REVOLUTIONS AND COUNTERREVOLUTIONS IN PREVENTION

The new prevention science put forward by the National Institute of Me ntal Health and by the Institute of Medicine advocates strict experime ntal interventions with controls to reduce risks for psychiatric disor ders, Articles by R. F. Munoz, P. J. Mrazek, and R. J. Haggerty (1996, this issue), K. Heller (1996, this issue), and D. Reiss and R. H. Pri ce (1996, this issue) support, elaborate and discuss this agenda. Issu es that seem controversial include (a) the use of risk reduction of ps ychiatric disorders as the criteria for acceptable research, (b) rejec tion of studies of competence promotion as not aimed at specific disor ders, and (c) rejection of prevention studies, done before the counter revolution that occurred in 1980 and thereafter, that advocated social and political change aimed at achieving social equality for disadvant aged groups. Arguments against the restricted new approach are present ed.