Why 'mental' health promotion?

摘要

At the time I drafted this commentary, I was in attendance at the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Mental Health, in Helsinki, Finland (12-15 January 2005). The conference is the first of its kind in Europe, and very welcome indeed. The conference culminated with a Mental Health Declaration for Europe and an Action Plan that will undoubtedly be useful tools to European mental health advocates. Virtually all who are informed and concerned about mental health are in agreement about one objective at least: we seek to influence political processes to replace rhetoric with action, and not surprisingly, the lack of funding to back up ambitious mental health policy was a recurring theme at the Conference.