Everyminute.org

"The goal of the twenty-first century is to find a 'penicillin for mental illness.' We would like to fight schizophrenia or dementia as effectively as we can currently fight infectious diseases such as neurosyphilis or pneumonia. We hope to discover a brave new world in which mental illness, now painfully common, become infrequent and easily treated."

Thus writes Nancy Andreasen, a leading neuroscientist, in the preface of her book, "Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Era of the Genome." Andreasen is Editor-in-Chief of the prestigious American Journal of Psychiatry and a recipient of the illustrious National Medal of Science, so she knows what she's talking about.

Andreasen's book is in part a sobering look at the reality of mental illness. She acknowledges that mental illnesses are very common and that the children's suicide rate is rising. She writes that, "mental illnesses cost us more than other general class of disease... There are many ways to summarize the economic burden of disease, but they consistently lead to the conclusion that mental illnesses should be given a high priority for treatment and research because of the many ways they are costly to society."

Her book is also a war-cry proclaiming the potential to defeat and conquer mental illness. She writes using militaristic terms, "During the coming century we will combine our knowledge of the human genome and our knowledge of the brain to develop new weapons with which to wage a war on mental illness that may eventually lead to a definitive victory." Her vigor to fight and offensive stance can best be explained by the hope that she sees on the horizon offered through our understanding of the brain, "The growth of biomedical technology in the era of the genome will give us unparalleled opportunities to reduce suffering by providing better diagnosis, better counseling, and better medications."

She isn't satisfied with our current (losing) defensive attitude, "Our current approach to mental illness is usually to wait for a disease to develop and then treat the symptoms after they emerge. But wouldn't it be better to strike early, and perhaps preemptively? Instead of doing 'damage control,' wouldn't it be better to intervene before the damage actually occurs? This is the long-term goal of the psychiatric research community, but it is difficult to achieve."

Her thinking and passion fall exactly in line with everyminute.org's mission and vision. "I also wanted to reduce the stigma associated with mental illnesses by making it clear that they are brain diseases that cause enormous human suffering." everyminute.org echoes and wishes to amplify her desire to raise awareness, reduce stigma and give hope.

"People who suffer from debilitating mental illnesses, and their families, sometimes feel as if they are in a race against time." When a suicide is attempted every minute by someone with mental health problems, it is clear and evident that we are in a race against time. So let us seize the moment and band together with Andreasen to fight back. According to Dr. Insel, the Director of NIMH, we now have the research tools necessary. It's just a matter of funding the researchers in the war against mental illness. Let's leave our defensive stance, get off our heels and fight back, because "the time when we can realistically declare war on mental illnesses, with some hope of eventually achieving a victory, has finally come."