Summary: Researchers argue humans did not evolve to be consistently happy but primarily survive and reproduce.

It’s possible that a lock of hair could one day aid in the diagnosis of depression and in efforts to monitor the effects of treatment, said the author of a new study examining cortisol levels in the hair of teens. Researchers looked for potential relationships between the concentration of the stress hormone cortisol in the hair and adolescents’ depression symptoms and found a surprising connection. Not only did high cortisol levels correspond to a higher likelihood of depression, but there was also a connection between low cortisol levels and mental health struggles.

An innovative new study suggests that the benefits of employment should be shared widely, even in a future where jobs are scarce.

The most decorated Olympian of all time, swimmer Michael Phelps, opened up about his battle with depression and said he contemplated suicide at the height of his career.

Ph.D. candidates suffer from anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation at astonishingly high rates.

Spending too much time on “social media” sites like Facebook is making people more than just miserable. It may also be making them depressed. A new study looked at 504 millennials who actively use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and/or Snapchat, individuals who met the criteria for a major depressive disorder scored higher on the “Social Media Addiction” scale.

Physicians have been taught to look for signs of hopelessness, sadness and lack of motivation to help them diagnose depression. But anger as a depression symptom is less often noticed or addressed.

Today, young people are more likely to suffer from depression and self-harm than they were 10 years ago, even as substance abuse and anti-social behavior continue to fall, a new study says. Depression levels rose to nearly 15 percent among people born between the early 1990s to 2000, while self-harm rates increased to 14 percent, research published Thursday in the International Journal of Epidemiology shows.

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved esketamine, the first major depression treatment to hit the U.S. market in decades and a new option for patients who haven’t responded to existing therapies.

Humor can help decrease negative emotional reactions in people vulnerable to depression, according to new research published in the journal Brain and Behavior. The findings offer preliminary evidence that humor could be an effective emotion regulation strategy.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s esketamine on Tuesday for treatment-resistant depression; the drug is the chemical cousin of ketamine, the powerful anesthetic that has been used illegally as the club drug Special K. It will be sold as Spravato. More specifically, it's for patients who have tried at least two other medications without success, and it should be taken with an oral antidepressant.

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that use of the synthetic psychedelic 5-methocy-N,-N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) appears to be associated with unintended improvements in self-reported depression and anxiety when given in a ceremonial group setting. 5-MeO-DMT is a psychedelic that is found in the venom of Bufo Alvarius toads, in a variety of plants species, and can be produced synthetically.

In the coming adventure video game Sea of Solitude, the main character — a young woman named Kay — navigates a partly submerged city as she faces a multitude of red-eyed scaly creatures. None are as terrifying as her own personal demons. As the game progresses, Kay realizes the creatures she is encountering are humans who turned into monsters when they became too lonely. To save herself, she fights to overcome her own loneliness.

Depression and suicide are major concerns in the 21st century. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year, with the 15-29 age group particularly affected. Interestingly, it is also when we are in our teens and twenties that music seems to play its most important role in our lives. Studies show that adolescents listen to music for approximately two to three hours per day, especially when feeling distressed.

We’ve all seen the memes and social media posts. While variations exist, they’re basically the same idea: First, a picture of a forest, a field, or a garden with text that reads, “This is an antidepressant.” Below will be a photo of some pile of anonymous, colorful pills, with text saying, “This is shit.” The point these memes are trying to make, of course, is that going outdoors and enjoying fresh air is a “natural” antidepressant, whereas taking a pill—a chemical, a drug—pollutes your brain and body. It’s shit.

Courtney Barnett

By Christian Jarrett. The findings challenge the idea that depressed people are seeking to perpetuate their low mood.

Even on my worst days, putting on clean, cozy clothes always made me feel a little bit less bad, a little bit more human. By Rachel Miller.

New psychology research highlights how unemployment can place a psychological burden on people by frustrating access to several psychological needs, such as a sense of purpose. Past research has established that unemployment can undermine mental health. The new findings, which appear in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, help explain why that is.

People with depression listen to sad music because it makes them feel better, according to a small study that is one of the first to investigate why people turn to tearjerkers when they’re already down. The first part of the study, published recently in the journal Emotion, tried to repeat the findings of a 2015 study that showed that depressed people preferred listening to sad music.