Neuropsychiatric illnesses greatly burden the health care system, economy and wellbeing of affected patients and their dependents worldwide. The magnitude of this problem is illustrated by several facts. First, when assessed in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs)—a measure of the number of years lost because of poor health, disability and early death—mental illness and substance use disorders accounted for a total of 173.1 million DALYs or roughly 7.1% of total disease burden worldwide (Figure 1a).1 In the United States, major depression ranked 5th and anxiety ranked 13th out of 291 medical conditions contributing to DALY burden.2 Globally, major depressive disorder (MDD) ranked 5th among the top 10 causes for disability in developed countries.1 Second, the global burden attributable to mental diseases has been steadily rising in recent years. Between 1990 and 2010, the burden of neuropsychiatric and substance use disorders has increased by nearly 22% (Figure 1b).3 Recently, Vigo et al.4 compellingly argued that the global burden of mental illness is likely underestimated by more than one-third, suggesting that the effect of psychiatric disease may be even more dramatic than currently
