Journal of Mental Health Disorders

Commentary Open Access

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

Hans Rüdiger Kaufmann , Henning Tirrel , Dolores Sanchez Bengoa

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.

Review Open Access

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

Kyusik Hyun

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.

Commentary Open Access

Effects of Using a Big Project Picture on Team Motivation

Raphaela Fichtinger

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Michal Ulitzur-Zemel , Zvi Semel

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Norbert Grewe , Lutz Thomas

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Werner Gross

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Noah Boakye-Yiadom

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. 

Commentary Open Access

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

Vipul Janardan , Amit Khanna , Om Prakash , Anadrika Debbarma , Sidhant Mathur

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.

Review Article Open Access

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

Michel Bourin

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Sven Klaiber

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.

Commentary Open Access

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

Christiane Thole

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.

Review Article Open Access

The Religious Coping of Buddhism: Primary or Secondary Control?

Lufanna C. H. Lai

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. 

Commentary Open Access

The Evolving Paradigm of Nutritional Psychiatry: From Primordial Neurodevelopment to Cognitive Resilience Across the Life-course

Hanife Karakaya

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, represent an escalating global health crisis projected to affect 135 million individuals by 2050. Given the limited efficacy of traditional pharmacological approaches, a paradigm shifts toward modifiable risk reduction is essential. The current consensus indicates that up to 45% of dementia cases are potentially preventable through optimization of lifestyle and nutritional determinants.

Commentary Open Access

Clinical Considerations for Concussion Management in Adaptive Athletes

Siyuan Liu , Rehaan Muqeet , Zoe Uihlein , Beth Weinman , Michael Uihlein , Alexander Senk , Khazi Muqeet , Kenneth Lee

The risk of concussion is present in both adaptive and non-disabled sports. However, one must keep in mind the unique challenges in recognizing/diagnosing and managing concussion in para-athletes. An important factor for consideration in para sport groups is the coexisting underlying medical conditions, which can mimic signs and symptoms of concussion. This analysis will discuss key clinical factors for adaptive athletes with a diagnosis of sports-related concussions focusing on sideline testing, management, and mental health implications.

Commentary Open Access

Embodied Safety and Resilience in Child and Adolescent Mental Health: A Conceptual Commentary on Dance/Movement Therapy

Teresa Fritsch

Contemporary children and adolescents are exposed to increasing psychosocial stressors, including social instability, educational pressure, digital overstimulation, disrupted relational environments, and global uncertainty. These conditions contribute to rising levels of emotional dysregulation, anxiety, behavioral disturbance, somatic distress, and relational withdrawal. Such difficulties are frequently communicated through bodily states, movement patterns, and nonverbal behavior rather than through explicit verbal articulation.

Commentary Open Access

Exploring the Health and Wellbeing Benefits Associated with Empowering More Women to Cycle in Ireland

Melissa Jane Kenny , Kathleen Jacobi , Ruth Van Ry , Suzanne Meade

This commentary applies a mental health and wellbeing lens to the recently published study report ‘Empowering Women to Cycle: Insights Beyond Numbers’ which explores the social, cultural and infrastructural barriers that currently discourage women in Ireland from choosing to cycle more. The benefits that cycling can have on women’s mental health and wellbeing are discussed, along with what is required to create a supportive framework that can empower more women in Ireland to cycle.