Journal of Mental Health Disorders

Editorial Open Access

Technology Use and Mental Health Disorders: Dueling Aspects of Technology as a Problem and a Solution for Mental Health

Grace White

With artificial intelligence (AI) at the forefront of social and cultural discourse [1], it is important to recognize the scope and scale of the impact of technology use on humanbehavior

Commentary Open Access

Personality Functioning: An Opportunity for Treatment Personalization

Paula Dagnino, Guillermo de la Parra

As the literature shows, the categorical diagnosis of personality has received numerous criticisms. Over the years, authors suggest that personality dysfunction is distributed along a dimensional continuum. Dimensional assessment of personality severity has been included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Section III, and in the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, where levels of personality functioning are posited to account for personality complexity

Research Article Open Access

Understanding Anxiety

Matthew Rensi, James Geisler, Justin Jacques, Charles Silber

This study is the first of its kind to diachronically analyze how the use of language surrounding anxiety has changed in each version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Using corpus linguistic technology, the collocations of the word “anxiety” were analyzed and ranked using log dice to determine the strength of associations both within and across each version of this clinical guide. 

Research Article Open Access

Measuring the Impact of Stressors through Self-reporting on the Temporal Nature of How Perceived Stress Emerges and Dissipates

Jocelyn Dunn, Steve Landry, Kim Binsted

Chronic stress exposure is linked to health and performance deficits including mental disorders, chronic diseases, and metabolic conditions. Stress management is an active process of coping with internal or external stressors to prevent or dampen biological and psychological strain

Original Research Open Access

Beyond Case Vignettes: Do Diagnostic Labels Affect How Symptoms of Mental Illness are Perceived?

Alexander Dings, Lara K Kubillus

A long-standing question in clinical psychology concerns the merits and drawbacks of using diagnostic labels in communication about mental illness. A frequent view is that such labels contribute to mental illness stigma, for example by fostering a categorical view of affected people as part of a distinct out-group. Previous research has found some evidence to support such claims, but results are mixed. 

Editorial Open Access

Maintaining a Focus on Burnout in Medical Students

Carol Nash

Burnout in medical students has been a consistent focus of research on stress over the decades. Medical students have been cited as at risk for burnout due to excessive stress, unrealistic expectations, and societal pressures.

Research Article Open Access

Self-Perceived Stress and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 Pandemic among the Students of Kathmandu Metropolitan City

Anjana Thapa, Rajesh Karki, Maheshor Kaphle

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a global threat. Various factors such as social isolation, perception of disease severity and susceptibility, and frequent exposure to the news have been previously associated with increased levels of perceived stress regarding COVID-19. The choice of coping strategies plays a crucial role in mitigating these effects. Thus, this study aims to assess the perceived stress level and coping strategies among 19-24 age group students during COVID-19.

Commentary Open Access

Commentary on Studies Citing This Author Concerning Doodling as a Measure of Burnout

Carol Nash

The ability of doodling to act as an indicator of depression and anxiety regarding research burnout is a topic that has seen the publication of six articles by this author since 2021. This commentary aims to determine the extent to which any of these articles have been cited by subsequent researchers in furthering the literature on doodling. The keywords “C Nash Doodling Burnout” were searched through Google Scholar in February 2024 with 142 returns.

Mini Review Open Access

Interviewing Techniques for Patients with Intellectual Disability

Nita Bhatt, Julie P. Gentile

Levels of Intellectual Disability and Categories of Communicative Skills When conducting a patient interview, it is crucial to understand the individuals’ level of ID as well as their expressive language skills in order to communicate effectively

Review Article Open Access

Military Training: Does It predispose service personnel to Negative Mental Health Issues?

Michael Bonner, Graham Ellender

At initial (basic) training recruits from all services and most nations are subject to an intense environment where they are physically and mentally challenged throughout their waking day. Their civilian experiences and identity are systematically remodeled to fit the requirements of the nation’s services. Most recruits are able to cope with this extreme environment, albeit with some impact on their mental wellbeing, whereas those unable to cope either physically or emotionally are discharged from the Military through medical or administrative procedures.

Review Article Open Access

Australian School Based Interventions Addressing Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review

Harshi Gunawardena, Alexander Voukelatos, Rachel Wilson, Shane Cross, Ian B. Hickie

Aim: Prevalence of mental disorders in children and adolescents is between 3% to 30% worldwide. Since countries differ in geopolitical contexts, the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a coordinated effort to report on local contexts. We aim to address this gap by providing a review of effectiveness of Australian school-based mental health interventions and identifying success factors for school-based implementation.

Mini Review Open Access

Expanding Horizons in Anti-GQ1b Antibody Syndrome: Recognizing Atypical and Overlap Forms

Ciro Maria Noioso, Agnese Pecoraro, Gabriella Maria Acerra, Stefano Avventura, Liliana Bevilacqua, Caterina Giordano, Anna Rosa Avallone, Umberto De Marca, Paola Della Valle, Marina Serio, Maurizio Tenuta, Antonella Toriello, Paolo Barone, Claudia Vinciguerra, Giuseppe Piscosquito, Aniello Iovino

Since the initial descriptions of Miller Fisher Syndrome (MFS) and Bickerstaff Brainstem Encephalitis (BBE), substantial advancements have refined our understanding of these disorders, highlighting shared features such as anti-GQ1b IgG antibodies, preceding infectious triggers, and overlapping neurophysiological findings. These commonalities support the hypothesis that MFS and BBE are not distinct entities but rather components of a unified autoimmune condition, often referred to as "Fisher-Bickerstaff syndrome." 

Review Article Open Access

“All the lonely people, where do they all belong?”

Graham Ellender, Michael Bonner

Loneliness is a distressing experience perceived as isolation and rejection. It has been recognized as a social problem throughout the existence of Homo sapiens, and is now considered, in conjunction with social isolation, to be an emergent public health problem affecting all age groups

Editorial Open Access

Team Mindfulness for Healthcare Burnout Reduction

Carol Nash

Earlier this year, an editorial by this author was published in the Journal of Mental Health Disorders [1] presenting the case for maintaining a focus on burnout in medical students. Burnout is defined as that point when work becomes unpleasant, unfulfilling, and meaningless—leading to exhaustion, cynicism and ineffectiveness [2]. 

Research Article Open Access

Handwashing and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder During COVID-19 Concerning Increased Negative Mental Health

Carol Nash

COVID-19 has been identified as a virus spread to the respiratory system by minute airborne particles. This method of dispersion is in contrast to its originally anticipated large particle fomite transmission. Although COVID-19 dissemination has been found to be airborne, a continuous health directive to limit contagion during the pandemic was to improve handwashing.

Commentary Open Access

Navigating Crisis: The Transformative Impact of COVID-19 on Family Support Services in Germany

Nina Weimann-Sandig, Götz Schneiderat, Aileen Völlger

In 2024, we published a study named “COVID-19 as a Driver of Professionalization in Work with Families in Germany". The following text is a commentary on this study. It presents key findings and the study's approach but also contextualizes further questions arising from the post-pandemic period. The article presents a comprehensive examination of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on family support services in Germany.

Commentary Open Access

Educators as Essential Workers in the Era of COVID-19: Applying Lessons from Disaster Recovery

Denese Shervington, Lisa Richardson, Jakevia Green

In the article, “Mental Health Framework: Coronavirus pandemic in post-Katrina New Orleans” [1], Shervington and Richardson offer recommendations about how to anticipate and address disaster-related, trauma exposures associated with the coronavirus pandemic

Commentary Open Access

English School Principals’ Reflections on Hostility in the Community in the COVID and Post-COVID Era: A Comment

Simon Uttley

Though not a mental health professional, I have benefitted from significant training in mental health first aid, and I encounter the challenges of poor mental health on a weekly, if not daily, basis in my role as a Principal (Headteacher) of an English, publicly funded, all-ability high school, a role I have held in several schools over twenty years, together with professorial roles in higher education, both at the University of Notre Dame (USA), London, and St Mary’s University, England. 

Letter to the Editor Open Access

Combination of Journalism and Psychological Studies: Recommendations for Research on PTSD and Fake News Belief under Natural Disasters

Lan Lin, Chen Gong

We are writing to express our appreciation for the recent publication of the study titled “PTSD, FOMO and fake news beliefs: a cross-sectional study of Wenchuan earthquake survivors” [1]. This study offers valuable insights into the intricate connections among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fear of missing out (FOMO), and beliefs in fake news. The authors have selected individuals who were affected by the earthquake as a sample to investigate the correlation between FOMO and belief in fake news, which presents a unique and innovative situation. 

Commentary Open Access

Commentary: Actioning Community Attachment Parenting Program Review Recommendations

Tina H. Bonnett, Lisa McCorquodale, Karen R. Schouten

Attachment and mental health have long intersected within research and policy [1]. Expressly, attachment relationships developed in the formative years are one of the most influential contributions to longitudinal holistic well-being [2]

Research Article Open Access

Academic Major and Mental Health among Chinese College Students

Jie Zhang, Sibo Zhao

Background: A college student's academic major is not always the total free choice of the student in Chinese universities. If a student is not enrolled in the program, he/she has chosen, the student is usually placed in an academic program at the university's discretion. Further, a Chinese college student is usually required to finish and graduate from the program he/she has started in the freshman year. If a student does not like the academic major yet has to complete it, the student may feel frustrated during the years of college education and may experience certain psychopathological problems.

Short Communication Open Access

Suicide Prevention and Stress Management in Farmers: The Overlooked Role of Farm Finances

Anna Marie Scheyett, Jude Oshobughie Edeh

Farmers experience high levels of stress, disproportionately high rates of depression and anxiety, and have suicide rates much higher than the general population. The authors and colleagues have examined the unique characteristics of farmers (high time demands, stigma around mental health needs, lack of mental health knowledge and ability to access services) and how suicide prevention and stress management interventions must be shaped to respect farmers’ needs. 

Commentary Open Access

The Loneliness, Loss and Reflections Set off by COVID-19

Susan E. Schwartz

“Nothing was as it seemed. I was not as I seemed…I was confronted by the possibility that perhaps the truest thing about me was a coiled identity, my irrealis self, a might-have-been self that never really was but wasn’t unreal for not being and might still be real, though I feared it never would”

Commentary Open Access

The Mental Health Considerations Within the Difficulties Associated with Identifying Victims of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

Matthew Davis

The identification of vulnerable individuals who are or have been subjected to abuse and exploitation is vitally important so that survivors can access the specific help and support to assist them recover from their traumatic experiences. This article considers what the main issues, barriers and challenges are for trafficked victims to be positively identified. It also illustrates how mental health workers can play a significant role in identifying those most likely to become victims of human trafficking and support them effectively. These issues are important and valuable to consider as the selection of aspects of the topics to discuss are pertinent especially in light of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mental health.

Mini Review Open Access

Biomedical Gastronomy in the Management of Smell and Taste Disorders

Graham Ellender

Whether one lives to eat or just eats to live, the consumption, ingestion and digestion of foods and beverages comprise a complex system of intertwined signals and rituals. 

Case Series Open Access

Self-compassion, Job-related Wellbeing, Perceived Stress, Happiness and Depression, and Anxiety Symptoms in 6 Cases of Senior Managers of Human Resources or Organizational Development

Ema Nicea Gruber, Sanja Martic-Biocina

Introduction: Recent studies suggest that compassion, particularly self-compassion, is often perceived as contrary to effective leadership and organizational success, that self-compassion, which impacts emotion regulation through the acceptance of negative emotions, may be an adaptive strategy for managing stress and benefit for resilience at work, and that self-compassion is associated with happiness and inversely related to anxiety and depression. This can be taken together with the importance of job-related affective well-being, where low LPLA (Low Pleasurable Low Arousal emotions) and high LPHA (Low Pleasurable High Arousal emotions) can correlate to depression, anxiety, and stress.

Research Article Open Access

A New Adaptive Procedure for Estimating Perceptual Thresholds: The Effects of Observer Bias and Its Correction

Chiara Fioravanti, Christoph Braun, Axel Lindner, Sergio Ruiz, Ranganatha Sitaram, Diljit Singh Kajal

Perceptual thresholds might vary due to different variables such as fatigue, fluctuations of attention, or sensory learning [1]. Adaptive threshold estimation procedures are most effective by providing quasi-instantaneous estimates of an otherwise fluctuating sensory threshold. 

Commentary Open Access

Mental Health and Collective Trauma among Yazidi Genocide Survivors

Jan Ilhan Kizilhan

The Yazidi population has faced systematic persecution, culminating in the 2014 genocide by the so-called Islamic State (IS). This commentary focuses on the impact of collective trauma on Yazidi mental health, focusing on transgenerational trauma, gender-specific experiences, and culturally adapted therapeutic interventions. The discussion highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches that consider cultural and socio-political contexts in the treatment of Yazidi survivors. Addressing these complex mental health challenges requires a holistic framework that integrates psychological, social, and legal support mechanisms.

Commentary Open Access

Substance Abuse and Psychosis

Ralph Meyers

This commentary deals with our publication from 12.2024, entitled “Early Detection and Treatment Options for Psychosis in Transition from Childhood to Adolescence: A Review About Three Decades of Psychiatric Clinical Experience”. The article delves into the complex relationship between substance abuse and psychosis, focusing on the critical role of early detection, family involvement, and continuous monitoring in managing psychosis, particularly during the transition from childhood to adolescence.

Review Article Open Access

Bipolar Disorders and Seasonality

Michel Bourin

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe and common neurodevelopmental psychiatric illness (1 to 4% of the general population). The severity and prognosis of this disease is partly linked to a high rate of recurrence of mood episodes with 70 to 80% relapses on average 2 years after a major episode (depressive or manic), despite treatments. These recurrences may follow a seasonal cyclicity for a significant number of patients.

Commentary Open Access

Measuring the Effectiveness of Navy Embedded Mental Health: Supporting Warfighting Readiness

Robert D. Lippy

This commentary is based on the author’s chapter entitled “The Future of Embedded Mental/Behavioral Health in the Military” in the recently published book Embedded Behavioral Health in the Military: A Guide for Behavioral Health Officers and Leaders. This commentary expands on the book chapter’s discussion of the value and effectiveness of embedded mental health (EMH). In this commentary, the author presents reasons why the ultimate measure of effectiveness of EMH is to return Service members to duty in direct support of the warfighting readiness mission.

Commentary Open Access

HDAC Dynamics and GR Signaling: Neurobiological Insights and Antidepressant Potential

Shashikant Patel, Sumana Chakravarty

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling are critical in regulating gene expression and stress responses. Vorinostat, an HDAC inhibitor, shows significant promise in treating depression by modulating these pathways. This commentary explores HDAC inhibitor’s mechanisms, therapeutic potential, and the challenges in clinical application. It compares the effects of various HDAC inhibitors on GR signaling and neuroplasticity, emphasizing the importance of personalized treatment approaches. 

Mini Review Open Access

Clinical Supervision: Getting It Right!

Amelia Kehoe, Charlotte Rothwell, Jan Illing

The article ‘Enablers and barriers to effective clinical supervision in the workplace: a rapid evidence review’ presents evidence from the international literature on effective clinical supervision. The review searched nearly 16000 international publications to answer the question: What makes effective clinical supervision? When in place and done well, clinical supervision has many benefits for the organisation, professional development and patient services.

Commentary Open Access

Updates from the Past 10 Years of Scholarly Inquiry on Clinical Interventions to Empower Older Women

Jennifer L. O’Brien

This author’s contribution, “Clinical Interventions to Empower Older Women” drew on topical research related to older women’s mental health and offered concrete directions for mental health clinicians to explore with older women. This commentary offers an update on the last ten years of research in this area and focuses on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the landscape of older women’s mental health needs and related clinical and non-clinical interventions.

Commentary Open Access

Positive Implications of Life Adversity Revisited: The Christianity Perspective of Religious Self-esteem (RSE)

Lufanna C. H. Lai

It is widely agreed that life adversity is inevitable in human life. In fact, it exerts deleterious effects on mental health and wellbeing [1-4]. Empirically, life adversity has been attested to have a strong association with mental health problems such as affective and anxiety disorders [5-7], personality disorders [8,9], depression [8], and post-traumatic stress disorder [6,8]. Despite the negative effects on humans, life adversity has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects.

Literature Review Open Access

A Symptomatic and Cosymptomatic Picture of Autism

Michele Di Salvo

This article introduces and attempts to summarize some descriptive clinical-medical aspects of the autism condition. The purpose is to give a common knowledge base of what are pathological symptoms, characteristics of autism and secondary and related pathologies. In this picture, it will become clear that no symptom is single or isolated but the damage concerns a circuit, a higher function, a more complex system. Focusing on one aspect, one symptom and a single set of symptoms distracts from a general, overall picture. We have chosen not to unify them in order to also allow an articulated understanding of the characteristic, symptomatological, and psychological-emotional picture.

Review Article Open Access

Breaking with Our Heritage Mental Health – Empowerment

Jean-Paul Close

My article “identity and authenticity: breaking with our heritage for sustainable regional human development” [1] was motivated by a global academic encounter in the University of Urbino (Italy). It had been organized by the European SPES¹  “Business and Spirituality” initiative. The meeting and related publications discussed “place-based approaches to sustainability.” This basically refers to the local sustainable development of municipalities and regions, as opposed to the general era of finance based globalization. 

Commentary Open Access

Addiction and Health: Social Perspectives for Addiction Prevention and Addiction Support

Knut Tielking

The article aims to show that a social perspective on addiction as a disease in the sense of a bio-psycho-social understanding of health and disease can meaningfully broaden the often medical view of addiction problems and contribute to addressing addiction as a social problem in a way that reduces stigma.

Commentary Open Access

Climate-triggered Flooding and Child Development: Reflecting on Its ‘Often Overlooked’ Implications for Schoolchildren’s Mental Well-being in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Unyime-Young MFON

Climate-induced perennial flooding in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, poses a constant hazard for children's mental and educational development. This paper addresses the ‘often overlooked’ psychological impacts of flooding on schoolchildren, one of the research findings that was not extensively analysed in the recent article, “Mfon, U. Y. (2024). Climate Change Outcomes and Educational Development: Implication of Flooding on the Well-being and School Attendance of Children in Bayelsa State, Nigeria,”

Commentary Open Access

The Role of Palliative Medicine in Poor and Rich Countries

Jürgen Wacker

While in some European countries half of the population dies in nursing homes, this is the exception in African countries, especially since there are only a few nursing homes there. This is not only due to the significantly lower proportion of people over 65 years of age mentioned above, but above all to the willingness of the African extended family to look after the mother and father at home, even outdoors 'in the sacred palm grove' of the village. 

Commentary Open Access

An Expanded Y Model: Blending Psychotherapy Practices

Stacey Roles

This commentary builds upon Chapter 18 of The Nurses’ Guide to Psychotherapy, which discusses the importance of training, supervision, and theoretical grounding for nurses and clinicians practicing differing types of psychotherapy. While the original chapter introduces the Y Model of Psychotherapy as a way to conceptualize core therapeutic skills and continues on to introduce the Y Model Restructured: Structured and Unstructured Therapies, adapted from Goldberg & Plakun (2013), this commentary offers a novel contribution: the Expanded Y Model.

Original Research Open Access

The Frequency of Emergency Department and Crisis Services Visits for Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder with Differing Models of Care

Ramamohan Veluri, Stacey Roles

Frequent users of the emergency department (ED) are a small percentage of ED patients but account for a large percentage of visits. Given the cost to the health care system, it is important to explore strategies to prevent unnecessary visits. A prospective chart review of frequent users diagnosed with psychiatric illness in Emergency and Crisis services at one hospital was conducted. Detailed analysis was also completed on the subgroup of these patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and/or self-harming behaviors to determine the impact of two models of psychiatric care on subsequent crisis or ED visits in the year after the index visit.

Commentary Open Access

The Changing Conception of Methodology: A Commentary on the Application of User Centric Design

Nada Nasser Al Subhi, David Bell

This article provides a commentary on the study conducted by Al Subhi et al. [1], in this special issue on mental health disorders. Al Subhi et al., provide concise summaries of the literature in the field of design thinking. This encompasses methodologies such as a user-centric framework. In general, literature is contrasted and extracts valuable methodological knowledge that is necessary for the implementation of dynamic processes in health institutes.

Review Article Open Access

ADHD, Dysgraphia, and Giftedness

Hanna David

The study of dysgraphia, which can be summarized as handwriting impairment, has developed in the last few decades concurrently with a deeper understanding of this neurodevelopmental disorder that affects many areas of life for everybody who suffers from it, but mainly children and adolescents. Though the rate of dysgraphia decreases when growing up, there is still a substantial number of children who suffer from it for the rest of their lives, many of whom are not diagnosed. Among gifted children, the problem of not being diagnosed at all or misdiagnosed is more common than among the non-gifted.