The Portland (ME) Press Herald (1/18, Lawlor) reported that “a program started at Maine Medical Center…has become a national model for early detection and treatment of mental illness.” Called the Portland Identification and Early Referral (PIER) program, the program “has gained a foothold in several states – including California – and as it expands it has attracted national media attention.”
The program detects the earliest symptoms of serious mental illnesses and treats them before problems become severe. In Maine alone, “symptoms turning into a ‘full-blown psychotic diagnosis’ fell 26 percent in the Portland area over a six-year period in the 2000s, but rose 8 percent in other parts of the state, where the PIER program was not in place, according to a study published in October in Psychiatric Services scholarly journal,” a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Maine treatment for mental illness serves as national model,” Joe Lawlor, Portland Press Herald, January 18, 2015.