World mental health day.

1Institute of Mental Health 2Department of Psychiatry, Singapore General Hospital Address for Correspondence: Dr Kuan Tsee Chee, Woodbridge Hospital and Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore 539747. Email: [email protected] Introduction In medical disease, there are physical and/or mental symptoms and generally, there is a recognised aetiology, demonstrable pathology and predictable course i.e. based on biological or physical factors. In mental disorder, there are mental and/or physical symptoms. However here, one tends to talk of predisposing, precipitating and propagating factors which can be physical, psychological and social in nature.1 Whether the individual suffers from medical disease or mental disorder, there is usually a complaint of discomfort, distress, disability or dependency caused by disturbed structure or function. When subjective experience is corroborated by observed behaviour, an illness is present or considered. It should be appreciated that mental illness is as real and as incapacitating as any other physical illness.2