MENTAL HEALTH INFORMATION
"NO HEALTH WITHOUT MENTAL HEALTH"
The contents of the published articles and the information leaflets by the Author are as the result of his own over forty-year professional experiences of management of patients and families from different cultural backgrounds both in the UK and the UAE and supported by evidence based data with reference to an internationally recognised research and academic institutions.
The publication of our information materials aims to provide public awareness about the importance of mental health and also to enhance positive practices relating to mental health promotion. People with physical health problems, especially long-term conditions, are at increased risk of poor mental health - particularly depression and anxiety.
Mental health is more than the absence of mental illness; mental health implies fitness rather than freedom from illness. In 2003, George Vaillant in the USA commented that mental health is too important to be ignored, it needs to be defined. As Vaillant (2003)
The importance of mental health in the maintenance of good physical health and in recovery from physical illness is now well substantiated, as is the converse. Mental health status is a key consideration in changing the health status of a community.
Mental health is the foundation for well-being and effective functioning for an individual and for a community. Neither mental nor physical health can exist alone. Mental, physical, and social functioning are interdependent. Furthermore,health and illness may co-exist. They are mutually exclusive only if health is defined in a restrictive way as the absence of disease (Sartorius 1990)
Recognising health as a state of balance including the self, others, and the environment helps communities and individuals understand how to seek its improvement.
Further readings
Foresight Mental Capital and Wellbeing Project (2008). Final project report - Executive summary. The Government Office for Science, London:
WHO (2004). Promoting mental health: concepts, emerging evidence, practice.
Royal College of Psychiatrists (2010). No health without public mental health: the case for action. Position Statement PS4/2010.