Global mental health

Abstract

The emergence of the term "global mental health" has been driven by the multifactorial aetiology of the onset of mental disorders, the need for equal access to mental health services and the long-standing finding of inequalities in healthcare and mental healthcare which prevail not just at international level but also at national and local levels. As the human rights movement has promoted a form of globalisation of rights, a more comprehensive view of mental health has gradually emerged, meaning it is now possible to perceive the data which affect it depending on age, gender, geographical location, socioeconomic status, as well as cultural factors that vary from location to location. This chapter seeks to outline the emergence of global mental health and explain the complex terminology so characteristic of it, in an attempt to create a shared vocabulary for mental health which allows one to recognise inequalities and engage in comprehensive prevention and intervention for mental disorders.