Cure therapeutics and strategic prevention: raising the bar for mental health research.

Mol Psychiatry
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Mental disorders cause more disability than any other class of medical illness in Americans between ages 15 and 44 years. The suicide rate is higher than the annual mortality from homicide, AIDS, and most forms of cancer. In contrast to nearly all communicable and most non-communicable diseases, there is little evidence that the morbidity and mortality from mental disorders have changed in the past several decades. Mental health advocates, including psychiatric researchers, have pointed to stigma as one of the reasons for the lack of progress with mental illnesses relative to other medical illnesses. This review considers how the expectations and goals of the research community have contributed to this relative lack of progress. In contrast to researchers in cancer and heart disease who have sought cures and preventions, biological psychiatrists in both academia and industry have set their sights on incremental and marketable advances, such as drugs with fewer adverse effects. This essay argues for approaches that can lead to cures and strategies for prevention of schizophrenia and mood disorders.

Year of Publication
2006
Journal
Mol Psychiatry
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
11-7
Date Published
2006 Jan
ISSN
1359-4184
DOI
10.1038/sj.mp.4001777
PubMed ID
16355250
PubMed Central ID
PMC1586099
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