NEW YORK, (Reuters Health) -- The National Alliance for the
Mentally Ill released a report Monday that criticizes how the National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH) allocates research money, charging that the federal
agency spends less on serious mental diseases than it should, but finds
resources to conduct research on a variety of behavioral problems, including the
parentage of eastern bluebirds.
According to the Arlington, Virginia-based advocacy group, the NIMH
"failed in its primary mission to support research on schizophrenia,
manic-depressive illness, and other severe mental illnesses." The group also
criticized the Institute for using 15% of its funding to support research on
other diseases, such as AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, which are the primary
responsibility of other institutes within the National Institutes of Health.
The Alliance noted that NIMH spent more on AIDS research ($60.2 million)
than on schizophrenia research ($57.1 million) in 1997. The Alliance also
accused the Institute of neglecting research on a variety of mental illnesses,
saying that it spent only 1.1% of its research budget on manic-depressive
illness, 0.9% on panic disorder, and 0.5% on obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, senior author of the report and executive director
of the Alliance's Stanley Foundation Research Programs, said, "The results show
a shocking failure by NIMH to carry out its primary responsibility on diseases
which cost the nation at least $74 billion each year. There is a direct
relationship between NIMH's failure to do its job and the fact that individuals
with severe mental illnesses are filling our homeless shelters and jails."
Researchers from the Foundation reviewed 2,277 research grant abstracts
for Fiscal Year 1997. Among the findings presented in the report was that NIMH
spent 36% of all of its research funds to support basic and clinical research on
severe mental illnesses. In addition, only 12% of the Institute's research funds
were directed to clinical and treatment-related research on severe mental
illnesses.
The Alliance noted in the report, however, that the Institute's director,
Dr. Steven Hyman, has made efforts since 1997 to redirect more research
resources toward severe mental illnesses.
In addition to recommending that the Institute direct more research
dollars toward treatment-related research on severe mental illnesses, the
Alliance also recommended that Congress not require the Institute to fund
research on diseases unrelated to mental illness and called on Congress to hold
hearings to clarify the primary mission of NIMH.
In reply to the Alliance's charges, NIMH spokesperson Clarissa Wittenberg,
said, "We are proud of our research and we have a broad approach to the study of
mental illness. We believe this approach will maximize the best use not only of
currently available treatment but to ensure that prevention, and ultimately
cure, of serious mental illness will be achieved."
In response to the report, another advocacy group, the National Mental
Health Association (NMHA), said that it "takes strong objection" to the
criticisms. In a letter to Hyman, NMHA President Michael Faenza wrote that the
alliance's recommendations that NIMH should limit its research to severe mental
illness is "dangerous and short-sighted."
"Overall, we are quite pleased with the Institute's efforts to advance the
science underlying the mental health needs of children and adults in the United
States," Faenza added.
