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 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 article proposes a new hypothesis: women report mild-to-moderate depression more often, while men report more severe depression and more suicide. The authors point to possible reasons such as hormone links, men’s tendency to hide feelings or avoid help, and different symptom patterns in men. They say this could mean…
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 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.…
This study surveyed 607 caregivers of people with mental disorders in Changsha, China, using short stories (vignettes) about schizophrenia, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Caregivers usually expected positive outcomes, but many still held stigmatizing views and wanted social distance, especially for schizophrenia. The authors say more work is needed…
This study looked at 598 men in three groups: men diagnosed with depression, men with physical illnesses, and healthy men. The researchers used several questionnaires to find which factors were linked with the level of depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior in each group. They reported different sets of factors for…
This large South Korean study followed 3,951,398 adults for an average of 11.1 years to compare deaths in people with and without recorded mental disorders. After adjusting for age, sex, health conditions, income, smoking, drinking and physical activity, people with mental disorders had higher rates of suicide and higher overall…
This mixed-methods study used NHS electronic health records and interviews to look at people with major depressive disorder in one large UK trust. Using a common definition of treatment-resistant depression (failure to respond to at least two antidepressant trials), the researchers found TRD was common (48% of the sample) and…
Anxiety has risen among teens in recent years, especially with stress from events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps many teens with anxiety but not all, and it usually does not focus on family relationships. Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) aims to repair the parent-teen bond by boosting…
This study surveyed 1,913 university students in Dhaka using the CES-D depression scale and a new 18-item hygiene questionnaire. It found a high level of depression risk and that students who were at risk of depression tended to report worse personal hygiene. Female students reported better hygiene than males. The…
Researchers created a short survey that people who were helped could use to report what their friend or family member did. They tested it with 1,116 adults who had a recent mental health problem and were helped by someone close. The survey grouped actions into two types (recommended and not…
