Despite negative consequences and the desire to stop, millions of people with compulsive behaviors can’t break the self-destructive cycles that disrupt their daily lives. Dr. Veronica Alvarez and Dr. Bruno Averbeck from the National Institute of Mental Health run the Center on Compulsive Behaviors (CCB) which brings together NIH scientists to understand what drives these repetitive and often detrimental behaviors. The CCB strives to decipher the neural circuitry that leads to compulsive behaviors in hopes of improving treatments and designing new interventions.
Finding treatments for mental health conditions doesn’t just deal with the people who live with them. Healthy volunteers play a critical part in the science of understanding our brains and behavior. But what qualifies as “healthy” can vary across labs and skew how scientists interpret study results. Dr. Joyce Chung, the Deputy Clinical Director at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is changing that. She is creating a pool of vetted volunteers to bolster the integrity, efficiency, and safety of mental health research.
Ketamine is often thought of as an illicit party drug — something people take for a momentary high. But it wasn’t designed to be a mind-altering drug. Originally, ketamine was developed as anesthetic to relieve temporary pain. And now it seems the drug can provide solace not just from physical distress. At the NIH, Dr. Carlos Zarate is investigating how ketamine can rapidly reduce depressive symptoms in people with treatment-resistant depression or bipolar depression, for whom other options have not helped.
Social distancing is the best way to curtail the spread of COVID-19, but if innumerable days of isolation start to feel like they’re taking a toll on your mental welfare, there might be some solace waiting in the kitchen. According to mental health experts, cooking can reduce anxiety and alleviate mental distress. Dr. Nicole Farmer is a clinical researcher studying many facets of how diet affects human biology and behavior, including the effects of cooking interventions on mental well-being.
