CAUTION: THIS SITE IS NOT FOR THOSE WITH SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, OR THOSE IN THE PRESENCE OF SOMEONE WHO MAY BE IN DANGER. PLEASE CALL THE NATIONAL SUICIDE HOTLINE AT 988.
My Journey
I lived much of my life not thinking about suicide or mental illness. My first brush with suicide was in my teens when the father of a girlfriend shot himself to death. As the student pastor of a small church, my first funeral service was for a suicide. Then I lost a brother-in-law, whom I liked a lot. But it was when our youngest daughter called one morning and told us our middle daughter had taken her life that suicide and illness clamped onto my life for good.
Add to that, late in life, a problem I'd wrestled with since early teens was diagnosed as Complex PTSD. So, there I was in the middle of a sea of mental illness and suicide. What was I going to do about it?
What is being done?
Since early in the nineteenth century when the term 'psychiatry' was coined until today, diagnosis and treatment have remained much the same. Behavioral clues determine diagnosis. Treatment consists of talk therapy with a counsellor and/or medication.
Being responsible for a portion of a family foundation, my wife and I sought something beyond what was available. Termed 'illnesses,' couldn't they have cures? Already having a tie with Stanford Medical Center, we inquired.
Stanford Medical Research Teams
Yes, we were told. In the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science there were lab teams with the goal of cures. That was ten years ago. Since then, we have supported four teams and followed their progress.
1) Brain function--developing methods to improve brain activity, especially in the face of PTSD and depression.
2) Genetics--identifying and modifying mutated genes affecting brain formation and function.
3) Pediatrics--shaping social and emotional development to prevent illness.
4) A joint effort focusing on trauma to discover and replicate the mechanisms of resilience.
MI the Last Frontier
All brain research is complicated. 90 billion neurons with between 100 trillion and 1 quadrillion neural connections. But researchers told me to relax. Neurons work in clusters. But still, it's no wonder mental illness is spoken of as the last frontier in medicine.
It Takes More than a City
It's also no wonder why research for cures is so time-consuming, talent-heavy, and expensive. Yet it is only research that starts in the laboratory and translates to clinical applications that will bring us to what we can define as cures.
The key element to sustain research over time and to draw and retain highly skilled talent is funding.