Psychiatry News and Research

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

New model links striosomal activity to impaired decision making in psychiatric disorders

Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, working in collaboration with a team from the University of Texas at El Paso, have developed a novel computational framework for understanding how a region of the brain known as the striatum is involved in the everyday decisions we make and, importantly, how it might factor into impaired decision-making by individuals with psychiatric disorders like post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder.

14 Aug 2025

UC San Diego's ACTRI wins $80 million Clinical and Translational Science Award

The University of California San Diego's Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI) has received a seven-year, $80 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

14 Aug 2025

HonorHealth taps longevity authority Nicholas J. Schork to lead new research division

Nicholas J. Schork, Ph.D., an international authority on human longevity and health maintenance, has joined HonorHealth Research Institute as Research Director of Longevity, Prevention and Interception.

14 Aug 2025

Pandemic left measurable changes in teen brains, hormones, and immunity

Adolescents assessed after COVID-19 lockdowns showed lower daily cortisol, higher inflammation, and reduced prefrontal cortex activity compared to matched pre-pandemic peers, suggesting widespread stress-related biological changes. These alterations mirror patterns seen after prolonged early-life stress, raising concerns about long-term health risks.

13 Aug 2025

Study identifies a promising new strategy for treating alcohol use disorder

Researchers have identified a promising new strategy for treating alcohol use disorder (AUD). A novel study found that the dopamine-boosting drug tolcapone increases activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during self-control tasks.

13 Aug 2025

Quitting smoking linked to better recovery from drug and alcohol addiction

Adults who smoke cigarettes and are addicted to alcohol or other drugs were more likely to achieve sustained remission of their substance use disorder symptoms if they also quit smoking, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). `

13 Aug 2025

Researchers find CFI deficiency alarmingly high in old order Amish

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Clinic for Special Children found that complement factor I (CFI) deficiency, an ultra-rare genetic disorder that can cause debilitating neuroinflammation, is more than 4500 times more likely to be found in individuals of Old Order Amish ancestry than the rest of the global population.

13 Aug 2025

Study finds two-way link between gut bacteria and insomnia

There seem to be reciprocal links between certain groups of gut bacteria and the risk of insomnia, suggests a Mendelian randomization study, published in the open access journal General Psychiatry.

12 Aug 2025

Lifestyle interventions key to closing life expectancy gap in mental illness

Mental health services must urgently increase investment in lifestyle interventions to improve care and help close the 15-year life expectancy gap faced by people with mental illness, a new Lancet Psychiatry Commission report warns.

12 Aug 2025

Global review highlights gaps in adolescent mental health research

A new systematic review of 172 studies including data from over 12 million adolescents across 166 countries reveals that while cross-national adolescent mental health research including low- and middle-income countries has expanded significantly, large gaps remain in global representation.

12 Aug 2025

AI discovers promising antibiotic compounds in Archaea microbes

They've survived for billions of years in boiling acid, deep-sea vents and salt flats. Now, some of Earth's oldest life forms - microbes called Archaea - are offering a new weapon in the fight against one of today's most urgent health threats: antibiotic resistance.

12 Aug 2025

New subcutaneous EEG device offers breakthrough in epilepsy monitoring

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and UNEEG medical, has found that an electronic device placed under the scalp is an effective and feasible means of accurately tracking epilepsy.

11 Aug 2025

Alzheimer’s research reaches a critical tipping point

One-third of people older than 85 in the United States are estimated to live with Alzheimer's disease today, according to the National Institute on Aging.

8 Aug 2025

Suicide-specific mobile app offers lifesaving support after psychiatric discharge

A mobile phone app designed to deliver suicide-specific therapy reduced suicidal behavior among high-risk psychiatric inpatients, according to a new study by scientists at Yale School of Medicine and The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine.

8 Aug 2025

Uncovering the secrets of ‘SuperAgers’ and cognitive longevity

For 25 years, scientists at Northwestern Medicine have been studying individuals aged 80 and older - dubbed "SuperAgers" - to better understand what makes them tick.

8 Aug 2025

Talking therapy shows lower effectiveness for young adults

Talking therapy offered by the NHS for people with depression or anxiety appears to be less effective for people aged 16-24 than those aged 25-65, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

8 Aug 2025

As California’s behavioral health workforce buckles, help is years away

This spring, the Good News Rescue Mission, which runs the only emergency homeless shelter in Shasta County, received a game-changing $17.8 million state grant to build a 75-bed residential treatment facility in a region where thousands struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

6 Aug 2025

Spending even a short time in nature provides mental health benefits for city dwellers

As the proportion of the global population living in cities rises to 70% by 2050, mental health challenges more common in urbanites – such as anxiety and mood disorders – become even more broadly relevant.

4 Aug 2025

Impulsivity shapes diet and gut bacteria in healthy adults, study finds

Impulsivity in healthy adults is linked to unhealthy dietary choices, such as higher intake of alcohol and sugary drinks and lower fiber consumption. These dietary behaviors, in turn, are associated with changes in specific gut bacterial genera, highlighting an indirect pathway between personality traits and the gut microbiome.

4 Aug 2025

Genetic risk for depression linked to muted brain response to wins and losses

Novel imaging research indicates that young adults with a higher genetic risk for depression showed less brain activity in several areas when responding to rewards and punishments. The study also uncovered notable differences between men and women.

1 Aug 2025