MentalHealthDaily

STAIR-R Did Not Beat Supportive Care for Refugee PTSD

by GLOOM

A pilot randomized trial involving 71 refugees with posttraumatic stress disorder found large symptom improvement after narrative exposure therapy-based care, but adding refugee-adapted emotion-regulation training before narrative exposure therapy did not outperform supportive problem-solving before narrative exposure therapy in the full sample.1 Research Highlights 71 refugees were randomized: 35 received STAIR-R plus narrative exposure therapy, …

Naltrexone Reduced Reappraisal Distress in 38-Person Threat fMRI Trial

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of brain with vmPFC, amygdala, and threat-processing circuitry highlighted under pharmacological challenge.

The endogenous opioid system has been a candidate target for novel anxiety treatments, but a 2026 placebo-controlled crossover fMRI study in 38 healthy volunteers ran opposite the hypothesis: instead of increasing threat-related distress and amygdala reactivity, 50 mg oral naltrexone reduced subjective distress during cognitive reappraisal (p = 0.044, d = 0.57) and shifted ventromedial …