Philippine Mental Health Act: Just an Act? A Call to Look Into the Bi-directionality of Mental Health and Economy.

Abstract

It may seem intuitive to say that a healthy economy makes people happy, but little is said about the converse of this statement. Perhaps, we should look into how happy people make an economy healthy. The nature of happiness has been debated on by philosophers for thousands of years, but a benchmark for it that has been accepted by many social and behavioral scientists in the past few decades has been Diener's Subjective Well-being (SWB) (Diener, 2009). Studies that employ the use of SWB show that individuals who report high levels of it tend to live longer with healthier lives, have healthier social relationships, and work more productively (Montagnoli, 2019). Hence, higher levels of SWB could mean good mental health among individuals. Poli et al. (2020) described good mental health as “a state of well-being that allows individuals to cope with the normal stresses of life and function productively.” However, the definition of good mental health may vary among cultures, values and traditions. Culture affects how people manifest symptoms, express these symptoms, deal with psychological problems, and decide whether to seek care (Eshun and Gurung, 2009). Because of these differences, the best way to enrich our understanding of mental health might be to evaluate the different perspectives of mentally healthy populations toward it (Vaillant, 2003). Further understanding of mental health is significant because it greatly affects the economy as economies appear to crucially depend on the population's mental health. And so, good mental health is significant for economic growth. According to Knapp and Wong (2020), the economy has a bi-directional relationship with mental health. Economic decline may lead to a greater likelihood of mental-illness due to exposure to risk factors such as social exclusion, poor education, treatment costs, unemployment, and poverty. Mental health problems may also lead to a significant decline in economic activity that results from productivity losses and limited resources for treatment. Thus, the study of economics, particularly mental health economics (MHE), is significant in identifying ways to improve mental health and mental healthcare production and consumption. Unfortunately, to the best of our knowledge and understanding, there are currently no existing studies written on Philippine MHE. And so to help address the economic and mental health crises in the Philippines, we hope to spark discussions that will promote the study of MHE for the good of all Filipinos.