Depression in Childhood [antikvár]

These proceedings of the conference on Depression in Childhood represent the synthesis of many approaches to priority setting and program development taken over the years by the National Institute of Mentái Health (NIMH). The first, essential factor is, of course, the research capability of the Institute. More than 30 years ago, the National Mentái Health Act authorized the establishment of an NIMH that would be triadic in structure, with major emphases in the areas of research, mentái health services, and training and education of a mentái health work force. While each of the programs has evolved to an extent separately and successfully-often in the face of challenging odds-research has been the keystone. The research endeavors of NIMH scientists and grantees have expanded the limits of our knowledge of humán development as well as the more sharply defined areas of mentái illness. This research yield has influenced dramatically the kinds of services, typified in the diverse programs of community mentái health centers, that are available locally to more than 90 millión Americans. It has had a marked effect on the design and content of training programs for professional and paraprofessional mentái health workers. Perhaps the worth of the NIMH research effort is best measured by the extent of support it has claimed not only from the scientific community but from political bodies, citizen groups, and priváté individuals when its survival has been threatened by fiscal or other social pressures. A second factor in the synthesis has been the priority set for child mentái health by the Institute. Upon becoming Director of the Institute in 1970, I designated child mentái health our foremost concern. The effect of this priority may be measured both quantitatively, in terms of numbers of grants and dollars expended with a primary focus on child mentái health, and qualitatively, in terms of a gradual consciousness raising regarding the problems, needs, rights, and even the identities of children. A third factor has been the strength and accomplishments of NIMHsupported projects in research on aduit depression (without ignoring the invaluable contributions of scientists supported by other sources as well). The problem has elicited a tremendous response from the scientific community,