- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- 7.1 Public policy and mental health
- 7.2 Service needs of individuals and populations
- 7.3 Cultural differences care pathways, service use, and outcome
- 7.4 Primary prevention of mental disorders
- 7.5 Planning and providing mental health services for a community
- 7.6 Evaluation of mental health services
- 7.7 Economic analysis of mental health services
- 7.8 Psychiatry in primary care
- 7.9 The role of the voluntary sector
- 7.10 Special problems
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
(p. 1425) Public policy and mental health
- Chapter:
- (p. 1425) Public policy and mental health
- Author(s):
Matt Muijen
and Andrew McCulloch
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0181
Public policy, and specifically national public policy, is one of the key factors that affects the practice of psychiatry, the shape of mental health services, and the environment within which mental health services work. The specific content of public policy varies greatly across the world and often even across neighbouring countries. It is therefore impossible within the space of this chapter to undertake systematic international comparisons. This chapter gives an overview of: (a) what policy is and why it might be important; (b) types of policy and policy development internationally; (c) international structures and organizations that are relevant to the scope and content of policy, especially in the field of human rights which is often the starting point for policy; (d) the breadth of policy activity that is relevant to mental health—stretching beyond the health ministry and health policy—and the partnerships that are necessary to tackle the mental health of individuals and populations.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- 7.1 Public policy and mental health
- 7.2 Service needs of individuals and populations
- 7.3 Cultural differences care pathways, service use, and outcome
- 7.4 Primary prevention of mental disorders
- 7.5 Planning and providing mental health services for a community
- 7.6 Evaluation of mental health services
- 7.7 Economic analysis of mental health services
- 7.8 Psychiatry in primary care
- 7.9 The role of the voluntary sector
- 7.10 Special problems
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry