Working at the Treatment Advocacy Center often feels like the hand of fate.

Rugby is a rough sport. Some people say it’s like football without the pads. When I was in high school, I played for the Canton Maddogs Rugby Club in Northeast Ohio. It was an adult team, but they allowed me to join underage. I was not very big, but I was strong for my size and a good all-around player. I won the team’s MVP award when I was 18. After high school, I went on to play in college at Bowling Green State University and later transferred to Hillsdale College to join the club team there. 

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.  

Reflecting on 2020, we at the Office of Research and Public Affairs (ORPA) have put together our list of top 10 research published this year about severe mental illness. The list includes commentary of our favorite published research from each of the ORPA team members who brought Research Weekly to your inbox every week throughout 2020.

Psychiatrists who have seen me at my worst diagnose me with schizoaffective disorder. Psychiatrists who have not seen me at my worst diagnose me with bipolar disorder. Both of these diagnoses are forms of serious mental illness (SMI).

Yesterday, the Treatment Advocacy Center released a 2020 update to its landmark report, Grading the States: An analysis of involuntary psychiatric treatment laws. The report represents the results of Treatment Advocacy Center staff’s evaluation and grading of the involuntary treatment laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, updating state report cards with any changes to the state laws since the report’s original release in September 2018. 

Arlington, Va. - A new report card of state psychiatric treatment laws from the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national nonprofit that advocates for elimination of barriers to effective treatment for individuals with severe mental illness, finds that despite bright spots, many state laws do not allow for timely, appropriate treatment during a psychiatric crisis and beyond. The report gives each state a letter grade -- A+ through F -- and recommends specific statutory changes to improve each state’s criteria.

The level of social support an individual experiences while on probation can significantly affect the mental health symptoms of individuals with serious mental illness, according to new research in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal.

A new study from Canadian researchers suggests that methadone maintenance treatment can be effective in people with co-occurring opioid use and psychotic disorders. 

The first thing that appears when you Google my name is a picture of my mugshot from when I was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping in 2014.