meetara-lab/vectorstore-mental_health huggingface dataset:
On August 31, President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing key federal departments and agencies, including NIH, to expand suicide prevention strategies and improve access to mental health and substance abuse treatment services for veterans, service members, and their families. The order also called for developing a National Research Action Plan with strategies to improve the diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions. NIMH led NIH’s participation in the action plan, which made significant progress in establishing common data elements to guide research on traumatic stress and suicide risk prevention and developing scalable interventions for PTSD and suicide prevention.
Researchers in the NIMH Intramural Research Program published the Ask Suicide- Screening Questions (ASQ) measure—a brief screening instrument clinicians can administer in 20 seconds to identify a patient’s risk for suicide. An NIMH- led multisite study showed that a “yes” to any of the measure’s four questions identified 97% of young people at risk for suicide among those screened in pediatric emergency departments. Additional NIMH research subsequently validated the ASQ in pediatric inpatient care and integrated it into an evidence- based pathway for youth suicide prevention. This pathway served as a scientific basis for the Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
In 2014, intramural researchers led a multisite study that confirmed the ASQ as a valid screening tool for suicide risk in adults. The researchers then expanded these studies into an ASQ Toolkit that clinicians can use to identify and manage suicide risk in both children and adults in a variety of medical settings. Intramural researchers have also worked with NIMH experts in global mental health and international collaborators to translate the ASQ into more than 20 languages and validate the ASQ through research in other countries. By enabling culturally responsive early identification and assessment of people at high risk for suicide, the ASQ Toolkit has enhanced suicide prevention for youth and adults in medical settings worldwide.

2011

2012

24 2013
2011

2012

24 2013

On April 2, President Obama announced the launch of the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®—a major initiative focused on revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. The president proposed $100 million for the first year of what he called “the next great American project.” NIH, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, and several private laboratories and foundations began working to develop the next generation of tools for decoding the language of the brain.

NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins introduced President Barack Obama at the BRAIN Initiative event at the White House in 2013. Credit: Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy.

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NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins introduced President Barack Obama at the BRAIN Initiative event at the White House in 2013. Credit: Official White House photo by Chuck Kennedy.

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The human brain is the most complicated biological structure in the known universe. We’ve only just scratched the surface in understanding how it works or, unfortunately, doesn’t quite work when disorders and disease occur…This is just the beginning of a 12-year journey, and we’re excited to be starting the ride.

Former NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Announcement on the unveiling of the BRAIN Initiative

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Former NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Announcement on the unveiling of the BRAIN Initiative

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On September 20, Thomas C. Südhof, M.D., and Richard H. Scheller, Ph.D., received the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. The researchers, whose work had been supported by NIMH, were recognized for their work mapping the molecular mechanisms involved in neurotransmitter release. Dr. Südhof later received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his NIMH-supported research on how the brain sends and receives chemical messages.

25 Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative
25 Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative

The Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies® Initiative, or The BRAIN Initiative®, established with the aim of revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain, was announced by President Obama in 2013. In the years leading up to this announcement, scientists had made several landmark discoveries that paved the way for unprecedented collaboration and discovery across scientific fields. Researchers sequenced the human genome for the first time, created new tools for mapping neuronal connections, and developed high-resolution imaging technologies. At the same time, the field saw the maturation of nanoscience and the rise of biological engineering. Together, these breakthroughs created an opportunity to unlock the mysteries of the brain.
Building on recent discoveries, the BRAIN Initiative aimed to accelerate the development and application of innovative technologies to produce a revolutionary, dynamic picture of the human brain. This dynamic picture would show how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space, providing unprecedented opportunities to understand brain function and dysfunction. Dozens of leading technology firms, academic institutions, scientists, and other key contributors to the field of neuroscience have recognized the importance of these aims and made significant commitments to advancing the BRAIN Initiative.
NIMH launched the Emergency Department Screening for Teens at Risk for Suicide study in a network of hospital emergency departments across the United States as a part of the institute’s research agenda for suicide prevention. The study aimed to develop and test a personalized, computer-based suicide risk screening tool for teenagers that could improve screening and enable earlier intervention. In 2021, researchers involved in the study developed a computerized adaptive screening tool, which correctly identified more than 80% of youth who went on to attempt suicide in the three months following screening. The screener has offered a valuable tool for rapidly identifying youth at risk for suicide in emergency departments.

2014

26 2014
2014

26 2014

On April 2, the NIMH-funded BrainSpan Atlas of the Developing Human Brain consortium project reported its first major findings. The effort was intended to provide a comprehensive three-dimensional atlas of the brain and profile gene activity across the brain, beginning prenatally.

Human adult whole brain, cortex—gyral. Courtesy of Allen BrainSpan Atlas of the Developing Human Brain, https://brainspan.org/static/atlas.

2015

NIMH adopted a new policy for clinical trials that required future trials to follow an experimental therapeutics approach. Under this mechanism-based approach to intervention development and testing, trials are designed not only to test whether an intervention works but also to advance understanding of how the intervention works. The policy stipulated that clinical trials must also meet new recruitment, data sharing, and reporting standards.
NIMH published a new Strategic Plan for Research. Informed by the successes and challenges of recent years, the plan updated the strategic objectives outlined in 2008 to balance the need for long-term investments in basic research with urgent mental health needs. The four strategic objectives in the 2015 plan were:

• Define the mechanisms of complex behaviors • Chart mental illness trajectories to determine when, where, and how

to intervene

• Strive for prevention and cures • Strengthen the public health impact of NIMH-supported research
to intervene

• Strive for prevention and cures • Strengthen the public health impact of NIMH-supported research

27 The Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers-Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS) was launched as an extension of Army STARRS, representing a partnership between NIMH and the U.S. Army, U.S. Department of Defense, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. STARRS-LS researchers continued to analyze Army STARRS data while also collecting new data to learn about suicide risk and mental health among military personnel throughout their Army careers and during the transition to civilian life.

2015
2015

Researchers in NIMH’s Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) initiative reported that treating people with first-episode psychosis using a team- based coordinated specialty care approach produced better clinical and functional outcomes than typical community care. Investigators also found that treatment was most effective for people who received care soon after psychosis symptoms began.

Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Initiative

NIMH launched the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) research initiative in 2008 to test the effectiveness and implementation of coordinated specialty care (CSC) to treat first-episode psychosis in communities across the United States. NIMH funded RAISE and called for developmentally informed, comprehensive, patient-centered interventions to meet the needs of youth experiencing the earliest stages of serious mental illness.
NIMH engaged extensively with organizations and communities—including federal partners, advocacy groups, professional organizations, and local and state mental health authorities—to ensure RAISE findings would be relevant and actionable for rapid translation into clinical practice. These collaborations, coupled with RAISE findings demonstrating the effectiveness of CSC, created the momentum for targeted federal support of CSC services and broad expansion of CSC treatment programs nationwide. 

Based on RAISE results, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services posted a bulletin for state Medicaid directors about covering CSC as an evidence-based treatment for first-episode psychosis. The Veterans Health Administration and the U.S. Department of Labor also endorsed CSC.
Ultimately, RAISE not only contributed to a new way to organize and deliver treatment, but it also produced findings that changed the standard of practice for early schizophrenia treatment in the United States.

28 2015

2017

On February 6, NIMH announced the creation of the Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET), designed to link treatment centers for early psychosis in a network of evidence-based coordinated specialty care programs. The initiative was built on the insights developed during the NIMH RAISE initiative. By 2020, EPINET included a data coordinating center, eight scientific hubs, and more than 100 community clinics in a national learning health system aimed at improving services and outcomes for thousands of people experiencing an initial episode of psychosis.
NIMH supported the launch of a major BRAIN Initiative effort to discover and catalog the brain’s “parts list.” This effort, known as the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network, was established as a cooperative network of comprehensive centers, specialized laboratories, and an integrated data center.

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Before we can fully understand how our brains work, we need to understand how the parts work. Making molecular, anatomical, and functional data about brain cells available to the broad research community will speed our understanding of how cells and circuits are organized, revealing the rules of communication within the world’s most complex known organ.

Former NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Speech on the BRAIN Initiative 

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Former NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. Speech on the BRAIN Initiative 

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On April 29, results published from the Emergency Department Safety Assessment and Follow-up Evaluation study showed that hospital emergency departments can play a vital role in reducing suicide attempts among adults. The study was the largest emergency department-based suicide intervention trial ever conducted in the United States, taking place over five years in eight hospitals across seven states. The results showed that screening, followed by safety planning guidance and periodic phone check-ins after discharge, led to a 30% decrease in suicide attempts compared to standard emergency department care. The study was another example of NIMH’s prioritized suicide prevention research agenda.
On July 11, NIMH proposed the creation of the NIMH Data Archive to serve as an online resource for investigators seeking to share data, tools, methods, and analyses from research with human participants. The NIMH Data Archive, which was built upon the preexisting National Database for Autism Research, brought together other digital repositories, including the Research Domain Criteria Database, the National Database for Clinical Trials Related to Mental Illness, and the NIH Pediatric MRI Repository.
29 NIH released the first dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study, the largest long-term study of brain development and child health ever conducted in the United States, to the scientific community through the NIMH Data Archive. The comprehensive dataset—including measures of brain development; social, emotional, and cognitive development; mental health; substance use and attitudes; gender identity and sexual health; and various physical health and environmental factors—allowed researchers to address numerous questions related to adolescent brain development to help inform future prevention and treatment efforts, public health strategies, and policy decisions.

2018
2018

NIH launched the Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative as an ambitious, high-priority effort across the institutes to speed scientific solutions to stem the opioid public health crisis. Launched in April 2018, the initiative focused on improving prevention and treatment strategies for opioid misuse and addiction and enhancing pain management. As a major partner in the initiative, NIMH led a research program focused on optimizing the delivery of services for people with opioid use disorder, mental disorders, and suicide risk. NIMH-supported efforts have included research to adapt the collaborative care model to treat co-occurring mental and substance use disorders and a program to reduce suicide deaths by identifying people at risk when seen in primary care settings.
Researchers in the NIMH Intramural Research Program collaborated with the Indian Health Service (IHS) to pilot suicide risk screening in IHS emergency departments serving American Indian/Alaska Native communities. A follow-up quality improvement project further demonstrated the feasibility of suicide risk screening in IHS emergency departments. Intramural researchers subsequently used these findings to guide the implementation of suicide risk screening in more than 100 IHS medical settings (including 22 emergency departments) around the United States.
On March 5, the FDA approved esketamine as a fast-acting and noninvasive treatment for depression that works via a different neurochemical pathway from other antidepressants. In the 1990s, Dr. Charney and another researcher, John Krystal, M.D., found that intravenous ketamine improved depressive symptoms within hours rather than the usual days or weeks. In the 2000s, research led by intramural researchers Dr. Manji and Dr. Zarate showed that ketamine worked by blocking the NMDA receptor in brain cells. Their research also showed that ketamine stimulated the activity of the AMPA receptor. Dr. Manji built on this finding to produce an alternative way of delivering ketamine in the form of esketamine, which is delivered via nasal spray.

2019

30 2019
2019

30 2019

On March 19, the FDA approved the medication brexanolone as the first successful treatment for severe postpartum depression. In the 1980s and 1990s, NIMH intramural researcher Steven Paul, M.D., showed that the neurosteroid allopregnanolone promoted anesthesia during pregnancy by stimulating the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. Subsequent research demonstrated that brexanolone, an intravenous form of allopregnanolone, treated postpartum depression by continuing the stimulation of GABA into the postpartum period.

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The approval of brexanolone is a cause for celebration for psychiatric neuroscience, as it represents a true bench-to-bedside success for our field. The promise of basic neuroscience to provide truly novel and effective treatments for psychiatric disorders has for a long time been only that: a promise. But not anymore.

NIMH Director Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. NIMH Director’s Message

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NIMH Director Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. NIMH Director’s Message

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NIMH established the Advanced Laboratories for Accelerating the Reach and Impact of Treatments for Youth and Adults with Mental Illness research center program to support the advancement of clinical research and practice. The program was designed to leverage practice-based infrastructure, stakeholder engagement, and transdisciplinary research teams capable of incorporating insights from new fields and emerging technologies. These innovative components were expected to speed the translation of research into clinical practice. At launch, the program comprised research teams at eight centers. By 2023, the program had expanded to 14 centers focused on a range of populations and spanning a variety of real-world settings where services are delivered.

31 3D illustration of coronavirus. Credit: www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/ BlackJack3D.

2019

Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic
31 3D illustration of coronavirus. Credit: www.istockphoto.com/portfolio/ BlackJack3D.

2019

Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic

Coronavirus (COVID-19), a disease caused by the SARS- CoV-2 virus, was discovered in December 2019 and quickly spread around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted people in underserved and minoritized communities. People in these communities experienced greater rates of illness and death due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and broader mental health consequences of the pandemic’s social, behavioral, and economic impacts. Reports indicated that many people experienced a decline in mental health during the pandemic, including increased symptoms of depression and anxiety and increased rates of substance use.
In response, NIMH funded research to understand the long-term mental health impacts of the pandemic and evaluate scalable interventions that could meet the increased mental health needs of diverse populations. NIMH committed to prioritizing research on COVID-19 and funding studies examining the pandemic’s ongoing impacts and effective ways to support mental health during public health emergencies.

NIMH published a new Strategic Plan for Research, which provided a framework for research to leverage new opportunities for scientific exploration and addressed new challenges in mental health. The four goals outlined in the 2020 plan formed a broad roadmap for the institute’s research priorities, ranging from fundamental science to public health impact:

• Define the brain mechanisms underlying complex behaviors • Examine mental illness trajectories across the lifespan • Strive for prevention and cures • Strengthen the public health impact of NIMH-supported research

2020
2020

32 2020

NIH launched a public-private partnership to meet the urgent need for early therapeutic interventions for people at risk of developing schizophrenia. The Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program for schizophrenia brought together NIH, the FDA, and multiple nonprofit and private organizations in a united effort to better understand underlying biological pathways and identify new treatment targets.

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The Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program for schizophrenia furthers NIMH’s ongoing commitment to research improving the lives of people with early psychosis and schizophrenia. This innovative partnership is an exciting opportunity to accelerate research that will spur new pharmacologic approaches to early intervention, leading to positive impacts in the lives of patients with schizophrenia.

NIMH Director Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. Announcement on the launch of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program for schizophrenia

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2021
NIMH Director Joshua A. Gordon, M.D., Ph.D. Announcement on the launch of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership® program for schizophrenia

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2021

The BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network unveiled an atlas of cell types and an anatomical neuronal wiring diagram for the mammalian primary motor cortex, derived from detailed studies of mice, monkeys, and humans. This publicly available resource represented the culmination of an international collaboration by more than 250 scientists at more than 45 institutions across three continents. The findings appeared in 17 associated papers published in a dedicated issue of the journal Nature.
A multicolor visualization of the mouse primary motor cortex transcriptomic taxonomy overlaid with mapped neuronal cells surrounded by color- coordinated pictures of different types of neurons (GABAergic, glutamatergic, chandelier, etc.) and their electrophysiological signatures. Credit: BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network, Nature, https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0.

33 In December, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., issued The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health. The advisory, developed with input from NIMH and other federal agencies, recognized mental health as an essential part of overall health and acknowledged the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on youth mental health. The advisory included recommendations to increase timely data collection and research to identify and respond to youth mental health needs.
NIMH supported the launch of two transformative projects through the BRAIN Initiative: the BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network and the Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access. The BRAIN Initiative Cell Atlas Network represented the next step in NIH’s efforts to generate a complete reference atlas of cell types and circuits in the human brain across the lifespan. The Armamentarium for Precision Brain Cell Access aimed to generate tools that would allow researchers to target specific brain cells and neural circuits. Together, these BRAIN 2.0 projects aimed to transform our understanding of brain cell types and provide the precise tools needed to access them, helping unravel the complex workings of the human brain and inform treatments of brain disorders.
The White House Report on Mental Health Research Priorities, published in February, outlined administration-wide needs and opportunities to advance mental health research. Areas of emphasis included addressing mental health inequities, understanding and leveraging digital mental health interventions, and supporting and expanding the mental health workforce. NIMH substantively contributed to development of the report, which highlighted several NIMH- supported research initiatives.

In May, U.S. Surgeon General Murthy issued The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health. The advisory called for urgent action to clarify the mental health impacts of social media use, maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of social media platforms, and create safer and healthier online environments. NIMH and other federal agencies advised on the preparation of the report.