ABSTRACT
Community mental health promotion (CMHP) not only comprises an integration of its constituent elements - community, mental health, health promotion, mental health promotion - but is developed here as a concept and practice in its own right. As a contribution to this development, this chapter offers a critique of examples of CMHP theory and practice. The implications of various definitions of mental health (Chapter 1) and the elements of mental health (Chapter 3) for CMHP are reviewed. A critique of Community Mental Health Centres (CMHCs), as potential bases for the promotion of community mental health, is offered. The role and impact of community psychology, psychotherapy, the advocacy movement, and 'the Italian experience' of mental health reform on CMHP are considered as background to a discussion of CMHP which comprises two elements: challenging myths of mental illness and promoting mental health, elements which are elaborated and examined. In this chapter the paradigm analysis is again used as an organising framework and developed as a tool for understanding and facilitating the process of reflection and change.
