Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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.

3 papers

Sex differences in anxiety and depression: Role of testosterone

Jenna A. McHenry, Nicole Carrier, Elaine M. Hull, Mohamed Kabbaj
Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology Summary & key facts 2013 487 citations

This review examines studies on how testosterone relates to anxiety and depression and how that might help explain sex differences in these disorders. About 18% of U.S. adults have an anxiety disorder each year and about 7% have major depressive disorder, and women are more than twice as likely as…

Hormonal and reproductive studies Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior Stress Responses and Cortisol

Elevated morning cortisol is a stratified population-level biomarker for major depression in boys only with high depressive symptoms

Matthew Owens, J. Herbert, Peter B. Jones, Barbara J. Sahakian, Paul Wilkinson, Valerie Dunn, et al.

The researchers repeatedly measured early-morning cortisol and self-reported depressive symptoms in a population of adolescents. Using a statistical method to find subgroups, they identified a high-risk group (17% of the sample) with both high depressive symptoms and elevated morning cortisol. Membership in this group was linked to worse autobiographical memory…

Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Stress Responses and Cortisol Tryptophan and brain disorders

The Role of Ketamine in Treatment-resistant Depression: A Narrative Review

Ashwini Reddy, Swati Patel, Amiya Kumar Barik, Priya Thappa, Kiran Jangra, Kirandeep Kaur, et al.

SPRAVATO (esketamine) is a prescription nasal spray for adults with treatment‑resistant depression to be used together with an oral antidepressant. It must be given and watched by a healthcare provider because it can cause sedation, dissociation, and increases in blood pressure. Patients are observed for at least two hours after…

Stress Responses and Cortisol Treatment of Major Depression Tryptophan and brain disorders Ketamine
Summaries and links are for general information and education only. They are not a substitute for reading the original publication or for professional medical, legal, or other advice. Always refer to the linked source for the full study.