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

Understanding the role of astrocytes in depression and neuroinflammation

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mental health condition that negatively affects the mood of a person and causes a loss of interest in activities that were previously associated with happiness.

13 Jun 2025

Exercise therapy shows long-term benefits for people with rheumatic diseases

Regular physical activity is increasingly promoted for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMD) as well as the general population.

13 Jun 2025

One in five never fully recover quality of life after COVID-like illness

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13 Jun 2025

Breathing patterns reveal clues about mental and physical well-being

Your breath is one of a kind. A study published June 12 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology demonstrated that scientists can identify individuals based solely on their breathing patterns with 96.8% accuracy.

13 Jun 2025

Study finds no added behavioral risk in children with preterm-born siblings

A new study published in PLOS Mental Health has explored whether having a sibling born preterm (before 37 weeks of gestation) affects the behavior of children born at term.

12 Jun 2025

Unpredictable caregiving rewires the brain’s threat response

Research shows unpredictable caregiving alters brain responses to threats, highlighting the need for stable environments in childhood for healthy development.

12 Jun 2025

Lower oral microbiome diversity linked to higher depression symptoms

A rich and varied mix of microbes in the mouth, particularly bacteria, is not only important for our oral health, but may hold clues for other conditions.

12 Jun 2025

Non-prescribed ketamine use rises sharply across the UK

The rise in non-prescribed ketamine use across the UK in recent years is a cause for concern, say doctors in The BMJ today.

12 Jun 2025

Healthier lifestyle choices could mitigate telomere length-associated brain disease risks

Scientists from Mass General Brigham explored the associations between telomere length-which decreases as a person ages or is exposed to unhealthy environments-and the risk for age-related brain diseases.

12 Jun 2025

Healthy lifestyle habits may shield aging cells from brain disorders

Stroke and dementia as well as late-life depression are more common in people who have a biomarker of aging called short leukocyte telomere length, according to a study published on June 11, 2025, online in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

11 Jun 2025

Physical comorbidities from mental illness drive up hospital strain in Europe

A recent study led by Judit Simon from the Department of Health Economics, Center for Public Health, at the Medical University of Vienna shows for the first time comprehensively the extent to which people with mental disorders suffer from physical illnesses - and the resulting hospital costs.

11 Jun 2025

Italian researcher sheds light on the lasting psychiatric impact of childhood trauma

In a revealing Genomic Press Interview published today in Brain Medicine, Sara Poletti, PhD, senior researcher at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Milan, illuminates the profound connections between childhood adversity and lifelong vulnerability to psychiatric disorders through persistent neuroinflammation pathways and alterations in brain structure.

11 Jun 2025

Moderate weekend catch-up sleep linked to lower teen anxiety

A new study to be presented at the SLEEP 2025 annual meeting found that teens who get moderate - but not excessive - catch-up sleep on weekends have fewer symptoms of anxiety.

10 Jun 2025

Mental recovery after COVID lags behind physical recovery

New research finds that people with COVID-like symptoms returned to optimal physical well-being an average of three months after infection, but took up to nine months to return to top mental well-being.

10 Jun 2025

Study of monozygotic twins reveals genetic factors linked with differences in environmental sensitivity

An international team of researchers led by King's College London have identified genetic factors that may make some individuals more or less sensitive to the environments they experience.

10 Jun 2025

Dr. Stephen Ross’s research into psychedelic medicine expands therapeutic frontiers

In a comprehensive Genomic Press Interview published today, Dr. Stephen Ross, a leading figure in psychedelic medicine at New York University (NYU), reveals how a serendipitous conversation in 2006 launched his journey into investigating psychedelic compounds as potential breakthrough treatments for some of psychiatry's most challenging conditions.

10 Jun 2025

Emotional and behavioral problems linked to excessive screen use create a vicious cycle in kids

Spending too much time on screens may cause emotional and behavioral problems in children – and those problems can lead to even more screen use, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

9 Jun 2025

Brain state-driven neural stimulation improves cognitive flexibility and relieves autistic behaviors

Some autistic traits related to challenges with social interaction, mental flexibility and visual perception could be alleviated through a new, noninvasive therapy.

9 Jun 2025

Late-life mood disorders may signal neurodegenerative diseases

Depression and bipolar disorder of late onset may represent more than just mental health conditions. Growing evidence suggests these late-life mood disorders (LLMDs) could be not merely risk factors, but rather early warning signs of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, even when they appear years before memory loss or other cognitive symptoms become apparent.

9 Jun 2025

Symptom provocation may boost effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

A new study in JAMA Psychiatry makes the case that symptom provocation may significantly improve the clinical effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive brain stimulation method used to treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and nicotine dependence.

6 Jun 2025