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.
10 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…
Researchers reviewed records from 1,130 people with bipolar disorder seen at a mood-disorders center. They found that depressive episodes lasted much longer than manic episodes, and that episode length was similar across bipolar subtypes (BD-I, BD-II, mixed, or with psychosis). The authors say this pattern — more and longer depressions…
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and serious neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by symptoms of inattention and/or hyperactivity/impulsivity. Chronic and childhood stress is involved in ADHD development, and ADHD is highly comorbid with anxiety. Similarly, inflammatory diseases and a pro-inflammatory state have been associated with ADHD. However, while several works have…
This 2017 clinical review explains how bipolar I and II disorders are diagnosed and treated. It says bipolar illness involves swings between manic (or hypomanic) and depressive episodes. Treatment usually needs both medicines and psychosocial therapy, and care must be adjusted over time because relapses and incomplete responses — especially…
This review looked at 14 clinical papers about esketamine for adults whose depression did not get better after usual treatment. It found that most studies support using esketamine as an add-on to standard antidepressants for treatment‑resistant depression, but the evidence about long‑term benefit and safety is limited. Some trials did…
Researchers studied 1004 people with bipolar I disorder who had at least one depressive episode. They found that people who received antidepressant treatment were more likely to have a manic episode within eight weeks after their depression got better. A genetic marker (rs10262219) showed a strong signal in the first…
Atypical depression is a recognized subtype of depressive illness in the DSM-IV. It often starts early, lasts a long time, and is common in clinic samples. The DSM-IV diagnosis requires mood reactivity plus at least two of: increased appetite, increased sleep, heavy limbs (“leaden paralysis”), or long-standing sensitivity to rejection.…
This study used nationwide Danish health records to compare 979 people with bipolar depression who had just been discharged from a psychiatric ward. Of these, 358 received antidepressants and 621 did not. The researchers followed everyone for 1 year and, after adjusting for baseline factors, found no statistically significant increase…
This large Australian real-world study followed 2,353 adults who were newly prescribed medicinal cannabis oil and found that patient-reported quality of life, fatigue, sleep, pain (in people with chronic pain), and mood (in people with anxiety or depression) showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements that were maintained up to…
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…
