Women instructed to embrace their romantic partner prior to undergoing a stressful experience had a lower biological stress response -- as indicated by levels of the stress hormone cortisol in saliva -- compared to women who did not embrace their partner. This effect was not seen for men.

Researchers have shown what happens to the brain when a person receives a depression treatment known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). rTMS is a depression treatment typically used when other approaches -- such as medications -- haven't been effective for a patient. By stimulating the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex, rTMS activates several other regions of the brain involved in multiple functions, from managing emotional responses to memory and motor control.

Statins have been hailed as a wonder drug; the cholesterol-lowering drugs have been prescribed to tens of millions of people since their approval in the late 1980s to prevent heart attack and stroke. But the drugs may yet have additional benefits, some research has hinted, including on mental health. Now, a new study examines the influence of statins on emotional bias, a marker for risk of depression.

Researchers have identified how the brain triages emotions during dream sleep to consolidate the storage of positive emotions while dampening the consolidation of negative ones. The work expands the importance of sleep in mental health and opens new ways of therapeutic strategies.

A new study suggests that antidepressant use by mothers during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the chances of epilepsy and seizures in babies.

Stress and trauma during adolescence can lead to long-term health consequences such as psychiatric disorders, which may arise from neurodevelopmental effects on brain circuitry. A new study has used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of acute stress and 'polyvicitimization,' or repeated traumas, on three brain networks in adolescents.

An analysis of 11 major psychiatric disorders offers new insight into why comorbidities are the norm when it comes to mental illness. The study suggests that while there is no single gene or set of genes underlying risk for all of them, subsets of disorders -- including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia; anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder; and major depression and anxiety --s hare a common genetic architecture.

The results, shown in humans, mice and flies, show that elevated plasma levels and a diet rich in this amino acid -- proline -- causes a more severe state of depression.

Young men with a poor diet saw a significant improvement in their symptoms of depression when they switched to a healthy Mediterranean diet, a new study shows.