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Key Areas of NIMH Research

In total, NIMH supports more than 2,000 research grants and contracts at universities and other institutions across the nation and overseas. It also conducts basic research and clinical studies at its own facilities on the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, MD, and elsewhere. Key areas of NIMH research include:

• basic research on behavior, emotion, and cognition to provide a knowledge base for a better understanding of mental illnesses;
• basic sciences, including cellular and molecular biology, developmental neurobiology, neurochemistry, neurogenetics, and neuropharmacology, to provide essential information about the anatomical and chemical basis of brain function and brain disorders;
• neuroscience and behavioral aspects of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and behavioral strategies to reduce the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV);
• clinical trials to test interventions to treat, prevent, and reduce the frequency of mental disorders and their disabling consequences;
• mental health services research, including mental health economics and improved methods of services delivery;
• co-occurrence among mental disorders and with substance abuse and other medical conditions, such as depression and heart disease;
• the prevalence of mental disorders;
• risk factors for mental disorders and protective factors against them;
• suicide, suicidal behavior, risk and protective factors, and preventive interventions; differences in mental health and mental illness among special populations;
• children and adolescents who suffer from or who are at risk for serious mental disorders and learning disabilities;
• aging and mental health, including the impact of caregiving;
• responses to terrorist acts and major traumatic events; and
• psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies for specific disorders.

For More Information

The NIMH Office of Communications carries out educational activities, such as the Real Men Real Depression campaign, and publishes and distributes research reports, press releases, fact sheets, and informational materials intended for researchers, health care providers, and the general public. All of these materials, and this fact sheet, are in the public domain and may be copied or reproduced without permission from the Institute, although citation of NIMH as the source is appreciated. Materials may be downloaded directly from the NIMH Web site, or hard copies may be ordered through the mail.

References

¹Yeargin-Allsopp M, Rice C, Karapurkar T, Doernberg N, Boyle C Murphy C. Prevalence of Autism in a US Metropolitan Area . Journal of the American Medical Association, 2003: 289 (1): 49-55.

²Yeargin-Allsopp M. Past and future perspectives in autism epidemiology. Molecular Psychiatry, 2002; 7: S9-S11.

³Children’s Health Act of 2000, Public Law 106-10.

⁴http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/nihacc.cfm

⁵http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/other.cfm

⁶http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/other.cfm

⁷http://www.nimh.nih.gov/press/prautismcenters.cfm

⁸http://www.nimh.nih.gov/autismiacc/staart.cfm

⁹Benes F. A national resource for postmortem brain research. Grant No. IR24MH068855-01. In progress.

¹⁰Lord C. Training/research diagnosis/autism spectrum disorders. Grant No. 5R25MH067723-01. In progress.

¹¹Lord C. Validity of diagnostic measures for autism spectrum. Grant No. 5R01MH066496-02. In progress.

¹²Stone WL, Coonrod EE, Ousley OY. Screening tool for autism in two-year olds (STAT): development and preliminary data. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2000; 30(6): 607-12.

¹³13Ozonoff S. Infants at risk of autism: a longitudinal study. Grant No. 1R01MH068398-01. In progress.

¹⁴Landa R. Early detection, intervention and neurobiology in autism. Grant No. 1U54MH066417-01A10002. In progress.

¹⁵Sigman M. Infants at risk of autism: a longitudinal study. Grant No. 1U54MH068172-010001. In progress.

¹⁶Pediatric Study Centers (PSC) for a MRI Study of Normal Brain Development.

¹⁷ Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, Jeffries NO, Castellanos FX, Liu H, Zijdenbos A, Paus T, Evans AC, Rapoport JL. Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study. Nature Neuroscience, 1999; 2(10): 861-63.

¹⁸ Rapoport JL, Giedd JN, Blumenthal J, Hamburger S, Jeffries N, Fernandez T, Nicolson R, Bedwell J, Lenane M, Zijendos A, Paus T, Evans A. Progressive cortical change during adolescence in childhood-onset schizophrenia. A longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999; 56(7): 649-54.

¹⁹Martin A, Giedd J. Brain imaging of childhood onset psychiatric disorders, endocrine disorders and healthy controls. NIH Protocol No. 89-M-0006. In progress.

²⁰Martin A, Weisberg J. Neural foundations for understanding social and mechanical concepts, Cognitive Neuropsychopharmacology, 2003, 20 (3/4/5/6): 575-87.

²¹Courchesne E. Anatomy and function correlates of cognition in autism. Grant No. 5R01MH36840-18. In progress.

²²Piven J. Brain development in developmental disorders. Grant No. 5R01MH061696-05. In progress.

²³Reiss AL. Longitudinal MRI study of brain development in Fragile X, Grant No. 5R01MH064708-02. In progress.

²⁴Piven J. Longitudinal MRI study of brain development in Fragile X, 5Grant No. 5R01MH064580-02. In progress.

²⁵Bachevalier J. Development of medial temporal lobe functions. Grant No. R01MH58846-03. In progress.

²⁶Bachevalier J, Malkova L, Mishkin M. Effects of selective neonatal temporal lobe lesions on socioemotional behavior in infant rhesus monkeys, Behavioral Neuroscience, 2001, 115 (3): 545-59.

²⁷Piven J, Palmer P, Jacobi D, Childress D, Arndt S. Broader autism phenotype: evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1997; 154(2): 185-90.

²⁸Piven J. Gene-brain-behavior relationships in Autism. Grant No. 5U54MH066418-02. In progress.

²⁹International Molecular Genetic Study of Autism Consortium. A genomewide screen for autism: strong evidence for linkage to chromosomes 2q, 7q, and 16p, American Journal of Human Genetics, 2001, 69: 570-81.

³⁰Liu J, Nyholt D, Magnussen P, Parano E, Pavone P, Geschwind D, Lord C, Iversen P, Hoh J. the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange Consortium, Ott J, Gilliam C. A genomewide screen for autism susceptibility loci. American Journal of Human Genetics,2001, 69: 327-40.

³¹Wassink TH, Piven J, Vieland VJ, Huang J, Swiderski RE, Pietila J, Braun T, Beck G, Folstein SE, Haines JL, Sheffield VC. Evidence supporting WNT2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics, May 17, 2001.

³²Yonan AL, Alarcon M, Cheng R, Magnusson PKE, Spence SJ, Palmer AA, Grunn A, Juo SHH, Terwilliger J, Liu J, Cantor RM, Geschwind DH, Gilliam TC. A genomewide screen of 345 families for autism-susceptibility loci. American Journal of Human Genetics, 73: 886-97, 2003. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issuetoc?ID=77002064

³³Geschwind D. Genomewide search autism susceptibility loci supplement, Grant No. 3R01MH064547-02S1. In progress.

³⁴Brzustowicz L. Genetic Components of Autism Spectrum Disorders, Grant No. 1R01MH070366-01. In progress.

³⁵Leighton PA, Mitchell KJ, Goodrich LV, Lu X, Pinson K, Scherz P, Skarnes WC, Tessier-Lavigne M. Defining brain wiring patterns and mechanisms through gene trapping in mice. Nature, 2001; 410(6825): 174-79.

³⁶Giger RJ, Cloutier JF, Sahay A, Prinjha RK, Levengood DV, Moore SE, Pickering S, Simmons D, Rastan S, Walsh FS, Kolodkin AL, Ginty DD, Geppert M. Neuropilin-2 is required in vivo for selective axon guidance responses to secreted semaphorins. Neuron, 2000; 25(1): 29-41.

³⁷Akshoomoff N, Pierce K, Courchesne E. The Neurobiological basis of autism from a developmental perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 2002, 14: 613-634.

³⁸Courchesne E, Carper R, Akshoomoff N. Evidence of Brain Overgrowth in the first year of life in autism, JAMA, 2003, 290(3): 337-344.

³⁹Griffith EM, Pennington BF, Wehner EA, Rogers SJ. Executive Functions in Young Children with Autism, Child Development, l999, 70 (4): 817-832.

⁴⁰Volkmar F. The Social Neuroscience of Autism and Related Disorders. Grant No. 5U54MH066494-02. In progress.

⁴¹Miyashiro KY, Beckel-Mitchener A, Becker KG, Barret T, Liu L, Carbonetto S, Weiler IJ, Greenough WT, Eberwine J. RNA cargoes associating with FMRP reveal deficits in cellular functioning in Fmr1 null mice, Neuron, 2003, 37(3): 417-431.

⁴²Bristol MM, Cohen DJ, Costello EJ, Denckla M, Eckberg TJ, Kallen R, Kraemer HC, Lord C, Maurer R, McIlvane WJ, Minshew N, Sigman M, Spence MA. State of the science in autism: report to the National Institutes Health. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1996; 26(2): 121-54.

⁴³Greenhill LL, Vitiello B, Abikoff H, Levine J, March JS, Riddle MA, Capasso L, Cooper TB, Davies M, Fisher P, Findling RL, Fried J, Labellarte MJ, McCracken JT, McMahon D, Robinson J, Skrobala A, Scahill L, Varipatis E, Walkup JT, Zito JM. Developing methodologies for monitoring long-term safety of psychotropic medications in children: Report on the NIMH conference, September 25, 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2003; 42(6): 625-26.

⁴⁴McDougle CJ, Scahill L, McCracken JT, Aman MG, Tierney E, Arnold E, Freeman BJ, Marin A, McGough JJ, Cronin P, Posey DJ, Riddle MA, Ritz L, Swiezy NB, Vitiello B, Bolkmar FR, Botolato NA, Walson P. Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology (RUPP) Autism Network: Background and rationale for an initial controlled study of risperidone, Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2000; 9(1): 201-24.

⁴⁵Arnold LE, Aman MG, Martin A, Collier-Crespin A, Vitiello B, Tierney E, Asarnow R, Bell-Bradshaw F, Freeman BJ, Gates-Ulanet P, Klin A, McCracken JT, McDougle CJ, McGough JJ, Posey DJ, Scahill L, Swiezy NB, Ritz L, Volkmar F. Assessment in multisite randomized clinical trials of patients with autistic disorder: The Autism RUPP Network, Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 2000; 30(2): 99-111.

⁴⁶McCracken JT, McGough J, Shah B, Cronin P, Hong D, Aman MG, Arnold E, Lindsay R, Nash P, Hollway J, McDougle CJ, Posey D, Swiezy N, Kohn A, Scahill L, Martin A, Koenig K, Volkmar F, Carroll D, Lancor A, Tierney E, Ghuman J, Gonzalez NM, Grados M, Vitiello B, Ritz L, Davies M, Robinson J, McMahon D. Risperidone in children with autism and serious behavioral problems, New England Journal of Medicine, 2002; 347(5): 314-21.

⁴⁷Aman, M. The OSU RUPP-PI Project. Grant No. U10MH66768. In progress.

⁴⁸McDougle, C. RUPP-PI at Indiana University School of Medicine. Grant No. U10MH66766. In progress.

⁴⁹Scahill, L. RUPP-PI Program at Yale University. Grant No. U10MH66764. In progress.

⁵⁰Koegel LK, Koegel RL, Jarrower JK, Carter CM. Pivotal response intervention I: Overview of approach, Journal of the Association for the Severely Handicapped, 1999; 24: 174-85.

⁵¹Koegel LK, Koegel RL, Shoshan Y, McNerney E. Pivotal response intervention II: Preliminary long-term outcome data, Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 1999; 24:186-98.

⁵²Koegel RL, Brookman L, Koegel LK. Autism: Pivotal response intervention and parent empowerment, Trends in Evidence-Based Neuropsychiatry, 2003; 5(1): 53-61.

⁵³Koegel R. Research in autism: Parent intervention. Grant No. R10MH28210-22. In progress.

⁵⁴54Schreibman L. Research in autism: Parent Intervention. Grant No. R10MH39434-14. In progress.

⁵⁵Whalen, C. & Schreibman, L. (2003). Joint attention training for children with autism using behaviour modification procedures. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 456-468.

⁵⁶Development of innovative treatment approaches to autism.

All material in this fact sheet is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission from the Institute. Citation of the National Institute of Mental Health as the source is appreciated.

NIH Publication No. 04-4508