2025 Innovations in Review: Psychiatry

INNOVATIONS IN REVIEW | 2025

PSYCHIATRY

PSYCH INNOVATIONS IN REVIEW

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HIATRY NewYork-Presbyterian’s behavioral health experts provide cutting-edge psychiatric care for a range of conditions and are committed to researching breakthrough treatment options that improve patient outcomes for a growing population of people living with mental health disorders. In 2025, clinicians and researchers from Columbia and Weill Cornell Medicine made significant advancements in identifying new therapeutic targets for anxiety, integrating care for ADHD and concurrent alcohol use disorder, developing AI-based tools to predict schizophrenia risk, and more. These developments are paving the way for advanced treatments and therapies that will benefit more patients.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Proven Treatments Remain Underused in Schizophrenia Care

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New Anxiety Treatment Pathway Could Eliminate Cognitive Side Effects

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Addressing Concurrent ADHD in Alcohol Use Disorder

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Endocannabinoids Reduce Opioid Reward Without Affecting Pain Relief

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AI Model May Help Predict Onset of Schizophrenia After Early Psychosis

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Addictive Screen Use Linked to Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents

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Exploring Psychedelics as the Next Wave of Psychiatric Innovation

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ARTICLE

PROVEN TREATMEN REMAIN UNDERUSE SCHIZOPHRENIA CA

Antipsychotic medications and other approaches for treating schizophrenia have been shown to halt disease progression but are underutilized in the United States. Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D., a psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, is leading the call for better treatment modalities for patients that use proven strategies with disease-modifying benefits, including long-acting injectable antipsychotics and team-based multispecialty expertise. He identifies barriers that contribute to inadequate care, most notably the need for better education regarding these treatment options. Dr. Lieberman and his team have also developed steps that behavioral health specialists can take to ensure broader adoption of existing treatments that are capable of improving patient outcomes.

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Dr. Jeffrey A. Lieberman

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Implementation of effective, existing treatment strategies is not only the right thing to do for patients; it is cost effective across the system, cutting down on emergency hospitalizations and allowing more individuals with schizophrenia to stay in the workforce.”

— Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman

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ARTICLE

NEW ANXIETY TREATMENT PATHWAY COULD ELIMINATE COGNITIVE SIDE EFFECTS

Evidence exists that metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2), a brain cell receptor, controls anxiety, but its mechanism of action is not well understood. A st coauthored by Conor Liston, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian a Weill Cornell Medicine, and Weill Cornell Medicine biochemist Joshua Levitz, Ph.D identified a new brain circuit — the insular cortex/basolateral amygdala projection that expresses mGluR2, and activating it in this region was shown to reduce anxiet without causing cognitive impairments. This discovery indicates that the circuit warrants further investigation as a potential target for the treatment of anxiety and related disorders without the cognitive side effects typically associated with anxiety medications.

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Dr. Conor Liston

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Joshua Levitz, Ph.D.

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This work shows how targeting a specific molecular signaling pathway in the insular cortex could provide potent relief with fewer side effects.”

— Dr. Conor Liston

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ARTICLE

ADDRESSING CONCURRENT ADH IN ALCOHOL USE DISORDER Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is frequently overlooked or minimized in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD), but concurrent treatment of both conditions can enhance treatment retention and increase the chance of recovery. A review study coauthored by Frances Levin, M.D., an addiction psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, provided guidance for how to manage both disorders, including therapies such as long-acting stimulants with lower abuse potential, nonstimulants, and psychosocial therapies. The study emphasized that clinicians should not eliminate ADHD medications altogether over fears of worsening addiction, as ADHD can increase the risk and severity of AUD, and instead encouraged them to develop optimal treatment plans that address both conditions.

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Dr. Frances Levin

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HD

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ADHD is one of the most manageable psychiatric conditions we see, and the costs of ignoring it — especially in the AUD population — are significant.”

— Dr. Frances Levin

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ARTICLE

ENDOCANNABINOI REDUCE OPIOID REWARD WITHOUT AFFECTING PAIN RE

New research indicates that endocannabinoids, particularly 2-arachidonoylglycero may reduce the rewarding effects of opioids, challenging the theory that they exac addictive behaviors. In a preclinical study, Francis Lee, M.D., Ph.D., psychiatrist-in at NewYork-Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, along with researchers from Center for Youth Mental Health at NewYork-Presbyterian, explored how endocann could help mitigate opioid addiction. The research uncovered that increasing 2-AG significantly diminished certain opioid reward behaviors and reduced dopamine tr in the brain’s reward circuit. Notably, reduction occurred without compromising th analgesic effects of opioids, suggesting that future therapeutic approaches could endocannabinoids to lower addiction risk while effectively managing pain.

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Dr. Francis Lee

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Image showing midbrain neurons (red) co-expressing the mu-opioid receptor (Oprm1, white) and cannabinoid receptor 1 (Cnr1, green). The interaction of these two reward pathways in brain regions may be involved in decreasing the reward effects of opioids. Credit: Rajadhyaksha Lab.

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AI MODEL MAY HEL PREDICT ONSET OF SCHIZOPHRENIA AFTER EARLY PSYCHOSIS To address the challenge of diagnosing schizophrenia in its early stages, a team of Columbia researchers, including Steven A. Kushner, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry, and Shalmali Joshi, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical informatics, developed a deep learning model designed to identify which patients with early psychosis are at high risk of developing schizophrenia. The model was trained on Medicaid data and revealed that the most predictive factors were not symptom reports but the ways patients used healthcare services, including how often a person sought care, in which settings, and the types of services used. These findings demonstrate the potential for a future tool that could assist clinicians in decision-making using data that can already be found in standard electronic health records.

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Dr. Steven A. Kushner

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Shalmali Joshi, Ph.D.

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We had not expected that model performance would be so reliant upon patterns of healthcare use. These patterns may reveal early clinical insights that aren’t always captured in standard psychiatric evaluations.”

— Dr. Steven Kushner

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ARTICLE

ADDICTIVE SCREEN USE LINKED TO SUICIDA BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENTS Recent years have seen a decline in youth mental health, leading to increased scrutiny of screen time as a risk factor. A study led by NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia psychiatrist J. John Mann, M.D., Ph.D., and Weill Cornell Medicine researcher Yunyu Xiao, Ph.D., revealed that patterns of addictive screen use are a more significant predictor of suicidal behaviors and ideation. The research also concluded that total screen time at baseline was not associated with any of the suicide-related or mental health outcomes measured. These findings could shift the paradigm and focus of negative mental health outcomes in adolescents from screen time alone to the signs of addiction.

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Dr. J. John Mann

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Yunyu Xiao, Ph.D.

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We now understand that this isn’t just about screen time. It’s about the type of screen time. There is a whole toolbox of strategies for managing addictions that need to be examined and adapted for use in this age group.”

— Dr. J. John Mann

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PODCAST

EXPLORING PSYCHEDELICS AS THE NEXT WAVE OF PSYCHIATRIC INNOVATION Research on psychedelic drugs has revealed their potential as an alternative therapy for patients with treatment-resistant mood disorders. In a discussion on the Advances in Care podcast, Richard Friedman, M.D., a psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and director of the Psychopharmacology Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine, and David J. Hellerstein, M.D., a research psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia, explored how the mechanisms of psychedelics differ from conventional antidepressants and examined the potential risks and benefits of using them to treat challenging mental health conditions. While there are obstacles researchers face to proving the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, the physicians’ analyses are helping guide a future path toward leveraging these drugs as a novel treatment for patients living with mood disorders.

Listen here

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Dr. Richard Friedman

Dr. David J. Hellerstein

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