Session: Prevention Research Initiatives at the National Institute of Mental Health: Early Psychosis Prediction and Prevention, the National Research Action Plan, and a Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention (Society for Prevention Research 22nd Annual Meeting)

The mission of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure.  Recent tragic events, (e.g., Newton, CT, the Navy Yard shootings) have highlighted weaknesses in our mental health system and the importance of prevention and early treatment, including the need for greater insight on the role of mental illness in violence (against the self and others). This symposium will provide overviews of three new NIMH initiatives, each of which provides opportunities for future prevention research.  First, an overview of Early Psychosis Prediction and Prevention (EP3) will be provided.  Research suggests that people with schizophrenia whose psychotic symptoms are controlled are no more violent than individuals without serious mental illness.  However, the risk for violence (against self and others) may be increased in cases of untreated psychosis.  This initiative aims to accelerate research on detecting risk states for psychotic disorders, preventing onset of psychosis in high risk individuals, and reducing the duration of untreated psychosis in people who have experiences a first psychotic episode.  The second presentation will focus on the National Research Action Plan (NRAP), a coordinated effort by the Departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, and Education, created in response to President Obama’s 2012 Executive Order calling for improved access to mental health services for veterans, service members, and military families. NRAP provides a comprehensive approach to accelerating research on traumatic brain injury and PTSD, as well as strategies for preventing suicide among veterans and active duty personnel.  Finally, the Nation’s first prioritized suicide research agenda, A Prioritized Research Agenda for Suicide Prevention:  An Action Plan to Save Lives, will be presented.  A product of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention’s Research Prioritization Task Force (NIMH Director Thomas Insel, co-chair), the agenda includes 30 research objectives, and spans basic, clinical, and services and translational research.  By design, several action steps within these initiatives include common activities (e.g., identifying common data elements; expanding data sharing).   To date, these three initiatives have resulted in six new Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) focused on reduction of duration of untreated psychosis, intervention during the psychosis prodrome, and the prevention of child and adolescent suicide.  An additional FOA related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is pending.  Discussion will focus on future funding opportunities within these initiatives and related to prevention research more broadly at NIMH.