1989年7月,美国国会通过一项决议,将1990年代的“大脑的十年”。While such a resolution has largely ceremonial significance, it also testifies to a heightened awareness by politicians of the serious nature of mental disorders and disabilities, and to the promise and expectation that these disorders can be overcome through advances in science and technology made by federally funded researchers. And well it should. A recent report by the congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), which included APS Executive Director Alan Kraut on its advisory panel, indicates that the cost of mental disorders in the United States exceeds $130 billion per year, almost half of which is attributable to lost productivity.
