Psychiatric News (2/6) reported, “Socially isolated older adults who received one of two brief, telephone-based psychosocial interventions showed significant reductions in loneliness at 12 months compared with those who received ‘befriending’ phone calls that didn’t include psychosocial skills,” according to findings from a study of 1,151 older adults in Hong Kong. However, “the findings were mainly applicable to lonely, Cantonese-speaking, older adults with limited resources and may not be generalizable to populations with greater socioeconomic, cultural, or linguistic diversity.” The research was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Brief Lay-Delivered Phone Interventions Can Reduce Loneliness Among Older Adults, Psychiatric News, February 6, 2026

Research by Lauren Osborne, M.D., reproductive psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, has identified a potential biomarker for postpartum depression (PPD). Examining the metabolic progesterone pathway throughout pregnancy showed that a lower pregnanolone-to-progesterone ratio and elevated isoallopregnanolone in the third trimester were associated with PPD risk. Further investigation may help determine who can benefit from earlier treatment intervention.

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— “Dr. Lauren Osborne: Research Uncovers a Potential Biomarker for Postpartum Depression Risk, NYP, February 5, 2026

MedPage Today (2/4, George) reports, “A large longitudinal study challenged longstanding assumptions about the gender prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).” Investigators found that “among 2.7 million people born in Sweden between 1985 and 2022 and followed from birth up to age 37, 2.8% were diagnosed with autism at a mean age of 14.3 years.” The data indicated that “diagnosis rates increased steadily throughout childhood, peaking at 645.5 per 100,000 person-years for males ages 10-14 and 602.6 per 100,000 person-years for females ages 15-19.” The findings were published in The BMJ.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (2/3) reports a systematic review of 110 studies across more than 20 countries found that “aggressive obsessions – intrusive thoughts of intentionally or unintentionally harming oneself or others – are a common feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).” Researchers observed that “lifetime and current (i.e., past-week) prevalence rates of aggressive obsessions were 70.3% and 52.6%, respectively. Aggressive obsessions were the primary and most distressing symptom for 28% of patients.” In addition, “patients with early-onset OCD and/or suicidal ideation were more likely to report aggressive obsessions than patients with late-onset OCD and/or no suicidal ideation.” The researchers “noted that the results underscore the importance of appropriate recognition and treatment of aggressive obsessions in OCD, given how commonly they are misidentified.” The review was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

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— “Aggressive Obsessions Common in OCD, Psychiatric News, February 3, 2026

HealthDay (2/3, Thompson) reports a systematic review of 169 previous clinical trials found that “talk therapy is the best way to ease grief and depression following the death of a loved one.” Of the clinical trials reviewed, “76 evaluated whether psychotherapy could help people with their grief.” The review says, “Across studies, we found a positive effect of psychotherapy on grief disorder symptoms.” The researchers “also found some benefit from expert-facilitated support groups and enhanced contact from a person’s health care team, although the evidence there was not as strong.” The review was published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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— “Grief Best Managed Through Talk Therapy, Evidence Shows,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, February 3, 2026

HealthDay (2/2, Thompson) reports a study found that “the symptoms women experience on the verge of menopause could be vastly different from what they might expect.” According to researchers, “women in perimenopause…expect to be plagued with hot flashes and night sweats. However, these women reported symptoms like exhaustion and fatigue far more frequently than those typically associated with menopause.” When middle-aged women participants were “asked which symptoms they associate with perimenopause, the women most often named hot flashes (71%), sleep problems (68%) and weight gain (65%). But women who actually were in perimenopause listed their most common symptoms as exhaustion (95%); fatigue (93%); irritability (91%); sleep problems (89%); depression (88%); and brain fog (87%).” The study was published in Menopause.

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— “Early Menopause Symptoms Might Not Be What Most Women Expect,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, February 2, 2026

The AP (2/2, Swenson) reports HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Monday that the agency “will devote $100 million toward a pilot program addressing homelessness and substance abuse in eight cities, building on an executive order” the President “signed last week related to addiction.” The agency “will also make faith-based organizations eligible for addiction-related grants and expand states’ ability to use federal health funding for substance abuse treatment in certain situations involving children, Kennedy said.” Kennedy also “said SAMHSA’s new pilot program will be called STREETS, or Safety Through Recovery, Engagement and Evidence-Based Treatment and Supports.” The initiatives “represent some quick momentum for” the President’s “executive order signed last Thursday launching what [he] calls the ‘Great American Recovery Initiative’ to better align federal resources on the addiction crisis.”

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— “HHS unveils program to address homelessness and addiction, part of a set of new initiatives,”Ali Swenson , AP, February 2, 2026

USA Today (2/2, Peter) reports, “About half of the U.S. Olympians and U.S. Paralympians set to compete at the Milano Cortina Games will not be at their best mentally, according to Jonathan Finnoff, chief medical officer of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC).” To support these athletes, Finnoff “said the USOPC has built ‘an incredibly robust program.’ He noted the hiring of 16 dually certified mental health and mental performance [professionals], virtual consultation services with more than 500 psychological services professionals and several ways to assess athletes for mental health needs.” The increased emphasis comes after the “Borders Commission, created by the USOPC in 2018, concluded in a 2019 report that mental health care can and must be expanded.” The USOPC “said that between the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris Olympics in 2024, it increased the number of licensed psychologists on its staff to 15 from six.

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— “How Team USA has evolved mental health services for Olympians,”Josh Peter, USA TODAY, February 2, 2026

Healio (1/30, Gawel) reported, “Hearing aids did not lead to any significant differences in cognitive testing among older patients with moderate hearing loss, but these devices may reduce risks for dementia, according to” research. The study “cohort included a median of 664 patients (mean age, 75.1 years; 49% women; 98% white) who received a prescription for a new hearing aid in the previous 3 years, including 402 who always or often used their hearing aid and 188 who sometimes or rarely used it, and a median of 2,113 (mean age, 74.2 years; 48% women; 99% white) who did not.” The findings were published in Neurology.

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— “Hearing aid prescriptions yield no significant difference in cognitive test scores,”Richard Gawel, Healio, January 30, 2026

The New York Times Magazine (1/30, Jones) interviewed “more than two dozen people who have been diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder along with nearly 20 experts.” DID has been “included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” since 1994. It is considered “one of the most controversial diagnoses in psychiatry. For decades, some critics have argued that it is extremely rare, or that it doesn’t exist at all.” Despite skepticism, “the field of psychiatry has never had more robust scientific and clinical data about the disorder – including the ways it defies decades-old stereotypes. There are now multiple validated assessment tools for dissociative disorders, including D.I.D., as well as neuroimaging studies that show how severe dissociation manifests in the brain.” In contrast to the 1980s and 1990s, “neuroscientists now have more clues about how severe dissociation appears in the brain.”

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)