Depression News and Research

Latest Depression News and Research

Probiotics improve emotional state in healthy adults, study finds

A randomized controlled trial in 88 healthy adults found that probiotics reduced negative mood when assessed using daily self-reports, though traditional questionnaires failed to detect significant changes. These findings suggest that daily mood tracking may offer a more sensitive way to capture subtle emotional effects of probiotics in non-clinical populations.

10 Apr 2025

US study reveals employer willingness to cover anti-obesity meds despite cost concerns

A new study aimed at understanding perceptions of obesity management and the use of anti-obesity medicine by employers and employees in the US has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Population Health Management.

10 Apr 2025

Oklahoma Children's Hospital improves care for babies with neonatal abstinence syndrome

In years past, health care providers took a punitive stance toward women giving birth to babies exposed to substances like opioids in the womb.

9 Apr 2025

Mental health disorders more prevalent in people with criminal legal histories

A new national epidemiological survey provides a demographic and diagnostic picture of people living with mental ill health in prison, those with criminal legal involvement in the last year, and those with no criminal legal history in the last year-finding significantly higher rates of five mental health conditions in incarcerated individuals and individuals with recent criminal legal history.

9 Apr 2025

U.S. physician burnout rates decline but remain higher than other workers

First, some good news: In late 2023 and early 2024, significantly fewer U.S. physicians reported symptoms of job burnout than they did a few years earlier.

9 Apr 2025

Genetic breakthrough in psychiatry using long-read genomic sequencing

In a manuscript published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry titled Long-Read Genome Sequencing in Clinical Psychiatry: RFX3 Haploinsufficiency in a Hospitalized Adolescent With Autism, Intellectual Disability, and Behavioral Decompensation, authors describe how they leveraged long-read genomic sequencing (LRS) to make a genetic diagnosis in a17-year-old male with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and acute behavioral decompensation that would not have been possible by standard methods.

9 Apr 2025

Study finds connection between hearing impairment and heart failure risk

Hearing loss is linked to a heightened risk of developing heart failure, with the psychological distress caused by the impairment taking a key role in the observed association, finds a large long term study, published online in the journal Heart.

9 Apr 2025

New award to recognize contributions linking neuroscience to psychiatric diagnosis and treatment

Mental health is in crisis worldwide. While the neurosciences are advancing rapidly, psychiatry still struggles to diagnose and effectively treat many disorders. The Synapsy Center for Neuroscience and Mental Health Research at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, is launching a new international prize to reward those who bring these two worlds closer together.

9 Apr 2025

New study seeks best way to support people quitting menthol cigarettes

Nearly half of Americans who smoke use menthol cigarettes that are harder to quit, driving up their health risks with every puff.

9 Apr 2025

Anxiety fuels emotional eating and weight gain, study finds

Emotional eating and body dissatisfaction mediate links between BMI changes and mental health. These psychosocial factors explain how anxiety, depression, and weight gain interrelate over time.

8 Apr 2025

New drug compound offers pain relief without opioid side effects

University of Florida scientists have helped identify a novel drug compound that selectively activates pain-altering receptors in the body, offering a potentially safer alternative to conventional pain medications.

8 Apr 2025

Treating SIBO holistically helps patients feel better, new study finds

A 90-day real-world study in Spain shows that a comprehensive, personalized treatment for SIBO significantly improves patients’ quality of life—even when breath tests remain abnormal.

7 Apr 2025

Medical cannabis may help reduce cravings and improve recovery outcomes

A new pilot study from UBC Okanagan and Thompson Rivers University examined how medically supervised cannabis use in a residential recovery home may support people in treatment for substance use challenges.

4 Apr 2025

Cornell researchers discover brain mechanisms behind psilocybin's effects

Psilocybin is the active ingredient that gives so-called "magic mushrooms" their hallucinogenic kick. It also has a therapeutic potential for treating depression.

4 Apr 2025

Exposure to wildfire smoke raises mental health visits to emergency departments

Exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) from wildfire smoke was associated with increased visits to emergency departments (ED) for mental health conditions, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

4 Apr 2025

Hormonal contraceptives linked to higher postpartum depression risk

Researchers investigate whether the use of hormonal contraception increases the risk of postpartum depression.

4 Apr 2025

Study identifies 17 modifiable risk factors shared between stroke, dementia, and depression

Age-related brain diseases such as stroke, dementia, and late-life depression are a debilitating part of growing older, but people can lower their risk of these diseases through behavioral and lifestyle changes.

3 Apr 2025

Laughing gas can potentially transform treatment for tough-to-beat depression

Nitrous oxide-better known as "laughing gas"-can potentially transform treatment for tough-to-beat depression.

3 Apr 2025

Gut bacteria may reduce the effectiveness of common medications

A new study, published today in Nature Chemistry by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Yale University, shows how common gut bacteria can metabolize certain oral medications that target cellular receptors called GPCRs, potentially rendering these important drugs less effective.

3 Apr 2025

What’s lost: Trump whacks tiny agency that works to make the nation’s health care safer

Sue Sheridan's baby boy, Cal, suffered brain damage from undetected jaundice in 1995. Helen Haskell's 15-year-old son, Lewis, died after surgery in 2000 because weekend hospital staffers didn't realize he was in shock.

3 Apr 2025