Dawnene Harper often finds herself looking for something - a book, a photo album, a kitchen tool - before she remembers. "Oh, right," the New Orleans resident has to remind herself. "I don't have that anymore. I lost it in the storm."

There is little debate that children who are abused, physically or mentally, undergo such significant trauma that they often carry it throughout their lives. Child abuse can affect a person's mental health forever, leading to depression and other psychological disorders later in life.

Psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia have long been something of a mystery, but new research is identifying the brain circuits and chemicals that are involved in such illnesses.

The American Dream of a good job, home ownership and creating a better life for our children has long been the dream of many. But has that dream been shattered over the past few years of an economic recession?

When most people think of mental illness, they think of serious, lifelong conditions such as schizophrenia, chronic depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. Yet the truth is, in our lifetime fully half of us will experience some form of mental health problem.

A ten-year anniversary is a seminal thing, especially when it marks something as momentous and life-changing as 9/11. Something that we experienced collectively, as Americans, that forever changed us.

When it was discovered more than 100 years ago, Bipolar Disorder was believed to be the result of "bad blood," thought to be caused by black bile. Later the mental disorder best known for episodes of depression and mania was treated with lithium.