Population psychoprophylaxis and informational psychohygiene: basic directions

Abstract

The relevance of the development of a preventive direction in the field of mental health care is beyond doubt. Mental health is an integral part and the most important component of the quality of health and includes not only the absence of mental disorders and various forms of disability caused by them, but also the state of mental well-being, in which the individual realizes his individual abilities, can withstand stress loads and be productive in everyday and professional activities. In this respect, the preservation of mental health is at the core not only of the well-being of the individual and his microsociety, but also of the functioning of society as a whole. Mental health care not only concerns the early diagnosis and effective treatment of mental disorders, but also focuses on broad aspects of population psychoprophylaxis and informational psychohygiene, contributing to the promotion of mental health and reducing the prevalence of the most relevant mental disorders. There is evidence of the positive impact of public health interventions on the prevalence of mental disorders. The general principles of the system of psychoprophylaxis imply the organization of three components: psychohygienic, psychoprophylactic and public mental health monitoring. The main directions of implementation of population psychoprophylaxis are: educational, socio-economic, environmental, humanistic and informational. Informational hygiene is a basic element of strengthening the mental health of the population, because a number of effects of informational influence can be predictors of mental ill-being of the population. Approaches to the assessment of informational content for its monitoring for destructive and manipulative content are proposed.