The Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) is a decision-tree

medical algorithm A medical algorithm is any computation, formula, statistical survey, nomogram, or look-up table, useful in healthcare. Medical algorithms include decision tree approaches to healthcare treatment (e.g., if symptoms A, B, and C are evident, the ...

, the design of which was based on the expert opinions of mental health specialists. It has provided and rolled out a set of

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psyc ...

management guidelines for doctors treating certain mental disorders within Texas' publicly funded

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental hea ...

care system, along with manuals relating to each of them. The algorithms commence after diagnosis and cover pharmacological treatment (hence "Medication Algorithm").

History

TMAP was initiated in the fall of 1997 and the initial research covered around 500 patients. TMAP arose from a collaboration that began in 1995 between the

Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

(TDMHMR),

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

companies, and the

University of Texas Southwestern The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern or UTSW) is a public academic health science center in Dallas, Texas. With approximately 18,800 employees, more than 2,900 full-time faculty, and nearly 4 million outpatient vis ...

. The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Meadows Foundation, the Lightner-Sams Foundation, the Nanny Hogan Boyd Charitable Trust, TDMHMR, the Center for Mental Health Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Health Services Research and Development Research Career Scientist Award, the United States Pharmacopoeia Convention Inc. and Mental Health Connections. Numerous companies that invent and develop antipsychotic medications provided use of their medications and furnished funding for the project. Companies did not participate in the production of the guidelines. In 2004 TMAP was mentioned as an example of a successful project in a paper regarding implementing mental health screening programs throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

, by the President George W. Bush's

New Freedom Commission on Mental Health The New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was established by President of the United States, U.S. President George W. Bush through on April 29, 2002 to conduct a comprehensive study of the U.S. mental health service delivery system and make rec ...

, which looks to expand the program federally. The President had previously been Governor of Texas, in the period when TMAP was implemented. Similar programs have been implemented in about a dozen States, according to a 2004 report in the ''

British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a weekly peer-reviewed medical trade journal, published by the trade union the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world's oldest general medical journals. Origin ...

''. Similar algorithms with similar prescribing advice have been produced elsewhere, for instance at the

Maudsley Hospital The Maudsley Hospital is a British psychiatric hospital in south London. The Maudsley is the largest mental health training institution in the UK. It is part of South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, and works in partnership with the ...

, London.{{cite web, url=http://www.mhc.com/Algorithms/AlgoLinks.HTML, title=Lists of Psychopharmacology Algorithms, first=David N., last=Osser, first2=Robert D., last2=Patterson, accessdate=March 17, 2006, website=Maudsley Hospital, url-status=unfit, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010626062649/http://www.mhc.com/Algorithms/AlgoLinks.HTML, date=May 1, 2001, archivedate=June 26, 2001

References

External links

MentalHealthCommission.gov
- President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (official US government website) Health informatics Treatment of mental disorders Drugs in the United States Mental disorders screening and assessment tools