ReviewFrontiers in psychology2014
Somatic influences on subjective well-being and affective disorders: the convergence of thermosensory and central serotonergic systems.
Review in Frontiers in psychology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Feasibility and acceptability of an integrated mind-body intervention for depression: whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).International journal of hyperthermia : the official journal of European Society for Hyperthermic Oncology, North American Hyperthermia Group · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Body temperature correlates with depressive symptom severity: analysis and extension of prior findings in observational cohorts with more than 19,000 participants.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Core Body Temperature Negatively Correlates with Whole-Brain Gray Matter Volume: A Pilot Study in the Context of Global Warming.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Decoding the Public's Real-Time Emotional and Cognitive Responses to the Changing Climate on Social Media: Computational Analysis Using Weibo and Meteorological Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Treating major depressive disorder with an integrated mind-body intervention: Whole-body hyperthermia and cognitive behavioral therapy, a case report.Advances in integrative medicine · 2025Article
- Cold season air temperature as predictor of psychological well-being and mental health.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Intersection of Interoception and Anticipation Related to Pain.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- Neural cell-types and circuits linking thermoregulation and social behavior.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2024Review
- Greater severity of depressive symptoms is associated with changes to perceived sweating, preferred ambient temperature, and warmth-seeking behavior.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2024Article
- Association Between Children's Empathy and Depression: The Moderating Role of Social Preference.Child psychiatry and human development · 2023Article
- A Systematic Review of Thermosensation and Thermoregulation in Anxiety Disorders.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Review
- Altered Experienced Thermoregulation in Depression-No Evidence for an Effect of Early Life Stress.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Neuroimaging of pleasantness and unpleasantness induced by thermal stimuli.Temperature (Austin, Tex.) · 2021Review
- Mental Health Disorders and Summer Temperature-Related Mortality: A Case Crossover Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Effects of repeated voluntary or forced exercise on brainstem serotonergic systems in rats.Behavioural brain research · 2020Article
- Community-Delivered Heated Hatha Yoga as a Treatment for Depressive Symptoms: An Uncontrolled Pilot Study.Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.) · 2019Article
- Bibliography: Emerging Therapies in Psychiatry.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2018Article
- Whole-Body Heating: An Emerging Therapeutic Approach to Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2018Review
- Acute Administration of the Nonpathogenic, Saprophytic Bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, Induces Activation of Serotonergic Neurons in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus and Antidepressant-Like Behavior in Association with Mild Hypothermia.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Current theories suggest that the brain is the sole source of mental illness. However, affective disorders, and major depressive disorder (MDD) in particular, may be better conceptualized as brain-body disorders that involve peripheral systems as well. This perspective emphasizes the embodied, multifaceted physiology of well-being, and suggests that afferent signals from the body may contribute to cognitive and emotional states. In this review, we focus on evidence from preclinical and clinical studies suggesting that afferent thermosensory signals contribute to well-being and depression. Although thermoregulatory systems have traditionally been conceptualized as serving primarily homeostatic functions, increasing evidence suggests neural pathways responsible for regulating body temperature may be linked more closely with emotional states than previously recognized, an affective warmth hypothesis. Human studies indicate that increasing physical warmth activates brain circuits associated with cognitive and affective functions, promotes interpersonal warmth and prosocial behavior, and has antidepressant effects. Consistent with these effects, preclinical studies in rodents demonstrate that physical warmth activates brain serotonergic neurons implicated in antidepressant-like effects. Together, these studies suggest that (1) thermosensory pathways interact with brain systems that control affective function, (2) these pathways are dysregulated in affective disorders, and (3) activating warm thermosensory pathways promotes a sense of well-being and has therapeutic potential in the treatment of affective disorders.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.