NARSAD: The World’s Leading Charity Dedicated to Mental Health Research

NARSAD's mission is to alleviate suffering from mental illness by supporting leading-edge scientific research on mental health disorders. Formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, NARSAD is the largest donor-supported organization in the world dedicated to finding the causes, improved treatments and cures for a wide range of mental illnesses.

Since awarding its first research grants in 1987, NARSAD has distributed over $250 million in funding to more than 2,700 scientists in the United States and 27 other countries. In 2008 alone, it awarded nearly $19 million in grants, made possible through the generosity of many thousands of contributors who want to help create a better future for people with mental illness.

Through its grant programs, NARSAD supports the work of many of the world’s most talented scientists and clinicians in the fields of psychiatry and neuroscience who are pursuing advances in the understanding of the causes of mental illnesses, their biological mechanisms and new pathways for better treatments, prevention and cures. This research offers real hope to those suffering from schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders (including PTSD and OCD), childhood mental illnesses (such as autism and ADHD), and other conditions.

Over the past two decades, NARSAD has played a seminal role in the growing awareness of mental illnesses as biologically-based brain disorders, which has played a key role in helping to reduce the longstanding stigma that has made contending with these illnesses even more difficult. Among its various educational activities, NARSAD organizes free public symposia in communities around the U.S. and in Canada where people can hear about the latest findings in research from world-leading experts on mental health disorders.

NARSAD’s website, www.narsad.org, also is a resource for people with mental illness, their family members and mental health professionals who are seeking to learn more about mental health disorders and the latest developments in research, and who want to find out how they can help in this vital cause.

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