Do Not Disturb
The Happiness Crash of 2020
Sam Peltzman
University of Chicago Working Paper, March 2026
Abstract:
I document a sudden, sharp and historically unprecedented decline in self-reported happiness in the US population. It occurred during 2020, the year of the Covid pandemic, and mainly persists through 2024. This happiness crash spread across nearly all typical demographics and geographies. The happiest groups pre-Covid (e.g., whites, high income, well-educated and politically/ideologically right-leaning) tend to show the largest happiness reductions. The glaring exception is marital status, which has consistently been an important marker for happiness. The already wide happiness premium for marriage has, if anything, become slightly wider. With both married and unmarried reporting large declines in happiness the country has become segregated: slightly over half -- the married adults -- remain happy on balance; the unmarried, nearly half, are now distinctly unhappy. I also show that across a number of aspects of personal and social capital post-Covid deterioration is the norm, including a collapse of belief in the fairness of others and of trust in the US Supreme Court.
Reducing PTSD symptoms through unconscious intervention
Qing Yang et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 March 2026
Abstract:
Intrusive traumatic memories are a hallmark symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Conventional therapies typically require explicit and emotionally distressing reexposure to trauma cues, often leading to high dropout rates among severely affected patients. This study examined whether trauma memory intrusions could be effectively reduced through unconscious intervention, minimizing emotional distress by subliminally presenting trauma-related visual cues during bilateral eye movement intervention, a core component of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Four experiments tested this approach: two utilizing an analogue trauma paradigm in healthy participants (N = 164), one clinical study with PTSD patients (N = 60), and one supplementary experiment in a subclinical sample (N = 30). Results demonstrated that this unconscious intervention significantly reduced the frequency of intrusive memories and effectively alleviated PTSD symptoms, with the frequency of intrusion decreasing by 56% and lasting at least 2 mo in PTSD patients. Critically, patients previously unable to tolerate conventional exposure therapy became capable of consciously confronting trauma cues postintervention. This unconscious intervention approach is brief (under 2 h total), minimally distressing, and requires limited patient disclosure, offering a promising alternative or adjunct to traditional trauma-focused treatments. It may substantially enhance treatment accessibility and tolerability for severely traumatized individuals otherwise unable to engage with traditional therapies.
Inhale, exhale, draw: A guided drawing and mindfulness intervention for anxiety reduction
Sarah Myruski et al.
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, forthcoming
Abstract:
Anxiety is among the most common emotional difficulties impacting well-being, highlighting the need for approachable anxiety-reduction tools. Both mindfulness- and art-based interventions have been shown to decrease anxiety symptoms. The current studies integrate these approaches via a novel guided drawing intervention. In Study 1, we tested feasibility using a single group design (n = 54). Study 2 was a randomized controlled trial consisting of an analyzed sample of 156 participants assigned to groups using a single-blind design (guided drawing: n = 55; free drawing control: n = 51; basic control: n = 50). Outcome measures for both studies were anxiety (pre/postdrawing and at 1-week follow-up) and physiological regulation (respiratory sinus arrhythmia). Study 1 results showed that guided drawing significantly decreased state anxiety and anxiety symptoms 1 week later, as well as increased physiological regulation across the drawing session. Those reporting emotion regulation difficulties at baseline showed greater anxiety reductions. In Study 2, the guided drawing group emerged as distinct from controls regarding state anxiety and physiological changes. In both studies, the degree of anxiety reduction during guided drawing was associated with greater improvements 1 week later. Findings suggest that guided drawing is a promising avenue for anxiety management.
A crowdsourced megastudy of 12 digital single-session interventions for depression in US adults
Benjamin Kaveladze et al.
Nature Human Behaviour, forthcoming
Abstract:
Digital, self-guided, single-session interventions (SSIs) deliver structured psychological support within one interaction. Here we crowdsourced 66 diverse 10-min SSIs for depression and, with input from researchers and lived-experience experts, selected 11 for testing in a preregistered online randomized controlled trial (https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fClinicalTrials.gov&c=E,1,qIKVtz0DKpgZM_yfuayd9vpxBOYxuXo3_kgzhGvHMa1CrUuiW58zfe41VDLitCll1WhyAir4znLGJBdjOVwfX0kBgbasd_0pexWZb7ustpE,&typo=1 ID: NCT06856668). US adults (N = 7,505) experiencing elevated depressive symptoms were randomly assigned to 1 of the 11 crowdsourced SSIs, a validated behavioural activation SSI (active comparator) or a control condition without intervention content. Nearly all SSIs improved psychological outcomes immediately after completion (d ≤ 0.37). However, only two SSIs significantly reduced depression at 4-week follow-up (d = 0.14 and 0.15). Unexpectedly, completing an SSI made participants feel less confident and less interested in making changes to overcome depression at 4 weeks, on average (d = 0.05). Future work should aim to leverage SSIs’ immediate benefits to promote sustained behaviour change or service engagement.
Neural Reward Sensitivity and Longitudinal Patterns of Alcohol and Cannabis Use in College-Aged Youth
Kathryn Byrd et al.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence, April 2026
Method: We examined whether deficits in neural reward processing predicted changes in problematic alcohol and cannabis use symptoms in youth (ages 16-19, n=172) with minimal prior substance use. At baseline, the reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) measured via electroencephalography, was used to index deficits in neural reward processing. Every 3 months for 2 years, participants reported problematic cannabis and alcohol use symptoms. To examine changes in substance use problems, we conducted a series of linear mixed-effects models (LMMs). RewP amplitude was the key predictor and linear and quadratic terms for time were included as fixed effects.
Results: In our cannabis use model, we observed a significant linear time X RewP interaction. Lower RewP amplitude predicted increases in cannabis use problems over 24-months. At higher levels of RewP amplitude, there was no effect of time on cannabis use problems. We did observe a positive effect of time on alcohol use problems. We found no main/interactive effects of RewP on alcohol use problems.