This fact sheet describes the mission of NIMH and provides an overview of its work to reduce the burden of mental illness through research training, and information dissemination. Highlights major research areas and gives examples of clinical trials funded through NIMH
A fact sheet that describes the past, present and future of research on brain development.
Researchers use brain scans to study brain development in healthy people and people with illnesses. This publication answers frequently asked questions about what brain scans can and cannot do related to diagnosing mental illnesses.
This brochure, prepared by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), provides answers to common questions about volunteering for mental health clinical research. En Español
Miss the Twitter chat on the teen brain and Brain Awareness Week? Read the transcript.
A recent NIMH-funded study identified small regions of the genome that are uniquely regulated in human neurons, but not in primate neurons. The findings provide insight into human intellectual function and risk for human diseases, including autism and Alzheimer’s disease.
Renowned neurobiologist Susan Amara recently joined NIMH as scientific director of its intramural research program.
Old habits may die hard, but we might be able to turn them off by targeting a specific brain region. Such a discovery could help us find better ways of controlling addiction or certain mental disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder.
The brain holds in mind what has just been seen by synchronizing brain waves in a working memory circuit, an animal study suggests. The more in-sync such electrical signals of neurons were in two key hubs of the circuit, the more those cells held the short-term memory of a just-seen object. The new findings may upturn prevailing theories about how working memory works.
More Science News about Basic Research
By Thomas Insel on April 10, 2013
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.
By Thomas Insel on March 22, 2013
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.
By Thomas Insel on March 11, 2013
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.
By Thomas Insel on November 27, 2012
NIMH’s director talks about the need for research that explores the frontiers of science and funding efforts to encourage innovative research.
By Thomas Insel on November 05, 2012
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.
More Posts about Basic Research
More Meeting Summaries about Basic Research
April 23, 2013
NIMH Director Thomas Insel discusses recent advances in neuroscience in a TED Talk presentation delivered at Caltech in January 2013.
November 15, 2012
NIMH clinical director Dr. Maryland Pao has been named the 2012 recipient of the Simon Wile Leadership in Consultation Award by the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).
June 05, 2012
On May 31, 2012, Ann M. Graybiel, Ph.D., of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named one of three winners of the 2012 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience.
May 17, 2012
On May 1, 2012, six NIMH grantees were among the 84 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a private, non-profit organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to advancing science and promoting its uses for the greater good.
November 23, 2011
On May 3, 2011, nine NIMH grantees were among the 72 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences, a private, non-profit organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to advancing science and promoting its uses for the greater good. The Academy also acts as an official advisor to the federal government on issues related to science and technology.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health®
This page last reviewed: December 15, 2011.
