Depression

Depression is a serious medical illness that involves the brain. It's more than just a feeling of being "down in the dumps" or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 20 million people in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

Clinical Depression: Diagnosis, Causes & Treatment

Depression is a clinical condition that, contrary to popular opinion, cannot simply be overcome with time and it needs to be treated.

Depression in children

Supporting Children with Mental Health Disorders

Depression and Sleep Length

Depression Diagnosis

Can Depression and Anxiety Occur Together?

Food Insecurity and Depression

Genes and Depression

Symptoms of Depression

Ghrelin and Depression

Situational Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

Intrusive Thoughts and Depression

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Causes of Depression

Link Between Chronic Illness and Depression

How Can I Tell if My Child is Depressed?

Prisoner Depression and Low Mood

How is Depression in Children Diagnosed?

Antidepressants and Weight Changes

Treatment Options for Children with Depression

Treatment of Depression

Latest Depression News and Research

Healthcare affordability in America drops to lowest level since 2021

New research released today from the West Health-Gallup Center on Healthcare in America finds that fewer than half of Americans (49%) are considered "Cost Secure," meaning they can consistently afford healthcare and prescription medications when and where they need them, the lowest level recorded since West Health and Gallup launched its Healthcare Affordability Index in 2021.

18 Jun 2026

Legal system contact increases mental health risks for youth

Youth who have contact with the US legal system may be at increased risk of mental health symptoms including anxiety, depression, hostility, and psychoticism, according to a study published June 17, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Raquel V. Oliveira and Elizabeth Culatta from Augusta University, US.

18 Jun 2026

Mental health problems common in encephalitis survivors, study finds

A major new study has found that mental health and behavioral changes such as depression, anxiety, and emotional instability are common in people who survive encephalitis - inflammation of the brain that can be caused by infection or autoimmune disease.

18 Jun 2026

PMOS rethink reframes a common hormone disorder as a whole-body disease

A new review reframes PCOS, now proposed as PMOS, as a systemic endocrine and metabolic disorder shaped by genetic, epigenetic, ovarian, metabolic, and neuroendocrine pathways. It highlights why inconsistent diagnosis and symptom-focused care have limited progress, while targeted therapies, biomarkers, machine learning, and organ-on-chip models may support more personalized treatment.

18 Jun 2026

Trauma-focused therapy safely improves PTSD symptoms in psychosis patients

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London and published in The Lancet Psychiatry has found that people with psychosis experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can benefit from a Trauma-Focused therapy integrated with Cognitive Behavior Therapy for psychosis (CBTp).

17 Jun 2026

Study links commercial cannabis markets to increased addiction

Removing criminal penalties for possessing cannabis for personal use, or introducing tightly controlled legalisation of cannabis, does not appear to increase levels of cannabis use.

17 Jun 2026

Probiotics help reduce depressive symptoms in older adults

In a pilot clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that included older adults with depression receiving standard care, adding probiotic therapy produced modest but meaningful reductions in depressive and anxiety symptoms compared with adding a placebo.

17 Jun 2026

Losing smell and taste may profoundly affect wellbeing

University of East Anglia research reveals that smell loss can affect quality of life as severely as conditions including diabetes, stroke, Parkinson's, and kidney failure.

16 Jun 2026

Depression shapes how children pay attention to emotional faces

A smile. A frown. The faces a child pays closer attention to might offer invaluable insight into their mental health.

16 Jun 2026

New USC clinical trial explores psilocybin for mental health

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the Brain and Creativity Institute at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center have launched the University of Southern California's first study of psychedelic therapy.

16 Jun 2026

Gut bacteria may help explain why fatigue appears before illness

A small study of healthy Japanese adults found that fatigue was associated with distinct gut microbiome, microbial gene, and fecal metabolite patterns. The findings suggest fatigue may track with altered microbial energy metabolism and oxidative stress-related functional potential, but larger longitudinal studies are needed to test causality and clinical value.

16 Jun 2026

Persistent anxiety and depression may delay emotional maturity into midlife

A long-running Australian cohort study found that personality traits generally matured from early to middle adulthood, with agreeableness and conscientiousness rising and extraversion, openness, and neuroticism declining. People with persistent common mental disorders showed the clearest decline in neuroticism by midlife, but they still had higher emotional instability than peers without persistent mental health difficulties.

15 Jun 2026

Social media overuse is linked to more self-reported memory problems in young adults

Problematic social media use was associated with more frequent self-reported everyday memory failures in 943 Spanish young adults aged 18 to 35. Everyday memory failures statistically accounted for much of the link between problematic social media use and both prospective and retrospective memory lapses.

15 Jun 2026

Reinforcing daily rhythms helps the brain recover after stroke

A new study from scientists at the University of Rochester Medicine suggests that reinforcing the body's natural daily rhythms to improve sleep could help the brain recover after a stroke, pointing to a potential new strategy to improve brain waste clearance and outcomes long after the initial injury.

15 Jun 2026

Sex-dependent depression symptoms reduce healthspan in older adults

Depression is a serious mental health issue that can rob us of joy - and years of healthy living. While we know that depressive symptoms can cut down the remaining years of disability-free living (or "healthspan") in older adults, it was unclear exactly which symptoms could be the culprit.

15 Jun 2026

Non-hormonal menopausal medication improves mood and hot flashes

The first real-world study of the FDA-approved non-hormone treatment fezolinetant found the menopausal medication improved hot flashes, depression and anxiety in women, according to industry-sponsored research being presented Sunday at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago, Ill.

14 Jun 2026

Study finds gaps in guideline-based testosterone prescribing practices

Only a small number of men who were prescribed testosterone therapy received appropriate, guideline-concordant diagnostic testing, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago, Ill, by Sophia Sinha, M.D., clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

14 Jun 2026

Grandparents can help counter growing children's mental health challenges

As more than 40% of American teenagers report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, a leading child psychologist says grandparents and extended family have a vital role to play.

13 Jun 2026

Trauma-related conditions drive deaths in women with HIV

Women with HIV most often die from preventable, trauma-related conditions like substance use and mental illness - not the virus itself. Yet, these leading causes are largely missing from official death records, according to new research by UC San Francisco.

12 Jun 2026

Parkinson's drug may ease anhedonia in treatment-resistant depression

For many people who suffer from depression, the condition is not just about feeling down, but also about a loss of motivation and difficulty finding pleasure in activities they used to enjoy.

12 Jun 2026