Senate Staffers Visit NIH to Discuss Mental Health
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Photo: Chia-Chi Charlie Chang
Staff from the bipartisan Senate Mental Health Caucus toured several Clinical Center (CC) labs in July.
The delegation toured the CC’s outpatient pediatric unit where Dr. Daniel Pine, chief of the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience, demonstrated novel treatments developed for pediatric mood and anxiety disorders. He also discussed his research on the connections among brain development, emotion regulation and risk for mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.
In the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit, lab chief Dr. Melissa Brotman discussed an exposure-based cognitive-behavioral research therapy developed for children and adolescents with severe irritability and other mood disorders. Brotman also shared ways she’s using mobile apps to assess children’s behavior.
In Brotman’s lab, the group heard from a patient and her family, a highlight of the visit. “It brought tears to my eyes to hear her story,” said one Hill staffer.
The group then visited the Noninvasive Neuromodulation Unit. There, Dr. Sarah Holly Lisanby, director, Division of Translational Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), demonstrated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy, a non-invasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to simulate nerve cells in the brain. This experimental therapy, developed at NIH, has been shown to rapidly improve symptoms of treatment-resistant depression.
During the visit, a lively exchange ensued in the CC’s Medical Boardroom after a roundtable discussion on youth mental health led by National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Dr. Nora Volkow, NIMH Acting Director Dr. Shelli Avenevoli and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Deputy Director Dr. Alison Cernich.