Chronic mental illnesses like severe MDD (major depressive disorder) and PTSD are alarms, not just for the mind, but for the body. This episode explores the fact that ongoing trauma and depression accelerate biological aging, leading to reduced health span and higher risks for chronic diseases. But can rapid, effective psychiatric treatment actually reverse this damage?

We dive into a compelling pilot study that gave a series of six sub-anesthetic ketamine infusions to 20 participants with treatment-resistant depression or PTSD. The researchers used second-generation epigenetic clocks to measure biological age—the actual cellular wear and tear, separate from chronological age. The most advanced clock used, OMICs-AGE, integrates DNA methylation with surrogates for over 40 proteins, metabolites, and clinical markers across eight physiological systems, showing the strongest link to mortality risk.

The findings are potentially groundbreaking:

While this was a small pilot study without a non-treatment control group , the robustness of the OMICs-AGE signal suggests a profound implication: the ultimate longevity treatment may lie not in anti-aging creams, but in aggressively treating the mental illness that accelerates the biological clock in the first place. Mental health truly is longevity health.

Reference:

Dawson, K. L., Carangan, A. M. J. M., Klunder, J., Carreras-Gallo, N., Sehgal, R., Megilligan, S., Askins, B. C., Mendez, T. L., Smith, R. M., Dawson, M. S., Mallin, M. P., Higgins-Chen, A. T., & Dwaraka, V. B. (2025). Epigenetic aging and DNA methylation biomarker changes following ketamine treatment in patients with MDD and PTSD: a pilot study. Translational Psychiatry, 15(1), 452. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-025-03683-y