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67 papers
Researchers gave the new Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the older Rutter questionnaires to parents and teachers of 403 children from dental and psychiatric clinics. SDQ scores were highly correlated with Rutter scores, and parent-teacher agreement was similar or sometimes better for the SDQ. Both tools were about equally…
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…
This research found that writing about important personal experiences in an emotional way for as little as 15 minutes on three separate days was linked to better mental and physical health. The results were seen across ages, genders, cultures, social classes, and personality types. Computer text analysis showed that people…
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…
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…
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic, often debilitating mental health disorder that may develop after a traumatic life event. Fortunately, effective psychological treatments for PTSD exist. In 2017, the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense (VA/DoD) and the American Psychological Association (APA) each published treatment guidelines for PTSD,…
Pennebaker reviews more than ten years of research on how telling or writing stories about traumatic or difficult experiences relates to health. He highlights studies done by him and other teams around the world. The essay focuses mainly on reported physical health benefits of writing about these experiences and summarizes…
This systematic review looked at research on social media and mental health. The authors state that social media are responsible for making mental health problems worse. They searched 50 papers and, after applying selection rules, included 16 studies. The final papers were checked for quality and included a mix of…
This paper says midlife (roughly ages 40–60) is an important, understudied life stage with both new opportunities and new challenges. The authors review evidence that some common ideas—like a widespread "midlife crisis"—are misleading, and they show that middle age often involves balancing many roles, linking younger and older generations, and…
Social isolation and discrimination are linked with worse physical and mental health, more illness and higher death rates, and a lower quality of life. This review combines animal and human research and clinical studies. Animal studies show that social separation, especially early in life, activates the body's stress‑hormone system (the…
This study surveyed 426 Filipino adults online during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic to see if perceived stress helps explain links between social support and mental health. Using standard questionnaires, the researchers found that lower perceived stress was linked to more positive feelings and less anxiety and depression when…
