Person-centered mental health promotion and public health perspectives

Abstract

Mental health promotion is a concept akin to prevention, but whilst prevention’s aim is to avoid illness the aim of promotion is to enhance health. This paper deals with a conceptual review of health and mental health, with the antecedents of health promotion, its targets, the target population, the various mental health promotion initiatives, the public health perspective, and a guidance on mental health promotion. It is pointed out that mental health promotion projects must prove their effectiveness and must be sustainable, especially with reference to continued availability of resources. The relevance of the person-centered and people-centered approach in mental health promotion is underl..