Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment

There are a multitude of potential reasons behind the onset of schizophrenia. While some may explain the condition through external factors, such as drug use or trauma, this Thematic Series will consider the potential causes lying low beneath our own genetic material. It has been suggested that certain individuals could be predisposed to schizophrenia, potentially through family members or diathesis-stress models.

Alternative explanations include syndromes and patterns previously referenced in the literature, including 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, schizophrenia onset post-infection, variations in single nucleotide polymorphisms and more.

Genetics do not only feed into literature concerning the onset of schizophrenia. Much rather, treatments have the potential to be adapted to an individual based on genetics, as the influence of pharmacogenomics spreads further into neuropsychiatric illnesses. Therefore, genetics may be able to reveal answers about the origins of schizophrenia, but also the best treatment methods for patients.

The journal is seeking original submissions and review articles on the following topics related to genetic factors in schizophrenia:

• Susceptibility genes for schizophrenia
• miRNA precursors and genetic syndromes (e.g., 22q11.2 deletion syndrome)
• Associations between brain regions linked to immunity and onset of schizophrenia after infection
• Variations in single nucleotide polymorphisms
• Genome wide associations between schizophrenia and specific genes
• Placental gene-expression loci

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is 31 July 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code GIIGV to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Thematic Series on "Current Perspectives of Chronic Stress: from Neurobiology to Treatment”, in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, edited by Guest Editor, Zoran M Pavlovic MD, Heruka Lifescience & Health Innovations. 

Upon submission, please use the promo code YZDWK for 20% off the advertised article processing charge and indicate that your manuscript will be considered for the Thematic Series of “Current Perspectives of Chronic Stress: from Neurobiology to Treatment”. The deadline for manuscripts is the 31st of July 2023.

For any inquiries, please email Darcy Hodge, Commissioning Editor at [email protected]

About the Thematic Series

A stressful situation – whether environmental, such as a looming work deadline, or psychological, such as persistent worry about losing a job – can trigger a cascade of stress-related neurotransmitter and hormonal changes resulting in well-orchestrated physiological reactions.

Our bodies are well equipped to handle stress in small doses, for instance when facing challenging life situations as in the case of eustress. On the other hand, long-term and continuous distressful events can exert serious effects on us. Yet, we ask, how do those somatic and nervous system strains form our experience of stress?

Although typical human responses to stressors show a certain degree of uniformity, personality type, age, sex, intensity, duration and exposure to previous stressful life events can specifically modulate our reactions to stressful situations. Therefore, investigating the neurobiological correlates of responses to chronic stress in the context of these variabilities can provide much richer knowledge on the impact of long-term environmental stressors on our mind and body functions.

The consequences of chronic stress are closely linked to overall health outcomes. This is associated with dysregulation of immunological functions leading to systematic and neuroinflammation and consequential health deterioration. Preventative treatments may assist in mitigating the long-term impact of stress, but equally, stress-reduction treatments and resilience boosting interventions can assist us at times when prevention is not feasible or suitable.

The journal is seeking original submissions and review articles on the following topics related to various aspects of chronic stress:

• Neurobiological and neurophysiological correlates of chronic stress
• Chronic stress-induced neurotransmitter, corticoid, and hormonal changes and their interplay in stress response
• Mind-body reactions to chronic stress: the influence of demographic and genetic variables
• Role of chronic stress in triggering major depression, anxiety, substance use, and neurodegenerative disorders
• Dysregulation of the immune system and associated systematic and neuroinflammation caused by exposure to long-term environmental stressors
• Oxidative and nitrosative stress biomarkers in the context of chronic stress
• Chronic stress in the workplace and its implications
• Implementing preventative treatments for chronic stress and chronic stress-related conditions
• Evaluation of efficacy of stress symptom reduction interventions
• Resilience enhancement strategies in the management of stress response

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Family and Peer Facilitated/Led Interventions for Severe Mental Health Problems", organized by Guest Advisors Professor Wai Tong Chien, Dr. Connie Yuen Yu Chong, and Dr. Patrick Pui Kor in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

This collection of research articles will focus on reporting recent controlled trials and mixed method studies of innovative, effective approaches to psychosocial interventions for serious mental health problems across life developmental stages, from the prevalent childhood disorders such as developmental and intellectual problems, severe mental disorders in adulthood such as schizophrenia and psychosis, mood disorders and substance use disorders, to cognitive and behavioral problems in older people such as Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia.

As suggested by current practice guidelines globally, family supported/oriented interventions are important and potentially more effective than solely involving patients living with and cared by their families. Working with families can involve psychoeducation, coping skills training and other therapeutic techniques with families of different mental disorders and involving/engaging different key persons from patients and family members/caregivers with the therapist to family caregivers as leaders/co-leaders of the intervention.

Peer support enables people with personal experience of mental health problems to better apply their experiential expertise to assist/facilitate people in self-care/management of own illness conditions and accessing mental health services in recovery process. This innovative approach has recently been recommended in policy/practice guidance internationally, reflecting a growing attention of the value of lived-experience expertise for facilitating recovery.

In view of the fast development of the above two intervention approaches, we would like to adopt this collection in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment to raise the recognition/applause of any innovative effective programs for helping these clients worldwide in need of family and peer support for treatment/rehabilitation. We highly welcome all kinds of clinical-/community-based research using controlled trial, mixed methods and exploratory or explanatory quantitative/qualitative research design on any innovative approach to intervention for serious mental health problems to enhance understanding about their effectiveness, cost-benefits and mechanism of actions across cultures.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors for this collection will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board. Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submissions is 31 July 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code FKHIL to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Therapeutic Response to Psychedelic Therapy – Who, What, Why & How?", organized by Guest Advisor Dr. James Rucker in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

Psilocybin and MDMA therapy are now in Phase 3 trials for Treatment Resistant Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, respectively. Meanwhile, other psychedelics are in earlier phases of development. Blinding is largely impossible in such trials, and psychological support is given as standard. A complex interplay between drug and non-drug effects is likely to mediate outcome.

Identifying this interplay may allow the optimization of the process of treatment by identifying key factors of "set" and "setting", informing models of therapy and how dosing session environments are set up. This could significantly impact how such treatments might be delivered, if they are approved for wider use. This collection focuses on non-drug factors that may serve as predictors and mediators of response to treatment with psychedelic therapy, including psilocybin, MDMA and related compounds. How might clinical trial designs be modified to capture salient factors beyond drug effects? Can open-science frameworks, "real world" trials and non-medical use of psychedelics be combined to interrogate "set" and "setting" in a way clinical trials cannot? If such research is fruitful, will it be clinically meaningful?

The article collection welcomes both data-driven, methodological and conceptual articles that explore these themes:
• Psilocybin
• MDMA
• Therapeutic response
• Predictors
• Mediators

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. The Guest Advisor for this collection will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts. Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submissions is 31 July 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code FGVBW to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to the upcoming Article Collection “Stroke and neurorestoratology” organized by Guest Advisors Professor Lin Chen, Professor Jianhua Zhao, and Professor Chao He in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

With the aging of the population, stroke is increasingly harmful to human health, especially the motor disorders, cognitive disorders, urinary disorders, psychological and emotional disorders caused by stroke, which will distress patients for a long time and bring heavy burden to society, families and caregivers.

Technology in neurorestoratology is increasingly mature, gradually playing key roles in the treatment of stroke. More and more stroke therapists and researchers pay attention to such technologies as neuroprotection, cytothesis, neuroregulation, brain-computer interaction, etc. This Article Collection will focus on the clinical trials of neurorestoratological technology in the treatment of stroke, as well as the related clinical observational study and mechanism research.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submissions is 31 July 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code RFFRC to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to the upcoming Article Collection “Inflammation, genetics, oxidative stress and disorders of neurodevelopment” organized by Guest Advisor Associate Professor Mohammed H. Hassan in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

Abnormal brain development underlies disorders of neurodevelopment, which include epilepsy, intellectual disability, developmental disability, and autism spectrum disorder. These illnesses can impair cognition, learning, behavior, and motor skills, in which the exact mechanisms and pathogenesis need more research, with some controversy of the current research and theories.

This Article Collection focuses on research involving various novel inflammatory and oxidative stress mechanisms or genetic associations that could be implicated in various disorders of neurodevelopment to provide novel mechanisms aiding in understanding the biology of these disorders and in their proper management. Original research articles only will be considered for submission.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors for this collection will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board. Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submissions is 1 September 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code LEFGD to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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Dove Medical Press is pleased to invite you to submit your research to an upcoming Article Collection on "Suicide Prevention and Intervention: Recent Evidence and Future Directions", organized by Guest Advisors Dr. Sidney Kennedy and Dr. Amanda Ceniti in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment.

Suicide is an ongoing global public health concern, with over 800,000 deaths annually worldwide, and an estimated 20-25 times more attempts. The enduring impacts on families and communities cannot be overstated, with recent estimates suggesting over 100 people are affected for each death by suicide. Risk and protective factors are complex, spanning biological factors such as brain connectivity and genetic markers, psychological factors such as hopelessness and psychological pain, and social/environmental factors such as housing insecurity and financial stress. Consistent with current understanding of mental health conditions, there are no single clinical or biological markers that definitively predict suicide-related outcomes, and integrated approaches may be more fruitful. Importantly, suicide is recognized as a transdiagnostic entity, occurring both across and outside of mental health conditions, providing an impetus to study its prevention and management in and of itself and not simply as a symptom of a mental health condition such as depression.

Unfortunately, despite increasing awareness and research interest in recent decades, suicide risk prediction remains imprecise. There is a need for rigorous research on evidence-based interventions and better understanding of risk and protective factors. It is also vital to recognize the higher risk among specific marginalized communities and the need for culturally competent care. This topic is especially urgent given the ongoing mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, in which early reports demonstrated an increase in suicidal thoughts.

This Article Collection seeks to collect and share recent perspectives in suicide research through a multidisciplinary, transdiagnostic lens. From neurobiological studies of suicide risk to qualitative studies exploring relevant social determinants of health, this collection will cover broad perspectives on suicide prevention, intervention, and management. We welcome Original Research and Review articles on the following themes:
• Clinical topics, including risk assessment and management
• Suicide prevention strategies, including reducing access to lethal means and digital health approaches
• Neurobiology of suicide, including neuroimaging, genetic, biological, or neurocognitive studies to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms involved in suicide risk and identify potential predictive markers
• Impact of COVID-19, from the broader global mental health and economic effects of the pandemic, to the direct individual impacts of COVID-19 infection and/or Long-COVID on suicide risk
• Specific populations who may have increased suicide risk, including LGBTQ2S+ communities, Indigenous communities, racialized groups, youth/young adults, and military/veteran populations
• Suicide intervention strategies, including the current evidence for psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, and psychosocial interventions

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of our standard editorial process. Guest Advisors for this collection will not be involved in peer-reviewing manuscripts unless they are an existing member of the Editorial Board. Please review the journal Aims and Scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2023.

Please submit your manuscript on our website, quoting the promo code AFTXM to indicate that your submission is for consideration in this Article Collection.

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