Reducing the Silent Burden of Impaired Mental Health

Abstract

Mental and behavioral disorders account for about one third of the world's disability caused by all ill health among adults, with unipolar depressive disorders set to be the world's number one cause of illhealth and premature death in 2030, affecting high- and low-income countries. There is a range of evidence-based cost-effective interventions that can be implemented in parenting, at schools, at the workplace, and in older age that can promote health and well-being, reduce mental disorders, lead to improved productivity, and increase resilience to cope with many of the stressors in the world. These facts need to be better communicated to policymakers to ensure that the silent burden of impaired mental health is adequately heard and reduced.

Acknowledgments

The opinions expressed and the data communicated in this article are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Economic Forum or of all the members of the Global Agenda Council on Non-Communicable Diseases.

The evidence for the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and effect of actions to promote mental health and prevent mental disorders through parenting, at schools, in the workplace, and in older age was obtained from systematic reviews undertaken by several authors for the DataPrev project, financed by the European Commission, on the evidence base for promotion of mental health and the prevention of mental disorders. The project was coordinated by the first and second authors of the present article at various stages of its work. The authors of the DataPrev reviews are Sarah Stewart-Brown and Anita Schrader-McMillan for the parenting review, Katherine Weare and Melanie Nind for the schools review, Czeslaw Czabala and Katarzyna Charzyńska for the workplace review, Anna Forsman and Kristian Wahlbeck for the older people review, and David McDaid and A-la Park for the costs and cost-effectiveness review.

Notes

Note. Data from the World Health Organization (2008).

Note. Data from PricewaterhouseCoopers (2008).