Priorities for prevention research at NIMH: a report

Original publisher: [Rockville, Md.?] : National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, [1998] OCLC Number: (OCoLC)39915637 Subject: Mental illness -- Prevention -- Research -- United States. Excerpt: ... This document is no longer being updated. NIMH Archive Material NIMH Archive Material For the latest information, please go to http: / / www.nimh.nih.gov scientifically based preventive strategies will, at last, have significant impact on the public's mental health. Workgroup Charge and Composition The NAMHC Workgroup on Mental Disorders Prevention Research was charged with examining the NIMH research portfolio on the prevention of mental disorders, identifying research gaps and opportunities, and indicating priorities for future research ( see Workgroup Charge, Appendix A ). In that charge, NIMH Director Dr. Steven Hyman noted that at least two major issues gave rise to the Workgroup's creation: " recognition of the value of the prevention research perspective ( including its developmental approach and its focus on nonclinical as well as clinical settings ); and a growing realization that severe mental disorders, which are now underrepresented in the NIMH prevention research portfolio, are not likely to be amenable to primary prevention interventions with our current knowledge base. " The Workgroup, led by Dr. Thomas Coates, consisted of NAMHC members as well as ad hoc participants. The 12 appointed members included researchers with experience in prevention research in areas of mental disorders, substance abuse, and AIDS. Their disciplines spanned public health, psychology, child and adult psychiatry, pediatrics, and epidemiology. Through their participation in earlier efforts to assess NIMH prevention research, two of the members provided an important link with past reports on prevention research. 15