Chronic stress is a candidate mechanism for both depression and addiction risk. A 2026 mouse study found that 28 days of unpredictable chronic mild stress increased striatal dopamine D1 receptor binding by 22–48% across nearly every region examined, plus more selective D2 receptor increases — pointing to a stress-driven shift in reward signaling that may …
An 11-person case series tested delayed-release apple cider vinegar capsules in young adults who had gained weight while taking psychotropic medications, and metabolic markers carried more signal than weight loss. Research Highlights Feasibility was the strongest result: 11 of 12 enrolled participants completed the study, 10 of 11 completers missed 5 or fewer doses, and …
Whole-body hyperthermia looks less like generic relaxation and more like a timed biological stressor: in a small depression substudy, a single session was followed by early Hamilton Depression Rating Scale improvement, heat-shock gene activation, and immune-process enrichment that included interleukin 6 production. Research Highlights Depression scores improved early: in the 18-person RNA sequencing substudy, whole-body …
A 2026 mouse study linked cholestatic liver injury to smaller thalamic volume than control injury-free mice, broad thalamus gene-expression changes, and partial pathway rescue after systemic tumor necrosis factor neutralization. Research Highlights Thalamic volume decreased: bile duct ligation (BDL; a mouse model of obstructive cholestatic liver injury) reduced thalamic volume vs. sham surgery by magnetic …
A 299-person remote randomized trial found that 10 min of daily focused-attention meditation reduced anxiety and mind wandering more than waitlist control, with the strongest gains among adults who started with higher internalizing symptoms. Research Highlights Anxiety improved in the randomized phase: Glick et al. randomized 299 meditation-naive adults and found greater 8-week Generalized Anxiety …
A 2026 Egyptian study of 76 children found a sharp mental-health gradient in phenylketonuria (PKU): late-diagnosed children had higher depression scores, lower quality of life, lower IQ, and a 21.4% rate of reported suicidal thoughts. Early-diagnosed children still differed from controls on some functioning measures, but the late-diagnosed group carried the heaviest psychiatric and cognitive …
Adding music to ketamine psychotherapy failed to provide extra antidepressant benefit over matched non-music support in a 2026 randomized clinical trial (RCT; a study that assigns participants to groups by chance), even though the full 6-infusion ketamine-psychotherapy course was followed by large depression-score reductions. Research Highlights Music added no confirmed MADRS benefit: in the MUSIK …