This book aims to give an overview of the key issues in public mental health. It is timely as many populations are suffering the depressing consequences of the economic downturn, interest in mental health and well-being by policy makers is increasing, and the recent World Health Organization’s Mental Health Action Plan moves this issue to the top of the health agenda. The book is structured in ...

Mental health is an essential component of health, yet it is often not given the attention that ir deserves as a global health and development issue. In this paper, we examine the global health context, including the substantial burden of disease, resources available for mental health, treatment gap, human rights issues, links between mental health and development, and economic impact of mental...

In his recent study, Gordon Shen analyses a pertinent question facing the global mental health research and practice community today; that of how and why mental health policy is or is not adopted by national governments. This study identifies becoming a World Health Organization (WHO) member nation, and being in regional proximity to countries which have adopted a mental health policy as suppor...