Mental health issues

Mental health is "a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community", while mental illness is defined as "collectively all diagnosable mental disorders" or "health conditions that are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood, or behavior (or some combination thereof) associated with distress and/or impaired functioning". Mental disorders, especially depressive disorders, are related to many chronic diseases, like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and obesity. In recent years there have been an alarming numbers of school shootings with youth or adults involved, who are seriously mentally disturbed. There are also an increase in suicides and mental pathology in the military and in fact many professionals perceive that the increase in psychiatric drugs negatively impact upon our population. In spite of more people receiving psychotropic medication at a large expense to the individual and society it does not seem that people are getting better on the whole. There is therefore a need to re-evaluate our policy and interventions, but also a need for more accurate data and information.