Can positive expectations tune the immune system?

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Can training your brain’s reward circuits strengthen your immune response to vaccination? A new randomised controlled trial offers some fascinating early clues.

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Painting prevention: How the arts promote health and tackle non-communicable diseases

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Non-communicable diseases cause 74% of global deaths. Could singing, dancing or storytelling really make a difference? This new review explores how arts-based interventions can boost public health worldwide.

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Home-based brain stimulation (tDCS) for depression: ready for widespread use?

Feature

Julian Mutz discusses the results of a new 10-week RCT assessing home-based brain stimulation for depression, which suggests that tDCS may be a safe, acceptable and efficacious treatment for moderate depression.

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Are chatbots the answer to minimising inequalities in treatment access?

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Robert Meadows considers the findings of a recent paper on the use of artificial intelligence chatbots in increasing self-referrals to mental health services.

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Deep brain stimulation for severe depression: could ‘brain pacemakers’ be the answer for some?

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Alexandra Pike, Alexis An Yee Low and Jonathan Roiser critically appraise a recent n-of-1 study on ‘brain pacemakers for depression’, which received extensive press coverage earlier this month. The case study looks at deep brain stimulation (closed-loop neuromodulation) in an individual with treatment-resistant depression.

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