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39 papers
This study reviewed surveys and used global models to measure how the COVID-19 pandemic changed rates of major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders in 2020. It found that places with higher COVID-19 infection rates and bigger drops in movement had larger increases in these disorders. The authors estimate about 53.2…
This study reviewed systematic reviews to measure death risks in major mental disorders. The authors screened 407 reviews and found 20 that reported mortality risks for 20 different disorders, covering over 1.7 million patients and more than a quarter of a million deaths. Every disorder showed higher all-cause death rates…
Anxiety disorders are a group of conditions marked by persistent, excessive fear or worry and behaviors (like avoidance) that cause real trouble in daily life. They are the most common class of psychiatric disorder — large surveys report that up to 33.7% of people will have one in their lifetime…
This review found that eating disorders cause a large health and social burden. In 2017 eating disorders accounted for more than 3.3 million healthy years lost worldwide. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa show rising disability, higher death rates (especially after inpatient treatment for anorexia), lower quality of life, higher costs,…
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness marked by big problems with emotion control, impulsive acts, and unstable self-image and relationships. Many people with BPD hurt themselves or try suicide (recurrent suicidal behaviour in about 69–80% and suicide rates up to 10%). Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) was developed to…
The authors reviewed psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy studies published from 1993 to 2017 to see how many people of color took part. They found 18 studies with about 280 people. About 82% of participants were non-Hispanic White, while only small percentages were African American, Latino, Asian, indigenous, or mixed race. Because so…
This review combined results from 10 intervention studies to see if physical activity programs change cortisol (a stress hormone) and sleep in adults. The pooled results found lower cortisol after activity programs and some improvement in sleep quality. The authors say the evidence is moderate for cortisol and low for…
This review summarizes research on promoting mental wellbeing and preventing mental illness. It says many prevention and promotion programs work, including newer digital and community-based approaches, but most strong evidence comes from high-income countries. The review notes big gaps in real-world use, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and calls…
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…
This paper pooled results from 19 randomized trials with 1,173 adults to see if meditation and yoga change PTSD symptoms. Overall, these mind–body practices were linked to a small-to-medium reduction in PTSD symptoms (effect size = −0.39). The authors found no big differences by type of practice, who was studied,…
This small, randomized, double-blind pilot study tested MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety tied to life‑threatening illness. Eighteen people were enrolled (13 got MDMA, 5 got placebo) and had two blinded 8‑hour therapy sessions, with later open‑label MDMA sessions and 6‑ and 12‑month follow-ups. The MDMA group showed a larger drop in…
This systematic review looked at 33 studies about social anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The studies suggest social anxiety increased in the general population. Women and people with low incomes appeared more likely to report higher social anxiety. Other links to higher social anxiety included poor coping, weaker social support,…
