Psychiatry News

February 25, 2025

Top Headlines

'Loot Box' Virtual Rewards Associated With Gambling and Video Game Addiction

Feb. 19, 2025 — A new study of more than 1400 adults who gamble and play online video games has found loot box buying is associated with real-world gambling, video gaming addiction, and other mental health issues. ...

How Does Tourette Syndrome Differ by Sex?

Jan. 15, 2025 — Tourette syndrome is currently diagnosed about three times more frequently in males than in females. A new study finds that female individuals are less likely to be diagnosed with the syndrome, take longer to receive a diagnosis and are older when ...

Scientists Reveal Gut Microbes' Hidden Role in Anxiety: Could Probiotics Be the Next Mental Health Breakthrough?

Feb. 5, 2025 — Could the key to easing anxiety be hidden in our gut? Scientists have discovered a crucial connection between gut microbes and anxiety-related behavior. Their research suggests that microbial ...

Listening for Multiple Mental Health Disorders

Feb. 4, 2025 — Researchers develop machine learning tools that screen for co-morbid anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder using acoustic voice signals. The team spoke to participants with and without co-morbid AD/MDD and recorded them using a secure ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:01pm EST

Advanced Brain Circuit-Mapping Technique Reveals New Anxiety Drug Target

Jan. 28, 2025 — Investigators have identified in a preclinical model a specific brain circuit whose inhibition appears to reduce anxiety without side effects. Their work suggests a new target for treating anxiety ...

People With Schizophrenia Have an Altered Ability to Visually Perceive Contrast

Jan. 28, 2025 — Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects around 1% of the world's population. Researchers have identified a deficit in contrast ...

Patients With Anorexia Have Elevated Opioid Neurotransmitter Activity in the Brain

Jan. 27, 2025 — A study showed that changes in the functioning of opioid neurotransmitters in the brain may underlie ...

What Drives Mood Swings in Bipolar Disorder? Study Points to a Second Brain Clock

Jan. 27, 2025 — A brain rhythm working in tandem with the body's natural sleep-wake cycle may explain why bipolar patients alternate between mania and depression, ...

Exploring Decision Making in People With Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Jan. 24, 2025 — Although obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) can be treated, research has shown that people with the disorder tend to have a lower quality of life than neurotypical people. Many struggle to achieve ...

Researchers Track Sharp Increase in Diagnoses for Sedative, Hypnotic and Anxiety Use Disorder in Young Adults

Jan. 23, 2025 — The prevalence of diagnosed disorders from recurrent use of sedative, hypnotic and anti-anxiety medications in adolescents and young adults has ...

A Way for Smartwatches to Detect Depression Risks

Jan. 22, 2025 — A international research team developed a digital biomarker for predicting symptoms of depression based on data collected by ...

New Research Highlights Trends in ADHD Diagnoses

Jan. 13, 2025 — New research identifies differing trends in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among adolescents and adults, including an increase among adults from 2020 to 2023. The study ...

Study Reveals That Sleep Prevents Unwanted Memories from Intruding

Jan. 2, 2025 — The link between poor sleep and mental health problems could be related to deficits in brain regions that keep unwanted thoughts out of ...

Almost Three Quarters of Adolescents Experience Depression or Anxiety

Dec. 17, 2024 — Almost three quarters of adolescents in Australia experience clinically significant depression or anxiety symptoms, with most being chronic, according to a new study. And preventive strategies ...

Teens With a Reduced Response to Rewards Are More Susceptible to Depression

Dec. 17, 2024 — Novel research shows that a reduced neural response to receiving rewards in teens predicts the first onset of depression, but not anxiety or suicidality. This is independent of pre-existing ...

Antipsychotic Medications Don't Always Work the Way They're Supposed to

Dec. 6, 2024 — A study analyzed data from nearly 500,000 Canadian patients who lived in nursing homes across Canada between 2000 and 2022. It found that residents who were given antipsychotic medications showed a ...

Study Exposes Link Between Genetic Risk of Depression and Heart Disease in Women

Dec. 4, 2024 — Women who have a high genetic risk of depression are more likely to develop heart disease, researchers have ...

20th Century Lead Exposure Damaged American Mental Health

Dec. 4, 2024 — Exposure to car exhaust from leaded gas during childhood altered the balance of mental health in the U.S. population, making generations of Americans more depressed, anxious and inattentive or ...

New Hope for Schizophrenia: iTBS Over the Left DLPFC Improves Negative and Cognitive Symptoms

Dec. 3, 2024 — Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique known for modifying human behavior and treating neurological diseases. A group of scientists conducted a systematic review ...

For Those With CTE, Family History of Mental Illness Tied to Aggression in Middle Age

Nov. 27, 2024 — People who have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) who have a family history of mental illness may have a higher risk of aggression in middle age, according to a new ...

Potential New Biomarker for Psychosis Diagnosis

Nov. 25, 2024 — The current standard of care for psychosis is a diagnostic interview, but what if it could be diagnosed before the first symptom emerged? Researchers are pointing toward a potential biomarker in the ...

Researchers Use Fitness Tracker Data and Machine Learning to Detect Bipolar Disorder Mood Swings

Nov. 25, 2024 — Investigators evaluated whether data collected from a fitness tracker could be used to accurately detect mood episodes in people with bipolar ...

New Imaging Study Finds Evidence That Emotion Regulation Is Not Always the Most Effective Strategy to Mitigate Suicidal Ideation

Nov. 25, 2024 — Depressed individuals who reflexively attempt to dampen their initial emotional responses to reminders of their negative memories have a low tolerance for distressing emotional stimuli in general and ...

Tantrums in Young Children Could Be Linked to ADHD, Study Finds

Nov. 21, 2024 — Preschool children who struggle to control their emotions and behaviour have more symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- known as ADHD -- at age seven, a study suggests. Children ...

Neuroscientists Discover How the Brain Slows Anxious Breathing

Nov. 19, 2024 — Scientists discovered a brain circuit that allows us to regulate voluntary breathing, which connects the brain's emotional and behavioral cortical area to its automatic breathing brainstem area. ...

Psychotic-Like Experiences in Adolescents Linked to Depression and Self-Destructive Behavior

Nov. 19, 2024 — Psychotic-like experiences, such as suspiciousness and unusual thoughts, are common among adolescents who are referred to adolescent psychiatric care. The symptoms are often associated with ...

Multiple Sclerosis Drug May Help With Poor Working Memory

Nov. 18, 2024 — Fampridine is currently used to improve walking ability in multiple sclerosis. A new study shows that it could also help individuals with reduced working memory, as seen in mental health conditions ...

How Stress Is Fundamentally Changing Our Memories

Nov. 15, 2024 — In a new study, researchers identify the biological processes behind stress-induced aversive memory generalization and highlight an intervention which could help restore appropriate memory ...

PTSD Patients Can Benefit Just as Much from Intensive Outpatient Programs as from Inpatient Clinics, New Study Shows

Nov. 14, 2024 — Post-traumatic stress disorder comes in many forms and affects each person differently. Some patients benefit more from residential, in-treatment programs, while others are more suited for outpatient ...

Depression Rates in LGBTQIA+ Students Are Three Times Higher Than Their Peers, New Research Suggests

Nov. 13, 2024 — New findings uncover an alarming rise in depression rates among all higher education students in the United States, but especially among sexual and gender ...

Metabolomic Changes Linked to Psychotic-Like Experiences and Cannabis Use in Adolescents

Nov. 13, 2024 — An exploratory study has examined metabolomic patterns associated with psychotic-like experiences in adolescents, highlighting the influence of cannabis ...

New Study Challenges Social Media's Mental Health Impact

Nov. 6, 2024 — A new study has challenged the perception heavy social media use has a significant impact on mental health, finding little to no relationship between the two. In fact, not only does the research ...

New Study Shows Combination Therapy Slows Cognitive Decline in at-Risk Populations

Oct. 30, 2024 — An important new study has demonstrated that a combination therapy can slow cognitive decline in older adults at risk for ...

The Couples Who Cope Together, Stay Together

Oct. 29, 2024 — A new study has lifted the lid on how couples living with rheumatoid arthritis cope with the debilitating disease finding that those who cope with problems together had less psychological distress ...