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.

Antidepressants and Weight Changes

The Science Behind the Winter Blues: Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder

5 Facts You May Not Know About Depression

Symptoms of Depression

Contributing Factors to Post-Adoption Depression

Depression Diagnosis

Treatment Options for Children with Depression

Treatment of Depression

Causes of Depression

Ghrelin and Depression

Prisoner Depression and Low Mood

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Depression in children

How Can I Tell if My Child is Depressed?

How is Depression in Children Diagnosed?

Supporting Children with Mental Health Disorders

Food Insecurity and Depression

How Does Your Diet Affect Depression?

Situational Depression: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

Depression and Sleep Length

Link Between Chronic Illness and Depression

Genes and Depression

Intrusive Thoughts and Depression

Can Depression and Anxiety Occur Together?

Latest Depression News and Research

Probiotics for mental health? A new review finds promising signals and major gaps

This narrative review examines how psychobiotics may influence anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia through gut-brain pathways involving neurotransmitters, inflammation, immune regulation, gut barrier function, and stress signaling. Specific Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains showed encouraging effects, but wide differences in strains, doses, populations, and study designs currently limit clinical translation.

28 Aug 2026

Blood-brain barrier-crossing blood pressure drugs linked to lower dementia risk

In a large Australian cohort of adults with hypertension, use of blood-brain barrier-crossing antihypertensive medications was associated with a lower risk of dementia and mortality than use of non-crossing drugs. The association was strongest for beta-blockers and angiotensin II receptor blockers, although the observational design means the findings cannot establish causality.

27 Aug 2026

Birth-related PTSD may go undiagnosed among thousands of new mothers

Tens of thousands of new mums across Britain may be suffering undiagnosed PTSD following childbirth, according to a University of East Anglia report.

27 Aug 2026

Theta rhythms guide the brain’s memory selection during sleep

Why do we remember certain moments while forgetting others? Every day, our minds are bombarded with thousands of pieces of information, yet our brains have a limited capacity to consolidate these experiences into lasting memories.

27 Aug 2026

Egg yolk peptides protect brain cells from oxidative stress

As the human lifespan increases, so too does the risk of developing neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety and depression.

27 Aug 2026

New stroke guideline mandates personalized and early rehabilitation

A stroke can change life in an instant, affecting everything from walking and speaking to memory, mood and the ability to perform everyday tasks.

27 Aug 2026

Internet-controlled brain implant enables remote neural stimulation and drug delivery

A researcher in Chicago remotely controls a miniaturized brain implant in Daejeon, Korea - over the internet. Korean researchers have developed a wireless device that can deliver drugs and light to precisely modulate targeted neurons from anywhere in the world.

27 Aug 2026

Diabetes study reveals differing health risks for men and women

In the years following type 2 diabetes diagnosis, women are more likely to develop mental health conditions, while men are more likely to develop cardiovascular and renal complications, according to a study published August 25th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Fabiola Eto from Queen Mary University of London, UK, and colleagues.

25 Aug 2026

Study finds distinct patterns of innate immune activity in mental disorders

The immune system may also play a role in mental disorders. Scientists are investigating these links with brain function in greater detail, and new findings show that immune changes may differ by disorder type.

25 Aug 2026

The diet-Alzheimer’s connection is more complicated than “eat this, avoid that”

A mini-review finds that dietary patterns may influence Alzheimer’s disease through interconnected pathways involving neuroinflammation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, blood-brain barrier dysfunction, homocysteine, and the gut-brain axis. The authors argue that genetics, sex, age, physical activity, and socioeconomic context may modify these relationships, supporting more individualized approaches to nutrition research and dementia prevention.

25 Aug 2026

An 11-year study found the same social media pattern again and again

Across 11 annual U.S. surveys involving about 183,000 adults, higher social media use was consistently associated with self-reported depression, with social media ranking among the strongest predictors in machine-learning models. SHAP analyses suggested that social media use became a stronger positive signal for depression at around 150 minutes per day, although the authors stress that this is not an established clinical threshold and requires longitudinal and experimental testing.

24 Aug 2026

Researchers explore the link between tau levels and depressive symptoms in older people

During typical aging and Alzheimer's disease progression, higher levels of a protein called tau are associated with more depressive symptoms.

24 Aug 2026

A two-year diet trial challenges the idea that weight loss is the only result that matters

In the two-year DELISH randomized trial, adults with obesity achieved modest, sustained weight loss with either an adapted Mediterranean-style program or a commercial weight loss program. The Mediterranean-style intervention produced greater improvements in self-reported diet quality, while 24-month weight loss did not materially differ between groups.

24 Aug 2026

A childhood shaped by sugar rationing was linked to mental health more than 50 years later

UK Biobank researchers examined whether sugar rationing during pregnancy and the first two years of life was associated with adult sweet-food preferences, sugar intake, brain structure, anxiety, and depression.

23 Aug 2026

Neurogenesis stalls in the brains of adults with major depressive disorder, study shows

Most of our brain's 100 billion neurons are created before we're born, but the trickle of neurons created in the adult brain hippocampus could be instrumental in preventing depression, suggest findings from a new study by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

21 Aug 2026

Oxford study identifies brain mechanisms behind our sense of control

A study led by the University of Oxford has identified the brain mechanisms that help us work out whether the consequences we experience are caused by our own actions or by circumstances beyond our control.

21 Aug 2026

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy does not worsen depression symptoms

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin–Madison's Center for Healthy Minds (CHM), along with UW–Madison Department of Educational Psychology and a multi-university team, have found no evidence that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) increased a risk of symptom worsening, in a meta-analysis published in JAMA Network Open.

21 Aug 2026

Digital program reduces anxiety and depression in adults with chronic medical conditions

A digital program combining guided movement, breathing and meditation exercises, and coping-skills training reduced anxiety and depression symptoms in adults with chronic medical conditions, according to a new study published August 20th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Puneeta Tandon of the University of Alberta, Canada, and colleagues.

20 Aug 2026

Psilocybin may make the brain more organized than scientists expected

In 62 adults, researchers combined fMRI, EEG and machine learning to examine how psilocybin reshapes brain activity during rest, meditation, music and movie viewing. They found that context-sensitive neural organization tracked the intensity and quality of psychedelic experiences and was associated with next-day mindset change.

20 Aug 2026

Parental loss doubles children's risk of mental health disorders

A new, large-scale Curtin University study has found children who experience parental loss are twice as likely to develop a mental health disorder, compared to those living with both parents.

19 Aug 2026