Research News
To ensure that we are providing the best and most current information to our members, NAMI monitors current research across the field of mental health. On this page, you can find up-to-date information from government organizations like the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), private institutions like the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, and academic and industry researchers.
For more new stories from the National Institute of Mental Health, please visit their Science News website.
For more new stories from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services, please visit their Newsletter website.
Jan 23 2020
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, has announced the availability of $6 million in grant funding for research on reenty initiatives. Reentry initiatives provide social services, skills training and connections to treatment for people returning to the community after a period of incarceration. Successful initiatives improve health and social outcomes and reduce future criminal justice involvement. By studying current initiatives, NIJ hopes to identify best practices that can be applied in more communities. Applications for grant funding are due on May 5, 2020. To learn more, see the announcement from NIJ.
Jan 15 2020
The Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a project facilitated by researchers at Penn State University, has released their 2019 Annual Report describing the landscape of counseling services at colleges and universities across the country. For the first time, CCMH has included a metric to measure campus counseling centers’ caseloads. Using this new metric, the report shows that higher caseloads are associated with fewer and less frequent appointments. Clients also report significantly less improvement in depression, anxiety and distress at high-caseload centers compared to low-caseload centers. To learn more, see the full report on the CCMH website.
Jan 08 2020
The Million Veteran Program is one of the world’s largest biobanks including the genetic, medical and environmental information of U.S. veterans. Researchers have completed the largest-ever genome-wide association study of anxiety traits using data from nearly 2,000 individuals in the program. The analysis identified six gene variants linked to anxiety, establishing clear directions for further research. One of these gene variants is also linked to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and others are linked to a gene that regulates the processing of estrogen. To learn more, see the article from the American Journal of Psychiatry.