Living and coping with depression or bipolar disorder can be difficult, but there are a number of high-quality online resources that can be very useful to those with these conditions, or for those who work directly with these individuals. The homepage of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) can be of great help in this area, as their site includes everything from their "Real...

It's My Life, a PBS Kids Web-based educational series, offers 9-12 year olds a kid-friendly way to explore and share the issues in their lives. Depression is just one of many subjects addressed in It's My Life. Topics covered in this Web site include defining depression, recognizing the symptoms, understanding the causes, getting treatment, how to help a friend or parent who may be suffering from...

Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) sponsors a broad range of public outreach projects and research studies dedicated to providing a more nuanced and multi-faceted understanding of the immense complexity of the many mental health issues that affect millions of persons each day. Within the Find Support section of the site, individuals can learn...

Located at the National Institutes of Health, NIMH is focused on mental health: Depression, Anxiety Disorders, Alzheimer's Disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Schizophrenia, etc. The site contains items of interest to the researcher (news & events, grants, contracts, & committees, and research activities) as well as the lay person (the public information section provides specifics...

For people who are living with a mental health condition, it can be most helpful to have access to high-quality and authoritative information. The National Institute of Mental Health provides such information on the publications area of their website, and visitors can make their way through fact sheets, booklets, and Spanish-language versions of these documents here. The topical fact sheets are...

The field of psychiatry is one that is vast and rather complex, and fortunately for academics and practitioners in the field, the Psychiatry On-Line Web site provides a well-conceived international forum for the discipline. Edited and maintained since 1994 by Dr. Ben Green (a licensed psychiatrist in the United Kingdom), the site features peer-reviewed articles, papers, and case reports from...

Yesterday, the Surgeon General's office issued a comprehensive new report on Mental Illness in America, the first report of its kind in terms of scope and source. According to the report's findings, one in five Americans experiences a mental illness in any given year and half experience a mental disorder at some time in their lives. But the report's most compelling language was reserved for the...

As it approaches its 100th anniversary in 2009, the National Mental Health Association (NMHA) remains the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization that deals with all aspects of mental health and mental illness. First-time users of their site will find that their homepage contains copious amounts of material related to their advocacy efforts, along with materials that deal with helping...

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released this year's World Health Report (WHR), which is, for the first time, concentrated on mental health (last year's report was discussed in the June 23, 2000 Scout Report). WHO reports that nearly a third of the disabilities in the world are neuropsychiatric disorders, and WHR 2001 focuses on the status of mental health care and knowledge...