The Association of Relational Spirituality in an EcoMeditation Course with Flow, Transcendent States, and Professional Productivity.

Background: Relational spirituality-a sense of oneness with, or personal connection to, a higher power or greater consciousness-has been associated with positive health outcomes in prior research. An evidence-based meditation method called EcoMeditation produces significant improvements in psychological health as well as physiological function.

Objectives: This study places EcoMeditation in the context of relational spirituality to evaluate changes in psychological symptoms and professional productivity associated with transcendent states of consciousness, including those characterized as "flow" and "nonduality.

What is autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR)? A narrative review and comparative analysis of related phenomena.

A narrative review of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) was carried out. Definitional factors relevant to ASMR were canvassed. Related, but distinctly unique, sensorial phenomena, including frisson, synaesthesia, and misophonia were considered.

Money Attitudes After Clinical Emotional Freedom Techniques: Psychological Change in a Virtual vs In-Person Group.

Context: Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFTs) can reduce anxiety, depression, PTSD, and phobias. Research has found correlations between attitudes toward money and anxiety and depressive symptomatology. No research has yet examined the effectiveness of EFT in changing money attitudes.

Learned uncertainty: The free energy principle in anxiety.

Generalized anxiety disorder is among the world's most prevalent psychiatric disorders and often manifests as persistent and difficult to control apprehension. Despite its prevalence, there is no integrative, formal model of how anxiety and anxiety disorders arise. Here, we offer a perspective derived from the free energy principle; one that shares similarities with established constructs such as .

Can a virtual environment enhance understanding of hoarding deficits? A pilot investigation.

This pilot study tested the utility of a virtual environment for assessing cognitive deficits characteristic of hoarding. A sample representing a broad spectrum of hoarding traits ( = 20) was assessed using self-report measures of information processing skills and emotional experience, and placed in a virtually simulated house that contained cluttered spaces and clean spaces. Information-processing significantly differed between high-hoarding and low-hoarding groups, with the high-hoarding group showing increased proneness to emotional attachment and information processing difficulties in the cluttered environment.

Addressing virtual reality misclassification: A hardware-based qualification matrix for virtual reality technology.

Through its unique sensory synchronized design, virtual reality (VR) provides a convincing, user-centred experience of highly controllable scenarios. Importantly, VR is a promising modality for healthcare, where treatment efficacy has been recognized for a range of conditions. It is equally valuable across wider research disciplines.

Social Media Peer Support Groups for Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: Understanding the Predictors of Negative Experiences.

Introduction: As social media platforms become commonplace in daily life, online peer support groups have become an increasingly popular resource for people living with physical and mental health issues. Although the benefits of using online peer support groups have been well documented, there can be also be significant risks associated with groups hosted on social media platforms. People living with obsessive-compulsive related disorders may be particularly vulnerable to negative experiences in such groups.

Virtual skills training: the role of presence and agency.

Virtual reality (VR) simulations provide increased feelings of presence and agency that could allow increased skill improvement during VR training. Direct relationships between active agency in VR and skill improvement have previously not been investigated. This study examined the relationship between (a) presence and agency, and (b) presence and skills improvement, via active and passive VR simulations and through measuring real-world golf-putting skill.

Public speaking anxiety decreases within repeated virtual reality training sessions.

Therapy for public speaking phobia using virtual reality exposure (VRE) has focused on distress arousal rather than distress habituation. Understanding habituation will help optimise session duration, making treatment more affordable and accessible. This pilot study utilised within-speech repeated measures to examine distress habituation during three brief public speaking scenarios in a non-clinical sample (n = 19; 18-76 years).

Down the rabbit hole: assessing the influence of schizotypy on the experience of the Barbie Doll Illusion.

Introduction: "Body swapping" illusions have been used to explore factors contributing to the experience of "owning" an artificial body. Preliminary research indicated that those people diagnosed with schizophrenia experience more vivid illusions of this kind than do "normal" individuals.

Objectives: Here, we explored whether participants who rated themselves "high" on the cognitive-perceptual factor of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) experienced a more compelling sense of immersion in a variation of the body swapping illusion: The Barbie Doll Illusion.