Positive Mental Wellbeing News Roundup - January

The January installation of our group's Positive Mental Wellbeing News Roundup series! At the end of every month we bring you the latest in mental health news to enjoy. We aim to document the progress being made with psychological research and the global efforts to raise awareness of and improve mental health.

Below we have links to a collection of interesting recent articles. Enjoy our summary of January!

• Supporting previous studies finding a link between nature and improved mental health, a new study has found that coming into contact with trees on the street daily is associated with a reduced likelihood of being prescribed antidepressants

• A study by Oxford and Birmingham universities has suggested that teenagers moods can alter to match their friends. Negative emotions seem to be more ‘contagious’

• The Mental Health Act is set to be reformed. The reforms aim to improve the support offered to Black people, as they are currently more than four times more likely to be detained under the act. Changes will also be made to prevent people being sectioned based on being autistic or having a learning disability

• Long-term improvement is seen in people with PTSD symptoms when given repeated intravenous ketamine infusions

• An AI tool was successfully trained to identify people with strong schizotypal personality traits by analysing fMRI scans of close relatives