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 umbrella review looked at the best existing reviews and large studies to see if depression is linked to low serotonin or low serotonin activity. Across measures of serotonin in fluids, receptor and transporter studies, tryptophan depletion experiments, and large genetic studies, the evidence was mixed or absent. The authors…
The researchers created personalized brain circuit scores from both task-free and task-evoked fMRI scans in a large group of people with depression and anxiety. Using a standardized processing method, they measured 41 circuit features across six brain systems and used those measures to define six distinct “biotypes.” These biotypes showed…
In a randomized trial, 98 adults with treatment-resistant depression had brain scans before and 24 hours after a single intravenous infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) or saline. The researchers measured mean diffusivity (DTI-MD), an MRI-based, indirect marker of microstructural brain change that tends to fall when new synapses or tissue…
This small case series tested group-based ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (G-KAP) with five women in a residential eating-disorder program. Participants got weekly intramuscular ketamine in a group for 4 weeks. Four of five showed clinically meaningful drops in depression scores after the final session, and two of five showed clinically meaningful drops…
This paper looks at studies that use transcranial magnetic stimulation and ketamine together to treat depression that has not improved with usual treatments. It notes that each method can reduce depressive symptoms on its own. Some recent research suggests that giving them together might make the benefits stronger and last…
