Meaning in life is linked to lower depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicidality, & can improve through psychotherapy, mindfulness, narrative methods, psychoeducation. Recovery is also about helping people find meaning. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Received these excellent service-user guides from Kanagawa Human Rights Advocacy for Psychiatric Health. Thank you for sharing this important work, developed from service users’ perspectives: a valuable example of standing in their shoes!

What does “healthy ageing” mean across cultures. Kitayama et al. suggest US older adults may face pressure to remain energetic, positive, independent, whereas East Asian contexts may provide more age-graded roles for adjustment, meaning, social belonging. doi.org/10.1037/amp0...

Regular exercise needs regular maintenance. As I exercise regularly, I’m trying to look after my body before problems happen. Sports massage is one way I support injury prevention and recovery. Much better to maintain the body than seek treatment after injuries occur!

Kurdish migrants face a high mental health burden. This SR found elevated PTSD, depression, anxiety, shaped by war, persecution, discrimination, isolation, family separation, fear of deportation. Need for culturally tailored, trauma-informed support. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Our preprint reports 20-country Delphi study w cross-cultural de-centring to clarify Anglophone assumptions + enhance global interoperability of Recovery College tools. This approach may inform other interventions dev'd in Anglophone contexts for global use. www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9...

Social determinants of mental health are among the most modifiable targets for prevention. Evidence on poverty, discrimination, childhood adversity, migration, loneliness, neighbourhood disadvantage, climate-related risks. 7 social justice recommendations. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Extrinsic goals such as wealth, status and image may fuel economic growth, but they do not necessarily support wellbeing. This paper argues that capitalism can undermine basic psychological needs: security, autonomy, competence and relatedness @academic.oup.com doi.org/10.1093/heap...

My rapid response to a BMJ article @bmj.com bmj.com/content/393/... Debates about banning social media should not focus only on access/risk, but also on cultural context: how adolescents, families, schools, and societies interpret connection, autonomy, and harm.

Self-criticism is often treated as universal inner process, but how people experience, express, respond to it may differ across cultures. This systematic review shows qualitative research on self-criticism remains fragmented, with no shared framework yet. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Cross-cultural code-switching can be psychologically demanding. This study of int'l medical graduates in New Zealand shows adapting to new cultural/professional norms is not just a skills issue, but can affect authenticity, competence, fatigue, isolation. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

The event photographer kindly shared more photos from the 100th anniversary ceremony for Psychology at @masarykuniversity.bsky.social. A lovely reminder of a very special occasion. It was an honour to give a keynote on cultural pathways to recovery, and I’m grateful for the warm welcome.

A major new global study of wellbeing: the Global Flourishing Study includes 200,000+ participants across 22 countries. Initial findings highlight links with childhood experiences, relationships, employment, and religious service attendance @springernature.com www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Culture shapes whether pursuing happiness helps or harms wellbeing. Valuing happiness predicted lower wellbeing in the US; no clear association in Germany; higher wellbeing in Russia & East Asia. Socially engaged ways of seeking happiness may be key. @apajournals.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/xge0...

Honour to give a keynote on cultural pathways to recovery at the 100th anniversary celebration of psychology at @masarykuniversity.bsky.social 🇨🇿 Wonderful event, and I look forward to more collaboration! psych.phil.muni.cz/100-let-psyc...

Culture may shape not only the mind, but also the brain. Kitayama & Uskul (2011) suggest repeated cultural practices can become “embrained” through neuroplasticity. A strong reminder of the behaviour-culture-brain-gene connection. @annualreviews.bsky.social doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Culture does not just influence the self from outside. Culture and self continuously make each other. This classic paper by Markus & Kitayama shows why psychology needs to study people and sociocultural worlds together, not separately. doi.org/10.1177/1745...

Thank you the Voice of Islam Radio UK for having me on the Breakfast Show! I talked about ikigai (生きがい), chisoku (知足), and the cultural dimension of Time Orientations in relation to "Life Worth Living in the Face of Suffering" My interview is 1:27:45–1:40:45: soundcloud.com/voislam/brea...

Mental disorder prevalence in Czechia 🇨🇿 after COVID-19 varied by survey method, but the treatment gap remained around 80% from 2017 to 2022. More than half of help-seekers also faced structural barriers such as waiting lists. @sciencedirect.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ps...

Culture is more than East-West. This review notes many non-Western cultures are interdependent, but in different ways. Same behaviour can mean something different depending on the cultural context. Important for making a global psychology. @annualreviews.bsky.social doi.org/10.1146/annu...

Culture matters in emotion regulation 🌏 This review suggests people in more interdependent contexts may be more motivated to regulate emotion, and suppression may carry fewer wellbeing costs there than in more independent contexts. @sciencedirect.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

Virtual nature shows promise for wellbeing, but evidence is still mixed. This review suggests we now need more rigorous research to understand what works, for whom, and in which contexts. @sciencedirect.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Higher education may not just raise knowledge. It may also bring people’s values closer to WEIRD cultural norms. Across 95 countries, education mattered more than income or subjective status. @natureportfolio.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Culture may shape not only how we express emotions, but how we organise emotion concepts themselves. Interesting study across 15 languages: cultural attitudes towards the future were linked to differences in emotion semantic structure. @springernature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Attended a conference on complex dissociation at University of Derby @derbyuni.bsky.social. Really helpful, and touching presentations from people with lived experience, healthcare staff and researchers. Thank you everyone involved for a great conference!

New in PsychatricTimes. Culture as Wind: Adapting Recovery&Shared Decision-Making Across Cultures Same recovery/SDM approach can be used well in one context, but less smoothly in another. Culture shapes what good care looks like. Quick “wind-check” can help www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/culture...

Culture impacts pregnancy mental health. In this Kuwaiti study, individualism was linked to greater self-compassion & lower stress/depression, while negative social exchanges increased distress. www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

Online self-compassion interventions appear effective, esp for improving self-compassion & wellbeing. Systematic review (21RCTs) found mixed effects for hedonic wellbeing & delayed gains in eudaimonic wellbeing, highlighting need for more rigorous/diverse studies. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Delighted to speak at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for the World Class Research Seminar Series on Mental Health Across Cultures: Recovery Through Community and Nature. Many thanks to Benson Lau for the kind invitation and hosting!

My new editorial is now online in the British Journal of Hospital Medicine @bjhmoffice.bsky.social: Three Communication Tips to Integrate Psychological and Cultural Determinants Into Everyday Hospital Care. www.imrpress.com/journal/BJHM...

Pleased to see the event page now live for the 100th anniversary of the Dept of Psychology at Masaryk Uni @masarykuniversity.bsky.social Honoured to give an invited talk on Cultural Pathways to Recovery. Look forward to seeing colleagues for this special occasion! psych.phil.muni.cz/100-let-psyc...

Delighted to share that @routledgebooks.bsky.social has offered me a contract for my forthcoming book on culture and mental health 😀 The Publishing Committee’s response was “so overwhelmingly positive”, with a view that this project helps fill a major gap in culturally informed literature!

Nature seems to help attention recover but not always in the same way. This systematic review found some support for Attention Restoration Theory, while showing mixed results in different cognitive tasks. Good theory, partial evidence, more research needed www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Early morning, favourite tea, and bossa nova music. A small part of my research routine that helps me concentrate. What helps you focus? #ResearchBehindTheScenes

New books arrived. When thinking through new ideas in cross-cultural mental health, I often return to foundational textbooks. Textbooks may look basic, but they are often the clearest place to revisit core frameworks, concepts, and methods. #ResearchBehindTheScenes

Great to speak at Buckinghamshire New University on "Nature as Relationship: Evidence, Meaning, and Mental Health". Thank you Katja for your kind invitation, and everyone for warm welcome + thoughtful discussion on our relationship with nature and mental health/wellbeing!

Social prescribing may help loneliness, but the evidence base is still thin. This systematic review found 9 UK evaluations (no meta-analysis; measures/designs varied). All reported positive individual impacts, some also reduced service use, but few controls. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Virtual nature, real relief. New systematic review + meta-analysis (24 studies) @natureportfolio.nature.com tfolio finds virtual natural environments reduce anxiety (SMD=0.82, large), stress (SMD=0.58, moderate), depression (SMD=0.62, moderate) in healthy adults. doi.org/10.1038/s417...

Great time at the UK–Japan Dialogue on Hikikomori at Oxford yesterday. Thanks to the Experimental Psychology colleagues @oxexppsy.bsky.social for the Life & Mind Building tour, especially the fully soundproof booths! 🇬🇧🇯🇵

Self-compassion doesn’t look identical worldwide. Study (N=56,968; 65nations) finds SCS-SF fits best as an 11-item, 2-factor model: compassionate vs uncompassionate self-responding. Invariance was partial across nations/languages but full across gender/age link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Hard copy just arrived 📕 Compassion-Focused Therapy for Mental Health: International Perspectives (Springer). link.springer.com/book/10.1007... Showcases how CFT is adapted across diverse cultural contexts, highlighting global voices in compassion research and practice.

Intrinsic motivation & incentives both predict performance, but differently. 40yr meta-analysis (183 studies N=212,468) finds intrinsic motivation predicts quality, incentives predict quantity. Crowding out mainly appears when rewards performance-tied. doi.org/10.1037/a003...

Nonverbal empathy is culturally coded: cues like eye contact, tone, and touch can convey care or discomfort affecting trust, info exchange, and outcomes. Racial discordance + implicit bias may leak nonverbally, so clinicians need training to read/adapt to local norms. doi.org/10.1016/j.pe...

Open-access meta-analysis (55 studies): autistic children/adolescents show greater emotion regulation difficulties & more maladaptive strategies; severity & social skills relate to dysregulation. ER-focused interventions improve ER/ED, internalizing & social outcomes. doi.org/10.1016/j.cp...

Forest bathing may shift how we treat ourselves🌿 Systematic review: forest bathing tends to reduce self-criticism, increase self-compassion, and also lower negative affect while boosting wellbeing/mindfulness. @elsevierconnect.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

New paper 😀 Worth isn’t universal, it’s culturally valued. Propose Worth Orientations: Effort-Based (earned through striving) vs Dignity-Based (inherent). These may shape rights-based approaches + stigma profiles. 2-factor scale outlined @springernature.com link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Over20yrs in 17,352 men (HPFS), anger wasnt tied to most deaths but specific links shown: frequent anger→higher CVD mortality (HR1.17), aggressive expression→higher cancer mortality (HR1.14). Strongest risk when anger is frequent & expressed aggressively pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

Hostile thoughts may shorten lives. In a Dutch cohort of 2,679 late middle-aged/older adults, cognitive hostility predicted all-cause mortality even after adjusting for health behaviours (HR 1.05 per point). doi.org/10.1093/eurp...

"Delighted to share our edited volume is now available online: Compassion-Focused Therapy for Mental Health: International Perspectives (Springer) — bringing together international voices on CFT and mental health @springernature.com link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Spirituality in ecotherapy: review of 14 qualitative studies. Core experiences: nature as mirror, immersion, oneness. Linked effects: self-acceptance, loosening the past, renewed purpose/hope (often with pro-environmental attitudes). doi.org/10.1177/1942...