FOREWORD: Deborah Wan
After World Mental Health Day was initiated by the World Federation for Mental Health in 1992 many

countries adopted it as a means of promoting mental health.

Every year a theme is chosen and educational materials are produced by WFMH for distribution. This year, the 20th anniversary, we have chosen DEPRESSION as the main theme. Depression can affect anyone and it is one of the most widespread illnesses, often co-existing with other serious illnesses. According to the World Health Organization, unipolar depressive disorders were ranked as the third leading cause of the global burden of disease in 2004 and will move into the rst place by 2030.

The 2012 Depression package is intended to provide information about depression as a treatable ill- ness, and to spread the message that recovery is possible and achievable. The information will be useful both in developed countries and in middle- to low-income countries that need basic information for their national and local publicity campaigns. Among the developed countries, the current economic downturn has resulted in increased unemployment, increased debts and increased insecurity result-

ing also in an increasing incidence of depression among the population. For middle- to low-income countries, public education on mental health is often inadequate due to limited resources. We hope this material will be useful for mental health promotion in these countries.

Das komplette PDF ansehen „World Federation for Mental Health“