The Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz National Institute of Psychiatry is a decentralized public organization with its own budget and administration. The Institute is part of the system of National Institutes of Health in Mexico.

The functions of the Institute are: to conduct scientific research, to instruct qualified personnel to conduct these investigations, to train professionals and technicians in these fields, to treat psychiatric patients and to act as an advisor to other official and private organisms.

The Institute participate in the development of health policies by coordinating with institutions at the national level, in both the government sector and civil society, by helping in the adoption of new policies in the areas of mental health and substance use in its role as member of the National Council against Addictions, and organisms in charge of Mental Health in the country.

Since 1976 The Institute was designated as a WHO/PAHO Collaborating Centre and been continuously re-designated every four years until 2015.