Prevention of mental disorders: recent advances in theory and practice.

This paper begins by reviewing the current status of primary prevention. Basic concepts and definitions are introduced, and the existing knowledge base is examined. Recent advances in how primary prevention is viewed are described, and some general issues not yet resolved are identified. In particular, the importance of the growing shift of interest from predisposing factors in emotional disorders to precipitating factors, and the shift from the search for disorder-specific causes to the search for general, nonspecific causes is underlined.