There is a common frustration for patients using antidepressants for the first time.
The antidepressants either take weeks to be effective or they may never be effective.
The major reason for this has been a long standing mystery among clinicians.
But a recent research finding may have uncovered a clear and logical cause of this problem.
Using ASMR videos to improve prisoner behavior may sound like a strange idea, but could it work?
The best support for this idea comes from the American Psychological Association (APA) which recently put out a press release titled, “Can nature videos help improve prisoner behavior?”
The press release is about a research study which investigated the effects of nature videos to reduce aggressive behavior among inmates.
Did it work?
A short article about ASMR was posted this week on a website run by the National Sleep Foundation (a non-profit organization located in Washington, DC, USA).
This is very important because it may be the largest, and perhaps the first, education and science-focused organization to not only acknowledge ASMR, but to encourage people to try ASMR for relaxation and insomnia.
Beverley “Bev” Fredborg recently received her B.Sc. degree in Biopsychology from the University of Winnipeg and will soon be starting a Master’s degree program in Clinical Psychology at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada.
She is currently a research assistant with Dr. Stephen Smith, an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Winnipeg.
I initially interviewed this duo in July of 2015 when they began to work together on an ASMR survey project.
And now I am fortunate to do another interview with them about their very recent and exciting ASMR research publication involving fMRI.
Jolien Morren has her Bachelor’s degree in Marine biology and Ecology & Evolution and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Biology and Science Communication and Society at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
Jolien also creates ASMR videos for her YouTube channel, RelaxingSounds92, and for her blog, Sepiola.
I was very interested in talking with Jolien about ASMR after reading the subtitle of her blog, “Biologist and science communicator in the making, ASMR YouTuber, blogger”.
I knew she would have some valuable biological, evolutionary, and other related thoughts about ASMR.
In 2015, Emma Barratt and Nick Davis published the first peer-reviewed research study about ASMR. Their data were collected from online surveys and were very helpful to provide support about the sensations and potential applications of ASMR.
Now, Stephen Smith, Beverley Fredborg, and Jennifer Kornelsen from the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada have published the second peer-reviewed research study about ASMR.
A key difference between these two publication is that the more recent publication by Smith et al is the first biological publication about ASMR.
William Halimou (Will) is a 4th year undergraduate student at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, USA. He is a neuroscience major with a strong interest in music composition and ASMR.
For his Sensory Neuroscience Senior Seminar course he decided to write a review paper about music-induced chills, and he also included ASMR in his paper.
Will shared his paper with me and I found it very well researched and written. His depth of knowledge on music-induced chills and interest in ASMR made him a terrific resource for comparing these two phenomena.
Michelle Woodall is a Counselor and Psychotherapist in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
She has her B.Sc. in Mathematics and Economics with a Certificate of Counseling from the University of Birmingham, along with a Diploma in Person Centred Counseling from the University of Warwick.
Michelle’s areas of focus include depression and/or anxiety in the Highly Sensitive Person.
She recently wrote a series of articles about the Highly Sensitive Person which included ASMR. I reached out to Michelle to learn more about the term Highly Sensitive Person and how it may relate to ASMR.
It could still be a long time until ASMR is a clinician-recommended therapy for disorders like insomnia, anxiety, or depression.
How long? Hard to say but a recent publication about the therapeutic use of yoga gives a valuable perspective to this timeline for ASMR.
Jasmin Ojalainen is a 3rd year undergraduate student at City University London in the United Kingdom. She is a Journalism major and was recently assigned to write an article as a final project in a Science Journalism class.
Jasmin chose to write her scientific article about ASMR.
She interviewed individuals whom experience ASMR, ASMR researchers at the University of Sheffield, a neuroscientist at Liverpool John Moores University, myself, and she additionally included some data from the first peer-reviewed publication about ASMR.
ASMR University 