Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
In a small, carefully controlled study, seven people with major depression each received a single low-dose ketamine infusion on one day and a saline infusion on another day, without anyone knowing which was which. People who got ketamine showed clear improvement in their depressive symptoms within three days, while those…
The WHO Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS) has 18 questions about recent ADHD symptoms, and a shorter six-question screener was tested against blind clinical diagnoses in 154 people from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Each ASRS item was linked to the clinical rating, but agreement varied a lot across…
This U.S. study used a nationally representative household survey of 3,199 adults aged 18–44, plus clinical follow-up interviews, to measure adult ADHD. Researchers estimated that 4.4% of adults had current ADHD. Adult ADHD was more common in men, people who were previously married, those who were unemployed, and non-Hispanic white…
This review says adult ADHD affects about 2.5% of adults and often occurs with other mental health problems. Adults with ADHD commonly have trouble with attention, memory, planning, self-control, and emotions. The condition is often missed or undertreated, is linked with big personal and social problems, and the evidence on…
Adjunctive ketamine demonstrated a greater reduction in clinically significant suicidal ideation in depressed patients within 24 hours compared with midazolam, partially independently of antidepressant effect.
This study reexamined gender differences in adult ADHD by comparing 219 adults with ADHD to 215 control subjects matched for age and gender. The researchers found no evidence that gender changed how ADHD related to other psychiatric disorders. Adults with ADHD showed cognitive deficits and higher rates of major depression,…
Brain imaging studies (fMRI) show that ADHD is linked to problems in many brain networks that control attention, timing, working memory, motivation, and emotion. There is also evidence that a brain system normally quiet during tasks (the default mode network) does not switch off properly in people with ADHD. Some…
This review found that ADHD often continues from childhood into adulthood but is commonly missed and untreated in grown-ups. It estimates adult ADHD affects about 2.5%–5% of the general population and says fewer than 20% of adults with ADHD are diagnosed or treated. Adults with ADHD often have other mental…
Researchers tested deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a small group of people whose depression did not get better with usual treatments. They used an implanted device that both delivered stimulation to the subcallosal cingulate (a brain area linked to mood) and recorded brain electrical signals. Around 9 out of 10…
This systematic review looked at studies of ketamine for people whose depression did not respond to usual treatments (treatment-resistant depression, TRD). Across 24 papers with 416 patients, most studies found that ketamine can reduce depressive symptoms quickly — often within hours — and it was also reported to lower suicidal…
Research links ADHD — which shows up as inattention, impulsivity, and too much activity — to weaker structure and function in the brain’s prefrontal cortex (PFC), especially on the right side. The PFC helps control top-down attention, stop inappropriate actions, and regulate emotion, and it needs the right balance of…
This study used a long-term UK birth cohort (N = 8,310) and genetic analyses to test whether childhood ADHD is linked to depression later in life. Children with ADHD at age 7 had higher odds of recurrent depression in young adulthood (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.05–1.73). Genetic analyses (Mendelian randomization)…
