The neglect of prevention in psychiatry.

The prevention of mental disorders has been neglected but the public health burden now is too high for this to continue. Nearly one half of all mental and neurological disorders are amenable to primary prevention. Effective measures could be applied even in countries with few resources. By and large these measures all rely on available knowledge and commonly involve sectors other than health. This paper calls attention to the opportunities that offer but that have been so far largely unheeded.