Prevention can help all of us, whether we currently have good mental health or not. We all have mental health that changes depending on what’s happening in our lives.
There are three types of prevention:
Primary prevention: stopping mental health problems before they start
Primary prevention focuses on stopping problems before they emerge. Primary prevention is relevant to all of us – often whole societies or nations – hence, solutions (or in our jargon: 'interventions') targeting primary prevention are called 'universal'. Examples of universal solutions include a national anti-stigma campaign that ensures we all follow the same standards when discussing mental health. Examples include anti-stigma campaigns such as Mental Health Awareness Week or teaching school children about emotions and mental ill health. Universal solutions neither discriminate nor focus. Rather they intend to protect. We can all identify non-mental health-related universal solutions already in our lives, including banning smoking across whole buildings and making it mandatory to wear seat belts in the car.
Secondary prevention: supporting those at higher risk of experiencing mental health problems
Secondary prevention is the type of prevention that focuses on the people who share characteristics that place them at higher risk of developing a mental health problem. Thus, secondary prevention solutions (interventions) are often called 'targeted' or 'selective'. It includes LGBTQIA+ people (because they have a higher chance of being bullied), people who have experienced trauma, people with long-term physical health conditions and victims of hate crimes for example.
Tertiary prevention: helping people living with mental health problems to stay well
The third layer of prevention is called tertiary. This type of prevention has a lot to do with our quality of life when we have experienced a problem and reduces the risk for recurrence. Solutions (interventions) in tertiary prevention focus on people who are already affected by mental health problems and are often called 'indicated' solutions.
Indicated solutions aim to reduce symptoms that can be disabling, limit complications of an illness, and empower people experiencing problems to manage their own symptoms as much as possible.
The three types of prevention are not in competition or clashing in scope. Rather, to tackle an issue as common and widespread as mental health problems, we need whole society plans that invest in all prevention layers. Working together at the level of the national government, local authorities, and bigger or smaller third-sector organisations, we need to focus efforts on rolling out universal solutions that protect everyone while enabling targeted and indicated solutions supporting those at risk or experiencing problems.
Source: Dr. Antonis Kousoulis, 70 years on: do we understand prevention?, 2019
Kommentare