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Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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.

Mental Health Research Topics Psychology Depression (economics)

9 papers

Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial

Kathleen Kara Fitzpatrick, Alison Darcy, Molly Vierhile
JMIR Mental Health Summary & key facts 2017 2,318 citations

This small randomized trial tested a fully automated text-based conversational agent called Woebot as a way to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy to college-age young adults with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Over 2 weeks, the Woebot group (n=34) showed a statistically larger drop in depression scores (PHQ-9) than an information-only…

Digital Mental Health Interventions Impact of Technology on Adolescents Mental Health Research Topics

Effects of physical exercise on anxiety, depression, and sensitivity to stress

Peter Salmon
Clinical Psychology Review Summary & key facts 2001 1,332 citations

This 2001 review looked at studies on exercise, anxiety, depression, and stress. It found that short-term emotional effects of exercise are mixed, but many cross-sectional and longitudinal studies report that regular aerobic exercise training reduces anxiety and depression symptoms and may protect against the harmful effects of stress. The clearest…

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Eating Disorders and Behaviors Mental Health Research Topics

More treatment but no less depression: The treatment-prevalence paradox

Johan Ormel, Steven D. Hollon, Ronald C. Kessler, Pim Cuijpers, Scott M. Monroe
PubMed Summary & key facts 2022 188 citations

Treatments for depression have gotten better and far more people can get them since the 1980s. Yet the share of people in the general population with depression has not gone down. The authors call this the “treatment-prevalence paradox” and review seven possible explanations. They find little evidence that more cases…

Mental Health Research Topics Mental Health Treatment and Access Treatment of Major Depression

Depression and eating disorders: Treatment and course

David Mischoulon, Kamryn T. Eddy, Aparna Keshaviah, Diana Dinescu, Stephanie L. Ross, Andrea E. Kass, et al.
Journal of Affective Disorders Summary & key facts 2010 137 citations

This long study followed 246 treatment-seeking women with anorexia or bulimia for about 9 years. Major depression was common and often long-lasting: 70% of those who had depression recovered, but 65% of those who recovered later relapsed. Recovery chances varied by type of eating disorder, and time on antidepressants was…

Eating Disorders and Behaviors Mental Health Research Topics Treatment of Major Depression

Perception of self and other in major depression.

Michael A. Gara, Robert L. Woolfolk, Bertram D. Cohen, Ruth B. Goldston, et al
Journal of Abnormal Psychology Summary & key facts 1993 116 citations

Researchers asked people with major depression and people without psychiatric disorders to write open, free descriptions of themselves and of other people. Compared with the control group, the depressed group named fewer positive traits and more negative traits for themselves and for parents and close others. A clustering analysis also…

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Mental Health Research Topics

Talking sensibly about depression

Vikram Patel
PLoS Medicine Summary & key facts 2017 78 citations

This essay argues that depression symptoms lie on a continuum from wellness to distress to disorder. The author proposes a staged model so people with different levels of symptoms can get different kinds of help. He reviews evidence that most people who meet a binary diagnosis have mild or moderate…

Mental Health Research Topics Mental Health Treatment and Access Treatment of Major Depression

Clinical and subthreshold panic disorder

Alexander Bystritsky, Lauren Kerwin, Noosha Niv, Jaime L. Natoli, Natalie Abrahami, Ruth Klap, et al.
Depression and Anxiety Summary & key facts 2009 60 citations

This study reports that both full panic disorder (PD) and milder, “subthreshold” panic are linked with other mental health problems, trouble at work, and high use of health services. The authors used data from a large U.S. household survey to compare people with PD and varying levels of panic symptoms.…

Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes Mental Health Research Topics Mental Health Treatment and Access

Brain dynamics predictive of response to psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression

Jakub Vohryzek, Joana Cabral, Louis-David Lord, Henrique M. Fernandes, Leor Roseman, David Nutt, et al.
Brain Communications Summary & key facts 2024 30 citations

Psilocybin therapy for depression has started to show promise, yet the underlying causal mechanisms are not currently known. Here, we leveraged the differential outcome in responders and non-responders to psilocybin (10 and 25 mg, 7 days apart) therapy for depression-to gain new insights into regions and networks implicated in the…

Functional Brain Connectivity Studies Mental Health Research Topics Psychedelics and Drug Studies

Symptom Overlap Between Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder: A Network Analysis

Bess M. Kew, Nathan J Monk, Tamlin S. Conner, Chris Frampton, Roger Mulder, Richard Porter, et al.
Personality and Mental Health Summary & key facts 2025 1 citation

Researchers combined baseline data from 548 people in four clinical trials who all had current major depression. They used a network analysis, a method that maps how symptoms link to each other, to see which borderline personality disorder (BPD) and depression symptoms connect. After accounting for how severe the depression…

Bipolar Disorder and Treatment Mental Health Research Topics Schizophrenia research and treatment
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