Schizophrenia involves emotional and cognitive deficits that are often unresponsive to medication, emphasizing the need for effective psychosocial rehabilitation. This narrative review and conceptual perspective explores the potential integration of expressive writing (EW) and digital cognitive therapy (DCT) as a proposed dual approach to support emotional regulation and cognitive recovery. EW can facilitate emotional processing and motivation, while digital therapy may improve attention, memory, and executive function through structured and interactive training. Their proposed combination could promote engagement, strengthen self-efficacy, and support long-term rehabilitation. Linguistic analysis using natural language processing (NLP) could offer objective indicators of emotional and cognitive change, potentially enabling personalized and adaptive intervention. Overall, the proposed integration model may provide a practical and broadly implementable framework for improving functional prognosis and promoting recovery in schizophrenia, but empirical research is needed to determine its effectiveness, scalability, or clinical applicability, among other aspects.
Cultural and intergenerational pathways between family alcohol use, trauma exposure, and probable PTSD in Taiwanese adolescents
BackgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use (AU) frequently co-occur, yet little is known about how family drinking patterns shape trauma exposure and PTSD risk in non-Western and Indigenous adolescent populations. Taiwan’s multi-ethnic eastern region—home to Amis and Atayal Indigenous groups—provides a unique context for examining culturally specific trauma pathways.ObjectiveTo examine how caregiver and adolescent alcohol use relate to exposure to traumatic events (TEs) and probable PTSD likelihood among Han Chinese and two Indigenous groups, Amis and Atayal, in eastern Taiwan.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among 751 junior-high students (Han, Amis, Atayal) in rural eastern Taiwan. Adolescents completed the Chinese UCLA PTSD Reaction Index and a trauma-exposure checklist. Caregiver and adolescent AU were assessed via self-report. Logistic regression tested associations among caregiver and adolescent AU, trauma exposure, and probable PTSD likelihood, adjusting for demographic factors.ResultsCaregiver AU was significantly associated with both trauma exposure and probable PTSD across all ethnic groups. While adolescent AU was associated with trauma exposure among Han and Amis youth, no such link was found for Atayal adolescents. Furthermore, exploratory testing rejected the self-medication hypothesis, lending support to the high-risk environmental framework. Trauma types most strongly associated with probable PTSD differed by ethnicity: sexual trauma and painful medical procedures among Han youth; bereavement among Amis adolescents; and witnessing community violence among Atayal adolescents. Indigenous participants showed consistently higher trauma exposure than Han peers.ConclusionsFamily drinking patterns exert strong intergenerational effects on adolescent trauma exposure and probable PTSD risk. The culturally distinct trauma profiles across Han, Amis, and Atayal adolescents highlight the need for trauma-informed, culturally grounded, and family-centered mental-health interventions. Reducing caregiver AU and addressing structural inequities affecting Indigenous communities may offer critical leverage points for preventing PTSD among youth in Taiwan and comparable multi-ethnic settings.
Spectral EEG-guided adaptive neuromodulation for social anxiety disorder, performance-only subtype: a case report
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is often complicated by anticipatory anxiety, hyperarousal, and variability in response to first-line treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy. These limitations highlight the need for adjunctive modalities capable of enhancing the magnitude and durability of treatment response. This case report explores outcomes following spectral EEG-guided personalized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (PrTMS) in a patient with SAD, performance-only subtype. Weekly psychometric assessments revealed reductions in social anxiety intensity, avoidance behaviors, and negative self-appraisal, along with improvements in mood and daily function. Symptom changes were quantified using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item Scale (GAD-7), and Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF). Clinical improvements were accompanied by increased alpha band power, decreased delta band power, and an increased alpha-delta ratio on serial spectral resting-state EEGs. Our findings suggest that PrTMS may warrant further investigation as a potential adjunctive treatment for SAD. Further large-scale, blinded, and randomized studies are warranted to validate our observations on the feasibility of PrTMS for SAD.
Functional MRI evidence of brain alterations in premenstrual dysphoric disorder: a systematic review
IntroductionPremenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) affects approximately 1.6% of women of reproductive age and significantly impacts quality of life. Despite its prevalence, the underlying pathophysiology remains incompletely understood. First-line treatment typically involves selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs); however, approximately 40 percent of women with PMDD do not respond to these medications. This systematic review synthesizes current evidence on functional brain alterations in women with PMDD, as assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with the goal of identifying potential novel therapeutic strategies.MethodsData from 598 participants, including 294 PMDD patients and 304 healthy controls, were analyzed.ResultsThe findings suggest alterations in both topdown regulatory mechanisms and large-scale brain networks, including the salience network, default mode network, and executive control network. These alterations are characterized by decreased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, and postcentral gyrus, alongside increased activation in the amygdala and insula, as well as impairments in corticolimbic connectivity.DiscussionThese results highlight the complexity of PMDD, implicating widespread neural circuits rather than a single localized dysfunction. Targeting these mechanisms may inform the development of novel interventions for symptom relief.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD420251174749.
Marked for destruction
Nature Biotechnology, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41587-026-03182-5
The significance of the first FDA-approved PROTAC lies not in proving that targeted protein degradation is superior to conventional therapies, but in proving that degrading proteins is possible as a therapeutic.
A socially assistive robot to support mental wellbeing in LGBTQ+ young people at risk of self-harm: a randomized controlled trial
Nature Medicine, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04422-6
A randomized controlled trial integrating Purrble, a socially assistive tactile robot, into safety planning found that LGBTQ+ youth at risk of self-harm experienced improvements in Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and fewer depressive symptoms compared to safety planning alone.
AAV gene therapy for homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia: a phase 1 trial
Nature Medicine, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04441-3
After preclinical testing, a phase 1 trial involving three individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia demonstrated preliminary evidence for the safety and efficacy of AAV8-mediated LDL receptor gene therapy.
Spinal cord stimulation for upper limb motor function in people with chronic post-stroke hemiparesis: a feasibility trial
Nature Medicine, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04435-1
In this feasibility clinical trial, the authors show that epidural stimulation of the cervical spinal cord safely improved strength, function and spasticity in seven people with arm hemiparesis.
Human microglial transitions at the Aβ–tau inflection point associate with divergent pathways to dementia and resilience
Nature Medicine, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41591-026-04393-8
Microglia cellular changes underlie divergent resilience-associated mechanisms in human aging.
Aberrant tau accumulation caused by MAPT mutations induces early pathological changes in axonal transport that are rescued by p38α inhibition
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02266-4
Imaging axonal transport in vivo in the mouse cortex reveals that deficits in axonal transport arise at early stages of tau pathology, are caused by enlarged tau envelopes and are reversed by inhibiting MAPK p38α.