W.H.O. exposes myth on mental health

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 18

W.H.O. exposes myth on mental health

Wellington reporter One-fifth of all patients who frequent general health services suffer mainly psychological problems, says the World Health Organisation. This was the case in industrialised and developing countries alike. The notion that psychological illness occurred only in people exposed to the stresses of urban living in industrialised countries was unfounded. Psychological problems were widely prevalent and strikingly similar in quite varied countries, the W.H.O.

said. There was now sufficient evidence to show that their management along similar lines helped patients, regardless of culture. Millions of people who visited health services mainly because of emotional problems illustrated an important truth about health care — interaction between people should be paramount. The W.H.O. said, however, that most training for health workers, and medical and nursing textbooks and journals, made drugs and technical procedures predominate rather than human interaction.