National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is the U.S. federal government’s principal agency for conducting and funding research on mental illnesses and behavioral disorders. The NIMH was established on July 3, 1946, when President Harry S. Truman signed the National Mental Health Act (Public Law 79–487). The NIMH is one of 27 components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH is the lead federal agency for behavioral and biomedical research. The NIH, as well as the NIMH, is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The mission of the NIMH is to decrease the impacts of mental illness and behavioral disorders by researching behavior, the brain, and the mind. It is currently felt that this public health mandate can best be met by using science to help elucidate mental illnesses and behavioral disorders, including how to treat, as well as how to prevent. www.nimh.nih.gov/