Health promotion and mental health

Abstract

This chapter examines health promotion campaigns and policies designed to raise the profile of mental health, and more specifically to help those suffering from mental illness. It begins with an overview of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, and personality disorders. It then considers the NHS policy on mental health; the mental health promotion strategies in the UK, including the Scottish Health Survey of 2016, the All Wales Mental Health Promotion Network, and the Mental Health Foundation report in Northern Ireland; the implications of the coexistence of physical and mental illness for policy makers and practitioners; and mental health charities such as Anxiety UK, Centre for Mental Health, Rethink Mental Illness, SANE and Time to Change. The chapter also discusses various mental health promotion strategies throughout the UK, locations for mental health promotion, and economic evaluations of mental health promotion.