Absence of human contact is associated with declines in cognitive function. But as the COVID-19 pandemic brings concerns about the potential harms of isolation to the fore, researchers are still hunting for concrete evidence of a causal role as well as possible mechanisms.

Bury your nose in tales of neurosyphilis, gender identity, the medical mysteries of sleep disorders, and more.

A meta-analysis of more than 80 studies from the past four decades finds weak evidence to support the use of medicinal cannabis to treat anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.

Some variants implicated in the disease are also linked to other psychiatric disorders.

The UCSD psychiatry researcher championed the concept of mental illness as a neurobiological condition and helped form the US government’s Decade of the Brain initiative.

Some academic institutions are beginning to complement the work of student organizations in addressing mental health problems in graduate school.

Complications during pregnancy may act via the placenta to magnify the effects of genetic risk factors.

The neuronal coverings that mediate synaptic changes are involved in everything from memory to psychiatric disorders, affecting autism, Alzheimer’s, and addiction.

See the web of proteins that make up these neuronal wrappings.