Donations made to the Douglas Institute Foundation will provide the critical funding to run the state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines at the Douglas' brain imaging centre, the first in Québec dedicated exclusively to mental health.

The use of these scanners in brain imaging techniques by researchers at the Centre will allow for:

Better prognosis = personalized treatment

Currently, all diagnoses for mental illnesses are based on the reports of patients and their families. The scanners will make it possible to identify biological markers of outcome of various mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder, in the patients’ brain. Thus, if a patient’s brain scan shows that they will have poorer outcome, more psychosocial interventions can be applied to keep the patient on track rather than relapsing.


Longitudinal studies

On-site scanners will make it possible to monitor the progress of more patients over longer periods of time and to assess how the brain changes over the course of therapy.

Understanding brain functions = understanding illness

By studying the cognitive functions in healthy subjects, such as emotional processing, spatial navigation, memory, and stress response, researchers can develop an understanding not only of how our brains work, but also of how mental illness affects certain brain processes and how therapy might help to reverse these effects.

As brain imaging techniques can offer valuable knowledge about the cause and processes involved in mental illnesses, the Douglas Institute Foundation is proud to finance the operation of the brain imaging center for the first couple years following its opening until it is self-financing.