https://medicalxpress.com/mental-health-news/ en-us Latest health news and information about Psychology and Mental Health Habit formation describes the repeated performance of a behavior until it becomes routine: in other words, the shift from deliberate to automatic decision-making. This concept is often invoked as a way to improve one's life by making beneficial activities that can otherwise feel tedious, such as cleaning, studying and regular exercise, part of a routine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-neural-pathways-reveal-habits-vary.html Mon, 27 Jul 2026 05:00:01 EDT news704117941 Disrupted sleep and anxiety may be ongoing issues for many people after the pandemic, whether due to COVID-19 directly or to the stress and anxiety caused by the global pandemic, and may contribute to the fatigue commonly reported by people with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome (PCS, or "long COVID"). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-pandemic-issues-late.html Sat, 25 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news704030805 Social media has become as much a part of our daily lives as eating or sleeping. What started as a way for people to connect and share pictures has grown into a billion-dollar industry that shapes medical, political, and cultural narratives. Its algorithms are designed to keep people coming back, raising questions about how this constant engagement may affect the developing brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-teens-struggle-social-media-adhd.html Sat, 25 Jul 2026 09:40:01 EDT news704105208 Employees who engage with digital technology more mindfully are better protected against technostress, exhaustion and poorer mental well-being—and a new tool can now measure this capacity, according to new research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mindful-digital-technology-workplace-burnout.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704097782 Persistent financial hardship accelerates age-related cognitive decline, according to a new study led by University College London (UCL) researchers. The study, published in Innovation in Aging, looked at data from 2,759 people in the UK who filled out questionnaires throughout their lives as part of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (also known as the 1946 British cohort study). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-persistent-money-struggles-faster-brain.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:10:04 EDT news704034302 Depression is among the most common psychiatric disorders, estimated to affect between 280 million and 332 million people worldwide. This disorder is characterized by persistent sadness and hopelessness, low energy, a loss of interest in everyday activities and sometimes changes in appetite or sleep. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-aspirin-reverses-diet-driven-depression.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 13:20:01 EDT news704029939 New research has found that a hormone is responsible for making mothers' interactions with newborns feel rewarding rather than just necessary. The University of Otago—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka study, published in Science Advances, looked at how a mother's brain changes to help her devote her energy to providing for her infant's needs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mother-devotion-newborns-brain.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:40:03 EDT news704025181 While more women globally are using medication to have abortions, a University of Maryland-led study published today in JAMA Psychiatry found no evidence that a first medication or procedural abortion caused an increase in mental health medication use. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-analysis-mental-health-prescriptions-abortion.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news703951516 Prisoners convicted of serious violent offenses were found to be less aggressive and less likely to reoffend following a mental health intervention that could save money and reduce harm to society, according to new research led by King's College London. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mental-health-treatment-society-money.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 14:00:07 EDT news703933202 Research suggests people who often use cannabis start their day with higher cortisol levels than people who don't, indicating a relationship between frequent cannabis use and a possible dysregulation of the body's daily stress rhythms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-frequent-cannabis-users-higher-cortisol.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 13:10:01 EDT news703943523 The use of generative AI has become so widespread that ChatGPT is gradually becoming a verb, much like Google and Photoshop. Hundreds of millions of people now use large language model (LLM)-based chatbots for advice on personal, emotional and mental health problems. The reasons are largely practical: they are available 24/7, easy to access and nonjudgmental. Scientists are worried that this behavior might delay people from reaching out to health care professionals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ai-chatbots-mental-health-worse.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 08:20:04 EDT news703927159 With fitness culture booming and "no days off" mindsets trending, new research is challenging common assumptions about "exercise addiction"—finding that the issue is real but often misunderstood and overstated. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-addiction-real-overstated.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:00:11 EDT news703917841 People around the world are living longer than ever before but spending more of those additional years in poor health, according to a new Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study published in The Lancet Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-people-longer-years-poor-health.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 18:30:03 EDT news703841701 Children who grow up in unpredictable environments may face elevated risks for depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health challenges, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, Chapman University and Rady Children's Hospital Orange County, formerly called Children's Hospital of Orange County. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-unpredictable-childhood-routines-reveal-mental.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703856701 Individuals with psychiatric conditions show reduced flexibility in their brain network dynamics, according to a new Rutgers study. The human brain is organized into networks that can adaptively shift and reorganize to meet ever-changing cognitive and emotional demands. This flexible reconfiguration of brain networks over time supports our ability to regulate our thoughts and behavior. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brains-flexibility-psychiatric-conditions.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:11 EDT news703852562 For millennia, people have used the psychedelic mescaline as a spiritual and religious tool. Mescaline is a naturally occurring chemical found in cacti, mainly peyote cacti, that are located in the Southwest United States and Mexico. The drug has been used for 5,700 years, according to archaeological evidence, making it one of the oldest hallucinogens. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-oldest-psychedelics-modern-brain-imaging.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news703845722 A new neuroimaging study published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behavior provides some of the first evidence that strengthening your brain health through daily habits rewires its physical architecture. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-newly-mri-biomarkers-reveal-physical.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:40:07 EDT news703786381 For more than two decades, scientists have uncovered remarkable links between the trillions of microbes living in our gut and the health of our brains. This research has transformed our understanding of stress, depression, anxiety and neurodevelopment, opening new possibilities for preventing and treating mental illness. What if much of this science is based on studying only a narrow slice of global diversity? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-health-microbiome-science-world.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:24:59 EDT news703776265 Researchers have conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on how the autistic brain processes faces. Some hallmark characteristics of autism include tendencies to avoid looking at others' faces and to make less eye contact. Many autistic individuals have a harder time remembering faces and recognizing facial emotions than their neurotypical counterparts. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-autistic-brains-differently.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:00:07 EDT news703770181