[citation needed] The mission of NIMH is "to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure.

"[5] In order to fulfill this mission, NIMH "must foster innovative thinking and ensure that a full array of novel scientific perspectives are used to further discovery in the evolving science of brain, behavior, and experience.

Mental health has traditionally been a state responsibility, but after World War II there was increased lobbying for a federal (national) initiative.

In August 1977, The Washington Post reported that senior directors at the NIMH were likely aware of the institute's covert participation in the Central Intelligence Agency's MKUltra experiments, administering LSD to federal prisoners in Lexington, Kentucky.

[11] In 1980, The Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) study, an unprecedented research effort that entailed interviews with a nationally representative sample of 20,000 Americans was launched.

The return to NIH and the loss of services functions to SAMHSA necessitated a realignment of the NIMH extramural program administrative organization.

At the request of the National Institute for Mental Health director, the NAMH Council established programmatic groups in each of these areas.

In 1997, NIMH realigned its extramural organizational structure to capitalize on new technologies and approaches to both basic and clinical science, as well as changes that had occurred in health care delivery systems, while retaining the institute's focus on mental illness.

It also launched mentorship initiatives and expanded funding for early-career researchers, fostering a diverse pipeline of mental health professionals.

Two notable consequences of these advances are the institute's collaboration with the Department of Army to launch the Study To Assess Risk and Resilience in Service Members (STARRS), a Framingham-like effort scheduled to last until 2014 and the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) effort, which seeks to define basic dimensions of functioning (such as fear circuitry or working memory) to be studied across multiple levels of analysis, from genes to neural circuits to behaviors, cutting across disorders as traditionally defined.

[12][13] A collection of interviews with directors and individuals significant in the foundation and early history of the institute conducted by Dr. Eli A. Rubenstein between 1975 and 1978 is held at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.

He found an enzyme that terminated the action of the nerve transmitter, noradrenaline in the synapse and which also served as a critical target of many antidepressant drugs.

Later his work become renowned after several publications, including articles in Scientific American and a widely known "Universe 25" story predicting a dystopian future based on rodent experiments in an overpopulated environment.

In 1984, Norman E. Rosenthal, a psychiatrist and NIMH researcher, pioneered seasonal affective disorder, coined the term SAD, and began studying the use of light therapy as a treatment.

Roger Sperry, a NIMH research grantee, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for discoveries regarding the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres, or the "left" and "right" brain.

Eric Kandel and Paul Greengard, each of whom have received NIMH support for more than three decades, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sweden's Arvid Carlsson.

Initially using the sea slug as an experimental model but later working with mice, he established that the formation of memories is a consequence of short and long-term changes in the biochemistry of nerve cells Greengard was recognized for his discovery that dopamine and a number of other transmitters can alter the functional state of neuronal proteins, and also that such changes could be reversed by subsequent environmental signals.

Often called "America's Nobels", the Laskers are the nation's most distinguished honor for outstanding contributions to basic and clinical medical research.

Beck developed cognitive therapy—a form of psychotherapy—which transformed the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric conditions, including depression, suicidal behavior, generalized anxiety, panic attacks and eating disorders.

Due in part to work spearheaded by Mishkin, science now understands much about the pathways for vision, hearing and touch, and about how those processing streams connect with brain structures important for memory.