Francesca Malandrone, PhD

From Pills to People: The Rise of Social Prescribing Karen Mak brings you a bumper edition blog on social prescribing, finding that rates have steadily grown recently in the UK, though access remains unequal.

Curious about #SocialPrescribing research? 🔎

Dr Karen Mak summarises our recent papers in a blog for @thementalelf.bsky.social 📊

Give it a read to learn about the patterns and predictors of social prescribing, and what they could mean for practice 👇
www.nationalelfservice.net/treatment/co...

Advancing consciousness science Defining new directions in consciousness research and exploring implications for medicine, technology, and ethics

1/🧵 Out today in @frontiersin.bsky.social : “Consciousness science: where are we, where are we going, and what if we get there?” By @axc.bsky.social @liadmudrik.bsky.social, & me (a CIFAR & @erc.europa.eu production 🧠). www.frontiersin.org/journals/sci...

Somatosensation and the sense of self In this primer, Patrick Haggard and Matthew Longo consider how sensory signals from receptors throughout the body are integrated to produce the sense of a coherent, continuous, sentient body that form...

New primer in Cell from Patrick Haggard & @mattlongo.bsky.social

Somatosensation and the sense of self: Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...

#interoception #exteroception #affect #neuroskyence

The surprising science of adolescent brains Neuroscientist Jennifer Pfeifer digs into the fascinating brain changes driving young people’s behavior during the critical years of adolescence. She debunks some of the biggest misunderstandings abou...

If we keep saying this generation is being destroyed, how will adolescents ever believe in their own potential? My TEDx talk is live on @ted.com. Changes in their brains, bodies, and social worlds create opportunities for young people to grow & thrive - with our support. www.ted.com/talks/jennif...

YouTube video by Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon Anil Seth discusses consciousness and its potential biological basis

If you missed our great discussion with Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social on consciousness and its potential biological basis, check it out here!
Very thought provoking, including nuanced discussions on AI consciousness.
Neuroscience & Philosophy Salon:
youtu.be/wZE4_Oa3YA0

**Reminder of presentation+discussion this Thursday**
Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social will elucidate if/how consciousness is related to biological brains.
Join the discussion.

The allostatic triage model of psychopathology (ATP Model): How reallocation of brain energetic resources under stress elicits psychiatric symptoms Psychiatric, cardiometabolic, and immune disorders are highly comorbid, and are precipitated by psychological stress. To explain why these conditions …

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Symposium 1.1, here we go!

To read more about AffectTracker, check out our latest publication: doi.org/10.3389/frvi...

@toninfrc.bsky.social @therealspr.bsky.social

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

Conscious breathing appears to synchronize brain and body activity New research in Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience suggests that slow, controlled breathing strengthens communication between the brain and body. This frequency-based synchronization may enhance self-regulation.

Conscious breathing appears to synchronize brain and body activity

And then the sea of Chia, the wind, the light, nature inviting us to slow down and breathe. Moments of connection, shared ideas, mutual admiration. We return full of warmth, joy, and new questions: because it’s not about finding final answers, but learning to stay with complexity.

This perspective can dialogue with clinical experience, neuroscience, and — above all — the therapeutic relationship: the space where one mind finally meets another. Curious and thoughtful feedback from colleagues filled us with gratitude and inspiration.

Through a dynamic, process-oriented model, we aimed to restore diagnosis to its deepest meaning: an act of mutual understanding — something that orients, gives significance, and helps reconnect what has been disrupted. ⬇️

Back from the National SITCC Congress 2025 🔥 We presented a clinical case showing how validated personality assessment tools can be used not to classify, but to understand: to build, together with the person, a living and evolving map of the self. 🧵⬇️

Neural sensitivity to the heartbeat is modulated by fluctuations in affective arousal during spontaneous thought Spontaneous thoughts, occupying much of one’s awake time in daily life, are often colored by emotional qualities. While spontaneous thoughts have been associated with various neural correlates, the re...

Neural sensitivity to the heartbeat is modulated by fluctuations in affective arousal during spontaneous thought

#2 "Personality functioning as generalized correlated changes in personality traits" -- basically a large factor model over time with some common factor nuance. With @chopwood.bsky.social et al.

osf.io/preprints/ps...

Our fragmentation paper is now finally out! I put some of the dumb quips that didn't make the cut in the alt texts.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

🚨Out now in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social 🚨

We explore the use of cognitive theories/models with real-world data for understanding mental health.

We review emerging studies and discuss challenges and opportunities of this approach.

With @yaelniv.bsky.social and @eriknook.bsky.social

Thread ⬇️

The update of interpersonal beliefs in everyday life situations in relation to depressive symptoms and state affect – An ecological momentary assessment proof-of-principle study Previous research has provided valuable insights into associations of belief updating with aspects of psychopathology. However, prior work was mostly …

Happy to share this new article with @saskiascholten.bsky.social, providing proof-of-principle evidence for biased belief updating in relation to depressive symptoms using ecological momentary assessments. Part of the special issue on belief updating in BRAT. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Brain–body states embody complex temporal dynamics We propose a computational framework for high-dimensional brain–body states as transient embodiments of nested internal and external dynamics governed…

In general we @danlikesbrains.bsky.social think that dynamical systems provides an excellent framework for thinking about multiscale interactions between brain and body - where the body generally sets the global rhythm www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

At first glance this seems rather important.

The Body’s Band: How Heart and Brain Communicate Illustration of a person with vitiligo practicing yoga, sitting cross-legged and stretching an arm over their head. In a thought bubble, a smiling brain sings into a microphone and a heart plays a dru...

🧠🫀 New from our lab on Frontiers for Young Minds:

Ever wondered how the heart and brain communicate? Think the heart as the drummer 🥁 & the brain as the singer 🎤 keeping the body's band in tune!

Read here (for ages 8–15): kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2025.1536787/full
[1/2]

An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health Interactions between metabolic interoception and regulation may drive comorbidity between mental and metabolic ill-health.

What drives the bidirectional relationship between metabolic and mental ill-health?

Read our new metabolic psychiatry paper, “An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... led by @saramehrhof.bsky.social @hugofleming.bsky.social

In some way, it's trivial:

The #brain & the rest of the #body (e.g. the #heart) are coupled.

Yet, we spelled it out
w/ A. Villringer & V. Nikulin for current scientists (below)
w/ @martager.bsky.social @agatapatyczek.bsky.social @el-rei.bsky.social for future scientists bsky.app/profile/mart...

Such great news and satisfaction!

Interested in consciousness? Join the club. And join us tomorrow (noon on Zoom) for the first seminar of the MIT Consciousness Club.
sites.google.com/view/mit-con...

New paper out at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science!

We examined unconditional & event-related changes in pathological vs normal-range personality using 4 metrics to compare their developmental links, how these vary with life events, and whether unique effects emerge across metrics

𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻-𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗽𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆:
𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹, 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘅, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Excellent review paper about reactive and anticipatory processes.
#neuroskyence
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Stomach–brain synchronisation is associated with poorer mental health In common parlance, ‘being in touch with your body’ is often used positively. However, in a recent study, Banellis, Rebollo, and colleagues show that better stomach–brain synchronisation is actually a...

Stomach–brain synchronisation is associated with poorer mental health www.cell.com/trends/neuro... insightful TINS commentary by @dalmaijer.bsky.social

YouTube video by Michael Levin's Academic Content "Patterns and Explanatory Gaps in Psychotherapy" by Alexey Tolchinsky

A talk at @drmichaellevin.bsky.social's symposium on the Platonic Space.

Patterns and explanatory gaps in psychotherapy (Does God play dice?)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dH9...