Youth at familial risk for mood disorders often report disturbed sleep, yet it is unclear which aspects of sleep distinguish them from low-risk peers or when differences emerge developmentally.

A total of 176 youth at familial risk for mood disorders (mean age = 14.6 years) and 119 control youth (mean age = 13.8 years), aged 8 to 25, wore wrist actigraphy continuously for 2 weeks. Total sleep time, sleep midpoint timing, and sleep regularity were derived from actigraphy data. Generalized additive mixed models estimated nonlinear developmental trajectories across age. Confidence bands identified age intervals at which groups diverged.

High- and low-risk youth followed different developmental patterns of total sleep time (F = 6.35, adjusted p < 0.001), sleep midpoint timing (F = 11.3, adjusted p < 0.001), and sleep regularity (F = 3.96, adjusted p = 0.028). High-risk youth had lower total sleep time in middle childhood (ages 8–8.8) and higher total sleep time in young adulthood (ages 18.2–23.9). They had a later sleep midpoint in late childhood (ages 10.2–14.1) and an earlier sleep midpoint from late adolescence to young adulthood (ages 17.3–25.0). High-risk youth slept more regularly from late adolescence to young adulthood (ages 17.8–21.7).

High-risk youth showed poorer sleep than controls in early adolescence but better sleep in late adolescence through young adulthood, possibly reflecting shifting sleep priorities across development, though the mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear.

Age at onset of depression is linked to clinical presentation and outcome, but its relevance for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) remains unclear. We examined whether age at onset of first depressive episode requiring hospitalization predicts ECT response and remission, and whether onset age reflects distinct clinical profiles.

A nationwide register-based study, including 14,141 patients who received an index ECT series for a depressive episode in Sweden during 2008–2021, with outcome data in the Swedish Quality Register for ECT. Response was “very much/much improved” on the Clinical Global Impression – Improvement scale, and remission was a post-treatment Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Self report score of 10 or less. Hierarchical logistic regression and causal mediation analyses examined associations of age at onset (early, mid, late), chronological age, baseline severity, psychotic symptoms, and somatic and psychiatric comorbidity with outcome and their mediating role.

Response and remission rates were highest in late-onset depression (84.9%, 60.2%) and lowest in early-onset depression (64.6%, 26.3%). Later onset and older age were independently associated with higher odds of both outcomes, but the onset-age association attenuated substantially after adjustment. The early-onset disadvantage operated mainly through psychiatric comorbidity and treatment complexity, and the late-onset advantage was driven by psychotic features. Associations of age, male sex, and psychotic symptoms with response differed by onset group.

Age of onset of first depressive episode requiring hospitalization was associated with clinical profiles and ECT outcomes, independent of chronological age, suggesting early- and late-onset depression are partly distinct subtypes relevant to treatment planning.

The prevalence and burden of depression are increasing among young people. Despite this, relatively few treatments specifically target this critical developmental period, and under-addressed mental health difficulties in youth often have lifelong consequences. Social isolation is commonly reported by young adults and is both a risk and maintenance factor for depression. There is a need for accessible, engaging interventions that can reduce depressive symptoms and improve social connectedness.

Building on evidence of the therapeutic potential of social dance-based activities for depression, this randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of an 8-week salsa dance intervention for young adults (aged 18–24 years) with mild to moderately severe depressive symptoms. 121 participants were randomly assigned to either a salsa intervention or a waitlist control. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a validated measure of depressive symptoms, and additional mental health measures at baseline, during, and after the intervention.

Participants in the salsa dance condition showed a significantly greater reduction in depressive symptoms than the waitlist control, with a −2.45 PHQ-9 point between-group difference, exceeding the criterion for clinical significance. Both groups reported improvements in social anxiety, generalized anxiety, loneliness, and daily happiness, but salsa participants had significantly greater reductions in social anxiety and greater improvements in daily happiness.

These findings support the value of social dance as a novel, accessible intervention for reducing depressive symptoms. Implementing such programs within a suite of wellbeing-oriented interventions for young people could provide cost-effective mental health benefits.

Real-world data for intranasal esketamine in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) are needed to characterize effectiveness, suicidality, and tolerability in routine care. We evaluated induction phase outcomes in outpatients with TRD treated at the University Hospital Vienna.

This retrospective single-center registry study included adults with TRD initiating supervised intranasal esketamine. The primary endpoint was the change in clinician-rated depressive symptom severity (MADRS) from the pre-treatment (PV) to the end of induction (EOI) visit. MADRS scores across baseline (BL), PV, and EOI were analyzed using a mixed model for repeated measures. Secondary outcomes included MADRS three-factor change, self-rated depression score trajectories (PHQ-9), response/remission rates, suicidal ideation, and tolerability.

Of 229 screened patients, 176 initiated esketamine and 156 completed induction. MADRS at BL was 31.5 (SD 6.4), PHQ-9 was 18.5 (SD 4.7). In the primary model, adjusted mean MADRS was 30.3 at PV and 17.7 at EOI, yielding a change of −12.5 points (95%CI −14.1 to −11.0; p < 0.001; Hedges’ g = 1.8). All MADRS factors improved, with the largest reduction in the affective–anhedonic domain. PHQ-9 decreased steadily across treatments. Remission was 27.2% and response 57.4% at EOI. Suicidal ideation decreased significantly; no suicide or serious self-harm occurred during induction. Adverse events (AEs) were recorded in 34.7%, with AE-related discontinuation in 3.4%.

Esketamine induction was associated with marked improvement in depressive symptoms and suicidality, with acceptable tolerability under supervised administration. Longer-term registry follow-up and controlled comparative studies are needed to further define the benefit–risk profile beyond induction phase.

A mutual influence between mood disorders and obesity has been reported. Maladapting eating behaviors associated with mood spectrum swings may play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of obesity. Considering that, the aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between problematic eating behaviors, namely emotional eating, grazing and night eating, with impulsivity and lifetime mood spectrum (mood, energy, cognition, rhythmicity and vegetative functions) in severe obese patients seeking bariatric surgery.

304 obese outpatients were recruited at the Psychiatric Unit of the University Hospital of Pisa. Participants completed psychometric tools including the Emotional Eating Scale (EES), the Italian-Night Eating Questionnaire (I-NEQ), the Grazing Questionnaire (GRAZ), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Mood Spectrum Self-Report – lifetime version (MOODS-SR). Descriptive analyses and linear correlation were performed.

The sample was predominantly female (71.4%), with a mean age of 47.5 ± 10.9 years and a mean BMI of 43.3 ± 6.3 kg/m2. Impulsivity was positively correlated with depressive and manic mood, energy, and cognitive MOODS-SR domains. Emotional eating, night eating, and grazing were significantly associated with the MOODS-SR total score (r=0.422, p=0.000; r=0.321, p=0.001; r=0.321, p=0.000, respectively) and with specific depressive and manic subdomains of the MOODS-SR.

Loss-of-control eating behaviors were positively associated with lifetime depressive and manic mood spectrum features in bariatric patients, highlighting the importance of assessing these dimensions to promote a tailored and integrated treatment.

Working memory deficits are common in mood disorders and severely affect everyday functioning. Serotonin (5-HT) signalling has been implicated in depression and is also involved in cognitive functioning. However, its relevance for working memory remains largely unexplored.

Using positron emission tomography (PET) brain imaging, we investigated the link between working memory and multiple 5-HT brain features in both healthy individuals and patients with mood disorders in a cross-sectional analysis of pooled data-sets.

We used multiple linear regression to test the associations between working memory performance and 5-HT 1B receptor (5-HT1BR) (healthy controls: 28), 5-HT 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) (healthy controls: 116), 5-HT 4 receptor (5-HT4R) (healthy controls: 97, patients: 98) and 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) (healthy controls: 137, patients: 12) PET binding in the frontal cortex. The frontal cortex was chosen as region of interest as it is critical for working memory functions.

There was no association between working memory and 5-HT1BR (p = 0.14), 5-HT2AR (p = 0.99) or 5-HTT (p = 0.80) frontal cortex binding in healthy controls. For the 5-HT4R, we observed a significant interaction effect of group status (p = 0.01), with patients showing a positive association (β = 6.51, p = 0.02) and healthy individuals showing no significant association (p = 0.16).

We found no evidence that key 5-HT receptor systems are associated with working memory performance in healthy individuals, but did observe a positive association for 5-HT4R in patients with mood disorder. We speculate that although 5-HT neurotransmission markers may map onto working memory performance in the healthy state, pathologically altered 5-HT signalling may contribute to working memory deficits in mood disorders, possibly through downstream signalling and/or interactions with other neurotransmitter systems.

As GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are increasingly used worldwide, concerns about their association with mood disorders have grown. Yet real-world observational studies have produced conflicting findings. This study aims to fully examine the link between GLP-1 RAs and emotional/behavioral outcomes.

Disproportionality analysis of GLP-1 RA adverse events was conducted using FAERS data. Mendelian randomization (MR) employed GLP1R cis-eQTLs as instrumental variables to assess links with mood/behavior-related disorders. Summary-data MR (SMR) was then performed using GLP1R cis-eQTL data.

275,718 adverse events (AEs) associated with GLP-1 RAs were retrieved and analyzed. A mild signal for suicide-related AEs was observed only in the obesity indication subgroup (ROR:1.65, 95% CI: 1.28–2.12). Genetic evidence showed that GLP-1 RAs were likely associated with reduced risks of anxiety, depression, emotional lability, bipolar disorder, and suicide. Mediational analysis indicated that weight loss partially mediated the causal effects of GLP-1 RAs on depression and emotional lability, accounting for 18.28% (95% CI: 9.46–27.10%, P = 0.038) and 7.65% (95% CI: 5.66–9.64%, P < 0.001) of the total effects, respectively. SMR analysis showed that genetically predicted GLP1R expression was negatively associated with anxiety (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.64–0.98, P = 0.031), with no significant associations for other emotional or behavioral outcomes.

Both observational and MR analyses showed that patients treated with GLP-1 RAs may have no increased risk of emotional and behavioral disorders. Instead, genetic proxy activation of GLP-1 RAs may reduce the risk of anxiety, depression, and emotional lability.

An increase in mental disorders has been suggested, but the interpretation of such trends remains unclear. This study examines changes in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders over 12 years and evaluates whether clinical characteristics or sociodemographic, vulnerability and health-lifestyle risk factors contributed to these trends.

To assess trends in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety disorders (i.e. panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder or generalised anxiety disorder) and mood disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia or bipolar disorder) and explore whether changes in clinical profiles or risk factors influenced these trends.

Data from 11 615 respondents (mean age 43.5 years, 53.5% female) in the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Studies (NEMESIS) were analysed, covering 2007–2009 (NEMESIS-2, n = 6646) and 2019–2022 (NEMESIS-3, n = 4969). Diagnoses were determined using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0.

The 12-month prevalence of all anxiety and mood disorders was significantly higher in 2019–2022 compared to 2007–2009, with relative increases across disorders ranging from approximately a half to more than double their previous rates. Any anxiety or mood disorder increased from 10.2 to 16.7%. Clinical profiles were equally severe in 2019–2022; rather, there was increased mental health care use, a higher number of comorbid disorders and earlier onset. Examination of 14 risk factors showed no consistent evidence of greater prevalence or increased relative impact over time.

There was a consistent rise in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders over 12 years. This increase was not explained by changes in risk factors or less severe disorder reporting. Instead, these findings suggest a concerning decline in public mental health, highlighting the need for effective prevention strategies, timely interventions and better mental health resource allocation to address growing clinical demands.

Although the United States incarcerates nearly two million people, the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in correctional populations is not well understood, and no study has examined temporal trends in psychiatric disorder prevalences within a single correctional system. This study assessed how psychiatric disorder prevalences have changed in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the largest American state prison system housing post-conviction, sentenced individuals.

This retrospective cohort study of TDCJ electronic medical record data from 1 January 2016 through 31 December 2023 included all persons incarcerated for any duration during that period. Diagnoses were based on International Classification of Disease (ICD-10) diagnostic codes. Outcomes were annual prevalences of depressive, bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorders stratified by age, race and sex. Cochran-Armitage Tests were used to assess temporal trends within each stratum. Two-way interactions were assessed by fitting Generalized Estimating Equations models using autoregressive correlation with repeated subjects.

The overall population ranged from 170,269 to 222,798 individuals. Approximately, one-third were White (34.5–35.4%), one-third Black (31.0–32.3%), and one-third Hispanic (32.7–33.5%). Most were aged 30–49 (52.8–57.3%), and men (88.9–90.7%) outnumbered women (9.3–11.1%). The prevalences (per 100 [95% CI]) of psychiatric disorders generally increased when comparing 2016 to 2023. Depressive disorders increased the most among those aged 30–49 (5.23 [5.10–5.35] to 6.71 [6.56–6.86]), Hispanic individuals (3.86 [3.72–4.00] to 5.72 [5.53–5.90]), and men (4.72 [4.63–4.82] to 6.53 [6.42–6.65]). Bipolar disorders increased the most among those aged ≥50 (2.57 [2.42–2.72] to 3.46 [3.29–3.63]), Hispanic individuals (1.31 [1.23–1.40] to 2.23 [2.11–2.35]), and men (2.26 [2.20–2.33] to 3.12 [3.04–3.20]). Schizophrenia spectrum disorders increased the most among those aged ≤29 (1.33 [1.24–1.42] to 2.52 [2.35–2.68]), Hispanic individuals (1.53 [1.44–1.62] to 3.21 [3.35–4.40]), and women (1.27 [1.56–1.89] to 4.24 [3.95–4.53]). When stratified by demographic variables, trend tests were significant for nearly all comparisons (P < 0.0001), and all two-way interactions were significant (P < 0.0001).

The prevalences of major psychiatric disorders in the Texas prison system increased when comparing 2016 to 2023, with certain disorders rising more rapidly than others within specific subgroups. These findings emphasize the need for expanded mental health treatment options and resources within correctional settings.

Epigenetic mechanisms might play a role in modulating susceptibility to bipolar disorder (BD) and response to lithium, the mainstay treatment for BD. Additionally, individuals with BD experience accelerated biological aging.

We compared blood DNA methylation profiles measured with EPIC v.2.0 arrays between patients with BD (33 lithium responders and 31 nonresponders) and nonpsychiatric controls (n = 32), as well as based on long-term lithium response. In addition, we compared cellular aging between these groups using epigenetic age, pace of aging, and, for the first time, transcriptional age acceleration based on bulk RNA sequencing in 93 patients and 56 controls.

We identified 191 differentially methylated positions (DMPs) and 8 differentially methylated regions between patients with BD and controls, located in genes enriched for “Postsynaptic Density” (odds ratio = 6.81, p = 0.001). No DMP was significantly associated with lithium response after multiple testing correction. Patients showed a significantly higher biological age acceleration than controls based on two epigenetic clocks (GrimAge, Mann–Whitney U = 551, p = 0.0009; GrimAge2: U = 477, p = 9.0E-05) and pace of aging (DunedinPACE, t = 3.01, p = 0.003), but not on transcriptional age. While we observed no significant difference in epigenetic aging based on lithium response, lithium responders showed lower epigenetic acceleration using all clocks, with a trend observed using the PhenoAge clock (t = 1.97, p = 0.053).

Our findings point to methylation patterns characterizing BD and support the hypothesis of accelerated cellular aging in BD.

Low-income, publicly insured youth face numerous barriers to adequate mental health care, which may be compounded for those with multiple marginalized identities. However, no research has examined how identity and diagnosis may interact to shape the treatment experiences of under-resourced youth with psychiatric conditions. Applying an intersectional lens to treatment disparities is essential for developing targeted interventions to promote equitable care.

Analyses included youth ages 7–18 with eating disorders (EDs; n = 3,311), mood/anxiety disorders (n = 3,219), or psychotic disorders (n = 3,035) enrolled in California Medicaid. Using state billing records, we examined sex- and race and ethnicity-based disparities in receipt of core services – outpatient therapy, outpatient medical care, and inpatient treatment – in the first year after diagnosis and potential differences across diagnostic groups.

Many youth (50.7% across diagnoses) received no outpatient therapy, and youth with EDs were least likely to receive these services. Youth of color received fewer days of outpatient therapy than White youth, and Latinx youth received fewer therapy and medical services across outpatient and inpatient contexts. Sex- and race and ethnicity-based disparities were especially pronounced for youth with EDs, with particularly low levels of service receipt among boys and Latinx youth with EDs.

Results raise concerns for unmet treatment needs among publicly insured youth, which are exacerbated for youth with multiple marginalized identities and those who do not conform to historical stereotypes of affected individuals (e.g., low-income boys of color with EDs). Targeted efforts are needed to ensure equitable care.