People with serious mental illness often have difficulty gaining employment, in part due to disabling symptoms that impair their ability to enter into the workforce. Without employment to generate income, many people with severe mental illness rely on public assistance programs and have difficulties achieving economic independence. This week’s blog focuses on the impact of serious mental illness on employment and how supportive employment programs can lead to economic independence in this population.

 Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about serious mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments. 

New research studies from the United States and abroad report that people with mental illness are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of violence. They conclude that these risks need to be better acknowledged in clinical settings.

A 2019 study examines the impact of co-occurring substance use disorder and mental illness on conviction rates in Australia.

The Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) is encouraged to see the core issues of aBedInsteademphasized in President Trump’s full budget proposal, which calls for an unprecedented infusion of federal funding to support the elimination of the discriminatory Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) exclusion.

Results from a randomized control trial of the Camden Core Model published last month found that the model had no effect on improving the outcomes studied. However, a deeper look into the research methods and results shows that there is more meaning to the results besides the no-difference findings.

Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about serious mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments.

Often hospital and community-based care options are considered alternatives for each other, with advocates suggesting that an increase of one must be associated with a decrease with the other. However, new international evidence suggests that this dichotomy between hospital and community care does not in fact exist.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has a history of failing to prioritize serious mental illness in its research. Unfortunately, their recently-released five-year strategic plan draft signals their intention to continue to ignore those with the most impairing disorders.

NIMH has a tragic history of ignoring the needs of people with serious mental illness. Unfortunately, their draft five-year strategic plan signals their intention to continue down this same failed path.