Posts by Former NIMH Director Thomas Insel about Mental Health Services Research

Dr. Insel and SAMHSA Administrator Pamela Hyde provide an update on funding to support evidence-based programs that address the needs of individuals with early serious mental illness across the country.

Dr. Insel introduces an innovative approach that one group is taking to speed up the dissemination of research results into clinical practice.

Some barriers to progress are simply linguistic. In mental health, we are stymied by our language. For example, terms like “depression” or “schizophrenia” or “autism” have achieved a reality that far outstrips their scientific value. Each refers to a cluster of symptoms, similar to “fever” or “headache.” Yet the field has imbued these “fictive categories” with biological meaning, which has precluded the development of biomarkers that might confer validity. Is PTSD – or autism – a “disorder” or an injury? We need a broad conversation to help us understand how our language may be holding us back, limiting not only our impact but our imagination.

Dr. Insel responds to discussion from the National Advisory Mental Health Council concerning the need to balance research funding for basic science and mental health services.