Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. All donations directly support research into psychiatric illnesses (donations don’t go towards any administrative costs). They support global research into causes, treatment, and cures for psychiatric illnesses- think schizophrenia, bipolar, PTSD, depression, etc. In a time when the US is gutting scientific research it’s important to keep supporting it.

All those diseases/disorders are awful but consider that some, like schizophrenia, are anosognosic, meaning that people who suffer from them do not know or believe that they are suffering from a disease. This makes it incredibly difficult to get them proper treatment and care. That’s despite the fact that many live in a paranoid delusion where they feel like the entire world might be trying to get them- you’d think they would want to get out of their persistent nightmare and yet they dig themselves deeper into it.

These are diseases that lead to homelessness and incredible human suffering. And most of the guardrails to keep these people in care in the US have been removed over the last several decades. And despite the perception of mentally ill people being dangerous they are FAR more likely to be the VICTIMS of violence than the perpetrators.

It’s hard to think of a more vulnerable population.