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2026

Volume 6, Issue 1, p1-94

Articles published in this issue are Open Access and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY NC) where the readers can reuse, download, distribute the article in whole or part by mentioning proper credits to the authors.

Inclusive Online Collaborative Learning Environments: Implications for Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence

The rapid pivot to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently transformed education, elevating e-learning to a global mainstream modality while exposing new opportunities and challenges. This paper summarizes the study from Kaufmann et al. (2022), and examines professional education in the context of the Erasmus+ Ka226 Project, focusing on the interplay between instructional, technological, and mental health paradigms that underpin inclusive online collaborative learning.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p1-8 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.061

The Neuroscientific Commonalities between Music Listening and Schizophrenia: A Narrative Review

Music listening and schizophrenia substantially involve emotion, subjective experience, motivation, and cognition in a complex manner. Despite these similarities, existing research appears to offer limited synthesis of their shared neuroscientific foundations. Accordingly, this narrative review integrates findings on the neural mechanisms underlying music listening and schizophrenia, based on analyses of peer-reviewed journal articles retrieved from PubMed, PsycINFO, and Nature Research databases, to specifically address their neurobiological parallels.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p9-17 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.062

Effects of Using a Big Project Picture on Team Motivation

Contemporary project environments involve increasing complexity and psychological demands, while mental health remains underrepresented in project management research. This article presents the big project picture as a holistic visual approach to enhance shared understanding and reduce uncertainty in projects.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p18-22 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.063

Music as a Collective Container for Trauma: The Performances of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the Terezín Ghetto

Building on an earlier analysis of the repeated performances of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem in the Terezín ghetto, this article revisits the undertaking as a paradigmatic instance of musical practice under conditions of radical persecution. Drawing on survivors’ testimonies and historical–musicological sources, and guided by psychoanalytic concepts, we suggest that Verdi’s Requiem could function as a collective container in Bion’s sense: a structured musical–textual matrix that received death and terror and returned it in forms that could be borne, shared, and symbolically elaborated.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p23-29 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.064

Obstacles to the Development of School Psychology and School Counselling in Germany and Perspectives for the Future

This commentary refers to the article: ‘The future of psychology in schools – a review and outlook: with particular reference to the role of school psychology’. For a better understanding, some additional information has also been included. Basic problems in the German education system, as they have become apparent (among other things) in international studies, must be urgently addressed.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p30-33 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.065

Beyond the Final Breath: Dr. Nossrat Peseschkian's Death as Culmination of a Transcultural Life Philosophy

The death of a psychotherapy school founder offers unique insights into the relationship between theoretical constructs and lived experience. Dr. Nossrat Peseschkian, founder of Positive Psychotherapy, died peacefully in his sleep on April 27, 2010, at his home in Wiesbaden (Germany)–a death that reflected his Baha’i convictions, Balance Model, and transcultural life approach in a remarkable way.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p34-40 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.066

Beyond Certification: A Commentary on Community Mental Health First Aid Capacity Building in Black, Caribbean, and African Communities and Its Implications for Psychiatry

This commentary extends Chapter 14, Mental Health First Aid Certification to Build Capacity in Black, Caribbean, and African Communities, by repositioning Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) certification as one element of community mental health infrastructure rather than a stand-alone outcome. Although MHFA is widely used to improve mental health literacy, certification counts alone do not indicate whether community capacity, help-seeking pathways, or equitable access to care have meaningfully improved. 

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p41-47 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.067

Psychedelics: Historical Context, Emerging Science, and Future Clinical Frontiers

Psychedelics a class of psychoactive compounds such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) are undergoing a scientific renaissance. Studies since 2020 have shown their therapeutic promise in mental health treatment. This Commentary synthesizes historical usage, current neuroscientific and clinical evidence, and explores ethical and regulatory frontiers for future medical integration.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p48-49 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.068

The Genetics and Mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease in Down Syndrome

Down syndrome (DS), caused by trisomy 21, is the most frequent genetic cause of intellectual disability worldwide. Advances in medical care have markedly increased life expectancy, revealing a new clinical challenge: premature aging and a very high prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in adulthood. Nearly all adults with DS develop cerebral amyloid pathology by midlife, largely due to overexpression of the amyloid precursor protein gene located on chromosome 21.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p50-56 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.069

Organizational Commitment as a Bridge: How Learning and Development Conditions in the Workplace Influence Employee Health

This article examines the construct of employee organizational commitment, focusing on two key aspects. First, it explores how learning-friendly working conditions can help strengthen employee commitment to their employer. Second, building on this, the article analyses the effects of this commitment on employee health. The results show that existing learning and development opportunities primarily address emotional commitment components.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p57-64 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.070

Fostering Vocational Identity in Vocational Education and Training as Key to Promote Learners’ Mental Health

This commentary outlines the research background of the paper “Berufliche Identitätsarbeit als subjektzentrierter Paradigmenwechsel einer transformativen Berufsbildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung (BBNE)” [Vocational identity work as a subject-centered paradigm shift in transformative VET for ESD] and examines its implications for health promotion in vocational education and training (VET). It focuses on the health-promoting potential of identity-based VET didactics within dual systems such as in Germany and introduces relevant theoretical, methodological, and didactic approaches.

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p79-88 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.072

The Religious Coping of Buddhism: Primary or Secondary Control?

In facing life adversity, the control technique exercised by religious believers appears to be different from those without religious belief, as that of the former is subject to the incorporation of religious doctrines. As such, this paper aimed to examine the religious coping of Buddhism with reference to Rothbaum’s perceived control model comprising primary and secondary control. Based on a review of religious teachings (Mahayana Buddhism), primary control is likely the dominant coping strategy. 

J Ment Health Disord, 2026, Volume 6, Issue 1, p89-94 | DOI: 10.33696/mentalhealth.6.073

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