Quality Counts
The Institute of Medicine has issued a report looking at the effectiveness of psychosocial treatments for mental disorders. Dr. Insel blogs about the need to ensure that consumers needing treatment receive evidence-based therapies. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
The Brain’s Critical Balance
The BRAIN Initiative is supporting scientists aiming to understand how the 86 billion neurons in the brain act together to enable consciousness and behavior. Dr. Insel gives a snapshot of recent work and its implications for understanding normal and disordered brain function. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
August at NIMH
Despite its reputation as a month for slowing down, August is busy at NIMH as the end of the fiscal year approaches. Dr. Insel takes time out to give an update on NIMH-supported clinical trials. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Look who is getting into mental health research
Tech companies are bringing their ability to extract knowledge from data to health care. Dr. Insel gives some examples that show the potential of new tech-based approaches to diagnosis and treatment. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
New hope for treating psychosis
Results from a major NIMH project provide evidence that coordinated specialty care can improve outcomes for first episode psychosis. Dr. Insel blogs about the RAISE project and other recent studies of coordinated care. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Farewell
In his farewell post, Dr. Insel looks back at six years of the director’s blog and reflects on the tasks ahead in mental health research and practice. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - December 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Targeting Suicide
The recent tragedy with the Germanwings crash in the Alps has started a worldwide discussion about mental illness and suicide. We don’t yet know what happened on this flight and we certainly don’t have access to the medical history of the copilot who is now the focus of the investigation, but this heartbreaking news from France, and the debate that it has spawned, illustrates the difficulties of understanding suicidal behavior, much less predicting it. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - April 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
A Plan for Changing Times
When I first determined back in 2013 that it was time for NIMH to update its Strategic Plan, I envisioned a simple “tune-up” and quick turnaround. It quickly became apparent that the mental health research landscape had seen vast changes since we published our plan in 2008. Instead of a tune-up we embarked on a complete re-examination of our priorities and the scientific opportunities that challenged us to look forward into the future. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - March 27, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
BRAIN Awareness
After what seems like an endless winter along the East Coast, we have reached what Emily Dickinson famously called the “month of expectation.” And, of course, March is also the time each year we celebrate Brain Awareness Week, the annual celebration of neuroscience with school visits, community lectures, and lab tours to talk about the brain. A list of Brain Awareness events can be found at http://www.dana.org/brainweek/ (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - March 19, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Transparency
Last week we had our annual House appropriations subcommittee hearing to discuss next year’s budget for NIH. The bipartisan enthusiasm for NIH and its mission was striking, so striking that ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) ended the hearing by suggesting a “group hug.” Amidst the rare bipartisan romance, there were a few challenging questions, including one about how NIH sets priorities. Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD), the only member of Congress who has been an NIH grantee, put it this way: “Eighty-four million Americans have heart disease, and yet the amount we spend per death is a hundred times less on heart disease t...
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - March 14, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Collaborative Care
When asked about how NIMH research can change mental health care, I have a short list of “best hits” that I offer as examples. High up on that short list is collaborative care. Developed initially for treating depression, collaborative care integrates mental health and primary care to provide patient-centered, comprehensive, accountable care. To ensure that patients receive comprehensive and evidence-based care, each patient has a team, including primary care providers and mental health specialists, monitoring progress, with clinical and community support for reaching treatment goals. Not only does each patient’s tre...
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - March 5, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Mortality and Mental Disorders
It’s easy to overlook the most important health statistic of the past century. Life expectancy has increased dramatically in the U.S., from 51 years in 1910 to nearly 79 years (81 years in women, 76 years in men) in 2010.1 (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - February 26, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Immune to Stress?
Some of us seem to cope better with life’s hard knocks than others. One might assume that the secrets to understanding these individual differences in resilience must be sought in the brain. Maybe not. (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - February 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
Precision Medicine for Mental Disorders
Precision medicine seems to be the new hot topic in the research world. President Obama spoke about precision medicine in his State of the Union speech (Source: NIMH Directors Blog)
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - February 3, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
The Ignorance Project
Attending the World Economic Forum this past week, I was struck by two trends. The first was that brain research has emerged as a hot topic. Not only was brain science or brain health a new theme at the meeting, research on the brain emerged in discussions about next generation computing, global cooperation, and even models of economic development as well as being linked to mental health or mindfulness. In a meeting frequented largely by economists and business leaders, I was surprised by the number of non-scientists who have become enchanted by brain science. Clearly this is the era of the brain, with mental health now pa...
Source: NIMH Directors Blog - January 29, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thomas Insel Source Type: blogs
