ple suffering from mental health impairments to compete in the open labour market.

Academic Institutions

 

In Poland, the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology is the only academic institution that conducts research and training in the field of mental health and also provides mental health services. Beyond education, the role of the Psychiatric Clinics of the Academies of Health is confined to supervising the quality of psychiatric services. The Central Institute of Labour Protection and The Institute of Occupational Medicine are engaged in research on work and the working environment.

* Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, was established by the Cabinet in 1951. It was conceived as a national centre for promotion of basic and clinical research on mental and neurological disorders. After several reorganisations, the Institute has created new clinical and theoretical departments, opened new laboratories, and has expanded its research into new areas. These include organisation of psychiatric and neurological health care, genetics, pathogenesis and treatment of depressive disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, and neurochemistry. Modern diagnostic and research techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were introduced during the last decade.

The Institute consists of 25 departments, including, four departments of psychiatry, two departments of neurology, the Department of Neurotic Disorders and Psychotherapy, the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Department of Forensic Psychiatry. Several departments conduct basic research, frequently in co-operation with other clinical units. They include the Departments of Biochemistry, Pharmacology, and Physiology of the Nervous System, Genetics, Neuropathology, and Clinical Neurophysiology.

The epidemiological and statistical studies carried out by the Department of Studies on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the Department of Health Care Organisation provide a conceptual basis for health policy including the organisation of the treatment system.

Considerable work is devoted to pathogenesis and new methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and alcohol and opiate dependence. The Institute co-ordinates cerebral stroke studies carried out in Poland with centres abroad. It also acts as the co-ordinator of the Research Program on Mental health disorders and Diseases of Nervous System, sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.

The Institute collaborates with 50 scientific centres around the world. The World Health Organisation designated it a Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health for 1992-1995, a designation that has been extended until 2000. It publishes the following journals:

* Farmakoterapia w Psychiatrii i Neuorologii (Pharmacotherapy in Psychiatry and Neurology), quarterly;

* Postepy Psychiatrii i Neurologii (Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology), quarterly;

* Alkoholizm i Narkomania (Alcohol and Drug Abuse), quarterly;

* Rocznik Statystyczny (Statistical Yearbook).

In addition to being a research institution, the Institute is also a psychiatric and neurological hospital. It provides treatment to patients with mental and