World MH Day

The theme for this year's World Mental Health Day, to be held October 10, is “Mental and Physical Health Across the Life Span.” The theme reflects the growing recognition by physicians and researchers in all parts of the globe that mental and physical health are inextricably linked.

The World Federation for Mental Health, which sponsors the campaign, hopes participants will be better equipped to “change policy, practice, and service-delivery systems to ensure that mental health needs and concerns receive the level of priority necessary to reduce the burden of disease associated with serious mental disorders.” The federation notes in a press release that inadequate attention to and integrated services for co-occurring physical and mental disorders are problems in affluent countries as well as undeveloped ones.

Information about World Mental Health Day, including fact sheets and educational material, is posted at<www.wmhday.net>.▪