Mental Health News

June 20, 2025

Top Headlines

Sustained in the Brain: How Lasting Emotions Arise from Brief Stimuli, in Humans and Mice

May 29, 2025 — Humans and mice share persistent brain-activity patterns in response to adverse sensory experience, scientists find, opening a window to our emotions and, perhaps, neuropsychiatric ...

How Brain Stimulation Alleviates Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

May 27, 2025 — Persons with Parkinson's disease increasingly lose their mobility over time and are eventually unable to walk. Hope for these patients rests on deep brain stimulation, also known as a brain pacemaker. In a current study, researchers investigated ...

Common Antidepressants Could Help the Immune System Fight Cancer

May 22, 2025 — SSRIs boosted the ability of T cells to kill cancer cells and suppressed tumor growth in both mouse and human tumor ...

Could Personality Tests Help Make Bipolar Disorder Treatment More Precise?

May 19, 2025 — A new study suggests that it might be possible to personalize care for people with bipolar disorder, using the results of detailed personality tests. It finds that such tests might help identify people who have certain combinations of personality ...

People With Critical Cardiovascular Disease May Benefit from Palliative Care

May 16, 2025 — Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on easing symptoms, addressing psychological and spiritual needs, and helping patients and caregivers make critical decisions aligned with their ...

New Study Raises Concerns About the Safety of Long-Term ADHD Medication Treatment in Children

May 15, 2025 — A recent study reveals that the average duration of ADHD medication for children and adolescents is more than three years. However, reliable, controlled data on the safety of marketed ADHD medicines ...

Cyberbullying in Any Form Can Be Traumatizing for Kids

May 15, 2025 — New research shows that cyberbullying should be classified as an adverse childhood experience due to its strong link to trauma. Even subtle forms -- like exclusion from group chats -- can trigger PTSD-level distress. Nearly 90% of teens experienced ...

Lab-on-a-Chip Devices Take Public Health Into Home

May 9, 2025 — Engineers created a new point-of-care test that measures cortisol in saliva to help doctors diagnose depression and ...

PTSD Patients Show Long-Term Benefits With Vagus Nerve Stimulation

May 5, 2025 — In a recent clinical study, patients with treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress disorder were symptom-free up to six months after completing traditional therapy paired with vagus nerve ...

Study Links Childhood Trauma to Increased Substance Use and Unexpected Effects on Heart Rate and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

May 4, 2025 — Childhood trauma significantly increases the likelihood of engaging in harmful alcohol consumption, smoking and illicit drug use, by the age of ...

Depression and Other Mental Health Conditions Linked With Immune Response, Study Finds

May 2, 2025 — Depression, schizophrenia and other mental health conditions affect 1 in 4 people in their lifetime, but mechanisms underlying these conditions are poorly understood. New research has linked the ...

Mechanism by Which the Brain Weighs Positive Vs. Negative Social Experience Is Revealed

May 2, 2025 — Researchers have identified the neural mechanisms in the brain that regulate both positive and negative impressions of a social encounter, as well as how an imbalance between the two could lead to ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:07am EDT

Increased Risk of Psychopathology Found in Offspring of People With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder

May 22, 2025 — A new study confirms that children of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have a higher risk of developing psychopathology compared to ...

Focal Brain Damage Leaves People More Open to Being Influenced by Impulsive Others

May 1, 2025 — People who have damage to a specific part of their brains are more likely to be impulsive, and new research has found that damage also makes them ...

Compelling New Insights Into Dynamics of the Brain's Serotonin System

Apr. 25, 2025 — A new study sheds new light on these big questions, illuminating a general principle of neural processing in a mysterious region of the midbrain that is the very origin of our central serotonin ...

Novel Treatment Approach for Language Disorder Shows Promise

Apr. 21, 2025 — Neuroscientists have developed a new treatment approach for a language disorder that combines traditional speech therapy with noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain. Brain stimulation helped ...

Building 'Cellular Bridges' for Spinal Cord Repair After Injury

Apr. 21, 2025 — Capitalizing on the flexibility of tiny cells inside the body's smallest blood vessels may be a powerful spinal cord repair strategy, new research ...

Insomnia and Sleep Medication Use Connected to Disability in Older Adults

Apr. 19, 2025 — For adults over the age of 65, higher levels of both insomnia symptoms and sleep medication use were associated with higher risk of disability a year later, according to a new ...

LSD Analogue With Potential for Treating Schizophrenia Developed

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic's therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic ...

Police Officers Face Twice the Risk of Traumatic Brain Injuries and PTSD, Survey Finds

Apr. 14, 2025 — Police officers are more than twice as likely to have traumatic brain injuries compared to the general ...

Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Improve Chronic Low Back Pain

Apr. 7, 2025 — Eight weeks of mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy were associated with improved pain, physical function and quality of life and reduced daily opioid dose in adults with chronic low back pain ...

New Study Investigates Effects of ADHD Medications on the Heart

Apr. 7, 2025 — A new study has found that medications for ADHD have overall small effects on blood pressure and heart rate after weeks or a few months of use. There have been concerns about the side effects of ADHD ...

PTSD Can Undermine Healthy Couple Communication When People Fear Their Emotions

Mar. 31, 2025 — Fear of emotions among couples with PTSD is associated with unproductive communication, according to a new ...

ADHD May Be Associated With an Increased Risk of Dementia

Mar. 25, 2025 — An adult brain affected by attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) presents modifications similar to those observed in individuals suffering from dementia. These are the ...

Climate Change Fuelling Mental Health Crisis in Areas Most Affected by Climate Crisis

Mar. 18, 2025 — Climate change is not just an environmental issue -- it's a mental health crisis impacting on adolescent wellbeing right now in areas most affected by climate change, according to new ...

Study Finds Unique Brain Changes Linked to Witnessing Trauma

Mar. 18, 2025 — Researchers discovered distinct molecular differences in how the brain processes directly experienced versus witnessed trauma -- a finding that could lead to more targeted treatments for ...

Robotics and Spinal Stimulation Restore Movement in Paralysis

Mar. 12, 2025 — Scientists have developed an approach that combines rehabilitation robotics with spinal cord stimulation to restore movement in people with spinal cord injuries. The technology enhances ...

Does Getting ADHD Drugs Via Telehealth Increase Addiction Risk?

Mar. 5, 2025 — A study of people who started ADHD stimulant treatment via telehealth vs in-person visits shows no difference in risk of new substance use disorders except for young adults age ...

For Some, Childhood Adversity Can Promote Resilience to Anxiety Disorders

Mar. 5, 2025 — Research has shown that young people who face adversity such as traumatic or stressful events during brain development are 40% more likely to develop anxiety disorders by adulthood. But most people ...

Evidence Expanding That 40Hz Gamma Stimulation Promotes Brain Health

Mar. 3, 2025 — A decade of studies from labs around the world provide a growing evidence base that increasing the power of the brain's gamma rhythms could help fight Alzheimer's, and perhaps other, ...

Research Indicates Effects of PTSD on Body Vary by Culture

Feb. 28, 2025 — Anthropologists, social scientists and veterans are analyze the relationship between the hormones cortisol and testosterone and PTSD in a non-industrialized ...

Nasal Spray Shows Preclinical Promise for Treating Traumatic Brain Injury

Feb. 27, 2025 — A new study suggests a nasal spray developed to target neuroinflammation could one day be an effective treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). By studying the effects of the nasal anti-CD3 in a ...

Screening and Treating Maternal Psychological Health Key to Improving Cardiovascular Health

Feb. 25, 2025 — Identifying and treating risk factors for depression, anxiety and other psychological health conditions during pregnancy and postpartum may improve short- and long-term health outcomes for both ...

New Therapy Reduces Reoffending in Male Offenders With Antisocial Personality Disorder

Feb. 18, 2025 — A new psychological therapy has been found to reduce rates of violence and aggression among male offenders with antisocial personality disorder ...

Researchers Achieve Total Synthesis of Ibogaine

Feb. 6, 2025 — Researchers have achieved total chemical synthesis of the psychoactive compound ibogaine and its analogs from pyridine. The discovery will make it easier to explore the therapeutic possibilities of ...

Nerve Stimulation: The Brain Is Not Always Listening

Jan. 27, 2025 — Various diseases can be treated by stimulating the vagus nerve in the ear with electrical signals. However, this technique does not always work. A study has now shown: The electrical signals must be ...

Adults Diagnosed With ADHD May Have Reduced Life Expectancies

Jan. 23, 2025 — Adults who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be living shorter lives than they should, finds a new ...

Waking Up Is Not Stressful, Study Finds

Jan. 14, 2025 — Waking up does not activate an increase in the release of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol does, however, increase in the hours prior to wakening as part of the body's preparation for the ...

Overcoming Spasticity to Help Paraplegics Walk Again

Jan. 8, 2025 — Thanks to new high-frequency electrical stimulation that blocks spasticity, two paralyzed patients suffering from muscle stiffness after spinal cord injury benefit from rehabilitation protocols for ...

Loneliness Linked to Higher Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke and Susceptibility to Infection

Jan. 3, 2025 — Interactions with friends and family may keep us healthy because they boost our immune system and reduce our risk of diseases such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes, new research suggests. ...

Integrating GABA and Dopamine Signals to Regulate Meal Initiation

Dec. 20, 2024 — When you are feeling hungry, the brain takes the necessary steps toward consuming a meal. Many of these steps are not well known, but a new study reveals brain circuits and chemical messengers that ...

Research Shows How Music Can Reduce Distress

Dec. 19, 2024 — A new study has demonstrated for the first time how and why music can reduce distress and agitation for people with advanced dementia. The study involved interviews with staff and music therapists on ...