Adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) experience more frequent nightmares and greater nightmare distress than healthy peers (22.0% vs 6.1% reporting nightmares at least once per week). Among those with suicide risk, over half (51.6%) had frequent nightmares, compared to about a third (30.7%) without suicide risk. Nightmare distress, along with female gender, junior grade, recurrent depressive episodes, and severe depressive symptoms, independently and significantly predicts suicide risk. The findings indicate that nightmare distress is an independent risk factor for suicide in adolescents with MDD, suggesting that addressing nightmares may be important in suicide prevention for this population.
Information integration and brain network measures derived from EEG can distinguish conscious from unconscious states induced by three different anaesthetics. In 72 participants given propofol, dexmedetomidine, or ketamine until they lost responsiveness, permutation cross mutual information (PCMI) within frontal, parietal, and occipital regions decreased during unresponsiveness—for example, frontal within-area PCMI fell from 0.54 to 0.46. Alpha-band PCMI in the frontal region and gamma-band PCMI in posterior areas also dropped. Network analyses showed reduced clustering coefficients and nodal efficiency in frontal, parietal, and occipital areas, while normalized path length increased in delta, theta, and gamma bands, indicating impaired global integration. The three drugs produced similar changes, suggesting a common EEG signature of anaesthesia-induced unconsciousness.
Mindfulness meditation reduces depression during pregnancy. A meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials with 658 participants found a positive effect (standardized mean difference = −0.786). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy was the most effective intervention. The best results came from programs lasting less than 4 weeks, applied throughout pregnancy, with expert guidance fewer than 6 times per week for sessions under 60 minutes, plus daily 30-minute homework. High heterogeneity across studies was partly due to different depression measurement tools, notably the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Mindfulness meditation can help prevent and reduce pregnancy depression and may serve as an auxiliary clinical treatment.