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.
Researchers tested deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a small group of people whose depression did not get better with usual treatments. They used an implanted device that both delivered stimulation to the subcallosal cingulate (a brain area linked to mood) and recorded brain electrical signals. Around 9 out of 10…
Several brain-imaging studies found that people with long-term work-related burnout showed differences in brain structure and function compared with matched healthy adults. In groups where participants had worked more than about 60–70 hours per week for several years, researchers reported larger amygdala size, thinner medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) tissue, weaker…
In a randomized trial, 98 adults with treatment-resistant depression had brain scans before and 24 hours after a single intravenous infusion of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) or saline. The researchers measured mean diffusivity (DTI-MD), an MRI-based, indirect marker of microstructural brain change that tends to fall when new synapses or tissue…
Long-term MRI studies show that people with bipolar disorder often have unusual brain changes over time, but the pattern is mixed and not fully clear. Some studies link manic episodes to faster thinning and volume loss in parts of the prefrontal cortex. A large multi-site study (307 patients, 925 controls,…
The authors made a score that measures how male-typical a person’s subcortical brain shape is. They trained this score on 2,153 people and then measured it in 1,060 people with autism and 1,166 neurotypical controls. People with autism had a small, higher average “brain maleness” score (d = 0.20), and…
