Editorial

Citation

Caan, W. (2011), "Editorial", Journal of Public Mental Health, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jpmh.2011.55610aaa.002

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Public Mental Health, Volume 10, Issue 1

A large, multi-professional team produced the new strategy for England, No Health Without Mental Health (HM Government, 2011) and it was exciting to represent the JPMH throughout that process, alongside five other members of our Editorial Board. Public health input to this mental health strategy was more prominent than in any previous planning process, and we liaised closely with other Department of Health teams for the new public health strategy and social inclusion. The theme of well-being is strongly developed in No Health Without Mental Health and we contributed to the consultation by the Office for National Statistics on measuring well-being. This positive perspective on good mental health enabled us to consider well-being across the lifespan, beginning with “a good start in life and positive parenting” to promote well-being and resilience to adversity “throughout life”. The environment in which young people develop is a key determinant of their health, for example the strategy considers the social ecology of eating disorders in adolescence. In this issue, Helen Sharpe, Peter Musiat, Olivia Knapton and Ulrike Schmidt investigate the multitude of web sites that may, potentially, promote an eating disorder.

Living well is not just about individuals, but has to encompass community development and innovative partnerships between organisations (Hussey and Stansfield, 2011), if the huge inequalities observed in mental health are to be addressed. A few disparaging voices have predicted this strategy will never be implemented (Thornicroft, 2011) but while it was still being composed group members were actively preparing for action, for example we linked with Lord Nat Wei and the Office for Civil Society to develop collaboration with the Big Society programme, for mental well-being. In the published strategy, this is reflected under “social action”. Improved access to psychological treatment is another theme in No Health Without Mental Health, especially in relation to early interventions before individuals are stuck in a chronic state of exclusion and disadvantage. In this issue, Tim Carey brings a fresh perspective on service user engagement with psychological services, on their own terms.

In terms of the new English health planning and funding systems, one of the key challenges will be to understand the interaction between mental and physical health (Naylor, 2011). Here, an approach that combines lifespan and ecological perspectives may be particularly valuable. For example, loneliness can have biological, psychological and social antecedents (O’Neill, 2011) and also become a vulnerability factor “in major societal health concerns such as psychological illness, suicide, and drug and alcohol dependence”. No Health Without Mental Health reviewed a spectrum of research evidence, for all age groups, but there is a pressing need for more academic capacity in the population sciences. With excellent timing, the National Institute for Health Research (Department of Health, 2011) has just announced its innovative “School for Public Health Research”:

WITHOUT

Without a storyWe have nothing to say for ourselves,At any age.Without self-worthNo “well-being” is being attained:Life, like a cage.Without connectionNo resilience meets crises ahead,When tempests rage.Our mental wholenessMust have something meaningful, to share,To write, each page.

Woody CaanE-mail: woody.caan@anglia.ac.uk