Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments and Services

Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments and Services:
Anthony F. Lehman, Howard H. Goldman, Lisa B. Dixon, and Rachel Churchill
"The purpose of this report is to inform policymakers about the significance of recent advances in evaluating evidence for allocating resources to and within public mental health programs. These advances are of particular importance because the public sector is the largest payer for services to persons with chronic mental illness.
The authors' central point is that the best evidence yields both good and bad news. The good news is that 'many potentially available treatments and services' have been shown to produce 'improved symptoms and functioning' in patients with severe, persistent mental illness. The bad is that 'there are substantial gaps between what science tells us to do and what we do in actual practice, despite the significant investment of public resources.'
The research about which the authors report is increasingly useful to policymakers and clinicians. Many scientists are working collaboratively, often across national boundaries, to collect, analyze, and synthesize evidence about interventions to prevent and treat illness. A recent Milbank Report describes this international scientific advance (Ray Moynihan, Evaluating Health Services: A Reporter Covers the Science of Research Synthesis). "