https://medicalxpress.com/mental-health-news/ en-us Latest health news and information about Psychology and Mental Health 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 Subjective olfactory impairment (SOI) is consistently associated with depression, according to a study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-linked-mental-health.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:20:03 EDT news703857178 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 Use of newer GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide or tirzepatide) for obesity or diabetes among people with alcohol use disorder was associated with a reduction in alcohol-related hospital admissions, according to a study published online in the open-access journal BMJ Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-obesity-drugs-linked-alcohol-hospitalizations.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 18:30:01 EDT news703828526 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 The amount of time Swedish teenagers spent on social media could not be linked to symptoms of depression or anxiety five years later, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-social-media-adolescence-linked-mental.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:00:10 EDT news703857250 People with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction or psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia show increased brain aging, each in specific patterns within the brain, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine by Shile Qi from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-scans-reveal-aging-signatures.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703756261 New research finds that the sounds and sights of nature are associated with significant mental health benefits compared with loud urban environments. The study, by North Carolina State University researchers, compared the effects of hearing different types of sounds in natural and urban environments on listeners' emotions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-birdsong-forest-significant-mental-health.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 13:00:07 EDT news703856762 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 Two university faculty members, both certified audiologists, are the first to study how tinnitus affects student veterans as they navigate college classrooms. Hearing loss and tinnitus are the two most common service-related disabilities among U.S. veterans, affecting more than 3 million people nationwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-invisible-struggle-veteran-students.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news703845002 It's Saturday night and you've downloaded a new food delivery app. You've scanned the menus, picked some Mexican dishes, placed your order and are now tracking the delivery. But your food never comes—and you never expected it to. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-people-fake-food-fashion-deliveries.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 10:40:02 EDT news703844162 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 Only about 1 in 20 Americans engage in arts or cultural activities on any given day, according to a new study analyzing two decades of national survey data—a surprisingly low figure for a behavior researchers increasingly associate with health and well-being. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-americans-engage-arts-typical-day.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 08:00:03 EDT news703839301 As shifting federal priorities, sweeping agency restructurings and deep funding cuts continue to reshape the American public health infrastructure, a new study reveals the toll these disruptions are taking on the federal workforce. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-reddit-reveals-federal-health-workers.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 22:40:01 EDT news703748565 A recent Ontario Coroner's Review documented 34 deaths by suicide among correctional workers over the past 15 years, with 17 of those deaths occurring since 2020. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mental-health-wont-psychological-injury.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 20:00:06 EDT news703772667 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 Pediatricians who participated in the collaborative mental health program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago were more likely to diagnose and treat anxiety and depression in children without relying on additional support from specialists, according to a study published in Academic Pediatrics. The findings suggest that the program—called Mood, Anxiety, ADHD Collaborative Care (MAACC)—successfully prepares pediatricians to manage these conditions independently, allowing more children to access care despite the ongoing shortage of pediatric mental health professionals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-pediatricians-child-anxiety-depression-specialists.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news703759475 A CU Anschutz study exploring more than 10,000 youth suicides suggests gaps in the system are costing kids' lives, pointing to a critical need for new approaches in responding to the national crisis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-kind-classification-youth-suicide-earlier.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:40:23 EDT news703776288 Severe flooding may contribute to higher mortality rates from opioid use in rural Appalachia, according to a study by researchers at Penn State. The findings—published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—are particularly relevant as severe floods are increasing in prevalence and severity because of climate change, said Kristina Brant, assistant professor of rural sociology and co-lead author of the paper. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-severe-linked-deaths-opioid-rural.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:00:06 EDT news703748650 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 Emergency nurses across Australia are experiencing a hidden form of psychological harm that experts say is contributing to burnout, workforce shortages and affecting patient care. New research led by Murdoch University lecturer and Ph.D. candidate Clare Walters in the School of Nursing at Murdoch University has found that many emergency nurses experience moral distress—the emotional impact of knowing the right thing to do for a patient but being unable to provide that care because of factors beyond their control. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-hidden-invisible-burden-emergency-nurses.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:07 EDT news703771562 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 From headlines and social media, psychedelic therapies, cannabis use and GLP-1 medications have seemingly become commonplace overnight, but the science underlying these treatments and the pathway to drug approval are often more nuanced than the headlines suggest. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-qa-psychedelics-cannabis-glp-1s.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:40:04 EDT news703753742 Concerns surrounding young people's screen time are widespread. Australia became the first country to ban social media for users under 16 in December 2025, and Denmark, France and the United Kingdom have since announced similar restrictions to begin this year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-screen-guidelines-kids-adolescents-shifted.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:20:07 EDT news703749422 Australia's health care system aims to protect society's most vulnerable and hidden people, including those with disabilities. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-human-rights-people-disabilities-lockdown.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news703747922 The strange noises, the bright lights, the unfamiliar setting, the constant busyness—these stimuli and more can take a toll on a patient's mental well-being when they're in the hospital for a physical ailment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-early-intervention-rapid-response-team.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 08:00:01 EDT news703747862 Nearly half of pregnant women in the United States report poor sleep quality, which has been associated with gestational diabetes and high blood pressure during pregnancy. A new study led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis' Bursky School of Public Health found that depressive symptoms, prenatal distress and anxiety are the strongest predictors of poor sleep during late pregnancy, with environmental exposures such as air pollution and noise also playing significant roles. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-mental-health-environment-pregnancy.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 07:20:07 EDT news703747621 Growing evidence suggests lifelong learning can help combat cognitive decline, but many older adults with dementia avoid traditional classes for fear of not keeping up. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dementia-patients-gain-peace-concert.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:01 EDT news703491541