Mental Health Daily

Primary Immunodeficiency: Self-Isolation Linked to Depression and Anxiety

by GLOOM

MHD card showing a lone figure under a glass dome behind a lit window, with a face mask on the sill and faint immune-cell shapes outside, illustrating a study in which self-isolation was linked to depression and anxiety in adults with immune disorders.

Adults with inborn errors of immunity, also called primary immunodeficiency, who cut back social contact to avoid infections reported more depression and anxiety symptoms. A 2026 German clinic study of 143 patients also found that about 1 in 4 people with significant symptoms had never been diagnosed.1 Research Highlights Isolation went with higher symptom scores: …

Opposing Gender Beliefs Linked to Authoritarianism on Left and Right

by GLOOM

MHD card showing an abstract balance, a structured grid arc and a flowing gradient arc mirrored on either side of a central axis, illustrating US and UK surveys in which opposing beliefs about sex and gender were each linked to authoritarian attitudes on one side of politics.

Adults with opposite beliefs about sex and gender each lined up with a different form of authoritarian thinking, according to 2 preregistered surveys in the US and UK. A binary, fixed view was linked to right-wing conventionalism, and a nonbinary, changeable view to left-wing anti-conventionalism.1 Research Highlights 2 large samples: 1,431 US adults and 1,390 …

Poor Sleep Linked to Lower Heart Rate Variability After Heart Surgery

by GLOOM

MHD card showing a glowing heart under a crescent moon with an ECG trace that flattens from left to right, illustrating a study in which heart surgery patients who slept poorly had lower heart rate variability.

Heart surgery patients who slept poorly around their operation had lower heart rate variability before surgery and on each of the next 3 days, according to a 2026 study of 95 adults in China.1 Research Highlights Poor sleep was common: 33 of 95 cardiac surgery patients scored above 7 on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index …

ER Bad-News Training Tracks Staff Confidence, Not Family Outcomes

by GLOOM

MHD card showing a quiet emergency department family room with 2 chairs, a box of tissues, a clinician's lanyard and a door open to warm light, illustrating a review that found bad-news training in emergency departments was judged by staff confidence rather than family outcomes.

Research on how emergency departments break bad news mostly measures how confident staff feel, not how patients and grieving families fare afterward, according to a 2026 scoping review of 156 publications.1 Research Highlights Training was judged by staff confidence: of 36 evaluations of bad-news training, 23 measured confidence or comfort, mostly by self-report. None measured …

PAH and Aluminum Exposure Linked to Higher Anxiety in Aluminum Workers

by GLOOM

MHD card showing an aluminum smelter silhouetted against molten orange glow and drifting haze, with a worker's hard hat in the foreground, illustrating a study in which aluminum plant exposure was linked to slightly higher anxiety.

Men working in the smelting, anode and casting areas of an Iranian aluminum plant reported slightly more anxiety than office and security staff at the same plant. Higher levels of PAH and aluminum markers in their urine went with higher anxiety scores, even after accounting for job stress.1 Research Highlights A small anxiety gap: 130 …

After Teen Suicide Attempts, Stress Ran Both Ways With Parents

by GLOOM

MHD card showing a parent and a teen sitting at opposite ends of a sofa in a dim teal room, with a faint arc of amber light beginning to form between them, illustrating interviews in which stress ran both ways between depressed teens and their parents.

When teens with depression were hospitalized after a suicide attempt, they and their parents described stress moving in both directions, from child to parent and back again. That pattern came from separate interviews with 12 teens and 12 of their parents at a psychiatric hospital in China.1 Research Highlights Parents’ moods reached their teens: all …

Preschoolers Say “I’m Full,” and Staff Usually Accept It

by GLOOM

MHD card showing a small plate with the fork and spoon placed together and a cup on a low wooden table in warm window light, with an "I'm full!" speech bubble and a small raised hand, illustrating a Swedish preschool study in which staff usually accepted children's fullness statements.

Children as young as 2 told preschool staff “I’m full” at well-timed moments during lunch, and staff usually took them at their word, according to a 2026 video study of 97 lunches at 4 Swedish preschools.1 Research Highlights 77 “I’m full” moments: 44 children aged 2 to 6 said they were full at least once, …