Aspects of mental health promotion (part 1 and 2) Literature review

Aspects of mental health promotion (part 1 and 2) - Literature review Example In general, health promotion is all about being able to positively enhance health and prevent illnesses through the use of health educational intervention which can help people prevent diseases. In line with this, mental health promotion is all about health promotion that is more directed on the mental aspect of a person. Often times, mental health promotion aims to further improve the mental well-being of people and carers. Started sometime in 1975, health promotion in UK was focused on preventing the spread of diseases caused by either behavioural, environmental, physical, or lifestyle factors (i.e. alcohol consumption during pregnancy, obesity prevention, health eating and smoking cessation, etc.) (Nick, 2009, p. 78). In 2008, the European Commission together with the World Health Organization acknowledged mental health illnesses as 5 out of 10 major causes of disability all over the world. To improve mental health strategies between 2013 to 2020, a new resolution known as the WHA65.4 was developed to create comprehensive strategies and policies based on the responses coming from social and health sectors (World Health Organization, 2013). Mental health promotion is all about creating public awareness in terms of preventing mental health problems. For this reason, mental health promotion is considered important topic in public health. In general, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive disorder among others can increase the risks for untimely deaths caused by accidents on top of having higher risks for more physical illnesses (Nick, 2009, p. 80). For these reasons, mental health problems are considered as one of the most serious and most important topic in public health (Katz and Pandya, 2013, p. 363). In UK, the Mental Health Foundation (2014) reported that 1 in 4 people tend to experience mental health problem each year. Specifically the prevalence rate of depression in UK is 1 in 5 older people (Mental Health