Schizophrenia is a mental disorder causing a range of psychological symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disordered thinking, and abnormal motor behaviour, and which is considered by many as a neurodevelopmental disorder (Murray & Lewis, 1987; Weinberger, 2003). It affects 0.5–1% of the worldwide population, with a common onset in late adolescence to early adulthood (Perälä … Read More
Neurons interact with each other through electrical events called action potentials and the release of chemical signals called neurotransmitters (Lodish et al., 2000). The neurotransmitter life cycle can be broken down into six component processes: synthesis, storage, release, receptor interaction, reuptake, and degradation (Beckstead, 1996). Each of these steps can be impacted by drugs in … Read More
Depression is a mental disorder characterised by clinical symptoms including low mood, rumination, functional impairment, retardation, and somatic syndromes such as sleep disturbances and loss of appetite (Lorr et al., 1967). Antidepressants were serendipitously discovered in the 1950s, when Iproniazid, a drug originally prescribed as a treatment for tuberculosis, was shown to induce increased vitality … Read More
In humans, stress can be defined as an actual or anticipated disruption of homeostasis in an individual (Ulrich-Lai & Herman, 2009). The brain plays a central role in the experience of stressful events and the regulation of stress: it adapts to stress both functionally and structurally, and dictates how individuals cope with stress (McEwen & … Read More
Deinstitutionalisation – which can be defined as the diversion of people with a mental disorder to community mental health services, reducing the population of psychiatric hospitals, the number of psychiatric bed-days, and broadening the responsibilities of other service entities such as general hospitals and residential care (Bachrach, 1989) – started in Italy in the 1960s … Read More
Ness Labs was a signatory of an open letter to the British government to restore the right to work for people seeking asylum six months after arriving in the UK. Other signatories included Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia), Chieu Cao (co-founder of Perkbox), Mike Butcher (chairman of Techfugees), and Philip Salter (founder of The Entrepreneur … Read More
Research at Ness Labs focuses on mental wellness, productivity, consumer psychology, and new relationship models. All articles are open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. These are working papers, and hence they represent research in progress. They represent the opinions of the author, and are the product of professional … Read More
My name is Anne-Laure Le Cunff. I’m an ex-Googler, writer, and neuroeducation PhD researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. I spend most of my time writing evidence-based articles and building a community at Ness Labs, as well as supporting clients with tailored advice with their personal and professional … Read More
You’re a maker: an entrepreneur, a designer, a coder, a writer, a podcaster. Every day, you have to turn information into insight. You’re at your happiest when you feel creative and productive. You’re ambitious, but you don’t want to sacrifice your mental health to achieve your goals. Then you really ought to understand all the … Read More
Lysa was a Facebook Messenger bot delivering tailored nutritional advice in a fun and engaging way. ☆ April 2017✞ April 2018 Team → Anne-Laure Le Cunff (strategy & design)→ Jay Li (technology)→ Katarina Burton, RD (content) Press Lysa was featured in WIRED, Forbes, The Future Laboratory, Business Cloud, and more.