Psychiatry News

February 26, 2026

Top Headlines

The More You Fear Aging, the Faster Your Body May Age

Feb. 26, 2026 Worrying about getting older—especially fearing future health problems—may actually speed up aging at the cellular level, according to new research from NYU. In a study of more than 700 women, those who felt more anxious about aging showed signs ...

Exercise May Be One of the Most Powerful Treatments for Depression and Anxiety

Feb. 16, 2026 A sweeping review of global research suggests that exercise—especially aerobic activities like running, swimming, and dancing—can be one of the most powerful ways to ease depression and anxiety. ...

One Simple Daily Change That Could Slash Depression Risk

Feb. 12, 2026 Swapping just an hour of TV a day for something more active could significantly lower the risk of developing major depression—especially in middle age. A large Dutch study tracking more than 65,000 adults over four years found that replacing 60 ...

Depression May Be the Brain’s Early Warning Sign of Parkinson’s or Dementia

Feb. 11, 2026 Depression in older adults may sometimes signal the early stages of Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia. Researchers found that depression often appears years before diagnosis and remains ...

A Massive ADHD Study Reveals What Actually Works

Feb. 10, 2026 A sweeping new review of ADHD treatments—drawing on more than 200 meta-analyses—cuts through years of mixed messaging and hype. To make sense of it all, researchers have launched an interactive, public website that lets people with ADHD and ...

Menopause Linked to Grey Matter Loss in Key Brain Regions

Feb. 7, 2026 A major study suggests menopause is linked to changes in brain structure, mental health, and sleep. Brain scans revealed grey matter loss in areas tied to memory and emotional regulation, while many women reported increased anxiety, depression, and ...

Scientists Discover Protein That Could Heal Leaky Gut and Ease Depression

Feb. 2, 2026 Chronic stress can damage the gut’s protective lining, triggering inflammation that may worsen depression. New research shows that stress lowers levels of a protein called Reelin, which plays a key role in both gut repair and brain health. ...

Middle Age Is Becoming a Breaking Point in the U.S.

Feb. 1, 2026 Middle age is becoming a tougher chapter for many Americans, especially those born in the 1960s and early 1970s. Compared with earlier generations, they report more loneliness and depression, along with weaker physical strength and declining memory. ...

“Existential Risk” – Why Scientists Are Racing to Define Consciousness

Feb. 1, 2026 Scientists warn that rapid advances in AI and neurotechnology are outpacing our understanding of consciousness, creating serious ethical risks. New research argues that developing scientific tests ...

Why Long COVID Brain Fog Seems so Much Worse in the U.S.

Jan. 28, 2026 A massive international study of more than 3,100 long COVID patients uncovered a striking divide in how brain-related symptoms are reported around the world. In the U.S., the vast majority of non-hospitalized patients described brain fog, ...

The Hidden Health Impact of Growing Up with ADHD Traits

Jan. 24, 2026 A large, decades-long study suggests that signs of ADHD in childhood may have consequences that extend well beyond school and behavior. Researchers followed nearly 11,000 people from childhood into midlife and found that those with strong ADHD ...

A Brain Glitch May Explain Why Some People Hear Voices

Jan. 23, 2026 New research suggests that auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia may come from a brain glitch that confuses inner thoughts for external voices. Normally, the brain predicts the sound of its own inner speech and tones down its response. But in ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:32pm EST

Sugary Drinks Linked to Rising Anxiety in Teens

Feb. 18, 2026 Sugary drinks may be linked to more than just physical health problems in teens. A new review of multiple studies found a consistent association between high consumption of beverages like soda, ...

Patients Tried Everything for Depression Then This Implant Changed Their Lives

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers report that vagus nerve stimulation helped many people with long-standing, treatment-resistant depression feel better—and stay ...

A “dormant” Brain Protein Turns out to Be a Powerful Switch

Jan. 19, 2026 Scientists at Johns Hopkins have uncovered a surprising new way to influence brain activity by targeting a long-mysterious class of proteins linked to anxiety, schizophrenia, and movement disorders. ...

Scientists Found Hidden Synapse Hotspots in the Teen Brain

Jan. 16, 2026 Scientists have discovered that the adolescent brain does more than prune old connections. During the teen years, it actively builds dense new clusters of synapses in specific parts of neurons. These ...

Millions With Dementia Still Prescribed Drugs Linked to Falls and Confusion

Jan. 13, 2026 Despite longstanding guidelines, many dementia patients are still prescribed brain-altering medications that can raise the risk of falls and confusion. A new study shows that while prescribing has ...

A Hidden Brain Signal May Reveal Alzheimer’s Long Before Diagnosis

Jan. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered a brain activity pattern that can predict which people with mild cognitive impairment are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Using a noninvasive brain scanning ...

Scientists Find Exercise Rivals Therapy for Depression

Jan. 8, 2026 A large review of studies suggests that exercise can ease depression about as effectively as psychological therapy. Compared with antidepressants, exercise showed similar benefits, though the ...

The Simplest Way Teens Can Protect Their Mental Health

Jan. 7, 2026 Teens who sleep in on weekends may be giving their mental health a boost. A new study found that young people who made up for lost weekday sleep had a significantly lower risk of depression. While ...

Flu Drug Once Blamed for Seizures in Kids Gets a Surprising Reversal

Jan. 5, 2026 A long-running debate over Tamiflu’s safety in children may finally be settled. Researchers found that influenza, not the antiviral medication, was linked to serious neuropsychiatric events like ...

The Secret to Human Intelligence? It Might Be in Our Gut

Jan. 5, 2026 New research shows gut bacteria can directly influence how the brain develops and functions. When scientists transferred microbes from different primates into mice, the animals’ brains began to ...

The Hidden Timing System That Shapes How You Think

Jan. 3, 2026 The brain constantly blends split-second reactions with slower, more thoughtful processing, and new research shows how it pulls this off. Scientists discovered that brain regions operate on different ...

ADHD Drugs Don’t Work the Way We Thought

Dec. 25, 2025 ADHD stimulants appear to work less by sharpening focus and more by waking up the brain. Brain scans revealed that these medications activate reward and alertness systems, helping children stay ...

A "herculean" Genetic Study Just Found a New Way to Treat ADHD

Jan. 2, 2026 Attention depends on the brain’s ability to filter out distractions, but new research suggests this works best when background brain activity is quieter. Scientists found that lowering certain ...

Stressed Rats Keep Returning to Cannabis and Scientists Know Why

Dec. 11, 2025 Rats with naturally high stress levels were far more likely to self-administer cannabis when given access. Behavioral testing showed that baseline stress hormones were the strongest predictor of ...

Scientists Discover Why Mental Disorders So Often Overlap

Jan. 3, 2026 A massive global genetics study is reshaping how we understand mental illness—and why diagnoses so often pile up. By analyzing genetic data from more than six million people, researchers uncovered ...

Anxiety and Insomnia Linked to Sharp Drops in Key Immune Cells

Dec. 15, 2025 Natural killer cells act as the immune system’s rapid-response team, but the stress of anxiety and insomnia may be quietly thinning their ranks. A study of young women in Saudi Arabia found that ...

The Brain Switch That Could Rewrite How We Treat Mental Illness

Dec. 13, 2025 Scientists exploring how the brain responds to stress discovered molecular changes that can influence behavior long after an experience ends. They also identified natural resilience systems that help ...

Why Warm Hugs Feel So Good to Your Brain

Jan. 4, 2026 Feeling warm or cold doesn’t just register on the skin—it changes how connected we feel to our own bodies. Research shows that temperature sensations help shape body ownership, emotional ...

Fast Depression Relief? Nitrous Oxide Shows Remarkable Potential

Dec. 2, 2025 Nitrous oxide may offer quick, short-term relief for people with major depression, especially those who haven’t responded to standard medications. The meta-analysis found rapid improvements after a ...

Repeated Head Impacts May Quietly Break the Brain’s Cleanup System

Nov. 28, 2025 Researchers found that repeated head impacts can disrupt a key system that helps the brain wash away waste. In professional fighters, this system initially seems to work harder after trauma, then ...

Scientists Uncover the Brain’s Hidden Learning Blocks

Nov. 28, 2025 Princeton researchers found that the brain excels at learning because it reuses modular “cognitive blocks” across many tasks. Monkeys switching between visual categorization challenges revealed ...

Daily Coffee May Slow Biological Aging in Mental Illness

Dec. 4, 2025 Researchers studying people with major psychiatric disorders found that drinking up to four cups of coffee a day is associated with longer telomeres. This suggests a potential slowing of biological ...

A Common Nutrient Deficiency May Be Silently Harming Young Brains

Nov. 27, 2025 Scientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver ...

A Hidden Brain Energy Signal Drives Depression and Anxiety

Nov. 26, 2025 Scientists discovered that lowered brain energy signaling in the hippocampus can lead to both depression- and anxiety-like behaviors in mice. Stress reduced ATP, a molecule important for cell energy ...

A Hidden Brain Problem May Be an Early Warning for Alzheimer’s

Jan. 3, 2026 Researchers discovered that clogged brain “drains” show up early in people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. These blockages, easily seen on standard MRI scans, are tied to toxic protein buildup ...

How to Keep Ozempic/Wegovy Weight Loss Without the Nausea

Nov. 18, 2025 Scientists are uncovering how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy act on brain regions that control hunger, nausea, pleasure-based eating, and thirst. These discoveries may help create treatments ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as ...

Scientists Discover First Gene Proven to Directly Cause Mental Illness

Dec. 2, 2025 Scientists have discovered that a single gene, GRIN2A, can directly cause mental illness—something previously thought to stem only from many genes acting together. People with certain variants of ...

Your Brain Shows Damage Before Your Blood Pressure Even Rises

Nov. 24, 2025 Hypertension begins harming the brain surprisingly early, even before measurable blood pressure increases. Key cells related to blood vessels, signaling, and myelin maintenance begin aging ...

Your Anxiety May Be Controlled by Hidden Immune Cells in the Brain

Nov. 13, 2025 Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that anxiety may be controlled not by neurons but by two dueling groups of immune cells inside the brain. These microglia act like biological ...