Mental Health and Addiction

This theme includes the following:

1. Depression, Addiction & Psychosis: support and further develop broad translational research programs. (Pervasive developmental disorders such as attention deficit disorder and autism spectrum disorder overlap with other disorders and are included in the these programs).
2. Scope of Research: activities span the 4 pillars of the CIHR model, encompassing lifespan developmental changes, from gestational and perinatal factors through infant, child, adolescent and young adult populations to later life stages. The broad focus of mental health and addiction includes overlap with the other two NMHI themes, linking basic research in neurobiology to etiology, prevention and treatment of mental illness.
3. Research Partnerships: Many of our research programs build on strong partnerships with community advocacy associations and people with lived experience of addiction and other mental disorders. In the clinical translational domain there are growing collaborative links with the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCN) led by Alberta Health Services, principally with the SCN in Addiction and Mental Health and the emerging SCN in Maternal, Newborn, Child and Youth Health. Strong provincial and national collaborations exist and there are several international partnerships in place.