Maladaptive eating behaviors in mood disorders are diverse and clinically relevant but have only been characterized into phenotypes based on theoretical evidence. The objective of the current study is to assess the prevalence of maladaptive eating behavior phenotypes (EBP) in mood disorders based on empirical evidence.

An online survey package including five questionnaires was administered to assess the prevalence and proportion of maladaptive eating behaviors in a mood disorder population (n = 100). Principal component analysis (PCA) and mixed measures analysis of variance (mANOVA) were conducted to characterize maladaptive EBPs.

Numerous maladaptive eating behaviors were identified in MDD and BD, including poor dietary quality, emotional eating, binge eating, and night eating behaviors. Differences between diagnostic groups are discussed. Three EBPs were characterized according to the PCA: (1) food impulsivity; (2) emotional eating; and (3) mindfulness in eating, with a significant influence of age and medication on the characterizations according to the mANOVA.

Maladaptive eating behaviors occur in mood disorders and can be characterized into distinct EBPS. These findings should be interpreted as preliminary and hypothesis-generating given the sample size, absence of a healthy comparator group, and potential confounds. As psychiatry moves toward a more comprehensive, personalized approach to diagnosis and treatment, EBPs require prospective validation in larger, controlled investigations to determine clinical relevance.

Individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSDs) frequently exhibit low levels of physical activity (PA) and mood disturbances, both of which contribute to functional impairment and poorer long-term outcomes. Despite growing evidence linking PA and affective regulation, little is known about the real-time, bidirectional relationship between these domains in SSD.

In this multicenter observational study (DiAPAson project), 120 patients with SSD and 113 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) underwent a 7-day ecological assessment combining smartphone-based Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA; 8 prompts/day) and continuous wrist-worn actigraphy. We analyzed the dynamic associations between PA and mood using generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) and Bayesian models with lagged temporal structures.

GLMMs revealed significantly lower daily mood in SSD compared to HC (estimate = −0.33, 95% CI: −0.53 to −0.12; p = .002), but no significant day-level association between PA and mood. In contrast, Bayesian models uncovered robust within-day, bidirectional associations in HC such that higher PA levels were followed by higher subsequent mood and, conversely, better mood predicted higher subsequent PA (PA → mood: posterior probability = 99.9%; mood → PA: 89.6%). In SSD, these within-day couplings were attenuated and more heterogeneous across individuals (PA → mood: 87.2%; mood → PA: 67.5%).

PA and mood are dynamically and bidirectionally linked within short temporal windows throughout the day, with stronger coupling in HC than in SSD. The substantial individual variability observed in SSD highlights the need for personalized, sensor-informed interventions, as aggregated analyses may obscure clinically relevant microtemporal dynamics.

Fluctuations in ovarian hormones are associated with changes in mood and emotional well-being. However, the neural mechanisms linking endocrine states and affective regulation remain poorly understood. We aimed to investigate how endogenous estradiol and progesterone modulate brain representations underlying emotion–action control in healthy young women.

A total of 116 naturally cycling women performed an approach–avoidance task with emotional facial expressions during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Multivoxel pattern analyses were used to examine the neural encoding of emotion–action contingencies, i.e., classifying task conditions from multivariate activation patterns. We then tested whether salivary concentrations of estradiol and progesterone were associated with classification accuracy in various brain regions.

Participants responded more slowly and less accurately when approaching angry faces or avoiding happy ones, reflecting control over automatic emotional tendencies. Multivoxel decoding revealed that task conditions could be reliably distinguished from activation patterns in the lateral frontal pole (FPl), striatum, central insula, dorsal and ventral cerebellum, primary visual cortex, and periaqueductal gray. Importantly, higher progesterone levels were correlated with reduced classification accuracy in the FPl (r=-.26, p=.006) and striatum (r=-.26, p=.007), and lower FPl decodability was linked to poorer mood during the preceding week (r=-.25, p=.011). Moreover, decoding accuracy in the FPl fully mediated the indirect association between progesterone and worse mood (R2=7.1%).

These findings suggest that progesterone-related alterations in frontostriatal affective representations may contribute to mood variation.

The positive valence systems (PVS) domain, a key focus of the Research Domains Criteria framework, divides reward-related processes into three constructs: reward responsiveness, reward learning, and reward valuation. Difficulties with several of these reward constructs have been reported in people with mood-psychosis spectrum disorders. This study aims to examine how performance on tasks corresponding to these three constructs covaries, and how performance relates to mood and psychotic symptoms in adults with mood-psychosis spectrum disorders, those at familial risk, and controls.

Data from two studies (N = 278 and N = 332) were analyzed, which both included people with a psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder (patients), their first-degree relatives (FDRs), and controls. PVS constructs were measured using the Multi-Armed Bandit Task, Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task, and Monetary Incentive Delay Task. Depression, mania, and psychosis symptoms were measured with self-report and interview instruments. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine covariation, and path analysis to test associations with symptoms.

The three reward constructs showed weak (nonsignificant) covariance in all groups. There were a few impairments in reward-related performance in patients or FDRs, none that survived multiple-comparison correction. There were no associations between symptoms and performance on the PVS constructs after multiple comparisons correction.

The findings showed no evidence that performance on any of the three PVS constructs could constitute an endophenotype of mood-psychosis spectrum disorders. We recommend future research examining the contribution of specific cognitive skills to reward-related behavior, and to sources of heterogeneity in reward functioning within the patient group.

Psychological symptoms in perimenopause and early menopause are common. The impact of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) on menopausal mood symptoms is unclear.

To assess the impact of 17β-oestradiol ± micronised progesterone or the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device, and/or transdermal testosterone, on depressive and anxiety symptoms in peri- and postmenopausal women.

A real-world retrospective cohort study set in the largest specialist menopause clinic in the UK. The Meno-D questionnaire measured mood-related symptoms.

The study included 920 women: 448 (48.7%) perimenopausal, and 435 (47.3%) postmenopausal. Following initiation/optimisation of MHT, mean Meno-D scores decreased by 44.59% (95% CI −46.83% to −42.34%, P < 0.001) after average 107 days follow-up. Mood symptoms significantly improved (P < 0.01 per symptom). Improvement occurred in peri- and postmenopausal women. All MHT regimens improved mental health including both progestogen types (body-identical progesterone and levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device), MHT initiation strategy (oestradiol ± a progestogen versus oestradiol ± a progestogen and testosterone, 45.38 v. 48.53%, respectively, P = 0.47) and MHT optimisation strategy (MHT users treated with a higher oestradiol dose versus testosterone added versus both a higher oestradiol dose and testosterone, 34.70, 43.93 and 43.25%, respectively, P = 0.38).

Use of menopausal hormone therapy was associated with significant improvement in mood in peri- and postmenopausal women. Prospective studies and randomised clinical trials are needed to assess the effects of different regimens in different patient populations over longer time periods.

We aimed to study how hormonal status (oral contraceptive [OC] users vs naturally cycling [NC]) affects different dimensions and variability of psychological well-being, and how they relate to sex hormone levels (estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone).

Twenty-two NC participants and 18 OC users reported daily affective and physical symptoms and collected daily salivary samples across 28 days. Groups were compared using psychological well-being averages (linear mixed models), day-to-day variability (Levene’s test), and network models. Within NC participants, cycle phase effects and time-varying associations between hormones and psychological well-being were assessed using both person-centered mean and change (subtracting mean from daily score) scores.

Lowered variability was found for OC users’ agitation, risk-taking, attractiveness, and energy levels. They showed lower overall ratings of happiness, attractiveness, risk-taking, and energy levels (range R2m = .004: .019) but also reported more relaxation, sexual desire, and better sleep quality (range R2m = .005; .01) compared to the NC group. The impact of sex hormones on psychological well-being varied significantly across cycle phases, with the largest effects for progesterone levels.

Our results confirm that hormonal status is associated with a range of psychological well-being domains beyond mood and sexual desire, including energy levels, feelings of attractiveness, risk taking, and agitation. Lowered variability in OC users versus NC participants fit with ‘emotional blunting’ as a possible mechanism behind OC’s side effects. Our findings that show the menstrual cycle and sex hormones differentially influenced markers of psychological well-being emphasize the need to adequately account for the menstrual cycle.