Depression News and Research

Latest Depression News and Research

Gender affirming hormone therapy reduces HIV risk for transgender people

Transgender people receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy have a 37% lower chance of acquiring HIV, and for people living with HIV, hormone therapy appears to offer a 44% lower chance of the virus remaining detectable in blood, according to a University of Michigan study.

27 Mar 2025

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The ax falls at HHS

As had been rumored for weeks, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled a plan to reorganize the department. It involves the downsizing of its workforce, which formerly was roughly 80,000 people, by a quarter and consolidating dozens of agencies that were created and authorized by Congress.

27 Mar 2025

AI-powered therapy chatbot shows significant mental health benefits

Dartmouth researchers conducted the first clinical trial of a therapy chatbot powered by generative AI and found that the software resulted in significant improvements in participants' symptoms, according to results published March 27 in the New England Journal of Medicine AI.

27 Mar 2025

Discovery provides crucial molecular targets for future obesity treatments

The pleasure we get from eating junk food - the dopamine rush from crunching down on salty, greasy French fries and a luscious burger - is often blamed as the cause of overeating and rising obesity rates in our society.

26 Mar 2025

Understanding how the brain processes positive and negative stimuli

Researchers analyzed mice's D1 and D2 neurons to understand how they code and respond to appetitive and aversive stimuli.

26 Mar 2025

COVID-19 vaccines may cut risk of long COVID

Full COVID-19 vaccination may reduce post-COVID-19 condition risk by 27%, though more research is needed, especially for children and immunocompromised groups.

26 Mar 2025

‘I am going through hell’: Job loss, mental health, and the fate of federal workers

The National Institutes of Health employee said she knew things would be difficult for federal workers after Donald Trump was elected. But she never imagined it would be like this.

26 Mar 2025

New guidelines recommend 2 hours of weekly exercise for postpartum women

New mums should be strongly encouraged to begin clocking up at least two hours of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity such as brisk walking and muscle strengthening exercises each week in the first three months after birth, when physically able, to improve health and well-being, say experts in a new guideline published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

26 Mar 2025

New study challenges assumptions about youth and digital media

A groundbreaking new study of young people's digital media use has revealed surprising results, including evidence that smartphone ownership may actually benefit children.

26 Mar 2025

TikTok fuels ADHD self-diagnosis with misleading content, study shows

Psychologists find most TikTok videos about ADHD to be misleading, often overgeneralizing normal behaviors as symptoms. These videos shape young adults’ perceptions and contribute to rising self-diagnosis trends.

25 Mar 2025

Women with premenstrual syndrome appear to find relief from symptoms with placebos

Women affected by premenstrual syndrome (PMS) appear to experience less intense and debilitating symptoms after taking placebo pills even when told they do not contain any active medication, suggests a study published in the open-access journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

25 Mar 2025

The best diet for aging well, backed by a 30-year study of 100,000 people

A 30-year study of over 100,000 U.S. adults found that consistent adherence to healthy dietary patterns, especially the AHEI, was strongly linked to successful aging. Diets rich in plant-based foods and healthy fats, with some low-fat animal products, improved physical, mental, and cognitive health.

25 Mar 2025

High-salt diet induces depression-like symptoms in mice

A new study published in The Journal of Immunology found that a high-salt diet (HSD) induces depression-like symptoms in mice by driving the production of a protein called IL-17A.

25 Mar 2025

Scientists find links between bipolar disorder and rare loss-of-function variants in two genes

Scientists at deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen, reveal today in Nature Genetics associations between bipolar disorder and rare loss-of-function variants in two genes.

25 Mar 2025

Study links kynurenine pathway to adolescent depression

Depression is a mental health condition that affects 280 million people worldwide. It is twice as common in women than men and this pattern starts to develop during adolescence.

25 Mar 2025

Depression prevention program shows unequal effectiveness among youth

A depression prevention program that has helped white youth wasn't effective for Black youth, raising concerns about the need for more research to help racially diverse groups, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

24 Mar 2025