Hot Topics in Public Mental Health

Abstract

Public mental health, preventive psychiatry, health promotion, and community psychiatry share many concepts and philosophies around the power of organized efforts of society. This article focuses on public mental health and prevention specifically, thinking about multiple social disadvantages and adverse childhood experiences, the limitations of diagnostic conventions in public health, epistemic injustices in research and practice, the complex interplay of genetic and social factors in the prevention of psychosis, the role of social media, and school-based interventions in preventing poor mental health. These areas are rapidly advancing, and we need better, more ambitious research in low- and middle-income countries, using methods that empower, engage, and promote interdisciplinary dialogue to break down epistemic and institutional barriers in research.