The internet era has dramatically changed how people are exposed to traumatic events — uncensored video of violence, war, and disaster reaches civilian audiences within minutes of occurrence. A 2026 study by Allouche-Kam and colleagues examines the mental health consequences of this indirect-trauma exposure in modern populations.1 Research Highlights Indirect trauma exposure through media has …
PTSD and major depressive disorder co-occur in roughly half of patients with either diagnosis, and the comorbid presentation is more severe than either alone. The mechanistic question has been whether comorbidity reflects synergistic biology or simple symptom additivity. A 2026 rat-model study by Jiang and colleagues tests this directly, finding that PTSD-MDD comorbid rats show …
Media coverage of psychedelics outpaces the trial evidence. MDMA-PTSD signals are large; psilocybin-depression effects shrink against active comparators.
Loneliness raises measured risk of Alzheimer’s, suicidal ideation, and completed suicide. The associations are documented; the precise magnitudes are not.
‘Depression is inflammation’ holds for a subgroup of patients, not for everyone. Community-sample and twin data weaken the broader version of the claim.
Exercise reliably reduces depression and anxiety symptoms — but the cardio-vs-resistance gap and antidepressant parity claims are overstated.
The intricate relationship between the gut microbiome and major depressive disorder (MDD) is gaining significant attention within the scientific community. Emerging research highlights sex-specific disparities in the gut microbiome’s composition and its potential impact on MDD, pointing towards the necessity of integrating sex as a biological variable in future studies. Highlights: Sex Disparities in MDD: …