Creating a mentally healthy society: lessons from a cross‐border rural mental health project in Ireland
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/17465729200500008 |
| Published date | 01 March 2005 |
| Date | 01 March 2005 |
| Pages | 30-34 |
| Author | Margaret Barry |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Public mental health can be described as the science, politics and art of creating a mentally healthy
society.This paper discusses these three concepts with reference to the literature as the necessary
components of any strategy or programme to create, promote and maintain mental well-being at a
community and population level. It goes on to describe how they were applied in a cross-border
rural mental health project in Ireland.
Creating a mentally healthy
society: lessons from a
cross-border rural mental
health project in Ireland
Margaret M Barry
Director
Centre for Health
Promotion Studies,
Department of Health
Promotion,National
University of Ireland,
Galway
margaret.barry@
nuigalway.ie
PRACTICE
30 journal of public mental health
vol 4 • issue 1
There is increasing recognition at
international level of the need to address
mental health as an integral part of
improving overall health and well-being
(WHO, 2001; 2002; US Department of
Health and Human Services, 1999). Good mental
health is recognised as being essential to the well-being
and functioning of individuals, families and
communities and contributes to the overall functioning
of society. A 1996 WHO and World Bank report
(Murray & Lopez, 1996) drew attention to the global
rise in mental health problems such as suicide and
depression as a major public health issue to be addressed
in the 21st century. It is predicted that by the year 2020
neuropsychiatric problems, including depression, will
constitute the second biggest cause of disease burden
worldwide. The WHO World Health Report (WHO,
2001) advocated a comprehensive public health
approach, including mental health promotion and
prevention, in order to reduce the growing burden of
mental health problems at a population level.
Since then there have been a number of significant
publications that have placed mental health promotion
on the public and political agenda. The WHO report
Prevention and Promotion in Mental Health (WHO,
2002) prioritises the role of prevention and promotion
in order to reduce stigma, increase cost-effectiveness and
provide multiple positive outcomes. In an IUHPE report
for the European Commission on the evidence in this
area, Hosman and Llopis (2000) show that programmes
promoting positive mental health result in impressive,
long-lasting positive effects on multiple areas of
functioning and also have the dual effect of reducing
risk. This report demonstrates the positive impact of
mental health promotion programmes on a range of
social problems, such as delinquency, child abuse, school
drop-out, lost days from work and social inequity. The
available evidence therefore, strongly supports the view
that programmes promoting mental health, carried out
in collaboration with families, schools and wider
communities, have the potential to produce multiple
positive outcomes.
Mental health promotion has a critical role to play
in meeting the global challenge of promoting
population level mental health. Mental health
promotion targets the whole population and focuses on
the protective factors for enhancing well-being and
quality of life, together with early intervention and
prevention of mental health problems (Barry,2001).
The underlying principle of this approach is that mental
health is an integral part of overall health and is,
therefore, of relevance to all (Friedli, 2001). Mental
health is a positive concept that is important in its own
right and is a resource for individuals, communities and
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