Over the last century public health efforts, such as immunization, safer food practices, public health education and promotion, improved sanitation, and water purification have been very successful in eradicating and controlling a host of diseases. The result has been a dramatic improvement in health and life expectancy. However, the impact that mental illnesses have on individuals and society as a whole has largely been overlooked by the discipline.

This pioneering volume examines the evidence-base for incorporating mental health into the public health agenda by linking the available research on population mental health with public mental health policy and practice. Issues covered in the book include the influence of health and mental health policies on the care and well-being of individuals with mental illness, the interconnectedness of physical and mental disorders, the obstacles to adopting a public health orientation to mental health/mental illness, and the potential application of public health models of intervention.

Setting out a unique and innovative model for integrated public mental health care, Population Mental Health identifies the tools and strategies of public health practice – surveillance and screening, early identification, preventive interventions, health promotion and community action – and their application to twenty-first century public mental health policy and practice.

Contents

1. Social Policy and Mental Health Care 2.The Burden of Mental Illness Worldwide 3. The New Epidemiology of Mental Illness 4. Social and Environmental Influences on Urban Mental Health 5. Disparities in Mental Health/Mental Illness and Care 6. Socio-cultural Perspectives on Stigma 7. Mental Illness, the Community, and the Law 8. The Quest for Parity in Mental Health Benefits 9. Consumer Rights, Advocacy, and Recovery 10. Young Children 11. Youth 12. Older People 13. Community Violence and Urban Families 14. Homelessness and the Mentally Ill 15. Suicide 16. The Intdness of Physical and Mental Well-Being 17. Preventing Mental Illness and Promoting Mental Health

Author Bio

Neal Cohen is Distinguished Lecturer at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and the Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City. Dr. Cohen previously served as New York City's Commissioner of Health and Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services.

Sandro Galea is the Anna Cheskis Gelman and Murray Charles Gelman Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Galea’s research is concerned with the social and biological determinants of the mental health of populations.