Dear Colleagues,

The daily well-being of functioning humans requires a healthy dynamic interaction of mental and psychological components, including cognition, emotion, reward appreciation, social interaction, arousal, motivation, and sensorimotor activity. The disturbance of this relationship may either be caused by, or lead to, a broad spectrum of illnesses due to psychiatric disorders and their associated comorbidities, which manifest as mental and behavioral symptoms. Understanding the pathogenesis, progression and prognosis of this disease, and planning their treatment, is a difficult challenge due to the involved polygenic, multifactorial, and heterogenic causative factors. Nevertheless, recent research has revealed that depression is a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, strokes, major depressive disorders, and chronic diseases. Thus, the treatment of depression may be an important intervention for these patients. In addition, the manipulation of memory consolidation and extinction may be an ideal strategy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and to enhance the effectiveness of meaning-based psychotherapy.

This Special Issue highlights the most recent advances in clinical and experimental research in the fields of psychiatry and their comorbidities, focusing on mental and psychological domains. We cordially invite authors to contribute original research articles focusing on (but not limited to) the following:

Etiology, pathogenesis and progression mechanisms;

Early diagnosis including biomarkers, bio-imaging, and biosensors;

Prophylactic, disease-modifying and therapeutic strategies, novel targets;

Novel drug discovery and development, naturally driven biomedicines, natural bioactive molecules and vaccines;

Preclinical in vitro models and animal models;

Bench-to-bedside translation research;

Bedside-to-bench translational research;

Comprehensive review, systematic review, and meta-analysis articles are also welcome.

Dr. Masaru Tanaka and Dr. Lehel Balogh

Guest Editors