Ravid Doron

As mental health challenges continue to rise, there is increasing interest in interventions that promote psychological change through emotionally and experientially rich states. One well-studied example involves mystical-type experiences, typically reported in psychedelic-assisted interventions. Virtual reality (VR), with its immersive and embodied qualities, has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological medium for eliciting phenomenologically similar states. This study investigated the medium-specific contribution of VR to such altered states of consciousness. In a controlled experiment, 70 participants viewed the same emotionally evocative short film either via an immersive VR headset or on a standard computer screen. Responses on the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) indicated significantly higher scores across all dimensions in the VR group. These results highlight VR’s potential as a tool for evoking transformative experiences and suggest that immersive technologies may not merely transmit content but actively shape emotional and cognitive processes.

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains the most prevalent cause of dementia, yet no existing treatment effectively prevents its onset. Current therapies primarily aim to slow disease progression or manage symptoms, leaving a critical gap in preventive strategies. Recent findings suggest that ultra-low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol (ULD-THC) may exert neuroprotective effects without the adverse consequences associated with chronic THC use. This study investigates whether preventive ULD-THC treatment can mitigate neuroinflammation and early cognitive decline in the 5xFAD mouse model of AD, with a specific focus on sex differences in treatment response. Methods: Male and female 5xFAD mice received monthly ULD-THC injections from 3 to 5 months of age, before significant pathology emerged. At 6 months, behavioral assessments were conducted, followed by molecular analyses of hippocampal and prefrontal cortex (PFC) tissue. Results: Results indicated that ULD-THC attuned AD-related cognitive decline in both males and females, with sex-specific neuroinflammatory responses. Males exhibited reduced hippocampal inflammation, whereas females showed reduced inflammation in the PFC, suggesting distinct neuroprotective mechanisms across sexes. Conclusions: These findings highlight ULD-THC’s potential as a preventive strategy for AD, emphasizing the importance of sex-dependent therapeutic approaches. By attenuating neuroinflammatory processes before cognitive deficits fully manifest, ULD-THC offers a novel, biologically targeted approach to AD prevention. Future research should explore its long-term efficacy and translational potential in clinical settings.

The use of virtual reality (VR) technology is becoming more common and can be harnessed as a tool to improve various emotional and psychological aspects. The present research explored whether different kinds of VR experience (i.e., active versus passive) would differently affect people’s mood, anxiety and sadness. Undergraduate students (n = 133) were randomly assigned to three study conditions: active game VR experience, passive VR experience and control 2D passive viewing and filled out a battery of questionnaires before and after manipulation. The results show that following both VR exposures (but not following the control condition), participants’ moods improved, and the degree of anxiety was reduced. The degree of sadness was reduced only following the active game VR experience. Regarding self-efficacy, it was higher in the passive VR experience but lower following the active game VR experience (and not affected by the control condition). In conclusion, the results indicate that short VR experiences could provide a suitable alternative for the lack of accessible treatments to improve mood and to alleviate levels of anxiety and sadness, although further research is needed to tailor and refine the exact VR experience that would best improve each specific psychological aspect.

Editorial: Alzheimer-related affective symptoms – mechanism and treatment

Background: We aimed to assess whether stress, boredom, drinking motives, and/or inhibitory control were related to alcohol use during a period of social isolation. Method: Analyses were carried out on questionnaire data (N = 337) collected during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (7 April–3 May 2020). We first assessed changes in drinking behavior, stress and boredom. We then regressed drinking behavior on drinking motives, inhibitory control, stress, and boredom. We also investigated interactions between change in stress/boredom and inhibitory control. Results: A minority of respondents reported increased alcohol use (units = 23.52%, drinking days = 20.73%, heavy days = 7.06%), alcohol-related problems (9.67%), and stress (36.63%). Meanwhile, most respondents reported increased boredom (67.42%). Similarly, boredom significantly increased (B = 21.22, p < .001), on average, while alcohol-related problems decreased (B = −1.43 p < .001). Regarding drinking motives, decreased alcohol-related problems were associated with social drinking motives (B = −0.09, p = .005). Surprisingly, risk-taking was associated with decreased alcohol-related problems (B = −0.02, p = .008) and neither stress nor boredom independently predicted changes in alcohol use. Finally, several significant interactions suggested that those who were more impulsive and less bored were more likely to report increased alcohol use and vice versa. Conclusions: These data provide a nuanced overview of changes in drinking-related behavior during the COVID-19-induced period of social isolation. While most people reduced their drinking, there was evidence of complex interactions between impulsivity and boredom that may be explored in future studies.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, but there is still no available treatment. Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is emerging as a promising therapeutic agent. Using THC in conventional high doses may have deleterious effects. Therefore, we propose to use an ultra-low dose of THC (ULD-THC). We previously published that a single injection of ULD-THC ameliorated cognitive functioning in several models of brain injuries as well as in naturally aging mice. Here, 5xFAD AD model mice received a single treatment of ULD-THC (0.002 mg/kg) after disease onset and were examined in two separate experiments for cognitive functions, neurotropic, and inflammatory factors in the hippocampus. We show that a single injection of ULD-THC alleviated cognitive impairments in 6- and 12-month-old 5xFAD mice. On the biochemical level, our results indicate an imbalance between the truncated TrkB receptor isoform and the full receptor, with AD mice showing a greater tendency to express the truncated receptor, and ULD-THC improved this imbalance. We also investigated the expression of three AD-related inflammatory markers and found an ameliorating effect of ULD-THC. The current research demonstrates for the first time the beneficial effects of a single ultra-low dose of THC in a mouse model of AD after disease onset.

Editorial: The burden of stress and depression – new insight into faster and efficient treatment