Trainee Psychiatrist, Neurorehab RMO, PhD Student: TBI & Autism (@ReSpectLabKCL). Interested in Interoception, Computational Psychiatry, Alexithymia, FND, Embodiment. Sonic Queer.https://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3mbghhqvoek2sFirst paper to look at 5-HT release in vivo in schizophrenia, suggesting increased release (5-HT2A receptor availability not altered) in the frontal cortex, correlating with worse motivational symptoms, potentially by devaluing immediate reward shorturl.at/8Tfru https://shorturl.at/8Tfru02 Jan 2026 08:18 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbghhqvoek2shttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3ma4dxadpa22jBeautiful takedown of the autism-microbiome hypothesis by Kevin Mitchell et al - Built on “pseudo-triangulation”: weak observational, mouse & clinical studies made to look convergent. ✅B Autism → behavioural/dietary differences → microbiome variation, not the reverse https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273%2825%2900785-816 Dec 2025 14:23 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma4dxadpa22jhttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lpo563ayis2sLoved this talk by Leon Li at the Royal Society on how social identity may have evolved as part of our human capacity & motivation for shared agency; putting “we” over “me” - with the original form of social identity not being race/class, but moral identity as a cooperative group member....21 May 2025 08:02 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lpo563ayis2shttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lim3lalomc2pPowerful study - used Mendelian Randomisation to show loneliness causally increased 5 proteins widely linked to various inflammatory and metabolic blood biomarkers but also brain regions involved in interoception, emotion, and social processes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02078-120 Feb 2025 10:32 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lim3lalomc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lganqegka22tInteresting findings from this Phase 3 RCT of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD: Participants w/ higher baseline alexithymia saw the greatest PTSD symptom reduction, & the MDMA group saw a significant decrease in TAS-20 (DDF, DIF) scores. n.b. blinding challenges! https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10781106/21 Jan 2025 10:34 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lganqegka22thttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lfowgqczkc26🚨 New meta-analysis highlights psychiatric diagnoses in persons with epilepsy (565,443 PWE vs. 13,434,208 controls) 1️⃣ Autism Spectrum Disorder: OR 10.67 2️⃣ Psychotic Disorder: OR 3.98 3️⃣ ADHD: OR 3.93 4️⃣ Schizophrenia: OR 3.72 5️⃣ Bipolar Disorder: OR 3.12 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2827126?guestAccessKey=f1e9d6b7-028a-4f5a-960d-ec746068b4da&utm_source=silverchair&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_alert-jamaneurology&utm_content=etoc&utm_term=011425&utm_adv=null14 Jan 2025 09:22 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfowgqczkc26https://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3ldnjsofyuc25Aphantasia as “Blindsight for the Mind’s Eye” – a fantastic letter presenting evidence (e.g., mental rotation tasks, forced choice tasks) that aphantasics may have nonconscious visual representations, not a true absence of imagery 💭👁️🪬🧠 Via @jorge-morales.bsky.social philarchive.org/rec/MICAAI-5 https://philarchive.org/rec/MICAAI-519 Dec 2024 09:13 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldnjsofyuc25https://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3ldipc3skxk2fI (masochistically) enjoyed getting my head (almost) around Body as First Teacher on the Visceral Afferent Training Hypothesis – how the body’s rhythms (e.g. heartbeats) train the developing brain, shaping its architecture & building predictive models foundational for cognition tinyurl.com/572pze6k17 Dec 2024 11:08 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldipc3skxk2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lbysy3f6wc2fBrilliant critique by Thomas Pollak on the rise of inflammation as a monocausal/catch-all explanation for complex conditions: "Inflammation has become the go-to explanatory model for those disillusioned by ambiguity and complexity" A must-read ❤️ https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awae381/790609428 Nov 2024 10:06 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbysy3f6wc2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/richcolepsych.bsky.social/post/3lbf3wwkttk23Enjoyed this article challenging the singular and classic reward prediction error role of dopamine https://www.thetransmitter.org/dopamine/reconstructing-dopamines-link-to-reward/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email20 Nov 2024 13:53 +0000at://did:plc:eejen4g3ya2emf7ockv3bhxg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lbf3wwkttk23