Reviews & Analysis

In this Perspective, Kucyi and co-authors explore some of the recent developments in neuroscience, including investigations of network dynamics and neural mechanisms that support off-task thoughts, and consider the implications for maladaptive forms of thought in mental health.

Numerous randomized placebo-controlled studies over the past two decades have shown that ketamine has a rapid antidepressant action. However, its acute transient effects on cognition and perception are likely to unmask study-arm assignment. Now, the use of surgical anesthesia to conceal treatment assignment finds high rates of rapid antidepressant response among participants, regardless of whether they are randomized to ketamine or placebo.

After the hindrance imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, neuroscience research pushed forward. NeuroFrance 2023 took place as an in-person meeting and highlighted current and future strategies for exploring the brain and its pathologies, including a strong pathway to mental health research.

Robust 24-hour light–dark cycles are crucial for healthy circadian rhythms. A study now shows that there is an independent association between increased light at night and decreased light during the day with a variety of mental health disorders.

Sex steroid hormones are powerful neuromodulators of learning and memory. A new study in humans links rhythmic oscillations in ovarian hormone levels to changes in medial temporal lobe morphology.

Some individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experience a series of symptoms attributable to ‘dissociation’ — severance either with themselves or their surroundings. A new study on the neurobiology of dissociation in PTSD uses functional MRI analysis to identify unique patterns of brain–behavior associations.

A study drawing on the expansive UK Biobank dataset to explore the lifestyle, genetic and biological underpinnings of mental health highlights the influence of lifestyle on depression risk and suggests that detailed investigations into lifestyle factors, in conjunction with psychological aspects and advanced analysis methods, may reveal a deeper understanding of the complexities of mental health.

A large-scale prospective cohort study with 287,282 participants revealed that the integration of multiple healthy lifestyle factors (a favorable lifestyle) was associated with a lower risk of depression. Categorizing participants on the basis of their polygenic risk scores for depression demonstrated that the effect of this favorable lifestyle persisted even among participants with high genetic susceptibility.

The role of personality in brain health remains unclear. A systematic search demonstrated that lower levels of warmth, diligence, sociability and curiosity, and a higher level of nervousness, were predictive of increased risk of brain disorders. Brain structure, inflammation and lipid metabolism partially explain the associations between personality and brain disorders.

Using resting-state functional MRI, we revealed a dysfunction pattern in the white matter of people with four major psychiatric disorders. This pattern is distinct from structural changes and has specific molecular and genetic bases.

By integrating neuroimaging and multi-omics data, we established links between individual genetic variations and macro- to microscale brain circuit dysfunctions, specifically in corticocortical and corticostriatal circuits, that contribute to the diverse clinical manifestations of schizophrenia. These findings advance our understanding of the disease’s heterogeneity and offer potential treatment insights.

Loechner et al. present an expert consensus on how to e-mental health, from the development to research and evaluation of e-mental health interventions, a useful guide with practical recommendations for researchers and practitioners wanting to explore the field of e-mental health.

We searched for changes in the levels of plasma proteins that could potentially help to identify adolescents at risk of developing mental health issues. Our candidate biomarkers were associated with key enriched biological pathways, including immune responses, blood coagulation, neurogenesis and neuronal degeneration.

This Perspective presents the heightened risk of psychopathology and negative outcomes among the offspring of people with severe mental illness and calls for proactive support.

A large-scale study of more than 500,000 Norwegian adolescents showed that socio-economically disadvantaged adolescents experienced more adverse changes in well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic across a variety of domains, and that these negative changes persisted even after all pandemic restrictions were lifted in Norway.

Psychotic phenomena in early Parkinson’s disease are understudied and underappreciated. Bernasconi et al.¹ report that such phenomena, when combined with evidence of low-frequency activity in frontal regions on EEG, herald a later decline in frontal cognitive functions, underlining their significance and need for timely, accurate detection.

In this Review, Hodes and Kropp discuss the lessons we have learned from using sex as a biological variable in stress and mood disorder research and how we should shape our questions to avoid sex-based disparities in mental health care.

This Review discusses the adverse consequences of phenotypic imprecision for discovering reproducible biological correlates of psychopathology and provides recommendations for precision phenotyping that will help to overcome these challenges.

In early childhood, many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder experience challenges in adaptive behavior that are needed to meet the demands of daily life. Mandelli et al. propose the use of a data-driven prediction model to identify unique subgroups of autistic preschoolers based on a ‘snapshot’ of adaptive skills.

This study used the DSM-5-recommended diagnostic standard to conduct a nationwide multi-center survey of the non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior of patients with psychiatric conditions. We investigated the prevalence of NSSI in 3,407 patients of various ages and with various psychiatric diagnoses from 15 hospitals in China.