Probiotics are best known for supposedly helping maintain a healthy digestive system, but they are also increasingly the subject of neurological research to understand how microbes could possibly supplement our gut bacteria to improve our mental health. The development and marketing of products that contain live bacteria has flourished in recent years despite the fact […]
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health say that the number of Americans over-diagnosed and over-treated for depression is “staggering.” Their study examined adults with clinician-identified depression and individuals who experienced major depressive episodes within a 12-month period. It found that when assessed for major depressive episodes using a structured interview, only […]
The neurochemical changes that underlie human emotions are still largely unknown, but UCLA scientists have for the first time identified a specific peptide called hypocretin that is released in large quantities when subjects are happy. The finding, reported in Nature Communications, suggests that boosting hypocretin could elevate both mood and alertness in humans. This, according […]
Researchers are reporting a successful phase IIa clinical trial of GLYX-13, a first-of-its-kind ketamine-like antidepressant that takes effect within 24 hours and delivers double the antidepressant effect of traditional selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) treatments. Details of the clinical development of GLYX-13 appear in the current issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology and the trial results were […]
“The more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression,” say Spanish researchers who have linked the consumption of hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza to a significantly greater likelihood of developing depression. The results, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, reveal that consumers of fast food, compared to those who eat little or […]
Lending more weight to the theory thatdepression is linked to an inflammatory response in the brain, Vanderbilt University scientists have triggered the immune systems of mice to produce “despair-like” behavior that has similarities to depression in humans. Their study, in Neuropsychopharmacology, suggests that depression may be triggered by the same mechanisms that enable the immune […]
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy – using meditation – provides equivalent protection against depressive relapse as antidepressant medication, reports a new study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The study, appearing in the Archives of General Psychiatry, involved people who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder and were all treated with an antidepressant until their […]
Rates of depression in younger people have steadily grown to outnumber rates of depression in older populations and researchers think it may be because of a loss of healthy bacteria contributing to an inflammatory response in the brain. Emory University professor Charles Raison and other neuroscientists explore the possible link between cleanliness and depression in […]
The radical notion that depression is caused by inflammation of the brain is gaining traction in neuroscience circles and has prompted some Swedish researchers to look more closely at the biochemistry of those who have made violent suicide attempts to try and identify a biochemical marker to identify potential suicides. The brain inflammation theory directly […]
Chronic depression is an adaptive, reparative neurobiological process gone wrong, say two University of California, San Diego, researchers. They suggest that the debilitating mental state originates from ancient mechanisms used by the body to deal with physical injury, such as pain, tissue repair and convalescent behavior. The researchers hope their study, published in Neuroscience and […]
