by Jennifer Coote
Introduction
The UK Office for Science released, October 08, the Foresight Project on Mental Health and Well-being, reported by J. Beddington et al, Nature, 23 Oct, 08. This peer-reviewed research from over four hundred experts assesses the challenges to human mental development from prenatal to death. The findings can apply to other countries as well as in the UK. It examines two intertwined aspects, mental capital and mental well-being, and how they are affected positively and negatively through the human life-span. How the nation develops and uses the mental capital of its citizens affects its economic prosperity as well as its social cohesion and the mental health of all. The close linkages of the two key aspects should therefore be crucial in policy development and design of interventions.
(continue…)