrenia.

27 Aug 2019

Mindfulness-based app designed to help people stop smoking can change the brain

Researchers have found that a mindfulness-based smartphone app designed to help people stop smoking was effective at reducing study participants' self-reported daily cigarette consumption.

15 May 2019

Synthetic alcohol substitute could make hangovers a thing of the past

Professor David Nutt is aiming to make hangovers a thing of the past by introducing a synthetic alcohol alternative named "alcosynth".

27 Mar 2019

Deep brain stimulation offers significant relief for patients with treatment-resistant depression

Patients suffering from severe, treatment-resistant depression can benefit not only acutely but also the long-term from deep brain stimulation, as researchers from the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and their colleagues from the University Hospital Bonn demonstrate in a current study.

19 Mar 2019

Young adults at risk of addiction show differences in important brain region

Young adults at risk of developing problems with addiction show key differences in an important region of the brain, according to an international team led by researchers at the University of Cambridge.

5 Mar 2019

Fundamental technology to support early differential diagnosis of concurrent ASD in patients with ADHD

Hitachi, Ltd., Jichi Medical University, International University of Health and Welfare and Chuo University have developed fundamental technology to support the early differential diagnosis of concurrent autism spectrum disorder in patients with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

13 Feb 2019

OHSU research uncovers new target to prevent, treat alcoholism

New research conducted at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, identifies a gene that could provide a new target for developing medication to prevent and treat alcoholism.

11 Feb 2019

Hormonal cycles may make women more prone to drug addiction, higher relapse rates

Women's hormonal cycles may not only make them more prone to drug addiction but also more affected by triggers that lead to relapse, a new Vanderbilt University study revealed. The findings are especially significant since there are virtually no addiction studies in women that account for these cycles.

11 Feb 2019

Researchers report promising advance in the search for new class of antidepressants

In experiments with mice, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine report a promising advance in the search for a new class of drugs to treat major depression.

8 Feb 2019

Women find same-sex social interactions to be more rewarding than men

Females find same-sex social interactions to be more rewarding than males, and females are more sensitive to the rewarding actions of oxytocin (OT) than males, according to a research study led by Georgia State University on the brain mechanisms that determine the rewarding properties of social interactions.

30 Jan 2019

Study reveals link between dopamine and reward responses in humans when listening to music

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals a causal link between dopamine and the reward responses in humans when listening to music.

25 Jan 2019