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Our Facebook status updates, ‘likes’ and even photos could help researchers better understand mental health disorders with the right ethical safeguards, argue researchers from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, who suggest that social networks may even be used in future to provide support and interventions, particularly among young people.

Anti-inflammatory drugs similar to those used to treat conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis could in future be used to treat some cases of depression, concludes a review led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, which further implicates our immune system in mental health disorders.

Mental health has long been the Cinderella of healthcare: left to scrape an existence while the bulk of funding and attention goes elsewhere. As we mark World Mental Health Day, it is clear that policy makers and the public are coming to the realisation that there is no health without mental health. This shift is desperately needed.

In understanding war-related post-traumatic stress disorder, a person’s cultural and professional context is just as important as how they cope with witnessing wartime events, which could change the way mental health experts analyse, prevent and manage psychological injury from warfare. 

Scientists have mapped the structural changes that occur in teenagers’ brains as they develop, showing how these changes may help explain why the first signs of mental health problems often arise during late adolescence.

Women are almost twice as likely to experience anxiety as men, according to a review of existing scientific literature, led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. ̽»¨Ö±²¥study also found that people from Western Europe and North America are more likely to suffer from anxiety than people from other cultures.

Michael Gaultois (Department of Chemistry), Joshua Conrad Jackson ( ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of North Carolina - Chapel Hill), Ian Mahar (Boston ̽»¨Ö±²¥), and Jaan Altosaar (Princeton ̽»¨Ö±²¥) discuss why much reporting on science is currently failing to resolve the trade-off between accessibility and accountability.

Hip-hop artists Tupac and Eminem are among the most iconic music artists of the past two decades, and as Dr Akeem Sule and Dr Becky Inkster, co-founders of , write, their lyrics can provide a valuable insight into the lives of some of the people most at risk of developing mental health issues.

Immigrant groups experience a high incidence of mental illness. Hannah Jongsma (Department of Psychiatry) is looking at data from an international study of the distribution of psychotic disorders. She suggests that ‘psychosocial disempowerment’ might be a powerful contributing factor to raised levels in minority communities.

Adolescence is a dangerous time for the onset of mental health problems. Advances in brain imaging are helping to picture how neural changes in these crucial years can lead to chronic debilitating mental illness.