Mental Health Well Being and mental health promotion.

1. Mental health promotion,
prevention & wellbeing:
Definitions & Need
DrVarun S. Mehta, MD,DNB(Psychiatry),MRCPsych, MNAMS
Associate Professor of Psychiatry,
Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi

2. Improvising Mental health and
Wellbeing for Enhanced quaLity of Life
in Jharkhand
(IMWeLL-Jharkhand)

3. Layout
▪ Mental health
▪ Mental health promotion
▪ Mental health wellbeing

4. The
Problem

5. Mental Health
▪ Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing,
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO)
▪ Mental Health is a “state of wellbeing in which the individual realizes
his or her abilities, copes with the normal stresses of life, works
productively & fruitfully, and makes a contribution to his or her
community” (WHO)

6. Emergence of New Concepts
▪ Positive Mental Health
▪ Resilience
▪ Mental wellbeing
▪ Mental Illness/disorders

7. Positive Mental Health
▪ Subjective sense of wellbeing & feelings of happiness
▪ A personality trait encompassing concepts of self-esteem, sense of
self control & resilience in the face of adversity & the capacity to
cope with life’s stressors
▪ Positive mental health, therefore, focuses on positive health rather
than illness

8. Resilience
▪ The capacity to confront and cope with life’s challenges and to
maintain wellbeing in the face of adversity is deemed as being
resilient
▪ Defined as ‘the ability to respond to stress in healthy, constructive
ways rather than being overcome by it and to ultimately return to
homeostasis after facing challenges and adversity

9. PositiveWellbeing
▪ Two elements
1. Feeling good where we experience a range of emotions & feelings at
an individual level,
2. Functioning well an element influenced by our interaction &
engagement at a wider community level.

10. IndividualWellbeing
▪ How satisfied we are with our lives,
▪ our sense that what we do in life is worthwhile,
▪ our day to day emotional experiences (happiness and anxiety),
▪ our wider mental wellbeing and the circumstances that promote

11. Mental Disorders
▪ Refers to symptoms which meet the threshold for a clinical diagnosis
of mental illness or symptoms at a sub-clinical threshold which
interfere with emotional, cognitive or social function

13. MENTAL HEALTH IN JHARKHAND
▪ Mental health financing-0.13%
▪ The number of medical officers in
the state and district levels
trained to deliver mental health
services (per lakh population)
ranged is 0.1 (NMHS, 2016).
There is a need for the integration of mental health
service delivery in Primary care.

14. Mental Health Promotion

15. Promoting Positive Mental Health and
Wellbeing
▪ The main approaches utilized in mental health promotion
incorporate the prevention of mental ill health, the reduction of risk
factors and the promotion of protective factors that are associated
with mental health and wellbeing.

16. Concept of Prevention

17. New definitions of Primary Prevention
▪ Universal preventive mh interventions are directed at the whole
population without identifiable risk factors.The interventions are
beneficial for the general population or sub-groups. E.g., Prenatal care
& childhood vaccination
▪ Selective preventive mh interventions are directed at people or a
subgroup with a significantly higher risk of developing mental
disorders e.g., LBW infants, vulnerable children with learning
difficulties or victims of maltreatment, elderlies, etc.

18. New definitions of Primary Prevention
▪ Indicated mh preventive interventions focus on high-risk individuals
who have developed minor but observable signs or symptoms of
mental disorder or genetic risk factors for mental illness. However,
they have not fulfilled the criteria of a diagnosable mental disorder.
For instance, the parent-child interaction training program is an
indicated prevention strategy that offers support to children whose
parents have recognized them as having behavioral difficulties

19. Risk & Protective Factors
▪ Factors are influences that promote & protect mental health, wellbeing
and those associated with risk of poor mental health. E.g.,
▪ Psycho-social, life and coping skills of individuals, e.g. increasing a
sense of self-esteem & autonomy
▪ Social support as a buffer against adverse life events, e.g. self-help
groups, someone to talk to
▪ Access to resources and services which protect mental wellbeing

21. ▪ The strength of evidence for protective and risk factors is particularly
robust in relation to the impact of early childhood experiences,
notably the importance of socio-economic circumstances that
support warm, affectionate parenting and strong family attachment
Risk & Protective Factors

22. THANKYOU