Mental Health Research News

November 21, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Find Brain Chemical Tied to Trauma and Depression

Nov. 10, 2025 Researchers identified SGK1 as a key chemical connecting childhood trauma to depression and suicidal behavior. High SGK1 levels were found in the brains of suicide victims and in people with genetic variants linked to early adversity. Drugs that ...

Breakthrough Brain Discovery Reveals a Natural Way to Relieve Pain

Nov. 4, 2025 Using powerful 7-Tesla brain imaging, researchers mapped how the brainstem manages pain differently across the body. They discovered that distinct regions activate for facial versus limb pain, showing the brain’s built-in precision pain control ...

Scientists Discover a Surprising Way to Quiet the Anxious Mind

Oct. 27, 2025 Generalized anxiety disorder affects millions, often trapping sufferers in cycles of fear and isolation that conventional medications barely relieve. At UCSF, neuroscientist Jennifer Mitchell is testing a pharmaceutical form of LSD called MM120, ...

Your Brain’s Power Supply May Hold the Key to Mental Illness

Oct. 14, 2025 Groundbreaking Harvard research is exposing hidden energy failures inside brain cells that may drive major psychiatric conditions. By studying reprogrammed neurons, scientists are revealing how cellular metabolism shapes mood, thought, and ...

Oct. 13, 2025 Finasteride, a common hair-loss drug, has long been tied to depression and suicide, but regulators ignored the warnings. Prof. Mayer Brezis’s review exposes global data showing psychiatric harm and a pattern of inaction by Merck and the FDA. ...

Scientists Find Brain Circuit That Traps Alcohol Users in the Vicious Cycle of Addiction

Oct. 7, 2025 Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region called the paraventricular nucleus of the ...

How Dehydration Secretly Fuels Anxiety and Health Problems

Sep. 23, 2025 Not drinking enough water could intensify stress responses. Researchers found that under-hydrated individuals had cortisol levels more than 50% higher during stressful situations. Poor hydration didn’t make participants feel thirstier, but it did ...

Why so Many Young Kids with ADHD Are Getting the Wrong Treatment

Sep. 16, 2025 Preschoolers with ADHD are often given medication right after diagnosis, against medical guidelines that recommend starting with behavioral therapy. Limited access to therapy and physician pressures drive early prescribing, despite risks and reduced ...

Stress Measured in Hair Could Predict Depression and Anxiety in Children

Sep. 16, 2025 Researchers from the University of Waterloo discovered that measuring long-term stress through children’s hair samples can reveal early signs of mental health risks in those living with chronic physical illnesses. Children with persistently high ...

The Sleep Switch That Builds Muscle, Burns Fat, and Boosts Brainpower

Sep. 8, 2025 UC Berkeley researchers mapped the brain circuits that control growth hormone during sleep, uncovering a feedback system where sleep fuels hormone release, and the hormone regulates wakefulness. The discovery helps explain links between poor sleep, ...

Cannabis for Coping? Why It May Trigger Paranoia

Aug. 28, 2025 Using cannabis to self-medicate comes with hidden dangers—new research shows these users face higher paranoia and consume more THC. Childhood trauma further amplifies the risks, especially emotional abuse, which strongly predicts ...

This New Drug Could Help PTSD Patients Finally Let Go of Trauma

Aug. 3, 2025 Researchers discovered that PTSD may be driven by excess GABA from astrocytes, not neurons. This chemical imbalance disrupts the brain’s ability to forget fear. A new drug, KDS2010, reverses this effect in mice and is already in human trials. It ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:16am EST

The Silent Threat: How Hearing Loss and Loneliness Are Fueling Memory Decline

July 18, 2025 A massive European study has uncovered a powerful connection between hearing loss, loneliness, and memory decline. Researchers at the University of ...

How a Hidden Brain Circuit Fuels Fibromyalgia, Migraines, and PTSD

July 10, 2025 What if your brain is the reason some pain feels unbearable? Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a hidden brain circuit that gives pain its emotional punch—essentially transforming ...

Is That Really ADHD? Why Flawed Trials May Be Misleading Millions

July 1, 2025 Researchers reviewing nearly 300 top-tier ADHD drug trials found that half skipped the rigorous, expert-led evaluations needed to rule out other conditions like depression or schizophrenia. With ...

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 ...

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 ...

A Dental Floss That Can Measure Stress

May 26, 2025 Scientists create a floss pick that samples cortisol within saliva as a marker of stress and quantifies it with a built-in electrode. The system uses a polymer casting technology that can be adapted ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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

May 14, 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 ...

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

May 8, 2025 Engineers created a new point-of-care test that measures cortisol in saliva to help doctors diagnose depression and ...

Teens Driving Older Vehicles Have Increased Risk for Fatal Crashes

May 7, 2025 Researchers reviewed US national fatal crash data (2016-2021) and examined the vehicle age and driver assistance technologies of vehicles driven by teen and middle-aged drivers, and their ...

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

Apr. 30, 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

Apr. 30, 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

Apr. 30, 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 ...

Can Hormone Therapy Improve Heart Health in Menopausal Women?

Apr. 22, 2025 Oral hormone therapy may benefit heart health in menopausal women. A new analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative found that estrogen-based oral hormone therapy had a long-term ...

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. 18, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Maternal Depression Can Lead to Children's Emotional Overeating, Study Shows

Mar. 17, 2025 Up to 25% of new mothers suffer from postpartum depression, which can significantly impact their parenting behavior and the wellbeing of their children. A new study looks at long-term effects of ...

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 ...