Mental Health and Cannabis Use in Pregnant Women

Summary: A recent study reveals a potential vulnerability of pregnant and postpartum women with mental health disorders towards self-medicating with cannabis. Prior research had been vague, generalizing mental health issues…

Ketamine in Depression Treatment: Balancing Promise with Caution

Summary: Researchers examined the evolving use of ketamine as a treatment for depression in New Zealand. While acknowledging its potential benefits for treatment-resistant depression, they advise against a rapid large-scale…

Screen time is contributing to chronic sleep deprivation in tweens and teens – a pediatric sleep expert explains how critical sleep is to kids’ mental health

With the start of a new school year comes the inevitable battle to get kids back into a healthy bedtime routine. In many cases, this likely means resetting boundaries on…

Is Childhood Adversity A Lens for Moral Judgments?

Summary: Researchers uncovered how a person’s childhood adversity shapes others’ judgments of their actions. The study reveals that people perceive negative actions by those with challenging childhoods as less a…

Unlocking Schizophrenia: Mitochondria Dysfunction at the Forefront

Summary: Researchers have identified a pivotal role of impaired mitochondrial function in the development of schizophrenia by examining the genetic risk factor 3q29 deletion syndrome. The genetic condition, known to…

As the mental health crisis in children and teens worsens, the dire shortage of mental health providers is preventing young people from getting the help they need

The hospital where I practice recently admitted a 14-year-old girl with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, to our outpatient program. She was referred to us six months earlier, in October…

Psychedelics Sync Neurons: A Glimpse into Consciousness & Psychosis

Summary: Researchers have pioneered a method to simultaneously measure electrical signals from 128 brain regions in conscious rats. Using this technique, they observed the effects of psychedelic drugs, LSD and…

Depression and Anxiety Are Not Cancer Risk Factors

Summary: The association between depression, anxiety and cancer risk has been a point of contention in scientific circles. In an new study a multi-national team refutes the idea that these…

Untangling the Ties Between Chronic Pain and Mental Health

Summary: A recent commentary underscores the complex relationship between chronic pain and mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. The interaction is revealed to be driven by a bi-directional feedback…

Negative Memory Replay Offers PTSD Insight

Summary: Scientists discovered that rats intensify their memories of negative experiences in familiar places by repetitively replaying them. This mental map, generated by specific neurons known as place cells, can…