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.

Causes of Depression

How Does Your Diet Affect Depression?

Depression Diagnosis

Genes and Depression

Symptoms of Depression

Treatment of Depression

Depression in children

How Can I Tell if My Child is Depressed?

How is Depression in Children Diagnosed?

Treatment Options for Children with Depression

Contributing Factors to Post-Adoption Depression

See more featured articles »

Ghrelin and Depression

Prisoner Depression and Low Mood

Intrusive Thoughts and Depression

Supporting Children with Mental Health Disorders

Depression and Sleep Length

Link Between Chronic Illness and Depression

Situational Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

Can Depression and Anxiety Occur Together?

Antidepressants and Weight Changes

Food Insecurity and Depression

The Science Behind the Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

5 Facts You May Not Know About Depression

Latest Depression News and Research

ADHD and anxiety show different patterns in boys and girls

ADHD can exacerbate anxiety, and anxiety can exacerbate ADHD. Girls are particularly vulnerable to developing anxiety disorders, but researchers have recently discovered something that may help slow down – or prevent – the development of these types of disorders.

29 Apr 2025

Study uncovers why anxiety and depression lead to low self-belief

Researchers at UCL have uncovered why individuals who experience anxiety and depression often struggle with persistent low self-belief in their abilities.

29 Apr 2025

Better sleep, BMI, and glucose control lower female infertility odds

A new study using NHANES data found that higher Life’s Crucial 9 (LC9) scores, reflecting better cardiovascular and mental health, were linked to lower odds of female infertility. However, adding depression to the LE8 framework did not significantly improve its predictive value.

29 Apr 2025

Disrupted body clocks raise risk of early death, study finds

A large cohort study from China and the U.S. shows that Circadian Syndrome (CircS)—a cluster of metabolic and behavioral disruptions—is linked to higher all-cause and cause-specific mortality. The risk increases with the number of CircS components, especially among adults aged 40–60.

29 Apr 2025

Northwestern researchers call for better survivorship care for cancer patients

More Americans are beating cancer than ever, yet many still grapple with treatment's long shadow - especially on their mental health.

29 Apr 2025

Why different loneliness tests still identify the same emotional struggles

Researchers examined how loneliness classifications, by frequency, distress, or chronicity, relate to cognitive and behavioral traits in 790 adults. Despite modest agreement between classification methods, the study found consistent psychological patterns among lonely individuals across all types of loneliness.

29 Apr 2025

Gut bacteria and metabolites reveal depression-linked patterns in older adults

A cross-sectional study of 400 older adults with metabolic syndrome reveals that individuals with depression have distinct gut microbiota and metabolite profiles. Eight bacterial genera and 15 fecal metabolites were significantly associated with depression, suggesting a gut-brain axis link.

29 Apr 2025

Cancer-related fatigue and depression found to limit recreational activities in survivors

Cancer survivors who reported feeling cancer-related fatigue or depression reduced their recreational activities nearly twofold, with females more likely than males to report feeling either cancer-related fatigue or depression, according to a retrospective study presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2025, held April 25-30.

29 Apr 2025

Teen depression may offer better treatment opportunities with flexible symptoms

Depression in young teens could be easier to treat than in adulthood due to the symptoms being more flexible and not yet ingrained, a study shows.

29 Apr 2025

Noninvasive brain modulation using sound waves shows promise for depression and anxiety

Patients suffering from depression, anxiety and trauma-related disorders experienced significant relief from their symptoms after a new treatment that uses sound waves to modulate deep brain activity, according to new research from Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin.

28 Apr 2025

Researchers discover dual role of sleep in memory formation

Memory formation, storage, and retrieval are fundamental processes that define who we are and how we interact with the world.

28 Apr 2025

Study links ultraprocessed foods to higher risk of premature deaths, modeling shows

A study analyzing data from nationally representative dietary surveys and mortality data from eight countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, United Kingdom, and United States) shows that premature deaths attributable to consumption of ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) increase significantly according to their share in individuals' total energy intake.

28 Apr 2025

High cannabis use associated with increased colon cancer mortality

Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found that individuals with colon cancer and a documented history of high cannabis use were more than 20 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis compared to those without such a history.

28 Apr 2025

Ultra-processed foods make up nearly half of US grocery purchases, raising public health concerns

A 2025 study of nearly 60,000 US households found that almost half of grocery purchases were ultra-processed foods (UPFs), with major disparities based on income, education, and race. Non-Hispanic white households led in UPF purchases, especially in beverages, reversing earlier trends.

28 Apr 2025

Study illuminates a general principle of neural processing in the brain’s serotonin system

Our lives are filled with binary decisions – choices between one of two alternatives. But what's really happening inside our brains when we engage in this kind of decision making?

25 Apr 2025

Erythropoietin fails to improve outcomes for newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Erythropoietin, a treatment for newborns with critically low levels of oxygen or blood supply to the brain at birth, does not prevent death or disability, according to a new multinational study.

25 Apr 2025

Smoking, drinking and inactivity associated with declines in health in people as young as 36

Bad habits such as smoking, heavy drinking and lack of exercise must be tackled as early as possible to boost the odds of a happy and healthy old age.

24 Apr 2025

Babies in crisis settings show remarkable social abilities

Babies living as refugees have some of the same social skills as children with more secure home conditions.

24 Apr 2025

New research moves toward personalized treatment for depression

Depression involves a complex interplay of psychological patterns, biological vulnerabilities and social stressors, making its causes and symptoms highly variable.

23 Apr 2025

Metabolic syndrome in midlife linked to higher dementia risk

Having a larger waistline, high blood pressure and other risk factors that make up metabolic syndrome is associated with an increased risk of young-onset dementia, according to a study published on April 23, 2025, online in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

23 Apr 2025