ABSTRACT
A high proportion of health and social welfare budgets in many countries is being spent on the care of individuals with mental disorders. Yet work in the field of mental health is not seen as a public-health effort and mental diseases are not considered a public-health problem. This is neither surprising nor a matter for a paranoid interpretation. It simply reflects the fact that until now mental disorders did not meet the three criteria which qualify a problem for public-health action. These are:
that the problem is severe enough, and occurs frequently enough, to significantly harm the well-being and productivity of the society;
that there are measures, acceptable to the individuals concerned, to their families and to the community, which are effective in preventing or reducing the problem and its consequences;
that all concerned – the community, the individual, and society as a whole – are convinced that both of the above criteria are fulfilled.
