Unfortunately, developing medicines to treat mental illness has some of the lowest probabilities of success. This is due in large part to the inherent scientific challenges and complexities that come with developing medicines to treat these illnesses, including a limited understanding of the brain and the neurochemical pathways involved in these illnesses. Though the field of neuroscience has made advancements in recent years, there remains a significant gap in the larger understanding of how mental illnesses develop in the first place. This, combined with the extremely diverse nature of the diseases themselves — which often manifest differently in different people — have made it difficult to identify biomarkers that can aid in diagnosis, treatment and the development of medicines to treat these illnesses.  

To address the unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages, as part of his Unity Agenda, President Biden has put forward a comprehensive national strategy to tackle our mental health crisis, and used his State of the Union Address to call for a major transformation in how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated – in and out of health care settings. Across the federal government, the Administration has already invested nearly $4 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to expand access to mental health and substance use services. The President’s FY23 budget goes further, by proposing over $27 billion in discretionary funding and another $100 billion in mandatory funding over 10 years to implement his national strategy and transform behavioral health services for all Americans. 

This month, the Biden-Harris Administration is taking additional, new actions to advance the President’s mental health strategy across its three objectives: strengthening system capacity, connecting more Americans to care, and creating a continuum of support.

Mental health is an often-overlooked challenge farmers face nationwide. Farmland loss and land access issues, rising production costs, plummeting farm incomes, climate change and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic are contributing to a mental health crisis within the farming community. Suicide rates among farmers and ranchers are well above the national average, while mental health services are less available and accessible in rural areas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

States across the country declare first week of May (1-7) Tardive Dyskinesia Awareness Week to raise awareness of this burdensome and often misunderstood condition. An estimated 75% of those with TD have not been diagnosed and an estimated 600,000 people live with this condition in the U.S. alone.