Advances In Understanding And Treating Mental Illness: Implications For Policy

PROLOGUE: Mental disorders are a leading cause of disability worldwide, according to a recent study commissioned by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. In the United States and other industrialized nations, major depression is the leading cause of disability. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has devoted itself to research that relieves the burden of this disability. For these efforts to succeed, however, the research must find its way into the community, where it becomes a part of the solution. In this paper Grayson Norquist and Steven Hyman outline the NIMH research strategy, focusing on the institute's efforts to “build a research portfolio to inform what interventions are best for community practice and … to ensure that they are delivered in such settings.” This entails broadening the populations studied to more closely resemble those that are treated in the community and expanding outcome measures to include those most of interest to consumers. Norquist completed his training in psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Neuropsychiatric Institute. Before becoming director of the NIMH Division of Services and Intervention Research, he was assistant dean for student affairs at the UCLA School of Medicine and a member of that school's psychiatry faculty. Hyman, also a psychiatrist, is director of the NIMH. He completed his training in psychiatry at Harvard McLean Hospital. He was a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School before taking over the NIMH directorship in 1996. ABSTRACT: Mental illnesses have a significant impact on public health and contribute to a substantial part of the disability of the general population. Recent research on understanding and treating such illnesses has produced data that can inform policymakers about how to improve the condition of persons who suffer from these illnesses. This paper discusses how this research can be used to inform policy decisions regarding the allocation of community treatment resources and what research is still needed.