Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Nighttime light linked to conflicting signs of biological aging

Higher residential nighttime light exposure was associated with contrasting biological aging patterns in nearly 300,000 UK Biobank participants, depending on the aging algorithm used. PhenoAge and homeostatic dysregulation suggested a potentially adverse aging pattern, while KDM-BA showed the opposite association, underscoring uncertainty about how nighttime light relates to biological aging.

6 Aug 2026

Parenting stress influences children's screen habits, study finds

Researchers at FIU have a message for parents: If screen time is part of getting through a stressful day, find a way to make it count. The goal should be to focus less on quantity and more on quality.

6 Aug 2026

Wearable sensor technology detects physical patterns linked to mental distress

Researchers have shown that measurements taken from a person's fingertip could help identify physical patterns associated with stress, anxiety and depression.

6 Aug 2026

High-resolution scans reveal how depression affects hippocampal subfields

Researchers from the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have found that depression is associated with smaller volume in a specific part of the hippocampus, a brain region essential for learning and memory.

6 Aug 2026

Inflammatory bowel disease linked to elevated risk of psychiatric disorders

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) face a significantly higher risk of psychiatric disorders starting two to three years before diagnosis and lasting up to a decade after, according to a nationwide study to be published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

5 Aug 2026

Medical cannabis compound alleviates nightmares associated with PTSD

Nightmares are among the most agonizing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – a condition that can develop after exposure to severe traumatic experiences, such as disasters, serious accidents, acts of violence, or wartime experiences. Individuals affected relive the events intensely at night, as if they were real, time and time again.

5 Aug 2026

UNC initiative boosts campus suicide prevention and mental health awareness

A North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) contract will help the UNC School of Social Work expand access to suicide prevention training to colleges and universities across the state.

4 Aug 2026

NIH funds smartphone platform to improve driving safety for teens

Dr. Jeffrey Keller, Hibernia National Bank/Edward G. Schleider Endowed Chair at LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and Sara Seifert, president of Minnesota HealthSolutions, have received a new National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to develop an innovative digital health platform that will help parents support teenagers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as they learn to drive.

4 Aug 2026

Study links better sleep with higher academic achievement

A study published in the Journal of Political Economy, one of the world's top economics journals, provides the first causal evidence that improving sleep can directly enhance academic performance.

4 Aug 2026

Better sleep may boost academic and social success in adolescents

A new UC Davis Health study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that when it comes to helping adolescents succeed in school and maintain healthy friendships, sleep may matter more than screen time, exercise or diet.

4 Aug 2026

Long-term study highlights ongoing care needs among former CAMHS patients

Four in ten children who attend Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland go on to attend specialist psychiatric services as adults, according to new research.

4 Aug 2026

New public database tracks state laws regulating youth social media

As of March 2026, every U.S. state had introduced at least one bill seeking to regulate social media or other digital platforms for people younger than 18.

4 Aug 2026

Comedy videos help people recognize subtle positive facial expressions

In everyday life, the ability to read facial expressions plays a vital role in social communication, as it reveals a speaker's underlying emotions, intentions, and psychological state.

4 Aug 2026

Daily social connections may improve long-term health and cognition

Calling a friend after a long day. Showing up to a neighbor's dinner when you'd rather stay home. Lingering a little longer in a conversation that didn't need to last.

3 Aug 2026

Two British birth cohorts find no added health burden from a coastal childhood

Researchers analyzing two British birth cohorts found no association between coastal residence in adolescence and midlife multimorbidity, while an unadjusted association in the 1958 cohort weakened after accounting for neighborhood deprivation.

3 Aug 2026

Sensitive parenting buffers against child ADHD risks from pregnancy

Research from Oregon Health & Science University's Center for Mental Health Innovation provides new evidence that the way caregivers interact with children when they're very young can protect against the negative effects of inflammation during pregnancy, including increased attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, symptoms in children.

3 Aug 2026

Five large corporations dominate Medicaid mental health care for adolescents

The United States is in the middle of a well-documented adolescent mental health crisis. Because Medicaid provides medical coverage for roughly half of all children in the country, the program has an essential role in responding to that crisis.

3 Aug 2026

A 10-country survey finds an unexpected air pollution awareness gap

Researchers surveyed 10,618 adults across 1,372 localities in the world’s 10 most populous countries and matched their responses with average 2019-2021 PM2.5 concentrations. Higher PM2.5 exposure was associated with lower air-quality knowledge but greater concern and more frequent protective behaviors, with patterns differing across demographic groups.

2 Aug 2026

Digital marketing threatens breastfeeding rates in the Americas

Ahead of World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is calling on countries across the Americas to strengthen protections for families against the growing digital marketing of breast-milk substitutes and other products that may undermine breastfeeding.

31 Jul 2026

Generational shifts drive growing clinical workforce shortages in healthcare

If it feels harder to keep the same doctor, you're not imagining it. Healthcare leaders say retirements, burnout and changing workforce expectations are making it complicated to keep experienced clinicians in place.

31 Jul 2026