National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH)

NIMH is the lead federal agency for research on mental disorders, which envisions a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured. The mission of NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.

To fulfill its mission, the NIMH:

  • Supports and conducts research on mental illnesses and the underlying basic science of brain and behavior.
  • Supports the training of scientists to carry out basic and clinical mental health research.
  • Communicates with scientists, patients, providers, and the general public about the science of mental illnesses.

Fundamental to the NIMH mission is the proposition that mental illnesses are brain disorders expressed as complex cognitive, emotional, and social behavioral syndromes. Progress depends on advances in basic behavioral science and fundamental neuroscience, in addition to clinical science.

To this end, NIMH supports a large number of research studies, including both laboratory and clinical research trials. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases. Treatments might be new drugs or new combinations of drugs, new surgical procedures or devices, or new ways to use existing treatments. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Clinical trials can also look at other aspects of care, such as improving the quality of life for people with chronic illnesses.

Clinical research trials are at the heart of all medical advances.

For more information about NIMH and clinical trials, visit their website at https://www.nimh.nih.gov/index.shtml

For information about Clinical Trials, click here: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/clinical-research-trials-and-you-questions-and-answers/index.shtml

For frequently asked questions about clinical trials, click here: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/trials/index.shtml#1