The director of the World Health Organisation’s mental health department, Devora Kestel, who presented a UN report and policy guidance on COVID-19 and mental health, said an upsurge in the number and severity of mental illnesses is likely, and governments should put the issue as a priority to be addressed urgently. Pointing to what often brings on mental illness, a professor of psychiatry, Peter Sainsbury, of Chichester, England, said: “When social stresses prove too strong”, mental illness results. However, what steps can help a person to prevent mental illness and maintain good mental health? Strong mental health is not just the absence of mental health problems. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics.

Source: Punch May 25, 2020 23:03 UTC