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 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…
Researchers tested a nasal spray form of esketamine together with a newly started oral antidepressant in adults whose depression had not improved after trying at least two antidepressants. Over four weeks, people who got esketamine plus a new antidepressant had faster and larger drops in depression symptoms than those who…
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), especially Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), teach people to pay nonjudgmental attention to the present moment. Reviews and randomized trials show MBIs can reduce anxiety and depression symptom severity across many groups, often doing better than non-evidence treatments or active controls and performing…
The source explains what Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is and reports research comparing ACT with cognitive therapy (CT). In a randomized trial of 101 outpatients with moderate to severe anxiety or depression, people assigned to ACT or to CT showed large, similar improvements in depression, anxiety, daily functioning, quality…
In a community study of 3,021 adolescents and young adults followed for 4–5 years, researchers used structured interviews (DSM‑IV CIDI) and found that most anxiety disorders (except panic disorder) began before depression and were linked to a higher chance of later major depression. Rates of people having both anxiety and…
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is defined without assuming a single cause and has two main symptoms: depressed mood and loss of interest or pleasure. The paper says we should also pay more attention to fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety, thinking (cognitive) problems, and sexual problems when diagnosing and judging treatment. Some…
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…
This paper looks at whether 'mixed anxiety and depressive disorder' should be an official diagnosis. That label describes people who have both anxiety and depression symptoms that are real and limiting, but not strong enough to count as a full disorder on their own. The authors review studies that support…
Researchers interviewed 34 teenagers (aged 13–18) who had diagnosed depression or high depressive symptoms. Using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis, they found four main experiences linked to anhedonia: loss of joy and flattened emotion; problems with motivation and taking part in activities; loss of connection and belonging; and questioning identity,…
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…
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.…
The authors reviewed 31 studies (from a search of 304 articles published 1949–Feb 2013) of adults with depression plus measured anxiety. They report that SSRIs, SNRIs, and TCAs often reduce symptoms in this “anxious depression” group, but these patients are less likely to keep their improvement or reach lasting remission…
