Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§285p Purpose of Institute

Title 42 › CHAPTER 6A — PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE › SUBCHAPTER III — NATIONAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES › Part C — Specific Provisions Respecting National Research Institutes › subpart 16 — national institute of mental health › § 285p

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Institute must run and fund medical and behavior research, train researchers, study health services, and share health information about mental illness — why it happens, how to diagnose and treat it, and how to prevent and control it. Its research must include neuroscience and aim to improve treatment and prevention, promote mental health, and study the psychological, social, and legal factors that affect behavior. The Director must work with the head of SAMHSA to shape services research and to get the results out to health workers and the public. The Director must also make and publish information about the causes and prevention of suicide, especially for people under 24, and make that information widely available. The Director must name an Associate Director for Special Populations. That person must plan and coordinate policies and programs to focus on the mental health needs of women and minority groups, fund basic and applied social and behavioral studies about their problems, study how discrimination affects people and institutions (including majority groups), support research to remove institutional discrimination, and push for more attention to these groups in training, services, and research.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §285p

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general
The general purpose of the National Institute of Mental Health (hereafter in this subpart referred to as the “Institute”) is the conduct and support of biomedical and behavioral research, health services research, research training, and health information dissemination with respect to the cause, diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention of mental illness.
(b)Research program
The research program established under this subpart shall include support for biomedical and behavioral neuroscience and shall be designed to further the treatment and prevention of mental illness, the promotion of mental health, and the study of the psychological, social and legal factors that influence behavior.
(c)Collaboration
The Director of the Institute shall collaborate with the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in focusing the services research activities of the Institute and in disseminating the results of such research to health professionals and the general public.
(d)Information with respect to suicide
(1)In general
The Director of the Institute shall—
(A)develop and publish information with respect to the causes of suicide and the means of preventing suicide; and
(B)make such information generally available to the public and to health professionals.
(2)Youth suicide
Information described in paragraph (1) shall especially relate to suicide among individuals under 24 years of age.
(e)Associate Director for Special Populations
(1)In general
The Director of the Institute shall designate an Associate Director for Special Populations.
(2)Duties
The Associate Director for Special Populations shall—
(A)develop and coordinate research policies and programs to assure increased emphasis on the mental health needs of women and minority populations;
(B)support programs of basic and applied social and behavioral research on the mental health problems of women and minority populations;
(C)study the effects of discrimination on institutions and individuals, including majority institutions and individuals;
(D)support and develop research designed to eliminate institutional discrimination; and
(E)provide increased emphasis on the concerns of women and minority populations in training programs, service delivery programs, and research endeavors of the Institute.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2007—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 109–482 struck out subsec. (f) which authorized appropriations and provided that at least 15% of the appropriated amounts were to carry out health services research relating to mental health. 1992—Subsec. (f)(1). Pub. L. 102–352 struck out “other than section 285o–4 of this title” after “this subpart”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2007 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 109–482 applicable only with respect to amounts appropriated for fiscal year 2007 or subsequent fiscal years, see section 109 of Pub. L. 109–482, set out as a note under section 281 of this title.

Effective Date

of 1992 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 102–352 effective immediately upon effectuation of amendment made by Pub. L. 102–321, see section 3(1) of Pub. L. 102–352, set out as a note under section 285n of this title.

Effective Date

Section effective Oct. 1, 1992, with provision for programs providing financial assistance, see section 801(c), (d) of Pub. L. 102–321, set out as an

Effective Date

of 1992 Amendment note under section 236 of this title. Study of Barriers to Insurance Coverage of Treatment for Mental Illness and Substance Abuse section 704 of Pub. L. 102–321 directed Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and in consultation with Administrator of Health Care Financing Administration, to conduct a study of the barriers to insurance coverage for the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse and to submit a report to Congress on the results of such study not later than Oct. 1, 1993.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 285p

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110