Psychiatry News and Research

RSS

Psychiatry is the treatment, study and prevention of mental disorders.

Now measurable in plasma: eMTBR-Tau

Tau tangles are closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease progression. But the tau species associated with these aggregates are present at exceptionally low levels in blood, making them difficult to measure.

From Spear Bio 29 Sep 2026

Study links insomnia to higher stroke and hospitalization risks

Insomnia is associated with a 26% higher risk of stroke and 28% higher odds of hospital admission, according to new research in Sleep Medicine Reviews. The researchers say the findings support recognizing insomnia as an important marker of brain, mental and general health.

28 Sep 2026

Blood proteins may help monitor Alzheimer’s treatment response

Patients with early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease may be prescribed anti-amyloid therapy, which can help clear the sticky clumps of amyloid protein in the brain that characterize Alzheimer's.

25 Sep 2026

PsychAD studies map molecular mechanisms across major brain disorders

Research led by Mount Sinai scientists within the PsychAD Consortium, a large-scale, multidisciplinary initiative launched in 2019 with support from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), is featured in a landmark collection of nine papers published across the Nature family of journals that maps the molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and other brain disorders.

23 Sep 2026

Cutting ultra-processed foods may improve symptoms of depression

A preliminary study led by UC San Francisco adds to growing evidence that reducing ultra-processed food may improve symptoms of depression.

23 Sep 2026

Childhood trauma linked to risky health behaviors in late adolescence

Experiencing childhood trauma appears to increase a young person's likelihood of smoking, substance use and developing unhealthy eating habits by contributing to behavioral problems during adolescence, such as impulsivity and poor self-control.

22 Sep 2026

Prenatal cannabis exposure linked to subtle brain and behavioral differences in children

A large ABCD study of 10,838 children found that prenatal cannabis exposure was associated with small differences in resting-state brain connectivity, higher behavioral and emotional problem scores, and lower performance on several cognitive measures in late childhood. PCE-related connectivity patterns partly overlapped with those linked to psychopathology and cognition, although the cross-sectional observational design cannot establish causality or mediation.

22 Sep 2026

Cognitive reappraisal strategy alters sensory brain activity in autistic children

For many autistic children, everyday sensations such as the feel of scratchy fabric or a loud car alarm can be intensely distressing.

21 Sep 2026

PEth blood test detects hazardous alcohol use missed by screening

Primary care professionals screen patients for harmful alcohol use by using questionnaires such as the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and by asking patients about their typical weekly alcohol consumption.

21 Sep 2026

Early life sugar exposure linked to higher adult anxiety risk

Exposure to sugar in the first 1,000 days of a child's life increases the risk of developing anxiety in adulthood, a new study from the University of Surrey reports.

21 Sep 2026

Largest neuroimaging study of bulimia nervosa finds structural brain differences linked to diagnosis and binge-eating severity

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that individuals with bulimia nervosa have structural differences in brain regions involved in reward and motivation, as well as social and sensory processing, and that more frequent binge eating is associated with more widespread differences in brain structure, according to research published today in JAMA Psychiatry.

18 Sep 2026

Scientists discover metabolite fueling aggressive brain tumor growth

Virtually all high-grade, aggressive gliomas in adults accumulate massive amounts of a metabolite called guanidinoacetate (GAA) that overstimulates nearby neurons and promotes tumor growth, according to new research from scientists at Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) published in Cell.

18 Sep 2026

Nighttime light exposure linked to sleep disruption in people with schizophrenia

Sleep problems are common in people with schizophrenia and can worsen quality of life, psychiatric symptoms, cognition, and daily functioning.

18 Sep 2026

Genetic risk for PTSD varies across different types of trauma

A groundbreaking study reveals that your genes may make you more vulnerable to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from certain types of trauma-particularly childhood neglect-than from others.

17 Sep 2026

Experts call for eating-disorder screening before GLP-1 treatment

An international multidisciplinary panel developed consensus-based recommendations for GLP-1 receptor agonist use in people with eating disorders, calling for screening, individualized monitoring, patient education, and further research into safety and potential therapeutic effects. The experts cautioned that current evidence remains limited and inconsistent, particularly outside binge eating disorder, and identified major gaps in understanding the risk of new or recurrent eating disorders during treatment.

16 Sep 2026

Bulimia nervosa linked to structural differences in brain regions

16 Sep 2026

Cold plunges may boost your mood, but the evidence is still on thin ice

A Molecular Psychiatry review examined evidence linking cold exposure with mood and mental health outcomes, alongside proposed roles for catecholamines, the HPA axis, and immune-inflammatory pathways. Early studies report short-term mood improvements and physiological changes, but clinical evidence remains limited, and the proposed mechanisms have not been established as drivers of lasting psychiatric benefits.

16 Sep 2026