Imagine a world where research was no longer a priority … We would be prisoners of the past. People suffering from mental illness would most likely still be housed in asylums, ostracized and marginalized. Internationally renowned Douglas scientists continually advance scientific knowledge about mental illness, develop new treatments and diagnostic tools as well as identify measures to help prevent mental health problems. (see below testimony of researchers)

The Foundation granted $965,000 to the Institute for its research endeavours, an amount that created a domino effect, enabling the Institute to raise a total of $18,649,230 in donations from various organizations, making the Douglas the most important mental health research centre in Quebec and the second in Canada. These funds are distributed across four research themes.

$369,850 - Mood, Anxiety and Impulsivity-Related Disorders
In certain contexts, anxiety, stress and traumatic events can trigger a range of mental illnesses such as depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress, and even drug addiction or suicide.

$181,556 - Aging and Alzheimer's Disease
The needs of our aging population will be a heavy load to carry if we do not find more effective means to treat Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.

$259,672 - Schizophrenia and Neurodevelopmental Disorders
This includes schizophrenia, autism, attention deficit disorder, and childhood and adolescent psychiatric illnesses. Researchers are focusing their work on identifying the genetic markers as well on biological and psychosocial factors.

$153,922 - Services, Policy and Population Health
In order to provide better access to, and improve the quality of, mental health services, we are looking at the most effective ways to organize these services and discovering how social, cultural and economic factors are related to mental health problems in our society.