Depression

Depression is a serious medical illness that involves the brain. It's more than just a feeling of being "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 20 million people in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

Clinical Depression: Diagnosis, Causes & Treatment

Depression is a clinical condition that, contrary to popular opinion, cannot simply be overcome with time and it needs to be treated.

Contributing Factors to Post-Adoption Depression

Genes and Depression

Treatment of Depression

How is Depression in Children Diagnosed?

Depression and Sleep Length

Depression in children

Link Between Chronic Illness and Depression

Depression Diagnosis

Causes of Depression

Can Depression and Anxiety Occur Together?

Treatment Options for Children with Depression

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How Can I Tell if My Child is Depressed?

Situational Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

The Science Behind the Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

Prisoner Depression and Low Mood

How Does Your Diet Affect Depression?

Intrusive Thoughts and Depression

5 Facts You May Not Know About Depression

Supporting Children with Mental Health Disorders

Antidepressants and Weight Changes

Ghrelin and Depression

Food Insecurity and Depression

Symptoms of Depression

Latest Depression News and Research

Neighborhood disadvantage accelerates biological aging through emotional distress

While scientists have long known that living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with biological symptoms of accelerated aging, emotional distress accounts for a significant portion of these effects, researchers found in a recent study.

29 Jan 2026

Antidepressant use does not worsen early outcomes after traumatic brain injury

Taking certain antidepressants at the time of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is not associated with an increased risk of death, brain surgery or longer hospital stays, according to a study published on January 28, 2026, in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

28 Jan 2026

Eating melatonin-rich foods is linked to lower obesity and depression rates

This cross-sectional analysis of 8,320 Brazilian adults quantified melatonin intake from habitual diets and examined associations with multiple chronic health outcomes. Higher dietary melatonin intake was inversely associated with obesity and depression in a non-linear pattern, with no significant associations observed for other conditions.

28 Jan 2026

Study reveals mental health impacts of parental firearm injury in children

Each year, 20,000 children and adolescents across the U.S. lose a parent to gun violence, while an estimated 2-3 times more have a parent who has been injured due to a firearm.

28 Jan 2026

Transcranial magnetic stimulation can be a cost-effective treatment option for depression

A major new study has found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which applies magnetic energy to the brain, can be a cost-effective treatment option for the NHS in treating moderate and severe forms of depression that have not responded to other treatments.

27 Jan 2026

Study isolates mania-specific genetic architecture in bipolar disorder

Researchers at King's College London and the University of Florence have, for the first time, identified the specific genetic blueprint of mania, the defining feature of bipolar disorder.

27 Jan 2026

Depression and anxiety together raise long COVID risk in older women

Older women who have a history of both depression and anxiety had a 78% higher risk of developing long COVID after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, report University of California San Diego researchers in the Jan. 27, 2026 online edition of the journal Menopause.

27 Jan 2026

HHCM awards $566K to advance psychedelic end-of-life care research

Healing Hearts, Changing Minds (HHCM) today announced the seven awardees of Walking Each Other Home: A Fund to Promote Psychedelic Compassion for End-of-Life Care, a $566,260 philanthropic initiative supporting innovation, compassion, and dignity for people at life's end.

27 Jan 2026

Menopause associated with reduced brain volume and increased anxiety symptoms

Menopause is linked to reductions in grey matter volume in key brain regions as well as increased levels of anxiety and depression and difficulties with sleep, according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

27 Jan 2026

Olive oil type matters for cognition and gut health in older adults

Higher intake of virgin and total olive oil was associated with modest but significant improvements in cognitive performance over two years in older adults with metabolic syndrome. These associations were partly linked to gut microbiota composition, with specific taxa such as Adlercreutzia contributing a small mediating effect.

26 Jan 2026

Wildfire smoke in late pregnancy may raise autism risk

Prenatal exposure to wildfire smoke in late pregnancy may modestly raise autism risk in children, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding pregnant women.

23 Jan 2026

New medical LLM detects depression in women via WhatsApp audio analysis

A new medical large language model (LLM) achieved over 91 percent accuracy in identifying female participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder after analyzing a short WhatsApp audio recording where participants described their week, according to a study published January 21, 2026 in the open-access journal PLOS Mental Health by Victor H. O. Otani, from Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences and Infinity Doctors Inc., Brazil, and colleagues.

22 Jan 2026

Pregnancy-related stroke linked to long-term risk of cardiovascular events

Having an ischemic stroke during pregnancy or three months after pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack or second stroke, heart disease and depression later in life.

21 Jan 2026

Pandemic linked to lasting drops in diagnosis rates for major conditions

There has been a lasting and disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on diagnosis rates for conditions including depression, asthma and osteoporosis.

21 Jan 2026

The neuroscience of motivation-driven memory retention

Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), and Duke University have proposed a neuroscience framework explaining how different types of motivation fundamentally reshape what and how the brain remembers.

21 Jan 2026

Arthritis significantly restricts employment for millions of American adults

According to new research from the University of Delaware, nearly 40% of American adults ages 18 to 64 with arthritis - almost 10 million people - say the medical condition is limiting their ability to work.

21 Jan 2026

Study examines cannabis use among street-identified Black Americans facing gun violence

Yasser Payne grew up in Harlem, New York, where violence was all around him. A number of his family members and friends were shot. He himself was subject to gun violence and witnessed fights.

20 Jan 2026

Perceived injustice intensifies trauma symptoms after October 7th attack

A new study from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem examined how thought-patterns associated with unfairness, known as perceived injustice, shape people's psychological responses to trauma.

19 Jan 2026

Central reference database launched to categorize and coordinate mental health biomarker research

Psychiatrists and neuroscientists are taking a major step toward objective mental health diagnosis by launching a central reference database for the classification and communication of mental health biomarker research.

19 Jan 2026

Study finds growing long-term antipsychotic prescribing in elderly dementia patients

When agitated dementia patients wander or shout through the night, families and caregivers understandably feel the need to treat this frightening and potentially dangerous behavior. Antipsychotic medications are often resorted to with such patients, contributing to increases in antipsychotic treatment rates among older people.

16 Jan 2026