RESEARCH FUNDING OF PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS IN CANADA - A SNAPSHOT, 1990-1991

Although mental illness accounts for up to 14% of total direct health care costs and an estimated cost of over five billion dollars annually , research funding of psychiatric disorders is regarded as underfunded relative to other biomedical research. This study was conducted to de termine the amount of funds allotted to the research of specific psych iatric disorders in Canada. Data was obtained from a national database of peer-reviewed health research funding. Based on the title of the r esearch grant, all projects that pertained to psychiatric disorders we re identified and classified according to diagnosis. Research funding for psychiatric disorders totalled $16,391,000 from 1990 to 1991, or 3 .7% of all biomedical research funding for that period. The relative c ontributions of federal, provincial and private (nonprofit) agencies t o the funding total were 54%, 39% and 8%, respectively. Research fundi ng for mental illness remains disproportionately low relative to other medical illnesses. The role of private nonprofit agencies, in particu lar, is much more limited for psychiatric disorders than for other ide ntified medical illnesses. These data suggest that increased attention to research advocacy is required to increase psychiatric research sup port. Advocacy strategies should include: 1. publicizing the value and scope of psychiatric research in Canada; 2. working to de-stigmatize mental illness; 3. strengthening personal and professional affiliation s with patient advocacy groups; 4. increasing the number and the quali fications of psychiatric researchers; 5. improving the scientific qual ity of research programs; and 6. organizing national research collabor ations.