Internalization of homophobia and transphobia may undermine mental health benefits of religiosity or spirituality for LGBTQIA+ people, study finds

Mindfulness may offer LGBTQIA+ individuals a supportive spiritual pathway outside non‑affirming religious contexts, researcher says

McGill University

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Non-affirming religious doctrine may engender internalized homophobia or transphobia among LGBTQIA+ people of faith, undermining the positive mental health outcomes otherwise associated with religiosity and spirituality, a McGill study has found.

“There was a lot of diversity in what we found, but across all papers, internalized homo/bi/transphobia, an experience borne out of non-affirming religious doctrine, led to a slew of serious mental health outcomes, even unto substance use and suicide,” explained Kevin Prada, PhD student in Counselling Psychology and lead author of the paper, which synthesized the findings of 55 quantitative studies on the subject, representing over 500,000 respondents worldwide.

When LGBTQIA+ people receive non-affirming religious messages, they might engage in self-hate in order to be accepted and loved by a divine power and to belong in a community, Prada said.

Faith and mental health

Prada noted that generally, in the literature, religiosity and spirituality are positively associated with mental health, except for LGBTQIA+ individuals, where the situation is more mixed.

Spirituality can be understood as the internal connection a person holds in a higher power or to something greater than oneself. Religiosity, by contrast, is generally understood as more observable behaviours or expressions of belief, such as attending church or participating in rituals.

“When we look at spirituality and religiosity as something connecting us to something that's bigger than who we are, we can understand how that can give us a sense of purpose, a sense of meaning in life, as well as a really strong sense of belonging and community, which are all factors that we know are highly beneficial for people's mental health,” noted Prada.

“There are reasons why some queer people choose to stay even within non-affirming religions,” he added. “And there's also this theme we see of many LGBTQIA+ people around the globe leaving or even transforming, “queering” different non-affirming religious contexts into something that's actually more suited and more consistent, more congruent with who they are.”

Mindfulness as an alternative path

The review also highlights how mindfulness can be a way that LGBTQIA+ people stepping away from a non-affirming religious group can fill the void and obtain the protective effects of spirituality.

Prada, who is part of the McGill Mindfulness Research Lab led by Professor Bassam Khoury, also a co-author of the paper, explained that he hopes to develop a mindfulness-based intervention as part of his larger research work.

A complementary qualitative research review is also in the works, he said, which will aim to better explain the findings of this study and include larger samples of Two Spirit individuals and others whose experiences have not sufficiently been captured by quantitative research.

About the study

“Called by Name: A Systematic Review of the Quantitative Literature on the Relationship Between Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health for LGBTQIA+ People-of-Faith” by Kevin Prada, Naomie Lemyre and Bassam Khoury was published in the Journal of Homosexuality.

This research was supported by the Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard and by the Quebec Network on Suicide, Mood Disorders and Associated Disorders (RQSHA).

---

Journal

Journal of Homosexuality

DOI

10.1080/00918369.2026.2614619 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Called by Name: A Systematic Review of the Quantitative Literature on the Relationship Between Religiosity/Spirituality and Mental Health for LGBTQIA+ People-of-Faith

 

The brain’s emotional hub is linked to alcohol use differently in young men and women

A study in Biological Psychiatry identifies divergent neural pathways that could guide effective, sex-specific prevention and intervention strategies

Elsevier

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBluesky
Email

April 13, 2026 – New research shows that the threat-response in the brain’s amygdala (which processes emotions) is linked to different patterns of drinking by sex. In young males, heightened amygdala reactivity was linked to increased depressive symptoms, which in turn predicted heavier alcohol consumption. In young females, no such pathway existed. Instead, greater amygdala reactivity was associated with lower levels of problematic drinking. The findings from the study in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, address a critical gap in our understanding of the underlying neurological mechanisms that lead to harmful drinking patterns in males and females, which is increasingly important for designing effective prevention and intervention programs.

Problematic alcohol use is most prevalent during young adulthood, a period characterized by increased frequency of drinking and elevated rates of binge consumption. While alcohol use often declines with increasing age (“maturing out”), early and frequent alcohol use in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of developing Alcohol Use Disorder later in life.

Previous findings on sex differences in depression-related drinking have been inconsistent. “Some studies found depressive symptoms more predictive of alcohol problems in women, others in men, and nobody really had a good explanation as to why,” explains lead author Annika Rosenthal, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin. “We thought that looking at the underlying neuroscience, specifically at how the brain processes negative emotions, might help clarify things. The amygdala was an obvious candidate given its established role in both mood disorders and alcohol use.”

Previous research has linked amygdala reactivity to both depression and alcohol use separately, but biological sex was rarely examined as a formal moderator. This study addresses that gap.

Researchers analyzed data from 958 19-year-olds in the IMAGEN study, a large European multisite research project that tracks adolescent brain development. Participants underwent functional MRI (fMRI) while viewing video clips of faces displaying threatening expressions. Amygdala activation in response to these stimuli was then measured. The investigators tested whether this neural measure predicted hazardous drinking, with depressive symptoms as a mediator and biological sex as a moderator.

The study found that male participants reported higher levels of problematic drinking, while female participants reported more depressive symptoms. The research team was surprised to find that despite higher depression scores, females did not show the neural pathway linking brain responses to drinking that was found in males. Specifically, the path from amygdala activation to depressive symptoms was significant in males but not in females.

“Additionally, we observed a highly significant negative association specifically in females: greater neural threat sensitivity was linked to lower alcohol risk scores. This suggests a ‘threat-avoidance’ profile in young females, where a more reactive amygdala may actually act as a protective factor against hazardous drinking. While the overall statistical difference between biological sexes for this specific direct link was just above the traditional threshold, the effect within the female group was striking,“ notes Dr. Rosenthal.

Importantly, the sex difference emerged in the link between amygdala reactivity and depressive symptoms, rather than in how depressive symptoms related to drinking.

John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, concludes, “We can now point to a specific neural mechanism in the relationship between amygdala activation and heavy drinking: the amygdala's response to social threat appears to feed into depressive symptoms much more strongly in young males than in young females. This adds to growing insights into differences in the drivers of pathological drinking in men and women, which can help to develop more targeted prevention and intervention.”

Based on these findings, the study’s authors suggest that while targeting depressive symptoms is important for everyone, the neural origins of those symptoms may differ by biological sex. These findings highlight the importance of considering sex-specific mechanisms, while warranting further research to better understand their implications.

 

---

Journal

Biological Psychiatry

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2026.02.007 

Method of Research

Imaging analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

The Sex-Dependent Relationship Between Amygdala Activation and Depressive Symptoms With Problematic Drinking

COI Statement

The authors’ affiliations and disclosures of financial relationships and conflicts of interest are available in the article. John H. Krystal, MD, is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial relationships and conflicts of interest are available at https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/content/bps-editorial-disclosures.

 

How enriching the environment may combat fentanyl addiction

Rat study shows that introducing new objects in a nonsocial environment dampens fentanyl use over time and relapse-like behavior triggered by stress.

Society for Neuroscience

Facebook

WeChatBluesky
Email

 

image: 

This image depicts how enriched housing (right) influences fentanyl use, seeking, and stress-triggered relapse compared to standard housing (left).

view more 

Credit: Jessica A. Higginbotham

Combating the opioid crisis relies on identifying new prevention strategies for problematic fentanyl use. In a collaboration between Washington State University and Washington University in St. Louis, researchers led by Jose Moron tested whether enriching a rat’s environment can reduce fentanyl use and relapse.  

The researchers housed rats individually in either standard conditions or environments with new objects and measured fentanyl use across stages modeling human addiction: ongoing use, quitting, and relapse triggered by stress. Environmental enrichment reduced fentanyl intake over time and helped animals stop seeking the drug faster. Notably, when exposed to a stressful trigger, rats in enriched environments showed a much weaker relapse response compared to those in standard conditions. Rats in enriched environments also had lower levels of stress hormones, which were linked to relapse in those with standard conditions. 

According to the researchers, their work suggests that supplying rats with new objects in nonsocial environments can protect against fentanyl use and relapse. Says Jose Moron-Concepcion, “Because these strategies do not rely on social interaction, they may be easier to implement in real-world settings, including treatment programs and recovery environments. More broadly, this work highlights the powerful role of the environment and stress in addiction. Enrichment-based approaches could complement existing treatments and offer a scalable way to reduce opioid use and relapse risk.” 

### 

Please contact media@sfn.org for the full-text PDF. 

About eNeuro 

eNeuro is an online, open-access journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. Established in 2014, eNeuro publishes a wide variety of content, including research articles, short reports, reviews, commentaries and opinions. 

About The Society for Neuroscience 

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries. 

---

Journal

eNeuro

DOI

10.1523/ENEURO.0447-25.2026 

Article Title

Environmental Enrichment Attenuates Fentanyl-Seeking Behavior and Protects Against Stress-Induced Reinstatement in Both Male and Female Rats

Article Publication Date

13-Apr-2026

New study shows limitations of naloxone in reversing overdoses from powerful synthetic opioids

Anesthesiologists urge caution: Always call 911 and be prepared to administer additional doses

American Society of Anesthesiologists

LinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

Key Takeaways:

• Naloxone may not fully reverse overdoses caused by newer, stronger synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and sufentanil.

• Immediate emergency response is critical — always call 911 and be ready to give additional doses as needed.

• Current overdose protocols need to be updated to address challenges posed by evolving opioid misuse and more potent drugs.

CHICAGO — A new study exposes challenges in reversing opioid overdoses with naloxone when potent synthetic drugs like fentanyl and sufentanil are involved, according to a study in the May 2026 issue of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA). The findings raise important alarms for health care professionals and the public as the opioid crisis continues.

“Our study shows that the current doses of naloxone may not be sufficient to reverse overdoses caused by newer synthetic opioids,” said study lead author Maarten A. van Lemmen, Ph.D., of the Department of Anesthesiology and Anesthesia and Pain Research Unit at Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. “We hope these findings encourage institutions to update guidelines and reinforce the importance of fast emergency intervention.”

The study, that included 30 participants, found that while naloxone can be lifesaving, a single dose may not always completely reverse respiratory depression caused by powerful synthetic opioids. The study tested naloxone’s effectiveness in both people who had never used opioids and those who used them every day.

Fentanyl and fentanyl-like drugs now account for the majority of overdose deaths in the United States, with estimates ranging from 60% to 79%. Because these drugs bind more tightly to opioid receptors, they can be harder to reverse with a standard dose of naloxone, especially in people exposed to high levels or more potent drugs.

The study authors emphasize:

• Because naloxone is less reliable against stronger opioids, it is vital to call 911 immediately when an overdose is suspected, even if naloxone has been administered.
• The effects of naloxone may wear off quickly, and additional doses may be needed to keep the person safe until medical help arrives.
• Current overdose response guidelines were developed for older, weaker opioids, so there is an urgent need to update practices and design better tools as opioid misuse continues to change.

In an accompanying editorial by James P. Rathmell, M.D., Anesthesiology editor-in-chief and Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and Steven E. Kern, Ph.D., Adjunct Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Bioengineering, University of Utah, explain that the study shows that when someone gets naloxone, they may wake up and seem alert before they are breathing normally again. In other words, looking “awake” doesn’t always mean they’re fully recovered. Their breathing can still be slow or inadequate—even though they appear responsive. This is especially important with very strong opioids like sufentanil, where this mismatch between appearance (awake) and true recovery (safe breathing) can be more pronounced.

“This distinction has immediate implications for patient safety, observation practices, and dosing strategies, and helps explain why resedation and delayed respiratory instability continue to occur despite timely naloxone administration,” they said.

Learn how to recognize and reduce opioid and drug-related mortality at ASA’s REVIVEme page.

THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF ANESTHESIOLOGISTS
Founded in 1905, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is an educational, research and scientific society with more than 60,000 members organized to advance the medical practice of anesthesiology and secure its future. ASA is committed to ensuring anesthesiologists evaluate and supervise the medical care of all patients before, during, and after surgery. ASA members also lead the care of critically ill patients in intensive care units, as well as treat pain in both acute and chronic settings.

For more information on the field of anesthesiology, visit the American Society of Anesthesiologists online at asahq.org. To learn more about how anesthesiologists help ensure patient safety, visit asahq.org/madeforthismoment. Follow ASA on Facebook, X, Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

Follow the Anesthesiology journals on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and LinkedIn.

# # #

 

Prenatal opioid exposure in babies doesn’t predict future classroom performance

Penn State

Facebook

XLinkedInWeChatBluesky
Email

HERSHEY, Pa. — Every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition that occurs in newborns who have been exposed to opioids in the womb and develop withdrawal after birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Historically, research has focused on the impact of NAS — also known as neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome — on the health and development of young children, which has found that prenatal opioid exposure is associated with increased risk for adverse developmental, cognitive and behavioral outcomes in early childhood.

However, opioid exposure may play a minimal role in neurodevelopmental outcomes by the time the babies with NAS reach the classroom, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State College of Medicine. They compared school-aged children with and without a history of NAS and found that the two groups performed similarly on standardized tests when socioeconomic and environmental factors were taken into account. The findings suggest that external factors like school quality, economic status, race and the mother’s education level have a greater influence on academic outcomes. The study was published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health - Americas.

“Historically, we’ve been quick to blame prenatal opioid exposure for poor academic achievement, but it appears that socio-environmental factors play a much larger role,” said Tammy Corr, associate professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine and corresponding author on the study. “There’s every reason to believe that these children can do well and thrive when given the right resources.”

Academic achievement can be a good indicator of both prior neurodevelopment in early childhood and future success as an adult, Corr said. In this study, the researchers evaluated standardized test scores for English/Language Arts and math for 3,494 students from grades three through eight — 23% with a history of NAS and 77% without.

To determine if test performance was influenced by NAS or other factors, the researchers compared children with NAS and a control group matched for age, sex, mother’s education level and health insurance type at birth.

The data were derived from the South Carolina Integrated Data System, which integrates data on health, demographics, socioeconomics, social services and education from across multiple state agencies. The researchers explained that this uniquely integrated database can connect a mother and child in a way that allows researchers to follow the pair longitudinally over time. While the data comes from South Carolina, Corr said that the results could be generalized to the broader population in the United States because the socioeconomic and environmental factors present for the children with a history of NAS in this study are strikingly similar to previously published literature from studies across the United States.

After controlling for age, sex and socioeconomic factors, there were minimal differences in standardized test scores from students with and without a history of NAS. Mean English/Language Arts test scores were similar between the two groups. In math, there was a small but statistically significant drop in test scores among students with a history of NAS.

Overall, children in the study scored below the state average across all grades, regardless of NAS history. While children in the study were from across the state, because of the matching strategy, more than 30% were born to a mother with less than a high school degree, and 85% were either uninsured or insured by Medicaid, which is typically an indicator of socioeconomic status, the researchers explained.

Factors like attending a lower-rated school, limited access to early childhood education and other indicators of economic stress, such as participation in Women, Infants and Children (WIC) supplemental nutrition program, played a much larger role in determining a student’s academic performance. Children of non-Hispanic Black mothers also scored approximately a grade level lower than non-Hispanic white students on the tests. The researchers also found that test scores rose with increasing levels of maternal education.

“Based on previous literature, I expected to see a more prominent difference in academic performance,” Corr said. “But when you start to put the whole story together — they didn’t have access to early childhood education to give them a solid head start, they’re enrolled in poorly rated schools, their families may be struggling with financial insecurities — it’s not hard to understand why kids with a history of NAS may not be performing as well as some of their peers.”

The research team will continue to build on this work with the goal of teasing apart the factors that make a difference in long-term academic achievement through interviews with parents and guardians of school-aged children who have a history of prenatal opioid exposure and NAS to gain a deeper understanding of the day-to-day experiences that may promote or interfere with a child’s success in school.

Other Penn State College of Medicine authors include Emily Wasserman and Eric Schaefer, biostatisticians on the project.

Funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse supported this work.

---

Journal

The Lancet Regional Health - Americas

DOI

10.1016/j.lana.2026.101459 

Article Title

Longitudinal academic achievement in children with a history of neonatal abstinence syndrome: a retrospective observational cohort study

Article Publication Date

1-Jun-2026

 

Largest study of pregnancy sickness uncovers six new genetic links

The study, which analyzed DNA from more than 10,000 women, identified a total of 10 genes linked to the most severe form of pregnancy sickness, hyperemesis gravidarum, pointing to biological mechanisms behind it and potential new treatment pathways.

Keck School of Medicine of USC

FacebookX

LinkedInWeChatBlueskyMessageWhatsAppEmail

The USC research team that recently identified the hormone-encoding gene GDF15 as a key driver of pregnancy sickness has identified 9 additional genes linked to its most severe form, hyperemesis gravidarum (HG).  Six of these genes had not been previously linked to the condition. 

HG, which affects about 2% of women, causes nausea and vomiting so severe that eating can become extremely difficult.  The condition was long misunderstood and often dismissed as psychological. But growing evidence shows it has a strong biological and genetic basis and can lead to severe malnourishment, putting both mother and baby at risk.

In the largest genetic study of HG to date, researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC and their international collaborators analyzed data from 10,974 women with the condition and 461,461 controls across European, Asian, African and Latino ancestries. The findings, just published in Nature Genetics, offer new clues about the condition and new hope for those affected.

“Because this is the largest study of HG ever conducted, we’ve been able to tease out important new details that were previously unknown,” said Marlena Fejzo, PhD, a clinical assistant professor of population and public health sciences in the Center for Genetic Epidemiology at the Keck School of Medicine, who led the present study and earlier research linking GDF15 to HG. “The fact that we’ve studied women from multiple ancestry groups suggests that these results may be generalizable across a broad population.”

The researchers identified 10 genes linked to HG—four previously identified and six new. The strongest link by far was to growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), a gene that produces a hormone of the same name, which rises sharply during pregnancy. Earlier research by Fejzo  and an international team showed that the link lies in women’s sensitivity to the hormone: Women exposed to lower levels of the hormone before pregnancy because of a mutation in the gene experience more severe symptoms, while women exposed to higher levels of the hormone before pregnancy have less severe nausea and vomiting symptoms.

The other genes identified relate to key pregnancy hormones, appetite and nausea, insulin and metabolism, how the brain learns and adapts, and certain pregnancy outcomes.

“Now that we’ve more than doubled the genes associated with HG, we can dig deeper into the biology behind this condition, as well as new possible pathways for treating it,” Fejzo said.

The genetic basis of HG

The researchers conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS), scanning the entire genome for differences between women who developed HG during pregnancy and those who did not.

The four genes previously identified were GDF15; GFRAL, which produces the receptor for the GDF15 hormone; and IGFBP7 and PGR, both of which are involved in development of the placenta.

The six newly identified genes offer further clues that might help explain the basis of HG or point to new ways of treating it. They include FSHB, TCFL72 SLITRK1, SYN3, IGSF11 and CDH9.

TCF7L2 stands out because it is one of the strongest genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes and is also associated with gestational diabetes. It may influence glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a gut hormone that controls blood sugar and can influence appetite and nausea.

“This is a brand-new target, and it’s not yet clear what it’s doing in pregnancy,” Fejzo said.

Several of the other genes identified are involved in appetite and nausea, as well as brain plasticity, or how the brain learns and adapts to new information. Fejzo suggests the brain may learn to associate certain foods with feeling sick, leading to strong, lasting aversions during pregnancy. More research is needed to explore this possibility.

The researchers also found that some genes linked to HG were associated with other pregnancy outcomes, including shorter pregnancy length and preeclampsia, a serious blood pressure condition. 

Treating pregnancy sickness

Several medications are available for treating HG, but even the most effective, Zofran, only partly relieves symptoms for about half of patients. The findings reveal new potential treatment targets and could possibly also help match existing medications to patients based on their genetic profiles.

Fejzo and her team just received approval to launch a clinical trial of metformin, a widely used diabetes medicine that increases GDF15 levels. The study will test whether taking metformin before pregnancy can desensitize women to the hormone, potentially reducing nausea and vomiting or preventing HG in women who have had it before.

About this research

In addition to Fejzo, the study’s other authors are Xinran Wang, Qing Tan, Artem Kim, Steven Gazal, Chang Shu and Nicholas Mancuso from the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and the Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California; Julia Zöllner, Sarah Finer and David A. van Heel from Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom; Natàlia Pujol-Gualdo and Triin Laisk from the University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia; the Estonian Biobank Research Team; the Genes & Health Research Team; Ben Brumpton, Laxmi Bhatta and Kristian Hveem from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Elizabeth A. Jasper, Digna R. Velez Edwards, Jacklyn N. Hellwege and Todd Edwards from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee; Gail P. Jarvik from the University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, Washington; Yuan Luo from Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; Atlas Khan from Columbia University, New York, New York; Kimber MacGibbon from the Hyperemesis Education and Research Foundation, Clackamas, Oregon; Yuan Gao and Gaoxiang Ge from the Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China; Inna Averbukh, Erin Soon and Michael Angelo from Stanford University, Stanford, California; Per Magnus from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Stefan Johansson, Pål R. Njølstad and Marc Vaudel from the University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

This work was supported by federal and private agencies across the world, including the National Institutes of Health, under grants R01HG012133, R01CA258808, R01GM140287 and U54HG013243. A full list of funders can be found in the online publication. 

---

Journal

Nature Genetics

DOI

10.1038/s41588-026-02564-4 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Multi-ancestry genome-wide association study of severe pregnancy nausea and vomiting

Article Publication Date

14-Apr-2026

COI Statement

The authors declare the existence of financial/non-financial competing interests. MF: Hyperemesis Education and Research (HER) Foundation (voluntary Board member and Research Director); Harmonia Healthcare (CSO, stock, paid consultant); NGM Biosciences (stock, paid consultant); Foundation for Women's Health (voluntary Board member); The Morning Sickness Clinic, voluntary Chief Scientific Officer). The remaining authors declare no competing interests.