ABSTRACT
Mental health problems and disorders affect a large number of people throughout the world. For some time now, supranational organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have been warning that mental disorder is fast becoming one of, if not the, most serious health problem globally. Even a brief look at the relevant statistics highlights this as a major area of health concern. For instance, hundreds of millions of people worldwide are affected by mental, neurological or behavioural problems at any point in time. Each year almost 900 000 people die by suicide. Approximately one in four patients visiting a health service has at least one mental, neurological or behavioural disorder, but in the majority of cases these are neither detected nor treated. There is considerable cross-over between mental illness and chronic physical conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and HIV/AIDS – such mental and physical health co-morbidities have become one of the most important treatment challenges in the mental health field internationally; contributing to unhealthy behaviour,
non-compliance with prescribed medical regimens, diminished immune functioning and poor prognosis.
