Mental Health News and Research

Latest Mental Health News and Research

Quitting smoking linked to better recovery from drug and alcohol addiction

Adults who smoke cigarettes and are addicted to alcohol or other drugs were more likely to achieve sustained remission of their substance use disorder symptoms if they also quit smoking, according to scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). `

13 Aug 2025

Research explores connection between reading imagination and mental health

A new tool to understand how people imagine differently when reading could have potential implications for the treatment of mental ill health.

13 Aug 2025

Doctor’s white coats remain a symbol of trust despite growing acceptance of scrubs

Patients are still more likely to trust doctors and consider them more professional when they wear white coats, although women doctors in this attire are often misidentified as nurses or medical assistants, finds a review of the available research on the topic, published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

13 Aug 2025

An Arm and a Leg: A wild health insurance hustle

When a New York couple purchased a health insurance plan from a telemarketer, they thought it covered everything they wanted: doctor visits, tests, and medicine.

13 Aug 2025

Researchers find CFI deficiency alarmingly high in old order Amish

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Clinic for Special Children found that complement factor I (CFI) deficiency, an ultra-rare genetic disorder that can cause debilitating neuroinflammation, is more than 4500 times more likely to be found in individuals of Old Order Amish ancestry than the rest of the global population.

13 Aug 2025

Lifestyle interventions key to closing life expectancy gap in mental illness

Mental health services must urgently increase investment in lifestyle interventions to improve care and help close the 15-year life expectancy gap faced by people with mental illness, a new Lancet Psychiatry Commission report warns.

12 Aug 2025

High-potassium diets show consistent mental health benefits

Higher intakes of certain dietary minerals are linked to lower depression risk, with potassium showing consistent benefits in both U.S. and Korean adults. Patterns differ by country, sex, and age, highlighting the role of cultural diets and nutrient bioavailability in mental health.

12 Aug 2025

Long COVID linked to lasting financial hardship and work disruption

While the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be widely studied and debated, the financial toll of the COVID-19 pandemic for individual patients is less understood.

12 Aug 2025

Autistic college students face higher rates of anxiety and depression

As autism diagnoses continue to grow and remain a topic of nationwide debate, new research reveals that autistic individuals are facing mental health challenges at a major turning point in their lives – when they go to college.

12 Aug 2025

Global review highlights gaps in adolescent mental health research

A new systematic review of 172 studies including data from over 12 million adolescents across 166 countries reveals that while cross-national adolescent mental health research including low- and middle-income countries has expanded significantly, large gaps remain in global representation.

12 Aug 2025

Brain cells beat AI in learning speed and efficiency

Researchers have demonstrated that brain cells learn faster and carry out complex networking more effectively than machine learning by comparing how both a Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI) system known as 'DishBrain' and state-of-the-art RL (reinforcement learning) algorithms react to certain stimuli.

12 Aug 2025

Lavender oil could speed recovery after brain surgery

Lavender essential oil aromatherapy improves sleep quality and reduces postoperative delirium in brain surgery patients, offering a natural aid for recovery.

12 Aug 2025

Study identifies risk factors that increase risk of death in children with Fontan circulatory failure

A multi-center study has identified critical risk factors that increase the likelihood of death in children with a heart defect who are awaiting or have recently undergone heart transplantation, according to findings published in Circulation.

11 Aug 2025

New Canadian guideline highlights expanded role of obesity medications

"Pharmacotherapy can help people living with obesity improve overall health, not just lose weight," says Dr. Sue D. Pedersen, MD, endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist in Calgary, and lead author of this guideline. "The goal of obesity medications is to improve metabolic, mechanical, and/or mental health, and improve quality of life, incorporating treatment goals that are important to each individual patient."

11 Aug 2025

Research finds long-term health challenges in survivors of childhood cancer

Researchers at City of Hope, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States with its National Medical Center ranked among the nation's top cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, today published a new study which found that some survivors of childhood cancer are more at risk for serious health issues as they grow older, including new cancers and chronic conditions like heart disease.

11 Aug 2025

New subcutaneous EEG device offers breakthrough in epilepsy monitoring

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London in partnership with the Mayo Clinic and UNEEG medical, has found that an electronic device placed under the scalp is an effective and feasible means of accurately tracking epilepsy.

11 Aug 2025

Study reveals troubling gaps in accuracy, fairness of mental health screenings for incarcerated youth

Approximately 70% of incarcerated youth in the United States have a mental disorder. The challenges in this population are profound – about 30% report suicidal thoughts, 12% have attempted suicide and 25% experience solitary confinement, a condition strongly associated with increased suicide risk.

11 Aug 2025

Why young Americans dread turning 26: Health insurance chaos

Amid the challenges of adulthood, one rite of passage is unique to the United States: the need to find your own health insurance by the time you turn 26.

11 Aug 2025

A guide to finding insurance at 26‌

It was supposed to be easier than this. When the Affordable Care Act was passed in March 2010, the goal was to help more Americans get health insurance. And, indeed, the establishment of online marketplaces and a broadening of the eligibility guidelines for Medicaid accomplished that.

11 Aug 2025

Music helps young children recognize emotions from an early age

Music is a powerful tool for conveying mood, whether heard via a live performance or movie soundtrack, making it an effective medium for understanding how people identify and respond to emotions.

8 Aug 2025