TL;DR: A 2026 study in Annals of General Psychiatry found that, among 457 adults with recurrent major depressive disorder in Pakistan, escitalopram was the most common single antidepressant and reported side effects varied sharply by drug class. Key Findings Clinic sample covered 457 adults: All participants had recurrent major depressive disorder and were recruited from …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint on medRxiv tested transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS), a noninvasive ear-based stimulation method, during a grip-strength reward task and found that people with severe depressive symptoms made more efficient effort choices under active stimulation than under sham. Key Findings Reward-effort task included 98 participants: The analysis included 53 people with major …
TL;DR: A 2026 rat study in Neuropsychopharmacology reported that repeated semaglutide treatment reduced cocaine-vs-food choice in male and female rats, supporting further clinical testing for cocaine use disorder rather than proving human benefit. Key Findings 5-day treatment: Rats received repeated semaglutide treatment across 5 days rather than a single acute dose. Two active doses: Both …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint posted to medRxiv found that intermittent theta-burst transcranial temporal interference stimulation (iTBS-tTIS), a noninvasive electrical method aimed at the right putamen, lowered left-sided Parkinson’s motor scores during stimulation in 19 patients. Key Findings 19 Parkinson’s patients and 19 healthy controls completed a randomized, double-blind crossover stimulation study. MDS-UPDRS III, the motor …
TL;DR: A 2026 Molecular Psychiatry ENIGMA mega-analysis found that medication status in bipolar disorder was linked to subtle differences in subcortical brain volume, with antiepileptic and antipsychotic exposure most consistently tied to smaller hippocampal and thalamic volumes. Key Findings 6,729-person ENIGMA sample: Researchers pooled MRI data from 2,664 people with bipolar disorder and 4,065 controls …
TL;DR: A 2026 real-world cohort study in Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders linked GLP-1 receptor agonists, drugs targeting a glucose-related metabolic hormone pathway, to a higher hazard of new hypersomnolence, but the absolute risk increase was small. Key Findings 237,986 matched patients: The TriNetX analysis compared 118,993 GLP-1 receptor agonist users with 118,993 matched …
TL;DR: A 2026 randomized trial in Scientific Reports found that adding esketamine to sufentanil patient-controlled analgesia lowered short-term postoperative depression and anxiety scores in elderly colorectal cancer surgery patients, without improving pain scores or increasing adverse events. Key Findings Three randomized groups: 91 older colorectal cancer surgery patients completed follow-up after assignment to sufentanil alone, …
TL;DR: A 2026 paper in Current Therapeutic Research described an acute PGAD-like genital arousal episode after self-initiated duloxetine withdrawal, with symptoms resolving within 5 hours after emergency admission and no recurrence over 36 months. Key Findings 59-year-old patient: The case involved a woman with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, restless legs syndrome, overactive bladder, and mixed anxiety-depressive …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in iScience found that blocking Itch, an E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in protein tagging, improved several memory-test readouts in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model and reduced neuronal apoptosis, including when researchers used the existing drug clomipramine. Key Findings Two Itch strategies: Researchers tested AAV-delivered loss-of-function Itch mutants and clomipramine, a …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Psychopharmacology found that healthy adults who used cannabis frequently had higher circulating THC markers after at least 12 hours of verified abstinence, but their cold-pressor pain threshold, pain tolerance, and pain ratings did not differ from occasional users. Key Findings 75 cannabis users were tested: the sample included 38 occasional …
