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.
This review looked at research on emotion dysregulation (problems managing emotions) in people with ADHD. It found three main points: emotion dysregulation is common across the lifespan and causes substantial problems; it may come from trouble noticing, recognizing, or paying attention to emotional cues tied to a brain circuit that…
Repeated ketamine infusions have cumulative and sustained antidepressant effects. Reductions in depressive symptoms were maintained among responders through once-weekly infusions. These findings provide novel data on efficacious administration strategies for ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression. Future studies should further expand on optimizing administration to better translate the use of…
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,…
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is defined without assuming a single cause and has two main symptoms: depressed mood and loss of interest or pleasure. The paper says we should also pay more attention to fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, thinking (cognitive) problems, and sexual problems when diagnosing and judging treatment. Some…
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 paper explains Somatic Experiencing (SE), a form of trauma therapy that focuses on guiding a person's attention to internal body sensations (like heartbeat, breathing, muscle feeling) instead of mainly talking about thoughts or memories. The authors describe how SE claims these bodily sensations can help complete interrupted defensive responses…
In a small, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Japanese adults aged 50–80 with mild cognitive impairment, 30 people were randomly assigned to take Yamabushitake (an edible mushroom) or placebo for 16 weeks. The mushroom group took four 250 mg tablets three times a day and showed higher scores on a cognitive…
Researchers pooled results from 205 intravenous ketamine infusions (0.5 mg/kg given over 40 minutes) in 97 people with treatment-resistant major depression. About two thirds (67%, 65 of 97) showed a strong antidepressant response (≥50% improvement). Most side effects happened in the first 4 hours and were short-lived. Few infusions were…
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most-studied treatments for alcohol and drug problems. Reviews of many trials find a small but real average benefit: a meta-analysis of 53 controlled trials reported an effect size of g = 0.15 and estimated that 58% of people given CBT did better…
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 paper reviewed 20 peer-reviewed studies on brainwave entrainment (BWE). BWE uses rhythmic sounds or flashes of light to change brainwave frequencies. The review found that BWE appears to help with thinking problems, stress and anxiety, pain, headaches or migraines, mood and behavior issues, and premenstrual syndrome. The authors say…
This small pilot randomized placebo‑controlled trial tested a cannabinoid spray (Sativex) in 30 adults with ADHD. The main test of cognition and activity (QbTest) showed no significant difference between Sativex and placebo in the intention‑to‑treat analysis (Estimate = -0.17, 95% CI -0.40 to 0.07, p = 0.16). Some secondary measures…
