All articles tagged with #psychological medicine
A massive review of 63 studies involving over 265,000 people finds that cannabis users are significantly more likely to commit violent acts and to be victims of violence. While the study does not prove causation, it suggests cannabis use is a modifiable risk factor that should be considered in clinical and public health contexts, particularly given the rise of high-potency products.
A new study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that the neurological roots of hallucinations, particularly hearing voices, may lie in how the brain processes contradictory signals from the environment. Researchers conducted experiments where volunteers experienced a ghostly presence by pressing a button that caused a rod to touch their backs. They found that volunteers were more likely to report hearing a voice when there was a delay between the button press and the rod's touch. The study also revealed that hearing a nonexistent voice was more likely if the volunteers had previously heard bursts of noise with someone else's voice. These findings support the idea that hallucinations may arise from difficulty in recognizing one's own actions and being primed to expect a particular outcome. Further research may involve studying healthy individuals who regularly hear voices, such as mediums, to gain a better understanding of how these beliefs arise and how they can be controlled.
Researchers in Switzerland conducted a study using a setup that induced the feeling of a ghostly presence to investigate the phenomenon of hearing voices. They found that volunteers were more likely to report hearing a voice when there was a delay between a button press and a rod's touch. The study suggests that hallucinations may arise from the brain's difficulty in recognizing one's own actions and being primed to expect a particular outcome. Further research into how the brain builds the impression of a voice when none is present may provide insights into understanding and managing distressing hallucinations.