Depression

Depression

$131.7M Awarded to Depression Research since 1987

The Latest Research Discoveries

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Key Figures

300 million

Globally, an estimated 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression.*

15.7 million adults

In 2014, around 15.7 million adults age 18 or older in the U.S. had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last year (6.7% of adults in the U.S.).*

2 out of 100

As many as 2 out of 100 young children and 8 out of 100 teens may have serious depression.*

Meet a Researcher

Katie A. McLaughlin, Ph.D.

Katie A. McLaughlin, Ph.D.

Katie A. McLaughlin, Ph.D.

bbrf awards icon Title & Institution

Executive Director, The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health

University of Oregon

bbrf awards icon BBRF Awards & Recognition

2023 Ruane Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research

2016 Klerman Prizewinner for Exceptional Clinical Research

2013 Young Investigator Grantee

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Dr. Katie McLaughlin is a clinical psychologist with interests in how the childhood social environment influences brain and behavioral development in children and adolescents. She has a joint Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University and is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington.  Her research examines how environmental experience shapes emotional, cognitive, and neurobiological development throughout childhood and adolescence. Dr. McLaughlin’s overarching goal is to understand how adverse environments alter developmental processes in ways that increase risk for psychopathology.  Her research uncovers specific developmental processes that are disrupted by adverse environmental experiences early in life and determines how those disruptions increase risk for mental health problems in children and adolescents. Understanding these mechanisms is critical for the development of interventions to prevent the onset of psychopathology in children who experience adversity. Dr. McLaughlin’s overarching goal is to contribute to greater understanding of the role of environmental experience in shaping children’s development, so as to inform the creation of interventions, practices, and policies to promote adaptive development in society’s most vulnerable members.

Dr. McLaughlin's research has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Jacobs Foundation, the Charles H. Hood Foundation, the Brain and Behavior Foundation, and the IMHRO One Mind Institute.  She has received early career awards from the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, and the Jacobs Foundation as well as the Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychological Association.

“Receiving the NARSAD Young Investigator Award has been pivotal to my career, providing the funds for the first large study conducted in my lab, and has fueled numerous additional research projects. In particular, this award was instrumental in helping me obtain a large federal grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.”

Ask an Expert

Huda Akil, Ph.D.

Huda Akil, Ph.D.

Huda Akil, Ph.D.

bbrf awards icon Title & Institution

Gardner Quarton Distinguished University Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry

Co-Director, Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute

University of Michigan
bbrf awards icon BBRF Awards & Recognition

2007 Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience

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Dr. Akil has made seminal contributions to the understanding of the neurobiology of emotions, including pain, anxiety, depression and substance abuse. Early on, she and her colleagues provided the first physiological evidence for a role of endorphins in the brain and showed that endorphins are activated by stress and inhibit pain. In investigations of the mechanisms underlying stress reactivity in anxiety and depression, she demonstrated that social defeat in rodents activates unique neural pathways resembling those altered in human depression.

Dr. Akil and her team have focused on the role of specific genes and molecules in the pathology of mood disorders. These include the glucocorticoid receptor which mediates the stress response and the family of fibroblast growth factors (FGF) which are critical for brain development. She, along with her collaborators, showed that the FGFs play a key role in shaping the vulnerability to anxiety and depression. Dr. Akil is one of the leaders of the Pritzker Consortium that uses a combination of genetic, genomic and neuroscience tools to discover that biological bases of major depression, manic-depressive illness and schizophrenia. The goal is to both understand the causes of these illnesses and identify new targets for their treatment and prevention.

Dr. Akil has received numerous honors and awards, including election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2007 Dr. Akil is the recipient of the NARSAD Patricia Goldman Rakic Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience.

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