Director’s Blog

NIMH is committed to new and better treatments, but this will only happen by developing a more precise diagnostic system. Going forward, we will be supporting research projects that look across current categories – or sub-divide current categories – to begin to develop a better system. RDoC is nothing less than a plan to transform clinical practice by bringing a new generation of research to inform how we diagnose and treat mental disorders.

Continue reading “Transforming Diagnosis”…

Dr. Insel talks about how a powerful new brain imaging technique will make it possible for scientists to investigate the brain in in an entirely new way, offering a preview of what scientists hope to achieve with tools developed as a result of the new BRAIN initiative.

Continue reading “New Views into the Brain”…

Dr. Insel blogs about what epidemiological research in Sweden tells us about premature mortality experienced by people with serious mental illness and what we need to do to change that.

Continue reading “Schizophrenia as a Health Disparity”…

Dr. Insel’s blog makes the link between neuroscience and the national conversation on mental illness and gun violence; neuroscience research is the key to our being able to identify psychosis risk early and preempt the development of serious mental illness.

Continue reading “Making the Connection”…

In a blog about Brain Awareness Month, NIMH Director Thomas Insel talks about the mysteries that remain to be solved about how the brain works.

Continue reading “Brain Awareness”…

Dr. Insel describes how different perspectives separate the communities interested in autism, and suggests the common ground that would provide an avenue to move forward.

Continue reading “The Four Kingdoms of Autism”…

Dr. Insel talks about how NIMH’s RAISE study is exploring an integrated, multi-component approach to health care for schizophrenia.

Continue reading “Network Solutions”…

Dr. Insel talks about the importance of developing ways to identify individuals at high risk of mental disorders before they develop symptoms, making it possible to intervene early and prevent serious illness.

Continue reading “The Case for Preemption”…

Dr. Insel reflects on the state of mental health care and research 50 years after President Kennedy’s special message to congress on mental health.

Continue reading “The Beginning of History Illusion”…

Dr. Insel highlights key recent findings in research on autism spectrum disorders.

Continue reading “Autism Progress”…

Dr. Insel describes his top picks in research advances for 2012.

Continue reading “The Top Ten Research Advances of 2012”…

NIMH’s director talks about the need for research that explores the frontiers of science and funding efforts to encourage innovative research.

Continue reading “Roads Not Taken”…

Dr. Insel introduces an innovative approach that one group is taking to speed up the dissemination of research results into clinical practice.

Continue reading “From Practice to Research”…

In looking back at ten years as NIMH director, Dr. Insel talks about the importance of rigorous science as the source of new, sometimes surprising, knowledge and ultimately, more effective means of prevention and treatment for mental illness.

Continue reading “A Decade of Perspective”…

Some barriers to progress are simply linguistic. In mental health, we are stymied by our language. For example, terms like “depression” or “schizophrenia” or “autism” have achieved a reality that far outstrips their scientific value. Each refers to a cluster of symptoms, similar to “fever” or “headache.” Yet the field has imbued these “fictive categories” with biological meaning, which has precluded the development of biomarkers that might confer validity. Is PTSD – or autism – a “disorder” or an injury? We need a broad conversation to help us understand how our language may be holding us back, limiting not only our impact but our imagination.

Continue reading “Words Matter”…

If genes comprise only 2 percent of our DNA, what is the function of the remaining 98 percent?  A massive ENCODE project has revealed that nearly 80 percent of our genome is read out, or transcribed – much of it devoted to regulating the turning on and off of genes.  Yet, there are also vast stretches of non-coding RNAs, some unique to humans, especially regions that appear active for specifying brain development.  Differences associated with autism and mental disorders are in these areas previously considered “junk.” The new map pinpoints sites where proteins called transcription factors alter the timing and amounts of gene expression – mechanisms that are likely at the heart of mental disorders, whether they are mainly due to environmental stressors or genetic factors.

Continue reading “Junk No More”…

Dr. Insel provides context for a new National Strategy for Suicide Prevention

Continue reading “Strategy on Suicide Prevention”…

Numerous provocative advances in neuroscience were reported during the summer of 2012.

Continue reading “Summer Science”…

Dr. Insel describes a new behavioral treatment for a neurologically based disorder that has traditionally been difficult to treat. 

Continue reading “A Promising Behavioral Treatment for Tourette Syndrome”…

Dr. Insel discusses recent efforts made by the NFL and other employers to help prevent suicides, and the importance of suicide prevention research.

Continue reading “Preventing Suicide, One Employer at a Time”…

NIMH research on HIV/AIDS will be well represented at the XIX International AIDS Conference, being held in the United States for the first time since 1990.

Continue reading “Achieving an AIDS-free Generation”…

Continue reading “The Pay-Offs of ARRA”…

Dr. Insel discusses the crisis of medication development for mental disorders.

Continue reading “Experimental Medicine”…

Serving Those Who Served

Continue reading “Serving Those Who Served”…

Dr. Insel discusses the dynamics of data sharing in research.

Continue reading “Time Matters – Why We Care So Much About Data Sharing”…

Presentations at a recent meeting in San Diego showed how new technologies are being used to change the culture of science, empowering patients, and fueling innovative research approaches.

Continue reading “Citizen Science”…

While fewer medical students are choosing psychiatry in the U.K., in the U.S. psychiatry is attracting increasing numbers of elite MD-PhD students who want to do research. These young scientists are committed to developing a new scientific basis for clinical care.

Continue reading “The Future of Psychiatry (= Clinical Neuroscience)”…

Dr. Insel discusses how new research may help tie together seemingly disparate findings in genetic vs environmental risk factors in autism spectrum disorders.

Continue reading “The New Genetics of Autism – Why Environment Matters”…

Dr. Insel discusses new functional connectomes and developments in human brain imaging.

Continue reading “Brain’s Wiring Revealed in HD”…

Dr. Insel discusses the CDC's latest report on autism prevalence.

Continue reading “Autism Prevalence: More Affected or More Detected?”…

Dr. Insel discusses the connection between mental disorders and infection in light of pediatric neuropsychiatric disorders PANS and PANDAS.

Continue reading “From Paresis to PANDAS and PANS”…

Dr. Insel discusses the state of science and math education in the U.S., scientific literacy, and Brain Awareness Week.

Continue reading “Join the Revolution”…

The RDoC project is an experimental approach to classification of mental disorders that will serve as a framework for ongoing research.

Continue reading “Research Domain Criteria -- RDoC”…

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week starts February 26. Dr. Insel discusses some surprising facts about these disorders, which are among the most fatal.

Continue reading “Spotlight on Eating Disorders”…

Dr. Insel discusses the emergence of “big data” and how open sharing of data could impact mental health research.

Continue reading “An Emerging Era of Big Data”…

Dr. Insel talks about how basic research can lead to potential treatments.

Continue reading “The Long Paths to Breakthroughs”…

Dr. Insel responds to discussion from the National Advisory Mental Health Council concerning the need to balance research funding for basic science and mental health services.

Continue reading “Balancing Immediate Needs with Future Innovation”…

NIMH’s “government bureaucrats” are really dedicated public servants devoted to good patient care, improved  treatments, and scientific discovery.

Continue reading “We Are the Government”…

Dr. Insel discusses opportunities for treatment development.

Continue reading “Treatment Development: Where do we go from here?”…

Dr. Insel shares NIMH’s Top 10 Research Advances for 2011.

Continue reading “NIMH’s Top 10 Research Advances of 2011”…

Dr. Insel discusses opportunities for treatment development.

Continue reading “Treatment Development: Where do we go from here?”…

Dr. Insel discusses the state of psychiatric research and development (R&D) in the public and private sectors

Continue reading “Treatment Development: The Past 50 Years”…

Dr. Insel discusses the complicated nature of research on the efficacy antidepressants.

Continue reading “Antidepressants: A complicated picture”…

Dr. Insel reflects on an exciting neuroscience conference where an increasing interest in neuropsychiatric disorders was evident.

Continue reading “Neuroscience Advances Showcased in Washington”…

Dr. Insel describes how precision medicine may put us on the path to better diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Continue reading “Improving Diagnosis Through Precision Medicine”…

For Veterans Day, Dr. Insel discusses meeting the mental health needs of those who have so honorably served our country.

Continue reading “Recognizing Those Who Have Served”…

Continue reading “A New Picture of Brain Development”…

Dr. Insel’s tour to Australia, Singapore, China and Japan reveal heavy investments in science and science education, indicating the time is ripe for collaboration.

Continue reading “Travels Abroad Reveal Impressive Investment in Science”…

Dr. Insel discusses World Mental Health Day and a new approach to meeting the shortage of mental health providers.

Continue reading “Help Wanted: Making Workplaces Work in Mental Health Care”…

Results of the two largest studies of their kind, to date, have identified new common gene variants associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The results implicate specific pathways and hold promise for development of new treatments.

Continue reading “Psychiatric Genetics: More Pieces of the Puzzle”…

World Economic Forum report projects staggering costs of non-communicable diseases including mental health.

Continue reading “The Global Cost of Mental Illness ”…

Dr. Insel discusses the implications of comorbidity among people with serious mental illness.

Continue reading “No Health Without Mental Health”…

Dr. Insel discusses achieving diversity in the NIMH workforce and grantee population in light of a report in Science today.

Continue reading “Striving for Diversity”…

Research on neural circuits is changing how mental illnesses are understood and may ultimately lead to new ways to treat brain disorders early enough to prevent symptoms.

Continue reading “Mental Illness Defined as Disruption in Neural Circuits”…

Dr. Insel gives an update in our efforts to reduce suicide in America.

Continue reading “Bending the Curve on Suicide”…

Global commonalities represent an opportunity for us to learn from the experiences in other countries or among other cultures to help improve mental health care in the U.S.

Continue reading “Mental Health: Think Globally, Act Locally”…

New studies published this Spring provide new insights into the molecular basis of autism, involving the interplay of genetic risk and environmental exposure.

Continue reading “Autism Spring”…

Dr. Insel on investing in research.

Continue reading “Investing Wisely in Public Health”…

A solver of “mysteries” — Howard Nash, M.D., Ph.D.

Continue reading “A Solver of “Mysteries” — Howard Nash, M.D., Ph.D.”…

Dr. Insel discusses the promising future of psychiatry as it integrates new approaches discovered through neuroscience.

Continue reading “Psychiatry: Where are we going?”…

Dr. Insel provides a vision for future clinical research.

Continue reading “Making the Most of our Interventions Research”…

An emerging research technology using Induced pluripotent stem cells holds promise as a window into the developing brain in mental illness.

Continue reading “Skin cells to neurons: Disease-in-a-dish promises shortcut to discovery”…

NIMH research can have a significant impact on public health through innovations and projects that cross the four objectives outlined in NIMH’s Strategic Plan.

Continue reading “NIMH Impact on Public Health”…

Today, the start of Autism Awareness Month, inspires us to focus on the highlights of our research progress, and look ahead to further strengthening our investigative efforts.

Continue reading “Highlights in Autism Progress -- for April, Autism Awareness Month”…

Windows to completely new areas of research have been opened recently by research efforts in basic science. These reports force us to consider factors that have not previously been thought to have any role in mental health or illness.

Continue reading “New Findings Reveal New Worlds In Neuroscience”…

The first transcription (genetic expression) map of the brain was recently posted. This is a landmark for brain research.

Continue reading “A GPS for the Developing Human Brain”…

Dr. Insel discusses the impact of difficult budget times on mental health research.

Continue reading “Funding Science in a Time of Austerity”…

As we mark the 10th anniversary of the human genome’s sequencing, the heightening pace of progress promises to a bright future for psychiatric genetics.

Continue reading “Genomics: “The Future is Bright””…

With the charge to become vanguards for the next generation of scientists, NIMH recognized the 12 recipients of the 2010 Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists—or BRAINS.

Continue reading “Big BRAINS Academy: NIMH Awards Program Fosters Creative New Scientists”…

Rapid progress in understanding how memory works – from the molecular to the behavioral level – holds promise for improved treatment of memory components of mental disorders.

Continue reading “How Does Memory Work? The Plot Thickens”…

Dr. Insel discuss what NIMH is doing to support economic research in light of mental health parity and health care reform.

Continue reading “The Economics of Health Care Reform”…

When a tragedy occurs like the shooting in Tucson this past weekend, we are reminded of the urgent need for early diagnosis and treatment of people who may suffer from a serious mental illness.

Continue reading “Understanding Severe Mental Illness”…

Dr Insel discusses research priorities for 2011.

Continue reading “Looking forward to 2011”…

10 breakthroughs and events of 2010 which are changing the way we approach mental disorders.

Continue reading “NIMH’s Top 10 Research Events and Advances of 2010”…

Dr. Insel discusses the need for science education and NIMH’s efforts to improve science literacy among all Americans.

Continue reading “Science Education – Investing for the Future”…

NIMH/NIH is nurturing medications development via assays that probe new molecular targets relevant to mental disorders.

Continue reading “Wanted: A Few Good Assays”…

This blog outlines recent progress in schizophrenia research, citing a special issue of the journal Nature focusing on schizophrenia.

Continue reading “From Cognition to Genomics: Progress in Schizophrenia Research”…

Dr. Insel summarizes NIMH’s research efforts to better understand and treat postpartum depression.

Continue reading “Spotlight on Postpartum Depression”…

NIH has created several funding mechanisms aimed at supporting innovative, unconventional research.

Continue reading “Investing in Innovation”…

Despite promising advances as a research tool, brain imaging is not quite ripe for clinical application in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.

Continue reading “Brain Scans – Not Quite Ready for Prime Time”…

Dr. Insel comments on progress and directions for future studies of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) during ADHD Awareness Week.

Continue reading “Attention on ADHD Awareness Week”…

Dr. Insel discusses various approaches to the prevention of suicide and what research has revealed on risk and treatment of related mental disorders. Also, HHS announces a new Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which will coordinate a full court press across Federal agencies.

Continue reading “The Under-recognized Public Health Crisis of Suicide”…

Dr. Insel discusses the evolution of clinical research and changing priorities in clinical research funding.

Continue reading “Taking Clinical Research to the Next Level”…

Dr. Insel provides an update on NIMH's and the U.S. Army's efforts to reduce suicide in the military.

Continue reading “Army Suicide Study Kicks into Gear”…

Increasing evidence linking strep infection to OCD in children suggests that microbiomics may prove an important research area for understanding and treating mental disorders.

Continue reading “Microbes and Mental Illness”…

Dr. insel discusses two important initiatives that will have a broad impact on NIMH’s clinical research portfolio.

Continue reading “Three Principles for Clinical Research”…

While one of America’s greatest strengths is its racial and cultural diversity, this diversity produces complex mental health care issues due to the heterogeneity of the population to be served.

Continue reading “Reducing Disparities in Mental Health Equity: Closing the Gaps”…

Dr. Insel addresses recent misconceptions pertaining to financial conflict of interest.

Continue reading “More on Public Trust and Conflict of Interest”…

Dr. Insel discusses progress in the approaches for identifying and preventing financial conflicts of interest.

Continue reading “NIMH — Reducing Conflict of Interest, Ensuring Public Trust”…

People with a major mental illness have a shorter than average life expectancy and each year there are nearly twice as many suicides as homicides in the U.S. A new report now documents that people with mental illness are three times more likely to be in the criminal justice system than hospitals because of a failure to provide services within the mental health care system.

Continue reading “Turning the Corner, Not the Key, in Treatment of Serious Mental Illness”…

NIMH recognizes the first seven recipients of its BRAINS awards.

Continue reading “NIMH’s BRAINS Awards—In Support of Creativity”…

NIMH has always and will continue to support cutting edge basic science research. Understanding normal functioning of brain-behavior relationships is critical to providing insight into abnormal brain-behavior relationships. To build a translational bridge we will need a very strong foundation in basic science. This foundation will need to be multidisciplinary and cut across species and levels of analysis.

Continue reading “NIMH Basic Science Support: Busting Myths”…

May is Mental Health Month and this year NIMH teams up with SAMHSA to celebrate and promote Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day on May 6th. Dr. Insel talks about how mental illnesses are the chronic diseases of the young.

Continue reading “May 6th: Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day”…

As currently defined, borderline personality disorder is considered a reflection of an essential aspect of a person’s character that influences his or her way of seeing and being seen in the world. Recent research, however, has shown that symptoms of the disorder aren’t constant and may not always be as enduring as some researchers and clinicians may think.

Continue reading “What’s in a Name? — The Outlook for Borderline Personality Disorder”…

NIMH is working to better define the boundaries of pediatric bipolar disorder, discover its causes and develop more effective treatments for such mood related syndromes affecting youth. Cross-cutting comparisons of mania-related and other forms of irritability and functional brain imaging studies will help to disentangle these syndromes so that clinicians can provide children with the best care. Our goal is nothing less than pre-emtive interventions and cures.

Continue reading “Diagnosis: Pediatric Bipolar Disorder?”…

Today’s treatments for mental illness may be good but they are not good enough. As industry pulls back, NIMH will have to step in and play a bigger role in fostering development of a new generation of evidenced-based medications for people with mental illness.

Continue reading “Who Will Develop the Next Generation of Medications for Mental Illness?”…

In recent years, NIMH-supported researchers have discovered several genes that are associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar disorder. Most of these genes were discovered either through a candidate gene approach comparing cases and controls or by looking for linkage to genetic variation associated with occurrence of the disease in a family. However, the genomic variants discovered to date can explain only a small fraction of the genetic risk. So where are the missing genetic signals for mental disorders?

Continue reading “In Search of the Missing Genetic Signals”…

A picture of the brain’s connections is emerging from an effort to create a reference atlas of the human “connectome.” Much like variation in the human genome, highly individual variation in circuitry occurs within a universal, intrinsic functional architecture.

Continue reading “Tracing the Brain’s Connections”…

NIMH is increasing its commitment to global mental health.  The Institute is already invested in research around the globe.  In 2009, NIMH supported nearly 200 grants in 51 countries.  Our portfolio has included AIDS prevention in sub-Sahara Africa, studies of autism in Saudi Arabia, and research on mental health systems in Chile.  With such a broad international portfolio, so many unmet needs for mental health research in the United States, and so little new money available for research, why would NIMH want to invest more globally?

Continue reading “Disorders Without Borders”…

Can we develop a clinically useful diagnostic system based on neuroscience and genetics? Not yet. But, in the spirit of beginning a long journey, NIMH is taking its first step with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project.

Continue reading “Re-Thinking Classification of Mental Disorders”…

NIMH’s aggressive approach towards identifying and preventing financial conflicts of interest.

Continue reading “Ensuring Public Trust”…

The U.S. Army recently released new suicide dataExternal Link: Please review our disclaimer. for December 2009. Last month, there were 10 potential suicides among active duty soldiers, nine of which are pending confirmation. When added to the data for the rest of the year, the total number of reported suicides for 2009 among active duty soldiers is 160, 114 of which have been confirmed. By comparison, in 2008 there were 140 suicides among active duty soldiers.

Continue reading “Reducing Suicide in the Military”…

This week’s issue of Nature, the first of 2010, includes an editorial entitled “A Decade for Psychiatric DisordersExternal Link: Please review our disclaimer.”. Phil Campbell, the editor of Nature, argues that the understanding and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia are ripe for a revolution. At NIMH, we agree with this assessment. Indeed, the revolution is already underway with extraordinary recent findings from genomics, imaging, and clinical trials. The banner for this revolution is pathophysiology, understanding the mechanism of disease as a critical step to developing novel, effective, and safe treatments and preventive strategies. As Campbell says, “There is much to be done, and a decade is the timescale over which enhanced commitment is required.”

Continue reading “Looking Forward in 2010”…

From the extraordinary funding opportunities presented by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)External Link: Please review our disclaimer. to significant new investments in research and resource infrastructure — this has been a remarkable year for our Institute. I would like to reflect with you on how the work of 2009 has prepared us for the year ahead.

Continue reading “2009, A Remarkable Year For NIMH”…

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has made a substantial commitment to research designed to discover autism’s causes and improve diagnosis and treatment. Not only has NIMH become the lead institute for autism research at NIH, we have become the largest single source of funding for autism research in the country.

Continue reading “Autism Progress”…

The NIMH Strategic Plan provides a framework to focus and accelerate mental health research so that breakthroughs in science become breakthroughs that can tangibly improve mental healthcare and the lives of people living with and affected by mental illness. For the Institute to pursue most effectively its mission of transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, we must be able to adapt to and fully explore the constantly changing scientific landscape that comes with the increased pace of research progress.

Continue reading “Focusing Our Funding Opportunity Announcements”…

The horrific events yesterday at Fort Hood leave many Americans stunned and saddened. For those closest to the events, there is both shock and trauma. Natural disasters and violent attacks have combined in recent years to make Americans very much aware of the mental and emotional repercussions of exposure to traumatic events and of the importance of providing support, and when necessary, effective treatment to people who have experienced them. The events at Fort Hood come just as NIMH is launching the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service-members (Army STARRS), developed at the request of the U.S. Army in the summer of 2009.

Continue reading “Tragedy at Fort Hood”…

On October 5, 2009, researchers with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Massachusetts General Hospital published a new estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) among children in the United States. Published online ahead of print in Pediatrics, the new estimate that roughly 1 in 90 U.S. children ages 3–17 were given an ASD diagnosis in 2007 is significantly higher than previous reports.

Continue reading “NIMH’s Response to New HRSA Autism Prevalence Estimate”…

Last February’s announcement that funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)External Link: Please review our disclaimer. will be used to support job creation and retention in biomedical research presented an exciting opportunity for NIMH.  These supplemental funds arrived just as the Institute was launching the implementation of its new Strategic Plan.  For some months now, the Institute has been diligently working to implement a series of ARRA funding initiatives that will aggressively pursue the Plan’s objectives.

Continue reading “NIMH and the Recovery Act”…