What psychiatry is researching now
The topics gaining the most ground, ranked by the PubDaily Trend Score: new research, stronger evidence, new trials and new guidelines. 291 topics in 22 specialties, updated 18 Oct 2026.
Monthly reportThe fastest-rising topics in medicine: October 2026Read →GLP-1 drugs, addiction and mood
GLP-1 based medicines studied in alcohol and substance use, and their psychiatric effects.
AI chatbots in mental health
Chatbots and language models used for mental health support.
Key point: PDC30, a self-guided automated intervention with an AI-powered counseling chatbot, improved caregiver depression, burden, and positive gains versus waitlist at 1 month.
Digital mental health apps
Smartphone apps and digital programmes for depression and anxiety.
Key point: Smartphone-delivered lifestyle medicine reduced depressive symptoms more than waitlist control and maintained within-group improvements through 3-month follow-up in probable depression.
ADHD in adults
Diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in adults.
Loneliness and health
Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors.
Gut microbiome and mental health
Links between the gut microbiome and depression or anxiety.
See all 12 psychiatry topics
Every rising topic, with the papers behind it. Free for doctors.
How the Trend Score works
Four signals
Growth in new papers (35%), growth in randomised trials, meta-analyses and systematic reviews (25%), new clinical trials registered (20%), and new guidelines and consensus statements (20%), each over the last 12 months against the 12 before.
A score out of 100
Each signal is ranked against every topic we follow, so a score of 90 means the topic is ahead of about 90% of them. Rising fast: 80 and above. Rising: 55 to 79. Emerging: fewer than 100 papers the year before, too few to rank.
What it does not tell you
More research on a topic is not evidence that a treatment works. Open a topic to read the papers and guidelines themselves. Counts come from PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov.