The momentum for mental health promotion

摘要

The greater awareness and better understanding of mental health and its importance to overall health, social and economic development, has lead to a momentum for mental health promotion. In recent years, mental health finally seems to be coming out of the shadows. There are several possible reasons for this increasing interest in the population's mental health. First, the awareness of mental disorders being common and disabling is increasing. These problems are no more being regarded as affecting a small segment of the population and it is becoming common knowledge that as many as one in four of us may experience mental health problems during our life time. The Global Burden of Disease study by the WHO and the World Bank (Murray & Lopez, 1996) did an enormous service by demonstrating the massive death and disability burdens due to neuropsychiatric disorders.