Prevention: the community as a therapeutic environment

THE original aim of community-care was that most mentally ill persons should be cared for within the community so that they would not be parted from their families and friends.
This was speeded up by the discovery, during the 50s, of a range of drugs which greatly decreased the need for physical restraint and made the treatment of mental illness much easier.
Has the concept of community care for those who have suffered mental ill-health become a reality?
How far have we come to accept, not only that each one of us has a responsibility to help those whose minds are disturbed but that the nature of society itself, and our own behaviour one to another, can often be the cause of mental ill-health?
Mental health is the concern not only of the psychiatrist, the psychiatric nurses, the general medical practitioners, the clinical psychologists and the social workers but for each of us.
It is an issue none of us can avoid in our neighbourhood or village.
Understanding the Importance of Mental Health
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (WHO 1946).
Echoing the importance of primary care, WHO Health Report 2008 argued that a renewal and reinvigoration of primary care was important now, more than ever.

NEXT WEEK’s edition:
Primary Care
for Mental Health Defined