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.

How Can I Tell if My Child is Depressed?

Causes of Depression

Symptoms of Depression

How is Depression in Children Diagnosed?

Depression in children

Treatment Options for Children with Depression

Intrusive Thoughts and Depression

Treatment of Depression

Antidepressants and Weight Changes

Contributing Factors to Post-Adoption Depression

Can Depression and Anxiety Occur Together?

See more featured articles »

Depression and Sleep Length

Ghrelin and Depression

Situational Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

5 Facts You May Not Know About Depression

Genes and Depression

Link Between Chronic Illness and Depression

Depression Diagnosis

Prisoner Depression and Low Mood

The Science Behind the Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

Food Insecurity and Depression

How Does Your Diet Affect Depression?

Supporting Children with Mental Health Disorders

Latest Depression News and Research

New fathers face delayed mental health risks after childbirth

Paternal mental health risks increase after childbirth, with delayed detection of psychiatric disorders underscoring the need for targeted support for fathers.

26 Mar 2026

New tool aims to support the delivery of whole-person care in everyday clinical practice

As whole-person care accelerates across the U.S. health care system, clinicians face a persistent and consequential gap: the lifestyle and upstream health factors that drive chronic disease remain largely unmeasured, undocumented, and uncompensated in health care data systems.

25 Mar 2026

Study links social media addiction to worse student mental health and points to family as a key buffer

A study of 627 Saudi university students found that higher social media addiction was associated with more anxiety and depression, while family environment fully mediated those links in the statistical model. The findings suggest that supportive family relationships may help buffer the mental health burden associated with problematic social media use, although the cross-sectional design does not establish causation.

25 Mar 2026

Timing of acetylcholine release determines if dopamine promotes movement or learning

Scientists have long-studied the role of dopamine, a chemical in the brain that helps control learning and movement, in order to better understand Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and depression-afflictions caused, in part, by a disruption or alteration of dopamine activity.

25 Mar 2026

Systematic review identifies stress-induced biological triggers in oncology

Stress is a constant companion in the oncologist's office. It appears at the time of diagnosis, increases with each stage of treatment, and often does not resolve even after therapy formally ends. It accompanies therapeutic decisions, waiting for test results, fear of recurrence, and changes in daily functioning. Studies show that chronic stress can trigger biological processes that promote disease progression and weaken the body's defenses.

25 Mar 2026

Conflict exposure increases PTSD and suicidality among young people in Ukraine

For more than a decade, Ukrainian children have grown up with war as a constant backdrop. According to researchers, the psychological consequences are now becoming clear.

24 Mar 2026

Study identifies early risk factors for progressive supranuclear palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, is a rare brain disease that causes problems with balance, eye movements and thinking. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson recently passed away after living with the disease for more than a decade.

24 Mar 2026

Study highlights neurological and psychiatric impacts of long COVID

Nearly three years after the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic was declared over, conservative estimates suggest that between 80 million and 400 million people worldwide have long COVID.

23 Mar 2026

Rest tremor in Parkinson’s linked to better-preserved dopamine function

A Finnish clinical imaging study shows that rest tremor in Parkinson's disease is not explained by greater dopamine loss.

23 Mar 2026

Can your voice reveal stress levels?

This research explores speech prosody as a stress marker, analyzing the effects of relaxation methods on vocal changes and their implications for stress relief.

23 Mar 2026

Chronotherapy offers new hope for timing pain relief to match body cycles

Time plays a key role in our perception of pain and administering pain relief and medication for chronic pain-related depression may be more effective at certain times of day, UCL and University of Toronto researchers say.

23 Mar 2026

Study identifies protein biomarker and potential treatment for schizophrenia

Current schizophrenia medications treat symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, but do little for cognitive symptoms like disorganized thinking or executive dysfunction.

19 Mar 2026

Study explores post-game depression and emotional impact on players

Experiencing a sense of loss and sadness after dozens of hours spent on a video game? Researchers from SWPS University and the Stefan Batory Academy of Applied Sciences examined the feeling of emptiness that accompanies completing an engaging computer game.

19 Mar 2026

GLP-1 medications linked to reduced psychiatric hospital visits

GLP-1 medications used to treat diabetes and obesity were associated with a reduced need for hospital care and sickness absence due to psychiatric reasons, a new study shows.

18 Mar 2026

Precise application of radio waves could help counter neurological conditions

A new study found that precise application of radio waves can change the activity of brain cells in ways that could counter neurological conditions.

18 Mar 2026

Burnout crisis demands science-based strategies beyond self-care solutions

Burnout is at an all-time high, with some studies saying two-thirds of employees now cite job burnout as a major challenge.

18 Mar 2026

More US adolescents are obese but fewer are trying to lose weight

The rising obesity rates in American adolescents, coupled with declining weight-loss efforts, signal urgent needs for targeted public health interventions.

18 Mar 2026

New microbiome therapy improves autism symptoms in children

This study evaluates a new fecal microbiota transplant method, revealing significant symptom improvements in children with autism without invasive procedures.

18 Mar 2026

Study finds common brain mechanism behind different anesthesia drugs

When patients undergo general anesthesia, doctors can choose among several drugs. Although each of these drugs acts on neurons in different ways, they all lead to the same result: a disruption of the brain's balance between stability and excitability, according to a new MIT study.

17 Mar 2026