https://medicalxpress.com/psychiatry-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Psychiatry New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) suggests schools relying on one-off well-being surveys may be overlooking students who need mental health support. The study, led by psychology researcher Dr. Shane Rogers, found that tracking students' moods over several weeks provides a more accurate picture than a single snapshot in time. The results are published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-school-mental-health-students.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:40:06 EDT news695476917 Researchers at Cincinnati Children's, working with collaborators at University College London and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, have identified a practical, data-centered strategy to reduce bias in artificial intelligence (AI) systems used in children's mental health care. The findings, published in Communications Medicine, address growing concern that AI tools designed to assist clinicians may not perform equally well across patient groups. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-method-advances-efforts-bias-ai.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695486823 Drug trials generally involve comparing a treatment with a nonactive, placebo version, an approach called "blinding" because patients must be "blind" as to which they've received for the trial to work. Canadian researchers say this is a huge issue for studies of psychedelic therapies because it's fairly obvious to patients whether they've been given a psychedelic or a placebo. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-psychedelic-mental-health-trials-reliable.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 15:40:07 EDT news695483130 Our brains anticipate sensory signals—such as sight, sound, smell, or touch—by relying on past experiences. When we bite into an apple, for example, we expect a sweet crunch because of all the other times we have eaten one. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-music-symptoms-psychosis.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news695471402 On March 25, a California trial awarded $6 million to a plaintiff who argued that the addictive qualities of social media had caused her harm. Google and Meta, which were the companies that were found liable, disagree with the verdict and intend to appeal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-jury-sharpens-heavy-social-media.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:20:01 EDT news695468864 The widespread use of benzodiazepines—better known as sleeping pills or anxiety medication—among the population has become a serious public health issue. These psychotropic drugs, central nervous system depressants prescribed to treat anxiety and insomnia, carry a high risk of dependence, cognitive impairment and falls, among other consequences. A 2024 study carried out by the Spanish Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) showed that 22% of the Spanish population regularly use this type of medication, in four out of ten cases on a daily basis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-primary-campaign-benzodiazepine-overuse-patient.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:40:01 EDT news695384766 Food calorie labels on menus in cafes and restaurants can be helpful for people with binge eating disorders, even aiding their recovery, finds new research from UCL and King's College London. For the study, published in BMJ Public Health, the researchers surveyed 1,001 people aged 16 or over who lived in England and had experienced disordered eating. Since 2022, all restaurants, take-aways and cafes in England with 250 employees or more have had to display the calories of the food and drink they sell on menus, online menus and take-away platforms as part of measures to curb obesity and encourage healthy eating. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-england-calorie-disorders.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:10:06 EDT news695395682 There are a few reasons why we might dream, say neuroscientists. Even dreams that are scary may serve a purpose: One prevalent idea is that fear in dreams could help people deal with fear in waking life, much like exposure therapy. One University of Kansas researcher recently tested this concept. Garrett Baber, a KU doctoral student in clinical psychology, sought to test whether emotions experienced within dreams—like fear and joy—change feelings the following morning. The research is published in the journal SLEEP. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-reveals-affect-emotions-day-life.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:40:03 EDT news695399761 A new Yale study shows how the timing of depression in mothers and fathers affects mental health in their adult children. This includes influences on depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-parental-depression-adult-children-mental.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news695401980 A research team led by Professor Hyun Ghang Jeong from the Department of Psychiatry at Korea University College of Medicine (Korea University Guro Hospital), in collaboration with the research team at Geovision Inc., has published the results of a large-scale validation study investigating the feasibility of early detection of self-harm behavior using artificial intelligence (AI) in psychiatric wards. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-early-behavior-psychiatric-wards.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:40:09 EDT news695398921 An extensive register-based study conducted in Finland has found an increase in severe mental health problems among some adolescents and young adults who have undergone medical gender reassignment (GR). According to the research, young people who underwent gender identity assessments with the hope of receiving medical GR required psychiatric treatment for severe mental health problems three times more often than age-matched controls. The paper is published in the journal Acta Paediatrica. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-link-medical-gender-reassignment-mental.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:00:06 EDT news695395441 Loneliness affects the memory of older adults but does not speed up mental decline over time, suggests data from a major European study tracking more than 10,000 people over seven years. Participants who reported high levels of loneliness performed worse on memory tests at the start of the research period. However, the ability of lonely people to recall information declined at a similar rate over the time course monitored as that of participants who did not feel alone. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-loneliness-memory-early-doesnt-brain.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:00:01 EDT news695281525 People just aren't drinking the way they used to. "As recently as the late 1990s or early 2000s, 85% or more of high school seniors said they drank in the past year. Now that number is down to about 42%," said Kathryn McHugh, a Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychology at McLean Hospital and the director of the McLean Hospital Stress, Anxiety, and Substance Abuse Laboratory. "Those are whopping changes in effectively less than a generation." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-term-alcoholic-conjures-outdated-stereotypes.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 22:40:03 EDT news695294397 For over a century, standardized rating scales have been the dominant method of psychological assessment, but they often limit how people express complex or nuanced mental states. A new study introduces an approach that combines large language models with traditional psychometric tools to screen for depression. The research is published in the journal JMIR Formative Research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-scales-ai-natural-language-depression.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 22:20:02 EDT news695320382 Anxiety itself is not a mental illness. It's a normal, adaptive emotion that helps us respond to perceived threats. Anxiety is the automatic reaction that makes you jump back when you think you've seen a snake while bushwalking—before realizing it's a stick. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-anxiety-ocd-psychology-experts-difference.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:20:01 EDT news695281538 When Maria looked at herself in the mirror for the first time after her mastectomy, she stood very still. One hand rested on the bathroom counter. The other hovered near the flat space where her breast had been. The scar was raw and angry. The loss was quiet but enormous. Her body felt foreign. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-myth-resilience-hard-life-story.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 20:20:04 EDT news695313288 We live in what has been called the "distraction economy": an environment full of triggers that are engineered to demand our attention at every turn. The result is often fragmented attention, loss of focus, and sometimes even increased rumination and anxiety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-distracted-hobbies-state-brain.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:00:01 EDT news695294871 Scientists from the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, have uncovered how different brain regions work together to enable self-control—the ability to suppress impulsive behaviors and wait for the right moment to act. Their findings advance the understanding of conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and addiction, and could lead to more effective management of these disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-scientists-uncover-brain-circuits-impulsivity.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:40:03 EDT news695312103 Challenging the classic view, two cognitive scientists argue in a new review that categorization is not a late, specialized stage of sensory processing. Instead, it is a core function operating at every level, anticipating bodily needs and motor plans. Categories are thus not fixed prototypes stored in "higher" areas of the cortex, but dynamically constructed from prior experience throughout all of sensory processing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-rethinking-brains-categories-world.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:30:02 EDT news695304913 New research shows that the threat response in the brain's amygdala (which processes emotions) is linked to different patterns of drinking by sex. In young males, heightened amygdala reactivity was linked to increased depressive symptoms, which in turn predicted heavier alcohol consumption. In young females, no such pathway existed. Instead, greater amygdala reactivity was associated with lower levels of problematic drinking. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-reactive-amygdala-heavier-young-men.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:20:03 EDT news695305675 Non-affirming religious doctrine may engender internalized homophobia or transphobia among LGBTQIA+ people of faith, undermining the positive mental health outcomes otherwise associated with religiosity and spirituality, a McGill study has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-internalization-homophobia-transphobia-undermine-mental.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:40:04 EDT news695298062 Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition estimated to affect approximately 1 in 100 children worldwide. This condition is characterized by differences in how people communicate and interact with others, as well as restricted interests and repetitive behaviors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-neuroinflammation-triggers-autism-regression-mouse.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:30:01 EDT news695304832 Combating the opioid crisis relies on identifying new prevention strategies for problematic fentanyl use. In a collaboration between Washington State University and Washington University in St. Louis, researchers led by Jose Moron tested whether enriching a rat's environment can reduce fentanyl use and relapse. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-environmental-enrichment-lowered-stress-hormones.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news695281612 Popular trauma-focused talking therapies can help people challenge false beliefs and distorted thinking patterns but do little to stop them hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there, according to a major review led by the University of Hertfordshire. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-popular-trauma-therapies-psychosis-symptoms.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:40:03 EDT news695295975 Experts wish more people spotted the signs earlier: feeling overwhelmed, not feeling "like yourself," shifts in sleep, behavior and mood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-mental-health-crisis.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 12:00:01 EDT news695295898 A new study, published in JAMA Network Open, reveals that school-age children and adolescents with medically diagnosed traumatic brain injury (TBI) have significantly higher rates of anxiety/depression, and strong family support and resilience helps alleviate some of it. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-impact-traumatic-brain-injury-children.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:00:15 EDT news695293201 Researchers analyzed data from tens of thousands of people who used low-cost mobile breathalyzers to test their blood-alcohol concentration when drinking. The analysis revealed that the repeated use of these devices corresponded to changes in drinking behavior and improved accuracy of self-assessments of blood-alcohol levels. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-people-mobile-app-breathalyzers-behavior.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 07:00:06 EDT news695280962 Your morning cup of coffee may be more than just a pick-me-up. It may also be a simple boost for your mental well-being. In a recent study, researchers from Fudan University, China, wanted to find out whether the amount of coffee a person drinks each day and the type they choose have any bearing on their risk of developing stress and mood disorders over time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-coffee-sweet-mental-health.html Sat, 11 Apr 2026 11:00:01 EDT news695033124 A new study reveals growing concern among community workers in Nariño, Colombia, about the lack of mental health support for Venezuelan migrants, especially those traveling without legal status. The study, published in PLOS Mental Health, comes as Colombia has taken steps to expand health care access to some of the 2.86 million Venezuelans in the country, including offering temporary protection status. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-community-workers-alarm-mental-health.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 20:00:01 EDT news695033047 A new UCLA-led study of suicides in the U.S. has found that current national reporting on these deaths underestimates the extent of "emotional dysregulation," the emotional distress that occurs before suicide, which could provide a method to prevent future deaths. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-ai-scans-suicide-emotional-distress.html Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news695040961