Mental Health Research: Into the Future

In the six decades that NIMH has led the nation's research effort in mental health, advancement has been dramatic. We understand now that the major mental disorders are brain disorders, with specific symptoms rooted in abnormal patterns of brain activity. We realize that the devastation of autism and schizophrenia are not the result of bad parenting or early psychic conflict. We recognize that mental disorders, unlike most chronic medical disorders, generally begin in childhood, with 50 percent of affected adults reporting onset of symptoms before age 14. We now have reliable diagnostic tools as well as effective medications and psychological therapies for depression and anxiety disorders; we have treatments that can predictably reduce the hallucinations and delusions of schizophrenia, as well as psychosocial interventions that enable people with schizophrenia to remain in their communities, to work and lead productive lives. The number of patients in state hospitals has decreased from 600,000 to less than 60,000.

While research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, has resulted in profound advancement in most of the major mental illnesses, in 2006 we recognize that not all treatments work for everyone. After six decades of progress, mental disorders remain unacceptably common, causing more disability in people under age 45 than any other class of non-communicable medical
illness.

How can we do better? Read more by linking to the National Institute of Mental Health website @ Into the Future

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