It  was a mother's nightmare. I received a terrifying call from a hospital in 1991, telling me that Mike, our 22-year-old son, a senior at Radford University, had been found running down the center of a major highway, 18-wheelers swerving around him as he kept up with the voices telling him to run faster.
 
 

Fewer than 50% of accountable care organizations can refer patients with serious mental illness to specialty mental health support services such as supported employment, family psychoeducation, assertive community treatment and illness, management and recovery services.

This Research Weekly discusses a research article about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the employment and educational opportunities of individuals with severe mental illness who participate ina Massachusetts-based first-episode psychosis clinic. The research suggests that the loss of employment opportunities as a result of the pandemic was greater among patients in the clinic compared to the general population and that these patients also experienced decreased educational engagement during the first few weeks of the pandemic.

DJ Jaffe Advocate Sabah Muhammad testified to the members of the House Public & Behavioral Health & Human Services Committee on March 29 in support of HB22-1303. Legislative and Policy Counsel Michael Gray also submitted written testimony in support.

Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about severe mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments. This month’s roundup is in honor of World Bipolar Day. 

The United States is lacking in its availability of walk-in and crisis outpatient treatment services placing a significant burden of crisis care on hospitals in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental illness has been present in my family all my life. My grandfather died by suicide. My mother had narcissistic personality disorder, a rare mental illness that made my mother think she was the always the most important person. She also had difficulty empathizing with others. I have bipolar disorder and am a recovering alcoholic. My ex-husband, the father of my children, died by suicide. I have two sons with disabling mental illness, one who has bipolar disorder and a substance use disorder, and another son who suffers from depression, anxiety, and severe ADHD.  From generation to generation, this has been a family journey. 

I am a licensed chemical dependency counselor and I started working as part of an assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) team two years ago in El Paso, Texas. My caseload is small, which allows me to have a more personalized relationship with every client. I’ve picked up clients and taken them to job interviews, I’ve taken the bus with them to the mall so they’re able to get out of the house and I’ve simply talked to them about their day. This helps me develop trust with the client and the clients are able to talk freely with me about how they are doing and how the AOT team can support them.  

Early intervention in psychosis programs are cost-effective options for treating schizophrenia, according to a study recently published in Psychiatric Services.

Mental health conditions represent some of the leading causes of disability and disease burden across the world. This burden of mental illness on society is only getting worse, suggesting an increased importance of governments to address the mental health treatment gaps experienced globally.