EDIPPP is a treatment and research initiative with the potential to dramatically improve the way we address the mental health needs of adolescents and young adults. By reaching out to people who regularly interact with youth, including family members, teachers, social workers, doctors and nurses, the program educates individuals regarding the early signs of severe mental illness so they can identify teens and young adults who are at risk. Psychosis, if not diagnosed and treated effectively, can lead to isolation, difficulty handling academics or employment, and greater risk for disability, homelessness, and/or involvement with the criminal justice system. Severe mental illness is the fifth-leading cause of disability and premature mortality among all medical disorders. EDIPPP is demonstrating that it is possible to stop severe mental illness in its tracks and put young people on a path to more normal, healthy lives.
We must take bold steps to change the way mental illness is detected and treated—and, we must ensure that policies and reimbursements support these changes. This EDIPPP research has the potential to transform how we deliver mental health services to America’s youth.
The national EDIPPP study emerged from a model established at Maine Medical Center in 2001, the Portland Identification and Early Referral program or PIER. PIER’s success in keeping young people from going down the path toward full-fledged psychosis through its strong outreach to professionals and family members caught our eye. We were really intrigued by the results the PIER program was seeing and wondered whether this could be replicated. The idea that you don’t have to wait until kids become psychotic to intervene seemed like a promising approach that could dramatically change the way we think about how to treat mental illness. With early intervention and ongoing support, we can reduce the severity of illness, keep young people in school or at work and put them on a path to better health. The earlier we intervene, the better our outcomes will be.
We must take bold steps to change the way mental illness is detected and treated—and, we must ensure that policies and reimbursements support these changes. EDIPPP is demonstrating that early detection and intervention is the key to preventing the onset of severe mental illness and helping young people live healthier, more productive lives.
Evaluation of Community Education and Outreach Projects for EDIPPP (Evaluation conducted August 2007 through August 2011.)
Journal article in Adolescent Psychiatry, "Rationale, Results and Implications for Treatment of Adolescents at Risk."
Family psychoeducation and psychoeducational multifamily groups have shown promising outcomes in treatment for early phases of clinical high risk and first-episode psychosis
Testing whether EDIPPP Family-Aided Community Treatment (FACT) can delay or prevent the onset of psychosis in at risk young people
The relatively new field of high-risk research in psychosis has the potential to shed light on the development of major psychotic disorders and to alter their course, providing a rationale for service provision to those in need of help who could not previously access it, and the possibility of changing trajectories for those with vulnerability to psychotic illnesses.
EDIPPP is changing the way we see and treat young adults with mental illness.
August 8, 2012 - County reports promising results in program to prevent psychosis
"....Officials at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation decided it was worth their money to see whether [these results] could be replicated elsewhere. They invested more than $14 million in the national demonstration project to detect early signs of psychosis in teens and young adults, intervene and possibly prevent serious mental illnesses."
"The goal is to find out if the interventions work, and can you identify the correct kids for intervention?" said Jane Lowe, director of the foundation's vulnerable populations team. She expects to know in six months when results from the national study are reported."
