Conceptual Aspects of Mental Health in its Intersection with Human Rights and Development

Abstract

Introduction

Improving mental health of people is an important goal of the present millennium. Community-based services programs for prevention of mental disorders and promotion of mental health have been implemented in several countries. However, the proportion of people suffering from mental disorders is significantly and persistently high, and psychosocial distress due to migration, natural disasters, and terrorism; in general, feeling of insecurity is unlikely to improve current figures.

Aims

To highlight the interrelatedness of mental health, development and human rights, in particular in women and girls.

Methods

The presentation will consider conceptual aspects of mental health in its intersection with human rights and development, with particular reference to women and girls.

Results

Current definitions of mental health might be misleading and convey the false expectation that mental health coincides with happiness and productivity. An alternative conceptual framework will be presented, in which mental health is a dynamic state of internal equilibrium that enables individuals to use their abilities in harmony with universal values of society. Different factors concur to the dynamic equilibrium, and will be discussed in their intersection with human rights and development, with particular reference to the most frequent violations of human rights (e.g. trafficking, domestic abuse, sexual violence) that contribute to increase the risk of mental disorders in women and girls.

Conclusion

Mental health is rooted in personal development and social context in which the person lives. Strategies aimed to address mental health in women and girls will need to consider gender, country and socio-cultural specificities.

Disclosure of interest

Honoraria or Advisory board/consulting fees from the following companies: Lundbeck, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Hoffman-La Roche, Angelini-Acraf, Otsuka, Pierre Fabre and Gedeon-Richter.