Suicide Support!

everyminute.org is a new campaign supporting publicly funded research that will profoundly transform the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders, paving the way for a cure.

The need for transformative, innovative research is urgent; each year, as many as 57 million Americans meet criteria for some mental disorder, with roughly 12 million reporting symptoms so severe as to cause significant disability and interference with everyday living.

Similarly, the economic costs of mental disorders are estimated at over $190 billion, with most due to the loss of economic productivity as a result of the illnesses. We know that mental disorders can also be fatal. Each year more Americans die from suicide than from homicide. In sum, these are real disorders requiring life-saving treatments.

According to NIMH Director, Dr. Thomas Insel, "We now have the research tools necessary. Now is the time for research to set an ambitious goal of finding cures and preventive interventions for these disabling illnesses."

We can either invest in research now or pay a greater price later through increased health care costs and treatment, homelessness, lost productivity and suicide.

everyminute.org is similar to the Susan G. Komen or the ONE campaign, but for mental health. Mental health now has a unifying voice bringing people together to find preventive treatments and cures. Using grassroots efforts, everyminute.org is mobilizing mental health advocates, organizing them into a lobbying power with the goal of encouraging Congressional leaders to increase mental health research funding. They are collecting actual signatures through an innovative signature capture tool on their website, http://www.everyminute.org