Men exposed to child sexual abuse (CSA) have recently received increased research attention. Most studies have emphasised barriers to disclosure, given that non-disclosure is common in men and contributes to isolation, confusion and distress following CSA. However, beyond identifying barriers, little is known about men's experiences of disclosure itself, particularly in healthcare contexts.

Interviews were conducted with 14 men throughout Australia who had experienced CSA and engaged in therapy (i.e., psychology, psychiatry, counselling). Interviews explored pathways to, and experiences of, disclosing CSA to therapists and were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three themes were developed. In Searching for intrapersonal meaning, disclosures were largely self-motivated and linked to men's recognition of CSA, breaking patterns of avoidance and desires to live authentically. Echoes of disclosure described resounding impacts of CSA disclosures, which shaped men's understandings of CSA and subsequent disclosures. Echoes of trauma explored ways trauma itself interacted with men's therapeutic disclosures, shaping provider preferences and embodied trauma reminders during disclosures.

Findings suggest CSA disclosures in therapy are situated within men's long-term searches for meaning, truth-telling and authenticity-extending beyond problem-solving or symptom reduction. These insights advance early evidence regarding men's experiences following CSA and may impact how clinicians approach, invite and respond to disclosures. Findings offer clinicians valuable insights into men's lived experiences of disclosing CSA in therapy. Therapists may play roles in supporting men to recognise, accept and process CSA, but also risk reinforcing stigma and silence. Therapists demonstrating attunement and care supported safe, meaningful disclosures.

Mounting evidence suggests that amygdalar nuclei receive visual information via both a well-characterized cortical pathway through the inferior temporal cortex and a subcortical route through the superior colliculus and pulvinar. This subcortical pathway may facilitate rapid responses to salient visual stimuli and could explain phenomena such as blindsight. However, controversies remain about the organization of the subcortical pathway, its role in visual processing, and how the cortical and subcortical pathways mature across development. To address these questions we used longitudinal, minimally processed multi-shell High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging (HARDI) data from 4361 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, reconstructing every major segment of the cortical and subcortical amygdala pathways. We tested the existence of the subcortical pathway against null tractography models, characterized cortical and subcortical pathways development across early adolescence, and investigated their association with visual processing speed. Diffusion MRI data provide support for the existence of bilateral pulvinar-amygdala pathways against a null model (all p < 0.001, corrected). While cortical tracts involving the primary and extrastriate visual cortex and the inferior-temporal cortex strengthened with chronological age and over pubertal development, we demonstrate that subcortical pulvinar-amygdala connectivity decreased over pubertal development. Greater connectivity strength of the right pulvinar-amygdala tract was associated with faster responses on a visual task for both emotional face and place stimuli, a relationship also seen for cortical tracts. This study provides supporting evidence for the existence of pulvinar to amygdala tracts in the largest sample of adolescent participants studied to date. Greater connectivity in both cortical and subcortical tracts was associated with faster reaction time on a visual task, but further work will be needed to investigate the specificity of this association in terms of both task and tract. In line with the hypothesized importance of the subcortical pathway in early development, we show that the developmental trajectories of cortical and subcortical pathways diverge and highlight the influence of pubertal development, with cortical pathways generally strengthening and subcortical pathways weakening across early adolescence.

To explore the cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia of different clinical manifestations and its relationship with symptom severity and functional status.

The clinical data of 160 patients with schizophrenia who were treated in our hospital from April 2019 to December 2025 were selected for the study. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores were used to classify patients into the positive group (n = 93) and the negative group (n = 67). The recorded cognitive scores, PANSS scores, and Personal and Social Performance (PSP) scores were compared. Distributional assumptions were examined before analysis; Welch's t-test and Spearman rank correlation were used, and Hedges' g with 95% confidence intervals was reported for significant between-group comparisons.

The positive group had higher PANSS positive symptom and PSP scores but lower PANSS negative symptom scores than the negative group (all p < 0.001). The positive group also showed higher recorded cognitive total and domain scores (all p < 0.001). Spearman analysis showed that PANSS negative symptom scores were inversely correlated with the recorded cognitive total score and PSP score (rho = -0.350 and -0.464, respectively), whereas PANSS positive symptom scores were positively correlated with these outcomes (rho = 0.652 and 0.781, respectively; all p < 0.001). The recorded cognitive total score was positively correlated with PSP score (rho = 0.655, p < 0.001).

Cognitive performance differs across clinical symptom profiles in schizophrenia. Patients with predominant negative symptoms showed poorer cognitive performance and social functioning than patients with predominant positive symptoms. These findings support assessment of symptom profile, cognition, and functioning together, without implying causality.

ObjectiveLanguage and communication disturbances are enduring features of schizophrenia, often manifesting as impoverishment of speech. This exploratory study aims to examine how communicative deficits overlap with a cognitive profile of treatment-resistant chronic schizophrenia inpatients.MethodsWe employed Iterative Constrained Principal Component Analysis in a sample of inpatients (n = 138) to identify the optimized, multidimensional overlap between 17 neuropsychological measures and 26 symptom items from the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Cognition was assessed via neuropsychological tests of verbal comprehension, semantic memory/verbal fluency, cognitive flexibility, verbal and visuospatial learning, processing speed, and working memory.ResultsThe analysis identified a distinct symptom-cognition cluster. Communication Impoverishment (specifically the Lack of Spontaneity and Flow of Conversation) was the primary predictor of a cognitive component characterized by Verbal Fluency and Executive Functioning. This component was defined by performance on tasks measuring category-based word generation, the ability to switch between semantic rules, and the depth of word knowledge and general factual information. This association was independent of antipsychotic dosage and correlated with real-world social and occupational functioning.ConclusionsThe results indicate that communication impoverishment in persistent psychosis reflects dysfunction within the verbal-semantic system, likely involving both the fluid executive ability to navigate categories and the integrity of the semantic store itself.

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) is a personality trait that has been linked to various mental health outcomes among highly sensitive children.

To investigate the SPS trait and its relationship with emotional and behavioral problems among Egyptian children.

A cross-sectional study was conducted targeting parents of Egyptian children aged 4-17 years. Participants (n = 391) were recruited via different online platforms. Besides a questionnaire on sociodemographic data, parents completed the Arabic version of Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) for children.

Sampled children's mean age was 9 ± 3.75 years, and 57.5% were males. Nearly half of them had "at-risk/elevated" total SDQ score (46.3%). The highest "at-risk/elevated" score was on the emotional problems subscale (55%). Prosocial behavior had the lowest "at-risk/elevated" score (12%). Hypersensitivity was found in 10.2% of the sampled children. A higher percentage of hypersensitive children had statistically significant "at-risk/elevated" scores on the emotional problems subscale compared to non-hypersensitive children (82.5% vs. 66.7%, p = 0.04). On the other hand, a lower percentage of hypersensitive children had statistically significant "at-risk/elevated" scores regarding hyperactivity and prosocial behavior compared to non-hypersensitive ones (27.5% vs. 48.1%, p = 0.01 and 7.5% vs. 28.5%, p = 0.004, respectively).

The current study uncovered the substantial presence of the SPS trait among Egyptian children and its association with emotional problems. This calls for further studies to investigate its impact on the child and family, its moderators, and the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for children with high SPS.

Adolescent mental health care is constrained not only by limited treatment capacity but also by the absence of precise and efficient tools to identify and triage those in need. Measurement-based mental health care relies on standardized assessments to guide identification, treatment selection, and ongoing monitoring of mental disorders. However, conventional assessments present a trade-off: diagnostic interviews lack feasibility at scale, while brief screening tools result in misclassification and suboptimal allocation of limited mental health resources. Computerized adaptive testing addresses this trade-off by dynamically tailoring assessments to individuals, maximizing measurement precision while minimizing assessment burden. Despite these advances, no adaptive assessment for adolescent mental health has been developed or calibrated using African data.

The AfriCAT study aims to develop and internally validate a precision computerized adaptive assessment of adolescent depression and anxiety using nationally representative Kenyan data, with the longer-term goal of supporting measurement-based mental health care across diverse African contexts.

AfriCAT is a mixed methods study integrating psychometric modeling, adaptive simulation, modular clinical decision support networks, participatory workshops, discrete choice experiments (DCEs), and stakeholder interviews. Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, version 5 (DISC-5) modules assessing major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and posttraumatic stress disorder among adolescents aged 10 to 17 years from the Kenya National Adolescent Mental Health Survey (N=5155) will form the item bank. Adaptive engines will be developed using a bifactor multidimensional item response theory framework and a modular neural architecture. Simulation-based internal validation will evaluate precision, efficiency, and diagnostic classification relative to DISC-5 diagnoses. Participatory workshops in Kenya and South Africa, DCEs to quantify adolescent preferences, and stakeholder interviews will inform refinement of adolescent- and provider-facing prototypes.

Ethical approval has been obtained from the Human Research Ethics Committee (Medical) at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Aga Khan University Institutional Scientific and Ethics Review Committee. Data preparation and model development are underway. Participatory workshops and DCEs are ongoing. Simulation-based validation and prototype refinement will follow.

AfriCAT aims to develop the first adaptive mental health assessment calibrated using nationally representative African adolescent data. By integrating precision psychometrics with participatory co-design, the study seeks to enable more accurate triage and support scalable, measurement-based adolescent mental health care in resource-constrained settings.

Music is widely utilized to support recovery from stress, yet the precise neural mechanisms driving this therapeutic effect remain poorly understood. Crucially, it has been unclear whether music provides unique neurobiological benefits or simply acts as a general, relaxing auditory stimulus. Here, we demonstrate that music selectively facilitates multisystem recovery from acute stress-enhancing positive mood (PM) and accelerating autonomic stabilization (electrodermal activity and heart rate)-significantly outperforming an active natural sound control. Using functional MRI and dynamic causal modeling, we revealed the network architecture underlying this advantage. Compared to natural sounds, music drives a distinct reorganization of stress-regulation networks, establishing a directional, causal pathway from the auditory cortex to the insula and thalamus. On a faster timescale, dynamic functional connectivity reveals that this network reconfiguration is actively governed by musical structure: moment-to-moment fluctuations in perceived musical tension track transient shifts from stress-network engagement to neural downregulation. Furthermore, these music-specific connectivity changes are directly associated with improvements in PM. Together, these findings identify a temporally evolving mechanism by which the brain's processing of structured musical sequences acts as a dynamic regulatory driver, reconfiguring neural architectures to restore psychological and physiological homeostasis.

Social media platforms have made information about mental health more accessible than ever, with over 60% of young adults using social media as a primary information source. Content about neurodiversity issues, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is highly popular online. Researchers and mental health professionals have expressed concerns over the lack of vetting and potential spread of misinformation on social media. To date, there has been no synthesis of the literature examining the scientific accuracy of short-form video content about ADHD and ASD, and the downstream impacts of this content.

1) Describe the popularity and characteristics of ADHD and ASD short-form video content, 2) Evaluate the extent to which it follows clinical guidelines, 3) Explore its impacts on stigma, treatment- and diagnosis-seeking, and symptom perceptions.

This protocol is designed in accordance with the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) guidelines. PsycINFO, PubMed, and SCOPUS will be used for the literature search. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods peer-reviewed research published in English by June 1, 2026, will be considered. Once duplicate studies are removed, pairs of independent reviewers will determine eligibility first through the review of titles and abstracts and then full text review. Descriptive and thematic analysis methods will be used to analyze extracted data.

Findings from this work can provide a better understanding of the social media content about ADHD and ASD and the ways it may impact viewers.

A protocol of this systematic literature review will be registered with Open Science Framework Registries.

Mood disturbances-including depressed mood, irritability, anxiety, and mental exhaustion-are common during the menopause transition, affecting up to 68% of women. While menopausal hormone therapy (HT) is FDA-approved for vasomotor and genitourinary symptoms, its role in managing mood symptoms remains less well understood. This retrospective, comparative study evaluated the impact of systemic HT on mood in a cohort of HT-naive individuals.

We included 260 patients presenting to an urban, academic menopause center between 2023 and 2025 who completed the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) before and after initiating systemic HT for FDA-approved indications. MRS psychological subdomain scores covering depressive mood, irritability, anxiety, and mental exhaustion were analyzed. Most patients (96.5%) received transdermal estradiol, had an average age of 52.1 years, and a mean follow-up of 4.5 months. Notably, 51% had a history of anxiety or depression, and 24% were on antidepressant therapy at baseline.

Results showed a significant reduction in MRS psychological subdomain scores from baseline to follow-up (P<0.001). The proportion of patients with severe mood symptoms (score ≥7) decreased from 62.3% to 24.6%. Improvement was greatest in those with severe baseline symptoms (mean change: -3.85, SE: 0.223). Treatment response did not differ by psychiatric history, age, menopausal stage, or antidepressant use.

These findings suggest systemic HT may improve mood symptoms in midlife, especially among those with elevated baseline severity, independent of prior mental health diagnosis, antidepressant use, or menopause stage. These findings support further investigation of HT's impact on mood in midlife women.

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) stabilizes gaze during head movements by generating compensatory eye movements. In bilateral vestibulopathy (BV), loss of vestibular function leads to loss of VOR and consequently, oscillopsia. Currently, no curative treatment exists. Vestibulocochlear implants (VCI) aim to restore vestibular function by modulating electrical stimulation of the ampullary nerves in response to head motion. Although prior studies have demonstrated partial VOR restoration, a comprehensive evaluation across different stimulation conditions remains limited. This study assessed the effects of multiple stimulation conditions on VOR gain in BV patients implanted with the latest VCI prototype.

Nine BV patients were unilaterally implanted with an intralabyrinthine VCI. VOR responses were assessed using rotatory chair testing (mid-frequency domain) and video head impulse testing (vHIT; high-frequency domain). Five stimulation conditions were evaluated: Reference (VI off), Baseline only (constant stimulation), Default (motion modulation around baseline), Lowered baseline (motion modulation around threshold level), and Boosted stimulation (maximized modulation). Subjects were classified into subgroup A (peak eye velocity, PEV, ≥ 30°/s) during lateral ampullary nerve block stimulation and subgroup B (PEV < 30°/s).

Six subjects were classified in subgroup A. In rotatory chair testing, excitatory VOR gain increased significantly under modulated stimulation at all tested frequencies (p < 0.05), with median gains rising from 0.09-0.20 (Reference) to 0.82 (Lowered baseline). No significant inhibitory improvements were observed. In vHIT, subgroup A demonstrated significant excitatory median gain improvements across all canal planes (p < 0.005). Lateral canal gains improved from 0.12 (Reference) to 0.69 (Boosted), and anterior canal median gains up to 0.74. Posterior gains improved but remained < 0.60. Inhibitory gains showed no changes. Subgroup B showed no meaningful gain improvements in any condition.

Motion-modulated stimulation enhanced excitatory VOR function at mid- and high frequencies in patients who demonstrated higher PEV during block stimulations. However, baseline stimulation alone was ineffective. Lowered baseline and Boosted conditions showed the largest improvements, with gains approaching functional levels in several subjects. However, inhibitory responses remained limited, reflecting physiological and technical constraints. These findings support individualized, frequency-dependent modulation strategies to optimize gaze stabilization and potentially reduce oscillopsia in daily life.