Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Intensive caregiving may accelerate cognitive decline

Onerous caring responsibilities reduce brain function for people aged 50 and over, whereas light caring duties can actually be beneficial to middle-aged and older people's mental abilities, a new UCL study finds.

12 May 2026

Cannabis and tobacco co-use may increase psychosis risk

A new multisite study published in Nature Mental Health found that using cannabis and tobacco together increases the risk of developing psychotic disorders like schizophrenia among those considered high risk.

12 May 2026

Why older adults are turning to edible cannabis for sleep, pain, and mood

Older adults in Colorado were drawn to edible cannabis mainly to manage sleep problems, pain, anxiety, or depression, often after concerns about conventional medicines or limited relief from other treatments. Most participants preferred THC-CBD combination products, but they remained uncertain about dosing, impairment, effectiveness, and how to choose the right cannabinoid ratio.

12 May 2026

Researchers map the brain histamine system to understand mental health

New research, from King's College London and the University of Porto, has mapped the histamine system in the brain. Histamine, a molecule more commonly associated with allergies, plays a separate but poorly understood role in brain function.

12 May 2026

FoMO and anxiety may increase addictive eating risk

Research shows FoMO influences addictive eating, with anxiety heightening reward-driven cravings for ultra-processed foods and compulsive overeating.

12 May 2026

Gene mapping highlights strong immune and brain connections in depression

Neurons and white blood cells differ greatly in shape, function, and location within the body. However, researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil discovered that certain genes are equally dysregulated in both cell types in people with depression.

11 May 2026

Physician mothers return to work sooner than many Canadian parents, study finds

Ontario physicians increased their workload in the first two trimesters of pregnancy, suggesting many may frontload clinical work before parental leave. Parental leave varied widely by specialty, with surgeons returning earliest and psychiatrists returning latest, highlighting persistent inequities in how medical practice supports childbearing physicians.

11 May 2026

Partners of women with gestational diabetes face higher health risks

Partners of women with gestational diabetes have more health-related risk factors and morbidity than partners of women without gestational diabetes.

11 May 2026

Ibasho concept offers a community-led approach to disaster psychiatry

As disasters increasingly disrupt lives through displacement, conflict, and climate-related emergencies, addressing long-term mental health recovery remains a major challenge.

11 May 2026

Cardiometabolic diseases remain leading cause of excess American mortality

Between 1999 and 2022, the US had substantially higher death rates than other wealthy nations, largely due to cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases (including diabetes), Alzheimer's disease and related dementias, and drug and alcohol complications.

8 May 2026

Older adults increasingly use cannabis for pain and sleep relief

For adults over 60, cannabis use is increasing faster than in any other demographic.

8 May 2026

Wearable devices track real-time health effects of pollution and heat

As climate change drives more frequent extreme heat and worsening air pollution, researchers are seeking better ways to understand how these exposures affect health in real time.

8 May 2026

Short bouts of exercise help smokers manage immediate nicotine cravings

Exercise may offer smokers a simple but effective additional tool when trying to quit, according to a new systematic review led by researchers from the Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA) at Adelaide University.

8 May 2026

Clinicians find evolutionary explanations for anxiety more helpful than genetics

Mental health clinicians are over five times more likely to see evolutionary explanations of anxiety as helpful for their patients, rather than the genetic approaches currently taught to trainee doctors and psychiatrists in the UK and US, a new study shows.

8 May 2026

Study warns of rising severe malaria risk due to testing delays

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in collaboration with colleagues across the country, found that more than one in four pediatric patients treated for malaria in the United States had a delay in their initial diagnosis, increasing the risk of more severe infection.

8 May 2026

Cash prescription program associated with fewer infant maltreatment investigations

A new peer-reviewed study published in JAMA Pediatrics provides rigorous, population-level evidence that Michigan State University's Rx Kids program, the nation's first community-wide prenatal and infant cash prescription program, is associated with substantial reductions in child maltreatment investigations among infants.

8 May 2026

Prisoners in England face dramatically higher rates of avoidable healthcare harms

Prisoners in England are 41 to 67 times more likely to experience avoidable harms as a result of poor healthcare than the general public, suggest the findings of a case note review of medical records, published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety.

8 May 2026

Opioid overdose survivors face elevated mortality risk within one year

After an emergency department visit for an opioid overdose, 9 per cent of individuals died and 21 per cent experienced a repeat opioid overdose in the following year, according to a new study from ICES and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

7 May 2026

Digital therapy apps improve mental health support for college students

College students with anxiety, depression and eating disorders may be more likely to start and to respond more positively to therapy offered via a digital app compared to referrals to in-person campus clinics, according to a study led by Penn State researchers and published today (May 7) in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

7 May 2026

People judge GLP-1 users more harshly than dieters

Stigma surrounding GLP-1 weight loss treatments reveals societal biases, impacting individuals' mental health and the effectiveness of obesity interventions.

7 May 2026