Welcome to the January edition of Tips and Topics and a joyful, healthy 2026.

In SAVVY, I am always on the lookout for research and studies that compare and contrast medications with other helping methods and techniques. Three SAVVY Tips on research that does just that for depression, opioid withdrawal and dementia.

In SKILLS, Tips that can help you think about your New Year’s resolutions; what to do in tense family gatherings or any situation where conflict might arise about politics and religion; and how to deal with uncertainty and its related anxiety and depression.

In SOUL, did you know that on a cellular level, we are re-making ourselves every moment of every day? By 2027, you will have lost and replaced a mass of cells equal to your entire body weight. I was surprised and heartened by some biological facts in the January 1, 2026 edition of Science Friday.

It has been over 48 years since I graduated from my specialty psychiatric training. Over the decades, medications for mental health and addiction treatment have evolved with often remarkable results. At the same time, this success has its downsides:

• People naturally want a quick fix and taking a pill looks far more attractive than changing your lifestyle to healthier habits that take much longer.

• Psychotherapy, group treatment, psychoeducation also takes time and seems more expensive and time-consuming than a medication prescription.

• Because psychiatrists are physicians who cost more to pay, their role has increasingly been relegated to a “doc in a box” doing brief “med checks” to review medication effectiveness, side effects and write a new prescription.

In this context, I am always on the lookout for research and studies that compare and contrast medications with other helping methods and techniques. I don’t want to roll back the clock on neuroscience and the successes of psychopharmacology. But I would like to see more balance in the healthcare field and the public’s preoccupation with medication as THE answer.

Here are headlines on recent research that restore some of that balance.

Tip 1

Study Finds No Meaningful Difference Between Exercise, Psychological Therapy In Alleviating Depressive Symptoms.

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews published the results of a review of 35 trials involving 2,526 participants. It found “no meaningful difference between exercise and psychological therapy in alleviating depressive symptoms.”

That means:

• Clinicians can “prescribe” exercise for people with depression just as ethically and effectively as antidepressants or psychotherapy.

• If a person is too lethargic and depressed to start exercising straight away, it is reasonable to start with medication, but then encourage exercise be added to the treatment plan.

• Psychotherapy can help at any time, but exercise and lifestyle change helps overall health even more than just the depression.

Tip 2

Yoga Alongside Standard Buprenorphine Therapy Hastens Opioid Withdrawal Recovery, Improves Autonomic Regulation Compared With Buprenorphine Alone.

MedPage reported on a study published in JAMA Psychiatry. “Yoga alongside standard buprenorphine therapy hastened opioid withdrawal recovery and improved autonomic regulation compared with buprenorphine alone, an early-stage randomized trial in India showed.”

Researchers found:

• that the participants with opioid use disorder (OUD) that were in the yoga group recovered from withdrawal faster than those in the control group...with a median stabilization time of 5 days versus 9 days, respectively.

• Participants in the yoga group “showed significant improvements in heart rate variability, anxiety, sleep, and pain measures.”

Tip 3

Listening To Music Regularly Reduces Dementia Risk In Older Patients.

Neuroscience News reported on a study published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. The study suggests that “older adults who regularly listened to music had a 39% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those who didn’t make music a part of their daily lives.”

Researchers observed that of the 10,893 adults aged 70 and older:

• “About 7,000 said they listened to music most days, and those frequent listeners had the greatest reduction in dementia risk."

• The study “did not specify what type of music was most beneficial.”

• The research team “emphasized that the study can’t prove that listening to music directly prevents dementia, but the results were strong enough to suggest a possible link.”

SKILLS

I noticed some SKILLS Tips that can help you think about your New Year’s resolutions; what to do in tense family gatherings or any situation where conflict might arise about politics and religion; and how to deal with uncertainty and its related anxiety and depression.

Tip 1

Nearly 40% Of Americans Will Make A Mental Health Resolution For 2026.

Psychiatric News reported the American Psychiatric Association’s latest Healthy Minds Poll shows:

• “38% of adults say they plan to make a mental health-related New Year’s resolution, up 5% from the previous year’s survey.”

• Overall, 82% of respondents “planned to make at least one New Year’s resolution for 2026.

• Resolutions centered on physical fitness (44%), financial goals (42%), and mental health (38%) were the top areas of focus.

• Younger adults ages 18 to 34 (58%) and 35 to 44 (51%) were much more likely to plan a mental health resolution than adults 45 to 64 (32%) and 65+ (11%).”

• Additionally, “22% of U.S. adults rated their mental health as excellent in 2025, while 41% rated it as good, 28% as fair, and 8% as poor.”

Tip 2

Experts Discuss “Gray Rocking” Strategy For Navigating Tense Family Gatherings.

Here’s what a Google Search said about Grayrocking:

• Gray rocking (or the gray rock method) is a communication strategy to disengage from manipulative, abusive, or toxic people by becoming as emotionally dull, uninteresting, and unresponsive as a gray rock, denying them the drama or reaction they seek, often through short, neutral answers and avoiding personal details, especially useful when going no-contact isn't feasible.

• It's a self-preservation tactic to minimize conflict by refusing to "feed the fire" of emotionally volatile individuals, particularly those with narcissistic traits.

The Daily Journal published an article on the gray rock method to get through stressful holiday gatherings. But it was originally developed as a tool for managing interactions with narcissistic, manipulative or otherwise toxic individuals. One of the keys in circumstances like this is not to emotionally engage.

Tip 3

Single Half-Hour Course Can Help Young Adults Feel Less Anxious, Depressed For Up To A Month.

Cambridge University published a study that found a single half-hour course could help young adults “feel less anxious and depressed, by helping them increase their tolerance of uncertainty.”

Researchers found:

• “Young adults who took the course titled ‘Uncertainty-Mindset Training’ continued to feel better a month after taking it.”

• Even though the course “lasted less than a half-hour,” participants, up to a month later, still “showed substantial improvement in their ability to tolerate uncertainty, as well as decreases in anxiety and depression.”

• “Three months later, these participants’ tolerance of uncertainty was still much improved, but the reductions in depression and anxiety had started to wane.”

SOUL

I didn’t make any brand new New Year’s Resolutions for 2026. I rarely do. But I did resolve to continue my focus on physical strength training and mobility fitness because I want to continue to travel and see the world this year.

I will always continue to grow my emotional intelligence, discover new awarenesses, and maintain and strengthen already uncovered insights. But as I listened to the January 1, 2026 broadcast of Science Friday, I was surprised and heartened by some biological facts.

I agree with host, Flora Lichtman, who said, “I like thinking of the new year as a fresh start. I like believing that we, I, have the capacity to change and to evolve. New year, new me. Yes, it sounds like an inspirational greeting card line, but you know what? It's also true biologically.”

January 1, 2026’s guest was Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, president of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research talking about his pioneering research into regeneration and the science of becoming and rebecoming:

• “On a cellular level, we are re-making ourselves every moment of every day. Just think, by 2027, you will have lost and replaced a mass of cells equal to your entire body weight. If you really want to talk about starting anew, there are animals that can regrow their own head from a piece of their tail.”

Flora: That is a growth mindset. I find these ideas interesting and helpful this time of year, when I'm thinking about how I want to grow… Alejandro, are you on board with my premise?… Do you think about your work metaphorically?

Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado: It's inescapable. I think that anybody who works in an area where you can see transformations unfold right before your eyes cannot avoid thinking about metaphors… It's a miracle, I think, that we're not falling dead like flies every second. I mean, we're turning over so many cells and our body just does it. I mean, the lining of our gut is the equivalent of the surface area of a tennis court.

That gets resurfaced every week. Just think about owning a tennis court that you have to resurface every week. It's a huge amount of work. And if we're lucky, we do it for 80 years and longer.

I definitely plan to do it for 80 years and longer. What is heartening about these biological facts is that if my body has a whole new set of cells by New Year’s 2027, surely I can have a whole new set of neural pathways to spark new growth emotionally, spiritually, and behaviorally.

Meet the new me at New Year’s 2027.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Thank you for joining us this month. See you in February.

David