Institute of Medicine Report on Prevention of Mental Disorders: Summary and Commentary

A comprehensive report mandated by the U.S. Congress on the state of the science of prevention recommends a stricter definition of the term prevention; summarizes specific preventive intervention research programs across the life span; and specifies funding, personnel, and coordination priorities to build a national prevention research infrastructure. A major conceptual recommendation is a focus on reducing risk for mental disorders, which has been a fruitful strategy in the prevention of physical illness. The report argues that the prevention field should also draw from advances in mental disorder treatment research and from the major contributions to the knowledge base occurring in the behavioral and biological core sciences. Relevant advances in neuroscience, genetics, epidemiology, and developmental psychopathology are examined in detail. Five major disorders are chosen to illustrate possible approaches to prevention: conduct disorder, depressive disorders, alcohol abuse and dependence, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease.