APA survey finds 47% of AI users used AI like a mental health professional; online MBCT cuts perinatal depressive relapse

• Research Oct 22, 2026
  APA's Stress in America survey: 77% of adults cite cost of living, and 47% of AI users used AI like a mental health professional
  The American Psychological Association (APA) released its 2026 Stress in America survey on Oct. 22, conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of APA, News-Medical reported. Seventy-seven percent of U.S. adults cited the cost of living and 74% the future of the nation as significant sources of stress. Among AI users, 49% had talked with AI as a friend and 47% had used it in a role comparable to a mental health professional.
  Source: News-Medical
• Research Oct 20, 2026
  Online mindfulness-based cognitive therapy cut depressive relapse in pregnant women with recurrent depression, 33% versus 44%
  In a pragmatic randomized trial of 500 euthymic pregnant women with recurrent depression across the U.S., published in The Lancet Public Health and listed in PubMed on Oct. 20, 33% of those assigned to Mindful Mood Balance for Moms, a web-based mindfulness-based cognitive therapy program, plus usual care had a depressive relapse through six months postpartum, versus 44% with usual care alone (hazard ratio 0.74, 95% CI 0.56 to 0.99). Symptom burden fell more during the 12-week intervention phase, but not over the full trial.
  Source: The Lancet Public Health
• Technology Oct 19, 2026
  Giving therapists data from patients' text and other messages did not improve depression or anxiety in 101-patient trial
  In a randomized trial published Oct. 19 in JMIR Mental Health, 101 patients in short-term psychotherapy for primary depression or anxiety, 86.1% of them in partial hospitalization, received usual treatment or electronic media-enhanced therapy, in which research staff reviewed their messaging content for 12 personalized mood-related key terms and clinicians saw aggregated results on a dashboard. PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores did not differ between groups (P = .58 and P = .75), nor did therapeutic alliance, said the authors, from McLean Hospital. In the electronic media-enhanced group, treatment changes were associated with how often the information was accessed.
  Source: JMIR Mental Health
• AI Oct 21, 2026
  Adding imaging, genetics and microbiome data did not improve machine learning prediction of depression relapse in 564 patients
  In a German cohort of 564 patients with current or lifetime major depressive disorder, 270 of whom relapsed within two years, machine learning models drawing on nine data modalities reached balanced accuracies of 47.21% to 64.43%, according to a study published Oct. 21 in JAMA Psychiatry. The best-performing model used only a few clinical relapse risk factors, and integrating multimodal data did not improve performance. The authors said the results suggest limited scope for guiding individual-level clinical decisions.
  Source: JAMA Psychiatry
• Policy Oct 21, 2026
  Federal rural health funding will establish three psychiatric emergency units next to Mississippi emergency departments
  The Trump Administration announced $32 million in Rural Health Transformation Program funding across 60 awards in Mississippi on Oct. 21, according to a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) press release, including funds to establish three psychiatric emergency units adjacent to hospital emergency departments to connect patients with timely behavioral health care. Mississippi's governor said the investments will close gaps in mental health care by strengthening the state's psychiatric emergency services.
  Source: CMS

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