Brain Links
(updated November 1, 2006)National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The NIH is a federal agency that funds research. The NIH supports intramural research at the NIH and extramural research at Universities. There are 27 Institutes within the NIH. Institutes that focus on brain issues include the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Each Institute website contains public information including research news, health information, and publications.
National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)
NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association is a private, not-for-profit public organization that raises funds to support scientific research into the causes, cures, treatments and prevention of severe psychiatric brain disorders. The NARSAD website contains information about schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety.
Community Forum about Depression
A community forum could be a platform to present your questions and ideas and receive feedback. However, the About Your Brain website lacks a mechanism that addresses clinical issues. The most practical solution for us, as research scientisits with no clinical expertise, was to evaluate established forums and make a suggestion.
Three factors were used to evaluate third-party community forums. First, the forum must be a resource for people that suffer from depression. Second, the site must have many active members and a high readership. Third, the moderators must be actively involved in the forum and enthusiastic about helping people. After looking at many forums, we decided that HealingWell.com satisfies the three factors. Please visit their site and provide us with your feedback in an email or take the following quick poll.