Results of a study of antidepressant treatment for major depression suggest that changes in personality traits seen in patients taking the drug paroxetine (Paxil) may not be the result of the medication’s lifting of mood but may instead be a direct effect of this class of drugs and part of the mechanism by which they relieve depression.

Scientists have discovered a compound that restores the capacity to form new memories in aging rats, likely by improving the survival of newborn neurons in the brain's memory hub. The research, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, has turned up clues to a neuroprotective mechanism that could lead to a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.

Best-selling author and journalist Judith Warner met with NIMH Director, Tom Insel . Warner has written extensively about American family culture, raising children in today's society, and now, the challenges faced by families of children diagnosed with mental disorders. Ms. Warner is a former contributing columnist for the New York Times and was a special correspondent for Newsweek in Paris.

While one of America’s greatest strengths is its racial and cultural diversity, this diversity produces complex mental health care issues due to the heterogeneity of the population to be served.