A strengths approach to mental health

[Extract] This chapter introduces 'a strengths approach to mental health social work' that in our belief is very useful in the field of mental health. In the first chapter (Global Mental Health) we indicated that mental illness is one of the most common health conditions worldwide. It can be one of the hardest to come to terms with both for those who are ill and for those who are close to the ones suffering. In many parts of the world, people suffer twice over—from the illness itself, and also because they are shunned by their families, often exiled from their communities and isolated by society (WHO 2011). Interpretations of 'mental health' or 'mental illness' are certainly Western-framed from Western medicine-but, of course, distress and disturbed behaviour are recognised amongst many cultures. Similarly, their causes and meaning are understood in many different ways. When we concluded the chapter on global mental health, we mentioned that there was a significant gap between what is needed for mental health care and what is available in many societies, including the affluent ones in the West. This gap is unlikely to be reduced in the short run. But taking mental health into primary health care and deploying a strengths framework from social work practice into the recovery-oriented practice in mental health would clearly assist in augmenting non-financial and social capital resources in a better manner